THEORIES OF JUSTICE AND MORAL BEHAVIOR

Two psychological theories of moral behavior and justice -- Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development and Haidt's Moral Foundations Theory- -- and two normative frameworks for justice are presented and evaluated in this paper. The two normative frameworks are: Transcendental Institutionalism Framework, and Realization-Focused Comparative Framework. The strengths and weaknesses of each theory or framework are evaluated, and where appropriate, one theory is compared with other justice and moral conceptualizations. While descriptive theories are useful in understanding moral behavior and justice, normative theories are required to determine rules for collective action. This research reaches across several disciplines to discuss and evaluate descriptive and normative theories of moral behavior and justice. In particular, the Social Choice Theory, while well-known in economics and political science, is not well known in other disciplines. This study brings the Social Choice Theory to the forefront for situations where a group or society wants to select among various alternatives by basing its decisions on the individual preferences of its members using principles of justice.