Conscience Overview

Definition of Conscience

1.  One's inmost thought, one's mind or heart. 

2. (An) inward knowledge or consciousness; (an) internal conviction; mental recognition or acknowledgement (of). 

3. Reasonableness, understanding. rare (Shakes.).

4. A moral sense of right or wrong; a sense of responsibility felt for private or public actions, motives, etc.; the faculty or principle that leads to the approval of right thought or action and condemnation of wrong. 

5 Conscientious observance of, regard to.

6 Practice of or conformity to what is considered right; conscientiousness. arch. 

7 Sense of guilt with regard to a thought or action; scruple, compunction, remorse. 

The Play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King. - Hamlet, Act 2 Scene 2

In this famous line from Hamlet, the Prince is hoping that a play he has planned with a group of travelling actors will have an effect on his Uncle, Claudius. He suspects Claudius of having murdered his father the King, and of taking the throne (and Queen Gertrude, his Mother) for himself. Hamlet hopes that the play (which features similar circumstances) will “tweak” Claudius’s conscience, and force him to betray himself as a murderer.

Tom and Jerry

In a famous edition of the Cartoon Tom and Jerry, the cat deliberates over a moral problem that he encounters. As he does, an angel-Tom appears on one shoulder, and a devil-Tom appears on the other. The devil suggests one course of action, while the angel supports a more virtuous approach.

Jerry Maguire (played by Tom Cruise in a film of the same name)  is a successful, high-profile sports agent who, at age 35, develops a conscience about the way he does business, about the way he steamrolls athletes in pursuit of the almighty dollar. Jerry's life was at its peak. He was one of the best in his line, he was making a mint representing some of the best athletes in the country, and he was engaged to marry the beautiful Avery Bishop. But a midnight epiphany leads to a crisis of faith, and he drafts a "mission statement" for his company promoting

more idealism and genuine concern for people -- and less profit. It sounds inspiring, yes, but it displeases the big wallets upstairs, so Jerry is fired by smarmy agent Bob Sugar and loses nearly every client on his roster.

In the Carlo Collodi story Pinocchio, a cricket warns that the wooden puppet will come to no good through his bad behaviour. Pinocchio crushes the Cricket with his foot – the Cricket returns as a ghost and acts as a moral adviser. The Cricket was immortalised in Disney’s version of the story.

Most people think of the Conscience as being some sense of right and wrong. It does not always play a part in moral decision making, but often acts as a reminder of the times when an individual did not “do the right thing”. Some people talk of being haunted by a “guilty conscience”.

By 'conscience' is meant the sense of right and wrong in an individual; described variously by philosophers as a reflection of the voice of God, as a human faculty, as the voice of reason, or as a special moral sense. - (excerpted from the Oxford Companion to Philosophy)

1. Conscience as the voice of God.

St Augustine of Hippo and John Henry Newman both thought that Conscience was the voice of God, speaking within the individual.

2. Conscience as a Human Faculty.

There is a debate raging over whether a person’s moral sense is the result of “Nurture” or “Nature”. At a popular level, this debate is being played out on TV Screens whenever a murder is committed, or when Public sensibilities are offended by some individual’s behaviour. On a more profound level, psychological and sociological research has examined the way that the conscience is developed, and how this development takes palce.

3. Conscience as the Voice of Reason.

Some people regard morally “good” behaviour as the most sensible or practical answer to a moral dilemma. They would argue that the “best” course of action is “common sense”, and regard the use of conscience as the process by which this decision making takes place. Religious philosophers have argued that “Reason” is a gift from God, and God intended it to be used for moral decision making.

4. Conscience as a Special Moral Sense.

Some people have argued that we have a “moral sense” in the same way that we have aesthetic tastes. A moral sense could then be trained, ignored or even perverted. The sense is based on something instinctive.

Conscience – background notes

Ethicists distinguish between two ways in which the conscience works:

• Judicial Conscience - This is the process by which we judge past actions. This is the sort of thing done when a person goes to Confession (usually in a Roman Catholic Church).
• Legislative Conscience - This is the process by which we decide on future actions. This is the sort of thing done when a person decides on what course of action or behaviour would be the most appropriate.

