1. This has been called a strong model of development; see Baltes, Reese, and Lipsitt (1980). Piaget, and later Kohlberg and others, have laid out strong-view criteria for human developmental stages (Kohlberg & Kramer, 1969).
2. The stages in this example may seem at first not to exemplify meaning. However, as Piaget (1954) points out, an infant makes sense of the world largely in terms of his or her own movements and raw sensation (the “sensory-motor stage”).
3. Our main source and inspiration for the neo-Piagetian approach in this paper is Robert Kegan (1982, 1994), whose ideas integrate current ideas in the field about mature adult development. Other compatible frameworks include those of Erikson (1963), Gilligan (1982), Kohlberg and Kramer (1969), Loevinger (1976), and Perry (1970). Basseches (1984) provides a powerful perspective on similar themes which is not based in stage theory and which serves as a needed counterpoint. Torbert (1987) and Boydell, Leary, Megginson, and Pedler (1991) have done much work in applying such ideas to organizational settings.
4. The term meaning in this paper refers to the construal of order by all modes in which people apprehend the world, including social relationships, emotion, logic, the arts, and intuition. We do not limit meaning to only cognitive understanding. The term structures refers to the patterns and connections that tie meaning together at both small scales (for instance, personal stories) and large scales (for instance, cultural ideologies). Thus, the meaning structures of most interest in this paper are developmental epistemologies.
5. Bill Torbert (1991) has been a pioneer in redesigning university business administration programs along experiential lines, with stage development as the explicit goal.
6. We realize that the preceding discussion has emphasized linear progression. This is the conceptual price one pays for using simplifying models.
7. Perry actually distinguishes many substeps within what what is commonly referred to as relativism, including a final stage called committed relativism which does not succumb to the pejorative “every idea is equally valid.” Here we are lumping those into the term relativism for simplicity in the presentation of the idea of the Trojan Horse.
8. Notice from this example that learning can take place alongside of, or in service of, development. Here we are focusing on the evolution of how things are learned, rather than assessing outcomes in terms of learning content.
9. Information on CSID is available from William S. Moore, Ph.D., 1520 14th Ave. SW, Olympia, WA 98502, 206/786-5094.