Previous findings indicating a relationship between moral reasoning and political orientation have been interpreted in cognitive-developmental terms as reflecting the influence of the level of moral maturity on political attitudes. The present study investigates the alternative possibility that individual differences in adult moral reasoning reflect differences in content of politico-moral idealogy. Students, denning themselves politically as left wing, moderate, or right wing, completed a measure of moral reasoning (Rest's, 1975, Defining Issues Test), once from their own perspective and once from the point of view of either a conservative or a radical. Leftwingers achieved significantly higher scores on principled moral reasoning than did the other two groups. However, both right-wing and moderate students significantly increased their principled-reasoning scores if they responded as a radical. Results support the view that variations in adult moral reasoning are a function of political position rather than developmental status.Relationships between political attitudes and moral reasoning have been reported in a number of investigations (e.g.,