The Problem of Sophomoritis: An Educational Proposal
- 1 October 1976
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Informa UK Limited in Journal of Moral Education
- Vol. 6 (1), 36-42
- https://doi.org/10.1080/0305724760060106
Abstract
‘Sophomoritis’ is identified as a period of adolescent development concerned primarily with raising all kinds of moral questions but also doubting all answers. It is suggested that this questioning often manifests itself in the form of uncritical relativism and naive egoism, and that it is potentially dangerous in that it is elevated to the status of an absolute external moral authority instead of a means to restructuring a new form of moral judgment. Criticism is leveled at educational institutions for implicitly supporting sophomoritis, particularly through ‘Introductory Ethics’ courses. A proposal is made for a course which instead utilizes the students’ natural development, together with the conceptual perspectives of moral philosophy, to stimulate development towards a principled form of moral autonomy.Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- Continuities in Childhood and Adult Moral Development RevisitedPublished by Elsevier BV ,1973
- 1. Stages of moral development as a basis for moral educationPublished by University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) ,1971