Moral Competence and Public Value

Abstract

Moral competence and public value are closely related. The core public value is democracy, which is actually a bundle of the four moral principles: freedom, justice, truth, and cooperation. Moral competence is the ability to apply these principles, that is, the ability to solve conflicts and problems inevitably resulting from applying these principles to real-life decision-making. As empirical and experimental evidence show, the moral principles of democracy are shared by most, if not all, people. However, most people do not have the opportunity to develop a minimum moral competence. Thus they cannot behave according to their moral principles without requiring (expensive) external control. Therefore, society must spend much money on their control. If society would foster the moral competence of all citizens, it could save much expenditure. Today, we can foster moral competence very effectively with methods like the Konstanz Method of Dilemma-Discussion (KMDD). The KMDD can be used with almost all age groups (3rd grade upwards). It is not only very effective but requires little time and money and no change of the curriculum. However, it is only effective if it is used by well trained and certified KMDD-Teachers. In my presentation I will explain in detail the new concept of moral competence, how it can be made visible through the experimentally designed Moral Competence Test (MCT), how relevant moral competence is for various kinds of behavior, and how it can be effectively fostered by the KMDD, which is used in various educational settings like grade school, secondary school, university, professional training, army academy, prison, and theater. </br></br> Key Words: Moral-democratic competence, moral orientations, Experimental Questionnaires, moral-democratic education, teacher training