Charles Darwin thought that any animal endowed with well-marked social instincts would inevitably acquire a moral sense or conscience, as its intellectual powers approximated mans. Darwin considered that conscience evolved in humans to resolve conflicts between competing natural impulses, some concerning self-preservation while others concerning safety of family or community. To him the claim of conscience to moral authority emerged from the greater duration of impression of social instincts in the struggle for survival. In as much, behavior destructive to a persons society either to its structures or to the persons it comprises is bad or evil . The Secular approach to conscience includes the close observation of the psychological, physiological, sociological, humanitarian and authoritarian aspects. Sigmund Freud regarded conscience as originating psychologically from the growth of civilization, which periodically frustrated the external expression of aggression. This destructive impulse being forced to seek an alternative, healthy outlet, directed its energy as a superego against the persons own ego or selfishness often taking its cue in this regard from parents during childhood. According to Freud, the consequence of not obeying our conscience is guilt, which can be a factor in the development of neurosis; Freud claimed that both the cultural and individual super-ego set up strict ideal demands with regard to the moral aspects of certain decisions, disobedience to which provokes a “ fear of conscience “. In the literary traditions of the Upanishads, Brahma Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita, human conscience is the label given to attributes composing knowledge about virtues and vices, but also good and evil, that a soul acquires from the completion of acts and consequent accretion of Karma over many lifetimes. Thus, morally right action characterized as humbly and compassionately performing the primary duty of good to others without expectation of material or spiritual reward, helps purify the heart and provide mental tranquility, but it alone does not give us direct perception of the Reality . This knowledge requires discrimination between the eternal and non-eternal and eventually a realization in contemplation that the true self merges in a universe of pure consciousness. The Islamic concept of Taqwa is closely related to human conscience. In the Qur’ān’s Taqwa, Chapter 2, Verse 197 & Chapter 22, Verse 37, we learn of the correct and right conduct or piety , the guarding of oneself or guarding against evil . The Qur’ān continues in Chapter 47, Verse 17 when it says that God is the ultimate source of the believers taqwā which is not simply the product of individual will, but requires inspiration from God. Here, we learn that God the Almighty talks about how He has perfected the human soul, the conscience, and has taught it the wrong ( fujūr ) and right ( taqwā ). Hence, the awareness of vice and virtue is inherent in the soul, allowing it to be tested fairly in the life of this world and tried and/or held accountable on the day of judgment for responsibilities to God and all humans. Catholic theology sees conscience as the last practical judgment of reason which at the appropriate moment enjoins [a person] to do good and to avoid evil . Thus, conscience is not like the will, nor a habit like prudence, but the interior space in which we can listen to and hear the truth, the good, the voice of God. It is the inner place of our relationship with Him, who speaks to our heart and helps us to discern, to understand the path we ought to take, and once the decision is made, to move forward, to remain faithful. In terms of logic, conscience can be viewed as the practical conclusion of a moral syllogism whose major premise is an objective norm and whose minor premise is a particular case or situation to which the norm is applied. Thus, Catholics are taught to carefully educate themselves as to revealed norms and norms derived therefrom, so as to form a correct conscience. Catholics are also to examine their conscience daily and with special care before confession. In the Protestant Christian tradition, conscience is seen as a battleground. The enemies who rise up in conscience against God’s kingdom and hinder His decrees prove that Gods throne is not firmly established therein. Thus, most Protestant Christians regard following ones conscience as important as, or even more important than, obeying human authority. Personally, I believe Dworkin put it best when he said freedom of conscience presupposes a personal responsibility of reflection, and it loses much of its meaning when that responsibility is ignored. A good life need not be an especially reflective one; most of the best lives are just lived rather than studied. But there are moments that cry out for self-assertion, when a passive bowing to fate or a mechanical decision out of deference or convenience is treachery, because it forfeits dignity for ease. Are our morals divine in submittal, or are they merely a natural spawn in the quest for the human community to survive??? Each individual must answer this question for him or herself. atheism.about/od/atheismatheistsmorals/a/EvolutionMorals.htm
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 23:18:38 +0000
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