Conscience
By Group 5
Conscience
a.) 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 be good
// She had a guilty Conscience.
b.) a faculty, power, or principle enjoining good acts
//guided by conscience.
c.) the part of the superego in psychoanalysis that transmits commands and
admonitions to the ego.
Types of Conscience
Antecedent conscience- The judgment of a person deciding on a moral matter
prior to acting on it. Antecedent conscience either commands or forbids,
counsels or permits the performance of an act.
Consequent conscience- The judgment of the mind on the morality of an
action already performed. The conscience either approves what has been done,
giving peace to the mind and spiritual joy, or disapproves of what was done,
thus causing remorse and a sense of guilt.
Right/True conscience- The mind making a correct moral judgment on some action either
to be performed or already done. When the conscience is true, a person's subjective
judgment corresponds to the objective fact that a particular human act is morally good or
morally wrong.
Erroneous/False conscience- The judgment of the mind when it wrongly decides that
something is lawful but that in fact is unlawful, or vice versa. The error may be due to
the false principles used or because the mind was darkened or confused in its
reasoning process.
Certain conscience- A state of mind when it has no prudent fear of being wrong
about its judgment on some moral issue and firmly decides that some action is right
or wrong.
Doubtful conscience- A state of mind when it cannot certainly decide for or against a
course of action and leaves the person unsure about the morality of what one is to do,
or what one may have done. One sign of a doubtful conscience is that it gives rise to
a positive judgment with a prudent fear of being wrong, or more commonly to a
negative judgment in which the person does not know whether an act is lawful or not.
Tender conscience- A conscience that forms objectively correct judgments with
comparative ease even in finer distinctions between good and evil.
Lax conscience- An erroneous conscience when the mind decides on insufficient
grounds that a sinful act is permissible or that something gravely wrong is not
serious.
Rules of Conscience
1. "We are obliged to use every care to have a true conscience when faced with
moral decisions." Conscience is the immediate norm of morality by which a
person is to guide his or her whole life and reach eternal destiny. It is imperative
that this norm be suitably trained to meet the variety of circumstances that call
for moral evaluation. Sound knowledge of the divine and ecclesiastical laws i
primary, wise counsel should be readily available, humility of heart and sincere
sorrow are necessary to remove the chief obstacles to a true conscience,
namely pride and unrepentant sin. Frequent prayer is needed to obtain the light
of God's grace.
2.)"We must always act on the command of a certain conscience whether it commands or
forbids some action, not only when it is true but also when it is in invincible error." The words
"commands" and "forbids" need emphasis because if conscience permits or merely counsels
some line of action there is no strict obligation to follow it. It is obvious why a true conscience
must be followed. But even an invincibly erroneous conscience should be obeyed because
failure to do so would mean that a person was acting contrary to the subjective norm of
morality and therefore committing sin. Thus a person who is convinced that he or she ought
to steal or tell lies in order to save a friend from grave danger is bound to do so. The critical
term is "invincible ignorance," which means a lack of knowledge for which the person is not
morally responsible. It would be vincible (removable) ignorance if it could have been removed
by such reasonable care as a prudent and sincere person would use in similar
3.)"It is never permissible to act with a doubtful conscience." Thus an action that
circumstances.
conscience does not definitely pronounce to be sinless must not be performed. The
reason is that one who acts while doubtful whether his or her action is against the law
or not implicitly wills what is sinful. This person says equivalently, "This action may be
offensive to God, but I am going to do it anyway," freely and rashly choosing to act on
an attitude of indifference to the will of God.
Effects of false Conscience
