2. Various notions of Conscience
• Feeling of guilt, worry, dissatisfaction, restlessness
or a feeling of “hiya” when they do something
wrong.
• Sincerity: to be “true to one’s self”: “I can do
anything as long as it does not hurt anybody”
• What “authorities” tell them to do: the laws of
the government, the Church, the parents, the
“barkada.”
3. Conscience - has the final say in making
moral decisions. It helps a person make the
final judgment on how to act in a given
situation.
Along with LAW, which is the objective
norm of morality, conscience helps a person
determine whether one is doing the right or
the wrong.
4. • It is the inner voice summoning us to love
the good and avoid evil, by applying
objective moral norms to our particular
acts, and thus commanding: “do this, do not
do that”.
5. Conscience is man’s most secret
core, and his sanctuary. There he is
alone w/ God whose voice echoes in
his depths.
6. Conscience is a JUDGEMENT OF REASON
by which the human person recognizes the
moral quality of a concrete act.
THROUGH THE PROCESS OF REASONING,
BASED ON MORAL PRINCIPLES, CONSCIENCE
JUDGES AN ACT AS GOOD OR BAD.
7. Two basic elements of Conscience:
1. Moral judgment that discerns what is
right and wrong.
2. Moral obligation or command to do
good and avoid evil
8. • ANTECEDENT - Conscience which discerns.
(Before the act)
• CONCOMITANT- Conscience in action. “Am I
doing the right thing?” (During the act)
• CONSEQUENT - Conscience which reviews,
evaluates an action which has already been
done. (After the act)
9. LEVELS OF CONSCIENCE
1. INSTINCTIVE LEVEL – Dominated by fear
of punishment & desire for approval or
reward.
• Natural level, normal for children.
10. 2. MORAL / PHILOSOPHICAL –
Operates on the ethical level, that is,
not just on what is commanded by
some “authority” but now from
awareness of the inner good or evil of
an act.
11. 3. CHRISTIAN LEVEL – One’s Christian
Faith illumines, clarifies & deepens
what we perceive as truly worthy of
being a person. It places moral striving
as a personal call to wholeness &
holiness.
12. CONSCIENCE
• SINCERITY • CORRECTNESS
It is not enough to be sincere. It is
important to be correct.
13. Ways by which our Conscience is formed
• Through the natural education agents of
family upbringing
• Our school training
• Parish catechist
• Influence of friends and social contacts
14. Types of Conscience
1. Correct or true Conscience – corresponds to
objective moral values and precept A good and
pure conscience is enlightened by true faith, for
charity proceeds at the same time “from a pure
heart and a good conscience and sincere faith”
15. 2. False or erroneous conscience –
one which mistakenly judges
something as morally good which
is objectively evil
16. Work of Conscience
To judge the good or evil of an act,
by deciding on its three essential aspects:
• the nature or object of the act
• our intention as agents or doers of the act, and
• the circumstances which affect the morality of
the act
