The following 3-level typology comes from Reason, Ideology and Politics by Shawn Rosenberg (no relation). It is based on Piagetian theory, but with a crucial distinction that Rosenberg does not assume development is entirely driven from within, but is rather somewhat dependent on the environment in which it occurs. His book does not deal primarily with the developmental process itself, however, in that it does not develop a developmental stage analysis for childhood and adolescence. Rather, its analysis of distinct reasoning styles focuses on the end result of three distinct adult styles of reasoning. I first wrote about his typology online in the 2005 MyDD diary, "Terri Schiavo: We're Too Smart!". There are strong reasons arguing for equating these three levels with Kegan's levels 2, 3 and 4. Rosenberg said that he detected hints of a higher level in his research, but without enough examples to develop a clear picture of it. This would presumably correspond with Kegan's Level 5. However, some traces of Level 5 also appear to exist in Rosenberg's top level, "Sytematic Thinking."
First a thumbnail sketch:
Sequential thinkers reason "by tracking the world," recognize regularities in sequences of events, but have no abstract understanding of cause and effect. The world they perceive is a world of appearances that has very little organization to it beyond the recurrence of sequences.
Linear thinkers understand cause and effect, limited to a one-direction, one-cause/one-effect model. The world they perceive has logical order and structure, but the structure is invariably hierarchical, causality flows top-down, and the world is divided neatly into cause and effect.
Systematic thinkers understand multi-faceted, multi-linear cause and effect, with mutual cause-and-effect relationships between different elements. The world they perceive is primarily a world of systems and relationships, rather than objects.
Here's the full table:
Shawn Rosenberg's 3-Level Typology
Fundamentals & Application to Politics
Derived from Reason, Ideology and Politics, and Thomas Jordan's "Structures of Geopolitical Reasoning: Outline of a Constructive-Developmental Approach"
I. Fundamentals of Reasoning
Analytical Category
Sequential Reasoning
Linear Reasoning
Systemic Reasoning
Nature of Reasoning
Tracks objects. Reasoning is bound to the world as it appears.
Analyzes sequences of activity.
Juxtaposes relationships among actions and beliefs.
Sense of Causality
Largely absent: Events transpire, without much interpretation of how they come about.
Unidirectional: One factor acts upon another.
Bidirectional: Many factors act reciprocally on each other.
Conceptual Objects
Objects which currently are, or have been observed.
Concrete, observable actions, with concrete objects as subunits.
Relationships between actions and beliefs.
Conceptual Relations
Sequential order of events or a match between similar ones.
Subjectively defined unidirectional relationships.
Abstract, bidirectional relationships interposed between units.
II. Politics
Nature of Politics
Focuses on particular actors and present or very recent events
Considers causal relations and organizational structure, in unidirectional fashion.
Sees politics as regulated by collective rules, norms and expectations..
View of Political System
Concrete interactions. No sense of durable relationships, or a general context in which concrete events are situated.
Hierarchical structures where control flows from the top downwards.
A complex web of mutual relationships.
Political Players
Observed, concrete objects, each with its particular appearance and place in a sequence of events. No sense of them as subjects.
Subjects-individuals and groups-with internal drives and motivations who are the causes of action, and those targets of action whose activities are other-determined.
Systems of action and belief.
Nature of Political Actions
Specific, concrete, actually-observed speech and action within relatively short sequences of events.
Observable, concrete acts- whether or not actually observed- that occur in an ordered world of cause and effect.
(A) Genreal organizing forces that regulate specific interactive relationships and define the rules governing interrelationships between ideas. (B) Particular interactions and propositions defined with regard to specific acts and general rules involved.
