Autonomous morality refers to Piaget’s second stage of cognitive-developmental theory of moral development, in which children realize that rules are arbitrary agreements that can be challenged and changed with the consent of the people they govern In this stage, children base moral judgments on the intentions of the wrongdoer and on the amount of damage done. Social rules are viewed as agreements that can be changed. A relatively mature moral perspective, in which rules are viewed as a product of cooperative agreements.