Conscience is:
One’s best judgment as to what in the circumstances
is the morally right thing to do.
As such, it is not
a feeling. Feelings are not judgments and can be very
misleading.
•
• Nor is it a decision. A decision involves deliberation and is an act of the
will.
Conscience is in the intellect, as the word
indicates (con science: from the Latin
‘scire’, to know).
It is a judgment, but also one’s best
judgment, not about what is expedient, or
what will create the conditions that will
maximize my comfort level. Rather, it is
one’s best judgment on what is the
morally right thing to do.
Character
Moral: from the Latin mores: character. Moral Identity: the kind of
person one is or has made oneself to be.
Morality is not about choices that promise to bring about
an external state of affairs most conducive to the quality
of life one desires for oneself or others.
Rather, it is about the making of character.
We determine our character, our moral identity, by the
free choices that we make, and our very destiny is
determined by the kind of persons we’ve made ourselves
to be.
Your character is more intimately yours than anything else
you may have.
Character vs. Personality
Character is not the same as personality.
You can have a great personality, but
depraved character, like serial killer Ted
Bundy on the left.
You can also have a grumpy, or bland
personality, but saintly character.
Much of our personality is determined,
either inherited or environmental.
But character is entirely ours.
Choice
(the relationship between what I choose and what I am)
doing & being
I choose to lie
I become a liar
(even a nice liar)
I choose to steal
I become a thief
(even a nice thief)
I choose to kill
I become a killer
(even a nice killer)
I choose to gossip
I become a gossip
(yes, even a nice gossip)
Man is an artist who sculpts his
own moral identity, the kind of
person he is or is becoming. By
my own choice, I become either a
good person, orientated towards
God, who is the Supreme Good,
or an evil person, disorientated
with respect to the Supreme
Good.
Prudence
Conscience: Another word for prudence (the mother
of the virtues).
•
the virtue which rightly directs particular human acts
toward a good end.
It is the application of general or universal principles to particular situations.
Because that is the case, one must know the most general principles of the
natural moral law.
Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but
which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to
avoid evil, tells him inwardly at the right moment: do this, shun that. For man has in
his heart a law inscribed by God. His dignity lies in observing this law and by it he will
be judged. His conscience is man's most secret core, and his sanctuary .... Through
loyalty to conscience, Christians are joined to other men in the search for truth and for
the right solution to so many moral problems which arise both in the life of individuals
and from social relationships. Gaudium et Spes 16
Law
Civil law
There are
different
kinds of
law
Natural law
Canon law
Divine law
Law
Civil law
Civil law is founded
upon natural law
Natural law
Natural law
is a
participation
in divine law,
but is
naturally
known
Church law is rooted in an
Canon law understanding of divine law
and the historical situation
of the Church.
Divine law
Divine Law
Divine Law is that which is enacted by God and made known to
man through revelation. We distinguish between the Old Law,
contained in the Pentateuch, and the New Law, which was
revealed by Jesus Christ and is contained in the New Testament.
Canon Law
Canon law (Church law) is the body of laws and regulations
made by or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the
government of the Christian organization and its members.
It comes from Christ, who
said to Peter: “Receive the
keys of the kingdom of
heaven: what you bind on
earth is bound in heaven,
what you loose on earth is
loosed in heaven” (Mt 16, 18)
Civil Law
Civil law: man made law. Can be just or unjust, depending
upon how it squares with natural law. I.e., one must be 18 in
order to vote, 19 in order to drink, one must drive on the
right side of the road, etc.
Natural Law
Cicero writes of the natural law: “Natural
law is right reason in agreement with
Nature...it is of universal application,
unchanging and everlasting.... we need not
look outside ourselves for an expounder or
interpreter of it. And there will not be
different laws at Rome and at Athens, or
different laws now and in the future, but one
eternal and unchangeable law will be valid
for all nations and for all times, and there
will be one master and one rule, that is, God,
over us all, for He is the author of this law, its
promulgator, and its enforcing judge.”
Civil and Natural Law
Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in his Letter from the
Birmingham Jail: “Now what is the difference
between the two? How does one determine when a law
is just or unjust? A just law is a man-made code that
squares with the moral law or the law of God. An
unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the
moral law. To put it in the terms of Saint Thomas
Aquinas, an unjust law is a human law that is not
rooted in eternal and natural law. Any law that uplifts
human personality is just. Any law that degrades
human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes
are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and
damages the personality. It gives the segregator a false
sense of superiority, and the segregated a false sense of
inferiority. …”
Prudence (conscience) is the application of general or universal principles
to particular situations. Because that is the case, one must know the most
general principles of the natural moral law.
General Conscience
A natural understanding of the basic and most general precepts
of Natural Law.
Good is to be done, evil is to be avoided.
We have a natural understanding because we have a natural
knowledge of the good and a rational ability to draw out their basic
implications.
Human Goods
Natural Inclinations
Human Life – a natural inclination to
preserve it and/or beget it. We see it as good.
