The Research On Carol Gilligan's Psychological Thought Of Morality

Carol Gilligan ( 1936- ) is a world-renowned feminist ethicist and moral psychologist. She influenced greatly in the Western society.The dissertation attempts to examine Gilligan's thought from the psychological perspective. On the basis of criticisms to the traditional psychology, especially the theory of moral genesis and development advanced by Freud, Erikson, Piaget and Kohlberg, Gilligan presented the moral orientation of care. She also examined the connotation of the care orientation and discussed the differences between a justice and a care orientation concerning to the understanding of self, relationship and morality. Furthermore, she set forth the levels of the development of women's moral judgement, that is ,orientation to individual survival, goodness as self-sacrifice and morality of nonviolence. When care orientation caused numerous discussions about the sex differences, the relationship between justice and care, the methodology and so on, Gilligan responded to every discussion. Besides, she made even further investigation on the development of adolescent girls' moral psychology, and examined the great influence of the relationships between daughters and their mothers on the development of adolescent girls' moral psychology. Her work enrich the content of moral psychology. Gilligan's thought not only makes great contributions to moral psychology, but also influences the fields, such as moral philosophy, ethics. It also has much revelation to the moral education in China nowadays.