INTRODUCTION

The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines ‘conscience’ as our ‘moral sense of right
and wrong’ especially as felt by a person and affecting behaviour or an inner feeling as
to the goodness or otherwise of one’s behaviour. On the subject of our moral conscience
the philosopher John Fiske observed that ‘We approve of certain actions and disapprove
of certain actions quite instinctively. We shrink from stealing or lying as we shrink from
burning our fingers’.

Conscience is the reason, employed in questions of right and wrong. It is that

within a man which approves or condemns his/her actions, a man that falls easily into
temptation; and every temptation succumbed to means degradation of his best instincts.
It has been said that conscience is a principle. Therefore a man of good conscience is a
man of good principle. There are some whose ideas of right and wrong, justice and
injustice. This principle are not born in a man, but are the result of training and
association. It should be the endeavour of all who are connected in any way with children
to see that good moral ideas are inculcated, and that they are taught to look upon evil
with abhorrence, so that when temptation comes they may not fall, but resist it, and with
every victory strengthen their character until they grow into noble, firm and self-reliant
men.

“Thus conscience does make cowards of us all” – William Shakespeare. Is it true?

Does the conscience actually regulate our behaviour and make us timid and humble as
Shakespeare suggests? Does the conscience have the power to make cowards of us? Or
would it not be able to prevent us from becoming tyrants? More importantly, does the
conscience actually exist? If it influence over us had substantial strength, however the
conscience is weaker than that. It easily to lose its voice. Rather than controlling us by
making cowards of us, it allows us to degenerate into persecutors. Thus, conscience does
make tyrants of us all.

Pope John Paul II tells us that conscience is an “interior dialog of man with himself”
about right and wrong. It “is also a dialog of man with God”: it is “the witness of God
himself” calling him to obey the moral law, and is a person’s “witness of his own
faithfulness or unfaithfulness.” This is the basis of the great dignity of the conscience: it
derives from its witness to objective moral truth. Conscience is awareness of God’s call
to know and to do good. Conscience is a basic awareness of good and evil. “Always
summoning him to do good and avoid evil, the voice of conscience can when necessary
speak to his heart more specifically: ‘do this, shun that’ (John)

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I. CONSCIENCE IS THE VOICE OF GOD

Most people would agree that conscience is the reasoned voice inside us that
guides and tells us what we should and shouldn’t do. However people’s views on the
origins of conscience can differ a lot; whether people belief if it’s Gods doing or whether
it’s innate or even whether it is acquired. Ultimately, conscience is not the voice of God.
However, John Henry Newman believed that conscience was the voice of God, and that
following the suggestions of your conscience gives the same significance as to follow
God’s laws and values. He believed conscience can make mistakes if it not provided with
all necessary information when making decisions.
Thomas Aquinas saw conscience as 'right reason '. For him, reason was
fundamental to the moral life and to understanding the differences in the middle of right
and off-base. He did not concur that the conscience was an inner voice telling us what is
right and what is wrong, he believed that it was 'reason making right decisions ' and used
effectively it helps us to understand what God sees as great and right. His belief was that
individuals attempt to do great and avoid evil, called the Synderesis rule. In all situations
our subconscious actions are to do great, then again he said that because of faulty
reasoning of will some individuals perform awful actions thinking that they are great, and
therefore commit sinful acts (for instance a man who commits infidelity). Aquinas said
that conscience, when correctly applied, will also lead us to discover the natural moral
law within human nature. Reason moves from knowledge of very general precepts to
more specific secondary precepts. Developing our conscience is about acquiring, through
repeated actions, for example, an honest person becomes honest through continuously
repeating honest actions as Aquinas believed that practice makes it perfect. Aquinas said
that most people would generally say conscience is separated: moral codes are set by
God and humans work out how to follow them.
Another philosopher who believed that conscience was the voice of God was
Joseph Butler, an Anglican Bishop. For Butler there are two basic principles of human
influence: self-love and benevolence. Conscience is the balancing force of these two
influences; it directs us towards the interests of others and away from ourselves. Like
Aquinas, Butler argued that we have been made in the image of God with the ability to
reason. Conscience is based on moral reason - a component of the conscious mind. It is
innately God-given and gives us the capacity to make our own decisions based on Gods
influence.
Conscience is something that is intrinsic to our regular lives. The origin and part
of the conscience is something that divides individuals and something that has been used
to justify some exceptionally terrible acts, approaches to conscience change, including
numerous religions who claim that it is God given. This is the belief that either at
conception God gave every person a conscience or that it is imparted to us at some stage
to empower us to discern morally right and incorrect actions.