The Bible makes no reference to the word “Conscience”. However, the Bible does refer to the processes of conscience, and intellectual moral judgement. The New Testament implies that the ability to evaluate actions in a moral context, and to act accordingly, is an integral part of Human Nature – a person neglects their conscience at their own peril.

Synderesis and Conscientia

Synderesis and the Bible

The term synderesis first appears in the Book of Wisdom of Solomon (a Book in the Apocrphya):

Wisdom 17:11 (RSV) - For wickedness is a cowardly thing, condemned by its own testimony; distressed by conscience, it has always exaggerated the difficulties. The Greek Apocrypha uses the word suneidhsei - here it is translated as conscience.

St Paul makes repeated use of the word, referring to his sense of moral right, and the way that knowledge of having done wrong can be used in self-judgement.

Romans 9:1 (RSV) - I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit.

In Greek, the word conscience is given as suneidereos – again translated as conscience.

According to the Thayer and Smith Greek Lexicon, Suneidesis is translated as:

• the consciousness of anything
• the soul as distinguishing between what is morally good and bad, prompting to do the former and shun the latter, commending one, condemning the other the conscience

The term Synderesis first appears in a passage by St Jerome (AD347-420), in which he describes a vision found in the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel. Jerome was heavily influenced by the philosophy of Aristotle and Plato (which had recently been reintroduced into Europe).

“This the Greeks call synderesis, which spark of conscience was not extinguished from the breast of Adam when he was driven from Paradise. Through it, when overcome by pleasures or by anger, or even as sometimes deceived by a similitude of reason, we feel that we sin; ... and this in the scriptures is sometimes called spirit.... And yet we perceive that the conscience (conscientia) is itself also thrown aside and driven from its place by some who have no shame or modesty in their faults.”  - Jerome, (Ezech., I, Bk. I, ch. 1) - quoted in the Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy

Following Jerome, the early Christian writers came to make the following distinctions between Synderesis and Conscientia:

• Synderesis - The ability to judge or work for the right.
• Conscientia - The attitude a person takes towards good or evil activity.

Augustine of Hippo (AD334 – 430) sees the conscience as the God-given faculty to observe the Law. He writes about the way that the sense of moral right and wrong is “so taught by an inward teaching”, and the laws are preserved independently of humans.

“Where, then, are they written, unless in the book of that Light which is called Truth?” - De Trinitate Book 14, chapter 15; 21

All the early Christian writings on Synderesis concentrated on the idea that Conscience is the Voice of God (c.f. John Henry Newman – see notes on the Moral Argument for the Existence of God)

Thomas Aquinas (1224 – 1274)

Whereas the Early Church Fathers tended to think of the Conscience as the Voice of God, Aquinas nothing more than the rational mind making moral decisions.

Thus, Synderesis is the basic and practical use of human reason, pointing out the right course of action. It is an intellectual activity.

"By conscience the knowledge given through synteresis is applied to particular actions". - "De Verit.", Q. xvii, a. 2.;

Aquinas argued that there is a “Synderesis Rule” – Do Good and Avoid Evil. The conscience is binding – it is wrong to disobey the dictates of your conscience. This applies, even if the conscience makes a mistake.

• If your conscience (after proper reflection) tells you that a particular action is wrong (even if the Church should say otherwise) it would be wrong to carry out that action.
• In the same way, if your conscience tells you that you must do something which the Church forbids, you would commit a sin if you failed to obey your conscience.

While this might seem a recipe for anarchy, Aquinas believed that the conscience derives its authority from God. Only an erring conscience would demand that a Christian should defy the authority of the Church.

Aquinas believed that wrongdoing came from ignorance, or from ignoring the dictates of the conscience. Where a person knows what they should be doing, but fails to do so, is doing wrong.

This failure can be due to a failure to develop those virtues that enable a person to make appropriate judgements based on an evaluation of the situation and careful reflection.