Knowledge
We desire to know, to
contemplate. Man
has a natural sense of
wonder. Human
beings ask questions,
seek answers, wonder
about the causes of
things. Man is a
knower.
Contemplation of the
Beautiful
Beautiful Music
Beautiful Works of Art
Man is inclined to behold the
beautiful. Beauty captivates us,
whether it is beautiful music, a
beautiful sunset, a beautiful
painting, a beautiful face, or a
beautiful life.
Play
Man is a maker. He loves to produce or
make things. He likes to build, to play
(games/sports), to create, to recreate,
simply for its own sake. Making and
play are intrinsically good.
Friendship
We are inclined
to establish
relationships on
the basis of
common qualities
and common
interests.
Marriage/family
Man is inclined to marry, to
give himself completely to
another, to belong to another
exclusively and permanently
in one flesh union that is
open to the begetting of new
life.
The Common Good of the Civil
Community
Man is a social and political
animal. He enters into
relationship not only with
friends, but with the civil
community as a whole.
Integrity
Man is inclined to seek integration within
himself, an integration of the complex
elements of himself, to bring about a more
intense unity within himself, namely 1) an
integration between truth and his acts, 2)
his actions and his character, as well as 3)
his will and his emotions.
Religion
Man aspires after what is
higher than him because he is
aware of his thirst, among
other things. He beholds his
own finitude and the finitude
of creation. He aspires to
what is beyond the temporal
to the eternal.
Society
Family
(others)
God
The Most General Precepts of Natural Law
I have a natural knowledge of the good (life, truth, play,
beauty, friendships, the common good, integrity,
marriage, religion).
I see my life as a good
I see others as another me (I am a human kind of being).
So I naturally know that harming others is bad, contrary to the good.
The Most General Precepts of Natural Law
I know that I am essentially the same kind of being as other human persons (essentially equal)
I naturally know that what I would not like done to me, the other would not like
that same thing being done to him/her. I.e., deceived, alienated, slapped, etc.
I naturally know that I ought not to do to another what I would not want done to me
(golden rule). Or, do unto others what you would have them do unto you.
I also know that I learn, that I have been mistaken
I know that truth is something larger than me
That I am not the measure of what is true and good
Hence, I naturally know that I ought to seek the truth, that is, seek to know what is
truly good, whether my judgments are in accord with the truth or not.
I may choose to ignore this demand for the sake of a more comfortable
existence. If I do so, I know I am responsible for it.
The Most General Precepts of Natural Law
Do not harm others: one ought not to do anything that harms
the common good.
Do not do to others what you yourself would not like done to you.
I ought to seek the truth of what is right and wrong and not make
myself the measure of what is true and good.
• God is to be loved above all things (See Rom 1, 14f).
• One ought to honour one’s parents
• If marriage is good, one ought to revere the marriage bond
• One ought not to do anything that harms the common good.
• One ought not to take what rightfully belongs to another
• One ought not to lie
• One ought not to envy the good of others
• Things must be used, not loved. Persons must be loved, not
used.
Although we know the most general precepts of
natural law, we do not naturally know the more
specific precepts of natural law and how they
apply in concrete situations.
This involves effort, study, human reason,
experience, foresight, and understanding of
human nature, a more intense study of natural
law, etc.
Conscience must be formed.
The search for truth ... must be carried out in a manner that is appropriate to
the dignity of the human person and his social nature, namely, by free
inquiry with the help of teaching or instruction, communication and
dialogue. It is by these means that men share with each other the truth they
have discovered, or think they have discovered, in such a way that they help
one another in the search for truth ... It is through his conscience that man
sees and recognizes the demands of the divine law. He is bound to follow this
conscience faithfully in all his activity so that he may come to God, who is
his last end. Therefore he must not be forced to act contrary to his
conscience. Dignitatis Humanae 3
Erroneous Conscience
Since conscience is one’s best judgment about what is the morally
right thing to do, here and now, one is obligated to follow it, even
if it is erroneous.
One’s conscience may be erroneous through no fault of one’s own.
I.e., “I did not know In Vitro was wrong. No one told me, and I
thought I had a duty to have children. I saw that as the only option
and thought it would be sinful not to pursue it.”
Or
It may be erroneous through neglect, a free decision not to pursue
the truth, for fear of what one may discover.
Formation of Conscience
A Catholic conscience is formed by
• the study of Scripture (interpreted by the Church)
• Tradition (the teachings of the great doctors of the Church, the
Fathers, the lives of the saints)
• the teachings of the Magisterium (Church councils,
encyclicals, etc).
• the study of natural law
However, in forming their consciences the faithful must pay
careful attention to the sacred and certain teaching of the
Church. For the Catholic Church is by the will of Christ the
teacher of truth. It is her duty to proclaim and teach with
authority the truth which is Christ and, at the same time, to
declare and confirm by her authority the principles of the
moral order which spring from human nature itself. Dignitatis
Humanae 14