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II. THE MORAL PRINCIPLE OF CONSCIENCE AND WISDOM

Conscience is defined as an inner sensation of what is right or wrong in one’s

conduct or motives, impelling one toward right action. Wisdom is the power to conceive
and act using knowledge, experience, intellect, common sense, and perceptiveness.
Theological Definition
Christians know that humans are created in the image of God. Humans have a
natural sense of right and wrong, an ethical monitor. Not always aware of what is the
truth, a human being may be sincerely following a misguided moral standard. When a
person finds Christ, their conscience is intensified. The reading of scripture and the force
of the Holy Spirit acts as an aid to preparing our conscience. Conscience is all about living
up to God’s standard and allowing our moral conscience to guide us in how we conduct
ourselves. The Bible teaches us that everyone possesses a sense of right and wrong.
God’s standards are written on everyone’s hearts. The Holy Spirit guides the believer to
the knowledge of what is good and wrong. The word of God informs us of the truth that
then enables us to welcome that fact.
Conscience as “the sense or consciousness of the moral goodness or
blameworthiness of one's own conduct, intentions, or character together with a feeling
of obligation to do right or good." A conscience is a vast set of values, stances, and/or
premeditated decisions to hypothetical situations. A person has to address their
conscience when they face a situation they react according to the guideline of beliefs
they have internalized as truth and/or correct at a previous time. This is why the
conscience can change according to outside influences, and one conscience can be better
than another. This is why “A good conscience is the absence of a bad conscience” (Voland
253).

III. CONSCIENCE IS CONTINOUSLY FORMED

Throughout the life of a human being the conscious is being formed; as a child an
individual learns the basic moral rules, such as, “do not steal” and through formal
education they gain the wisdom to abide by certain virtues, rather than their vices. The
Catechism continues by stating, “the conscience must be informed and moral judgement
enlightened. A well-formed upright and truthful.” Without the possession of an informed
conscience human beings are liable to give into their temptations, which are based on
their own judgements, not the judgement of their conscience. The contributing factor to
the formation of the conscience is the involvement of God. It is through the maintenance
of an uninformed conscience that persons believe that as long as the behaviour performed
does not hurt anyone else it is morally acceptable.

