The Principle of Well-Formed Conscience indicates that people are obligated to inform

themselves about ethical norms, incorporate that knowledge into their daily lives, act
according to that knowledge, and take responsibility for those actions.
a. Importance of well-formed conscience to nursing- conscience-based ethical decision-
making can protect them against feeling guilty. Conscience is also key to integrity,
wholeness, honesty, veracity, and professional commitment.
b. Conscience - represents both the more general ability we have as human beings to
know what is good and right and the concrete judgments we make in particular
situations concerning what we should do or what we have already done
- Subjective norm of morality
- Maybe erratic and prone to miscalculations
- Based on human intellect
- As the judgment of intellect it makes a declaration of:
a. Truth and untruth
b. Goodness and badness
c. Actions he wants to pursue
d. Thoughts he wants to believe
- Maybe affected by:
a. Family
b. Environment
c. School
d. Church
e. Individual’s own biases
- Narrow experience or outlook
- Moral obligations
c. Concept and nature of conscience
- Heterogenous conscience
a. Normative ethics
b. Focused on:
- Laws and obligations
- Commands and prohibitions
c. No room for evaluation of decisions
- “Must do”
- Autonomous conscience
a. Subjective
b. Ignores law
c. Determines right or wrong by itself