DATA CAN INFORM THE THEORETICAL SKEW IN MORAL PSYCHOLOGY - A REJOINDER TO HART

D. Hart (1998), in his commentary, criticizes the present authors' den igration of the role of experts in moral psychology and overestimation of the contributions of ordinary people to the understanding of moral maturity. This rejoinder clarifies the present authors' positions on these issues. They argue that there are clear indications of a theoret ical skew in moral psychology and that the field lacks both a comprehe nsive model of moral functioning and a compelling conception of moral excellence. The present authors contend that common language understan dings of moral maturity are of inherent interest because such notions do affect people's everyday moral functioning. Further, the disjunctio n between implicit understandings and explicit theories can prompt a r ethinking of dominant models of moral psychology.