Conscience
Christian Ed 10
In Latin…
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The root meaning of conscience is
“with knowledge.”
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Therefore, conscience refers to an
action based on knowledge, or
judgment.
3 Dimensions of
Conscience
Awareness of Right and Wrong - educated
and instructed in moral truths
Discernment - thinking and praying about
what is the right thing to do - inward reflection
Judgment - making the rational and right
choice - may not always be correct but you
learn from mistakes - conscience grows and
becomes further informed
Types of Conscience
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Lax Conscience
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Erroneous Conscience
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When a person does not employ a process of conscientious
decision making – not thinking about the morality of actions that
he/she performs
When a person follows a process of conscientious decision
making but makes a wrong choice.
Informed Conscience
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A conscience that is educated and developed through constant
use and examination
Belief, Truth, & Knowledge
The Challenge of Skepticism
Beliefs
• Beliefs are your map of reality - they are
the lenses through which you perceive
the world.
• your beliefs are the most important
part about you
• beliefs have started wars, bridged
communities, ended slavery, and so
forth
Which centre circle is
bigger?
What do you see?
Beliefs
• We all see things differently - especially
morality
• Senses can deceive us and lead us astray
• Beliefs + Desires = Actions
• Problem: there is such thing as False
Belief
• we want our beliefs to be true - connect us
to reality
• Philosophers have encouraged us to therefore
examine our beliefs
List 5 things that you truly believe
about reality/life/the world etc.
WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?
BUT WHAT IF….?
What if
• The universe was created five minutes
ago? (five minute hypothesis-Bertrand Russell)
• This is all a dream? (Descartes)
Belief Conservation
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principle of inflicting the least damage upon one’s
already held framework of beliefs
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For any proposition, P: If
1.
Taking a certain cognitive stance toward P (for example, believing it,
rejecting it, or withholding judgment) would require rejecting or
doubting a vast number of your current beliefs,
2.
You have no independent positive reason to reject or doubt all those
other beliefs, and
3.
You have no compelling reason to take up that cognitive stance
toward P,
…then it is more rational for you not to take that cognitive stance toward P.
Knowledge
•
•
Knowledge is an attainment concept
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Ex: In basketball we shoot in order to score.
Shooting is the activity; Scoring is the attainment
intended
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In life, we believe in order to know. Believing is the
activity; Knowledge the intended attainment
Knowledge = Properly Justified True Belief
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You cannot know something unless you truly
believe it.
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Belief alone isn’t sufficient for knowledge - you can’t
believe something that is false either.
Truth
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Truth is our anchor in the world.
•
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believing a truth is like hitting the target whereas
a falsehood is like missing the mark
How do we find truth? With Reason.
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Reason connects us to reality and as we will see
there are two different ways of reasoning Empiricism & Rationalism
Relativism
The Philosophy of Relativism claims that all so-called
truth is relative - no absolute truth
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Very seductive because it can often serve as a
very persuasive excuse for very bad behaviour
Skepticism, the foundation of Relativism
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Skepticism is based on the attitude of doubt.
•
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True knowledge is uncertain, therefore there is
no absolute truth.
•
Religions (not God) determine right & wrong
and all concepts of right & wrong are invented
by humans.
•
Better to use inquiry - all questions lead to
discovery.
“Doubt is the vestibule which all must pass,
before they can enter into the temple of truth.”
•
Charles Caleb Colton
Empiricism
• Empiricists believe that all knowledge is
attained through sensory experience.
• (Think – empirical data)
• What is the problem with this idea?
• Things that cannot be experienced by
the senses cannot exist
• Senses can be wrong/mislead us
Rationalism
• Belief is inevitable in human life and it is Rational.
• Rationalists believe that all knowledge is rooted in
reason.
• Rationalist statements are true without the
use of senses. (If A is greater than B, and B
is greater than C, then A is great than C)
• Cause and Effect - (yes remember Aquinas) - rock
hitting window - we don’t see the cause yet we
believe it happened.
Back to: Belief, Knowledge and Truth
• We believe that humans have the ability to form
their conscience according to moral principles of
right and wrong, which will then lead them to
make rational reasonable judgments.
• At the foundation of this is the belief that:
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We are rational beings.
We have the ability to reason.
We have the ability to make decisions freely.
There is such a thing as right and wrong.
We have the ability to know what is right and
wrong.
It is better to do what is right rather than what is
wrong.
Let’s Practice!
A. all knowledge is rooted in
sensory experience.
1. Rationalism ____
2. Skepticism ____
B. all knowledge is rooted in
reason and cause and
effect.
3. Empiricism ____
C. a philosophy of doubt.
4. Moral Relativism ____
D. a philosophy which
claims there is no absolute
truth.
Why does this all matter?
Conscience is formed and
developed based on our beliefs.