Ethics is one of the most difficult concepts to define in our society. It is assumed that it consists of the acceptance of common values that all people consider important when we live in society.
However, ethics does not develop in the same way in all people, with very different changes depending on personal characteristics, past experiences and the type of education in which the person grew up . Over the years, each person has greater decision-making power over their way of understanding ethics, being able to stay behind in order to seem to him and to be a sufficient and correct way of understanding things in the world.
The most defended theory in this case is the one that states that we all go through a series of stages in ethics as we develop. There are three stages, each divided into 2 stages, and there are many people who remain anchored in some while others continue to develop:
1st Stage, when we are children: This stage occurs between 4 and 7 years of age. Here the children are very specific in their statements, focusing on specifying what is good and what is bad with punishments in a forceful way. If there is a law, a rule or a norm it is to comply with it without any possibility of justifying that we do not comply with it. For them, everyone thinks in the same way, without assuming that there may be different interpretations or points of view.
From 7 to 10 years old, here children completely change their way of understanding ethics, seeking their own benefit above all else. When they help someone it is because they expect to receive something in return , in a selfish thought that they do not have to say. Their main idea is to act as they expect others to act, since they think that everyone is moved by the personal interest of each one.
2nd stage, adolescence: The first part occurs between the ages of 10 and 13. This time the change, despite being very big, is more difficult to see since they do what they would like to be done to them. The relationship with the other person is taken into account, putting feelings and what others think ahead of what they themselves think, despite being against it. The greatest motivation is that of a relationship of mutual trust.
From 13 to 16 years old he advances a little more, and it is where many people are left without advancing to the last stage. There are social norms that are shared by everyone, and being able to maintain society is essential. Our individual interests remain within society but only if they do not go against it in an exaggerated way. These interests become valid when we maintain the system, knowing perfectly when we are misbehaving and accepting it because it benefits us.
3rd stage: From the age of 16, without a maximum age as it is a stage that not everyone reaches. It seeks to create a better society based on a series of universal rights. Our way of thinking is no longer taken into account mainly to value others, this time we seek to have a series of laws that ensure an ideal society and not just a system that works.
The idea of society is not taken into account, preferring to think that all human beings are part of something greater; each works independently and should be treated as such. A perfect world where everyone respects each other that very few really achieve in their development, without being entirely clear to what extent one can fight for this idea.
Even so, we must bear in mind that they are not fixed stages, and there may be people who do not advance beyond the second or others who reach a certain one when they grow more than the usual age. It is a theory to let us guide us, understanding how we evolve in something so difficult to define.