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IV. ELEMENTS OF CONSCINCE DESERVE PROTECTION FROM LEGAL
PERSPECTIVE

Conscience is a person's considered and sincere judgment about right and wrong,
and an enlightened constitutional regime would try to protect it from regulation (Steven D.
Smith). ‘Conscience’ is sometimes talked about as if it were just a ‘feeling,’ or ‘sense,’
about what a person thinks is important, or wants to do. I don't think this is quite right.
‘Conscience’ is an intellectual faculty, a kind of capacity, to identify what ought to be done
(because it is good) or what should not be done (because it is wrong). ‘Conscience’ is not
a personal power to define or determine what is right and wrong, but is instead the
capacity to appreciate, to realize, what is actually right and wrong (Richard W. Garnett).
Conscience is the dimension of the intellect that guides an individual to choose truth over
falsehood, right over wrong, good over evil. So as long as it is understood as an aspect
of human choice that is ordered to objective truth—i.e., as more than the modern
understanding of conscience, which is too often “doing what I want to do because I really
want to do it”—conscience deserves the protections provided in the Bill of Rights. Because
of the First Amendment, the American constitution privileges protection of the religious
conscience over other forms. If that is to change, it should be done via democratic means,
not by judicial fiat. (Thomas F. Farr).
According to Marc O. DeGirolami, Conscience is a difficult term to define for legal
purposes, making it an equally complicated affair to know what does and does not
deserve protection. At the very least, we might say that a person who acts from
conscience acts on the basis of some deeply held moral conviction. ‘Morality’ seems
especially important here—the basis for the behavior must be ethically motivated in order
to be described as conscience-based. If it is based in pragmatic judgment, then it is not
conscience-based. The trouble with this description is exactly that it makes our
understanding of what morality is the touchstone of what conscience is. And then there
is the issue of describing the reason that a state ought to defer in some circumstances—
which ones?—to individual claims of conscience.
The first problem is one of meta-ethics—how would one describe the nature of a
‘moral’ objection to, say, mandatory conscription in the army? How we describe the
nature of that objection, and what we feel counts as a conscience objection, is very
difficult. The second problem relates to political philosophy—the issue is why a state
should care about conscience objections. And one might give pragmatic as well as
principles reasons that a state might care.
A person’s conscience can be thought of as an internal moral guide. To say that
someone has a conscience is to say that: (1) the person has deeply held moral beliefs.
(2) The person’s decisions and actions generally are consistent with her deeply held moral
beliefs (Mark R. Wicclair).

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V. AN INDIVIDUAL’S MORAL CONSCIENCE

Righteousness Majority of man’s belief creates laws to govern and protect the
people, but an individual’s own belief can do just as much while staying true to justice.
In the play Antigone by Sophocles, shows the confliction of both an individual and
majority’s moral conscience through the rightness of justice. The citizens of Thebes seeks
justice for their past king, but others respect the law and deny his burial. As time forwards
there are changes, but law is at a standstill and can only change if the majority chooses
to do so. An individual’s moral conscience changes and develops the moment that
individual is born, so the justice they strive for is more modern and thoughtful. The
characters from Antigone try to achieve justice by their own belief or by the law and in
result true justice becomes far from reach. As a king, Creon guides and conducts his
people by the law in order to protect, he would throw human morals away for the greater
good. As a single individual, Antigone thinks by her own belief and creates her own form
of justice. The more they progress towards their justice, the conflict between each other
starts to form because of how their justice diverges from basic justice. For Creon and
Antigone, their justice cannot coincide with each other due to human morals and
relationships will not change this fact. The characters must either fight for the justice
they believe in or give up on trying to do so.

VI. ETHICS, HUMAN CONSCIENCE, MORALS AND

GOODWILL

Ethics, according to philosophers, originated from religion, human conscience,

morals, and good will. Ethics in the work place can be defined as acting in a way that is
consistent with a person’s values and their societies or works values. For example, you
have someone at work help you write the majority of a report. They come up with many
great ideas. When you give this report, you include your co-workers and don’t take all
the credit. So in our report, we’re going to be talking about the importance of ethics in
the workplace, the roles it has, and some possible ethical dilemmas.
Ethics in the workplace is one of the most important parts of a business. Not only
is it teaching what employees what is right and proper, but it also good for the business.
Ethical conduct could provide a good image for the company. Having good ethics in the
workplace can make your work environment more productive and promote more
teamwork. With more productivity and teamwork better decisions will be made for your
company. All this can happen with practicing your ethics in the workplace.
Practicing your ethics in the workplace promotes a good image for your company.
When customers notice you teach your employees what is right and proper they are going
to want to keep coming back to your business. Now your company has a good public

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image. People respect a company that makes ethical choices. Customers like doing
business with an organization that they can trust.

