CONSCIENCE:

Conscience: Salvador Wee, SJ

According to dictionary.com, conscience “is the inner sense of what is right or wrong in one’s conduct or motives,
impelling one toward right action. It is the complex of ethical and moral principles that controls or inhibits the
actions or thoughts of an individual. To have something on one’s conscience is to feel guilty about have done
something wrong.”
The word conscience is derived from three Latin words: cum alia scientia, meaning the application of knowledge to a
specific individual. Conscience is our sense of moral obligation or reasoned judgment which tells us an act is good or
evil. It is a feeling or keen sensibility of what is right or wrong.
Conscience is an authoritative monitor in our lives. It is the impartial spectator of everything that stirs within us.
Some people feel that they are obeying their true selves when they follow their conscience. They act on what they
think is right. Conscience is the final decider in the making of moral decisions.
This moral sense can come from a judgment of reason, a sense of duty or a magisterial dictate. It is not simply a
sense of propriety, self-respect or good taste formed by culture, education and social customs. Conscience is not so
much a rule of right conduct, but an approval of right conduct. It is also related to common sense, good sense or a
sense of honor. Someone who does wrong is bothered, afraid or sorry because his conscience will show disapproval.
A clean conscience brings inward peace.
Conscience is also associated with different feelings of awe, hope or fear. We do not feel shame before an object or
an animal, yet conscience makes us feel emotions of confusion, regret or sorrow over some wrong-doing.
My background and upbringing partly determine my conscience. My conscience is a product of education, and can
be trained to approve or disapprove. It is my duty to inform and educate my conscience through the guidance of an
authority, in order to bring it to maturity.
There are traditional rules governing conscience. It is a moral obligation to develop and have a true conscience, to
do away with a false conscience, and to act under the dictates of a certain conscience. It is never morally lawful to
act under a doubtful conscience.
A conscience is not always correct, because there are different kinds of consciences – right, moral, wrong,
immoral, defective, calloused or amoral. A true conscience presents what is good as good, and what is evil as evil. A
false, subjective or self-serving conscience presents what is good as evil, and what is evil as good or convenient. A
certain conscience is sure something is good and to be done, or what is wrong and to be opposed. A doubtful
conscience is not sure an act is good or an act is evil. An antecedent conscience bothers us before doing something.
A consequent conscience bothers us after doing something.
A moral conscience has two main parts. In relation to past actions, it is said to excuse, accuse, torment or to
cause remorse. Many people refer to this when they speak of guilt. In relation to present or future actions, it is said
to direct, to instigate, to induce, or to bind. Contemporary moralists consider the first as negative, reminding one of
a court case. They are inclined towards the second and more positive idea, because this is the dynamic way to
authenticity.
There is an obligatory force to conscience. The word obligation comes from the Latin words ligare, meaning to
bind, and ligatio, meaning the binding or bond. The ultimate reason for the obligatory force of moral conscience
must be found in an ultimate end or being – God. If there were no God, there would be no moral obligation. We feel
guilty and remorseful when we offend others, just as we have peace of mind and we feel fulfilled when we do what
is right. This is also true in our encounter with God.
The sense of right and wrong coming from a good conscience stays with us no matter where we go. A line from The
Hound of Heaven says, "Who is it that sees in darkness, in the hidden chambers of his heart?" Since this feeling is
not just something ordinary or human, it must be something supernatural or divine. Conscience can be compared to
the religious images of God as supreme governor, judge, holy, just, powerful, all-seeing or retributive. This is why
conscience is said to be the voice of God.
In situation ethics, conscience is only a function, not a faculty. It is merely a word for our attempts to make decisions
in a creative, constructive and fitting manner. Joseph Fletcher says, "Only one general proposition is prescribed,
namely the commandment to love God through the neighbor. For the situationist, everything has meaning only in
the context of love. There are no laws, except the law of love."
Another view holds that the law is the guarantee and enhancement of human freedom. Laws, rules or prescriptions
are external, impersonal and objective, whereas the moral sanctions from one’s conscience are internal, personal
and subjective. The motive to do good comes from a sense of duty, a sense of obligation or a sense of responsibility.

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