Human Conscience
Everyday, we are CONSTANTLY
MAKING MORAL JUDGMENTS
about the acts we are about to do or
acts we have already done
Opinions about Conscience
Frank A. Clark
- American Writer & Cartoonist
“ A man’s conscience,
like a warning line on the
highway, tells him what
he SHOULDN’T DO– but
it DOES NOT KEEP HIM
from doing it.”
Confucius
- Chinese Philosopher
“If you look into your
own HEART, you
find
there, what
is there to fear?”
Albert Einstein
- Icon of Modern Science
“Never do anything
against conscience,
even if the
.”
Mahatma Gandhi
- Advocator of Justice in India
“ The human voice can
never reach the distance
that is covered by the
small voice of
conscience.”
What is Conscience?
(Gaudium et Spes 16)
Natural “calling the person to love
Human and to do what is good
Capacity and to avoid evil.”
Practical interpret and creatively
Moral apply the moral laws TO
Judgment PROTECT basic Human
values
For most Filipinos, conscience is
understood as a kind of “inner voice”
( ) which guides us in
our moral life.
Conscience helps us whether to act or
not to act in a given situation.
“It is a matter between me and my
Conscience.”
- It is simply doing
things “my way”
without considering
the good of others.
- It denies the reality that we are all
Conscience always has a
social dimension
“Conscience is God’s Voice within Us
-We should not identify
our Consciences with
God’s voice.
confined to any
person’s conscience
because we know
that our conscience can
sometimes be in error.
Conscience is our Feeling of Guilt
-We should not equate
our guilty feelings with
conscience itself.
- By doing so, we
reduce “conscience”
to a “feeling”
The notion that media’s depiction of
CONSCIENCE AS AN EXTERNAL REALITY
is essentially
inaccurate
The image created by
media will not even
come close to the true
meaning of conscience.
Reducing conscience to SIMPLY AN ACT OF PERSONAL
DELIBERATION without any reference to any objective moral
standard.
St. Augustine on Conscience
St. Augustine
- Eagle of Hippo
“Our lives improve only
when we take chances–
and the first and most
difficult risk we can take
.”
Different Kinds of Conscience
Antecedent and Consequent Conscience
Right Conscience
Right- judge what is
really good as good
and evil what is
really evil.
PRINCIPLE
LAWFUL
OBJECTIVELY RIGHT
False or Erroneous Conscience
When it DECIDES FROM
FALSE PRINCIPLES
considered as true that
something is unlawful.
SCRUPULOUS conscience
PERPLEXED conscience
LAX conscience
PHARISAICAL conscience
SCRUPULOUS conscience
This conscience is a
result of a stubborn
character.
PERPLEXED conscience
Judges wrongly that sin is committed
both in the performance or omission of
an act. One fears that sin is committed
whether it was actually done or not.
LAX conscience
Conscience that tends to follow the easy
way and to find excuses for mistakes
PHARISAICAL conscience
Minimizes grave sins but maximizes
small ones.
Certain Conscience
Subjective assurance
of the lawfulness
or unlawfulness of
certain actions to
be done or to be
admitted.
Doubtful Conscience
Suspends
judgment on the
lawfulness of an
action and
therefore
( it is possible) the
action should be
omitted.
Christian Conscience
judges moral good
and evil ultimately
according to
Jesus Christ’s life and
teachings.
In this lesson, I learned that…