VII.THREE THINGS THAT HELP DEVELOP CONSCIENCE

Magisterium. The Catholic faith tells one that if one follows the Church’s teachings
on moral issues, one will become a more loving and Christ- like person. A Catholic has a
responsibility to pay attention to what the church teaches and take into consideration
how this will affect our relationships with God. When one solves a problem through
magisterium, one must solve this problem with humility. This means that one can admit
that they need help, and turn to the Catechism of the Catholic Church to help solve the
problem. When one does this, it is difficult to admit to God and the Church that one needs
help.
Scripture is the teachings of God and Jesus in the bible. Scripture helps to solve
problems because it reminds one of the moral problems Jesus faced. The teachings of
scripture have set guidelines on how a person may solve a problem. This helps one to
analyze their own problems and relate them to the teachings of Jesus, God and the bible.
The Scripture teaches one what to do in a Christ- like way.
Tradition sometimes makes it difficult for a person to solve a problem through
magisterium and scripture. Tradition is the way the world around us is and a person is
often influenced by their society. When one is faced with moral dilemma and the decision
is based on tradition, it can make us further away from God. These decisions are normally
based on family and friends doing the same thing, and one may feel that they should do
something, because everyone else is.
Magisterium, Scripture and Tradition are the three important components that we
take into consideration when facing a problem. They shape and develop ones conscience.

VIII. CATHOLIC UNDERSTANDING OF CONSCIENCE

Conscience is defined as “the awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to one’s

conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong.” The Catholic view of
conscience involves the freedom of the human person, the teaching authority of the
Church, and the search for truth (trying to make the right moral decision). A judgment of
reason whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act that he
is going to perform, is in the process of performing, or has already performed.”
Conscience is a “judgment of reason” that determines whether an act is right or wrong.
Perception of the principles of morality; Application of the principles to the given
circumstances; Judgment about the concrete act to be performed or already performed;

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The prudent choice of a course of action in conformity with the judgment and Man is
obliged to follow faithfully what he knows to be just and right.

CONCLUSIONS

Conscience is an aspect of a human being's self-awareness that produces the pain

and/or pleasure we "feel" as we reflect on the norms and values we recognize and apply.
Conscience is not an outside voice. Conscience is a critical inner awareness that bears
witness to the norms and values we recognize and apply. The complex of values with
which conscience deals includes not only those we own, but the entire range of values to
which we are exposed during life's journey. Consequently, there is always a sense of
struggle in our reflective process. It is an inward capacity humans possess to critique
themselves because the Creator provided this process as a means of moral restraint for
his creation. The critique conscience exercises related to the value system which a person
develops. The witness of conscience makes its presence known by inducing mental
anguish and feelings of guilt when we violate the values we recognize and apply.
Conscience also provides a sense of pleasure when we reflect on conformity to our value
system. Romans 12:1-2 makes the point that God desires that his creation conform to
divine values by a process of rational renewal. The Scriptures provide the content for this
renewal.
Conscience is used as a tool for constant self-modification and adaption which
plays an important part in human rights and moral obligations. As Catholics, we have an
obligation to form our conscience based on God’s revelation and the teachings of the
Church.
According to Saint Paul, conscience in a certain sense confronts man with the law,
and thus becomes a “witness” for man: a witness of his own faithfulness or unfaithfulness
with regard to the law. Conscience is the means God has given us to make moral
decisions. Our freedom demands that we use it: “When he listens to his conscience, the
prudent man can hear God speaking.” These stresses the personal nature of conscience,
an individual call by God to be a loving person, searching for the moral truth. In our
everyday routine, most of our decisions of conscience are inherent. We then make them
from habit and give them little thought. They result from our already acquired values. A
good habit is an asset that enables us to do good relatively easy. With God’s grace,
conscience can lead someone on the first steps of a spiritual journey that ultimately points
to the completeness of truth found in the Incarnate Word and his Church.

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 Today, we have encounter different perspectives or understanding of human
conscience. Even it differ a lot, it makes them the same in many things. The intentions,
purpose and the foundation where it came – God.
Forming our human conscience is part of our journey. It is important to make a
judgment before doing an action in order to avoid regrets and the feeling of guilt.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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