The document discusses the concept of conscience, highlighting its role as a capacity to recognize right and wrong, a process of moral reasoning, and as judgment guiding moral actions. It emphasizes the importance of educating and forming one's conscience through community and lifelong learning, as well as the influence of developmental psychology on moral growth. Various theories of conscience are presented, illustrating different approaches to moral decision-making.

1. The Conscience and
its Theories
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Presented by Samra

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When people develop a mature conscience they tend to
direct their actions more from within, rather than an
outside influence.
Commands of the moral conscience come from our
perception which we discover in the stories/examples of
persons we want to be like.
Moral conscience is the key to responsible freedom 
The task of the conscience is to direct our activities

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Conscience can be described in 3 ways
Conscience as a capacity to recognize right and
wrong.
Conscience as a process of moral reasoning.
Conscience as Judgment.

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Conscience as a capacity to recognize right
and wrong
Here conscience is a capacity (ability) of the
human person. According to the Church all men
and women have the ability to discover the one
law that was placed deep within our conscience by
God Himself. This Law was not devised by humans,
it was inscribed there by God and He calls us to
love by doing good and avoiding evil. This is
otherwise known as natural law. Through our
conscience this law is made known

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A man or woman’s dignity lies in observing this
law, and by it he/she will be judged. All people
in all cultures have a general awareness that
some things are right and others are wrong and
they have the capacity to orient themselves
toward the good. Conscience as a capacity
defines the essential identity of the human
being.

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Conscience as a process of moral
reasoning
It is not enough to have a conscience or ability to
choose the right and avoid evil. You need to
search out in each situation what is the right
thing to do. To act according to your conscience,
you must seek to be educated about moral
issues.

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Your conscience must be formed and informed.
This is a lifelong process of learning. It means
relying on community and being humble enough
to draw upon many sources of moral wisdom
rather than relying on

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Conscience as judgment
Your conscience is incomplete until you act on it.
After examining all the factors, you still need to
make a judgment and a decision and a
commitment to do what you believe is right and
avoid what you believe to be wrong.
.

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Conscience makes a moral decision “my own” and
the moral action expressive of “me” by realizing
and expressing my fundamental stance. The
decision is not simply about this or that object of
choice, but also about being this or that sort of
person. This is the conscience that I must obey to
be true to myself. Your choices convey who you are.

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The development of Conscience and
Morality
One of the branches of psychology –
developmental psychology – studies the pattern of
growth of the human personality and identity. This
is important to the development of conscience
because developmental psychology shows how
over a lifetime, our personal choices can either
mature or decline depending on how we respond
to the different challenges of life.

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Today most psychologists affirm the significant role that
both cognitive development and socialization play in the
formation of morality. Each stage of life takes place as a
result of socialization by parents, teachers and influential
members of society. These people model moral behavior,
they give opportunities to recognize and practice moral
action, and they encourage us to take into consideration
the viewpoints of others and to develop the skills needed
to reason. As we grow older we begin to accept
responsibility for our own actions.

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Theories of Conscience
The Hunch Theory
Doing What Comes Naturally Theory
The Little Voice Theory
Follow the Crowd Theory
The Feeling Theory
No Conscience Theory
Using Your Head Theory

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THE "HUNCH THEORY“
When asked whether a certain action or decision is
right or wrong, many people respond: I just know it
is or something just tells me it is. However, when
asked the reasons, they can't be specific.

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"DOING WHAT COMES NATURALLY“
THEORY Some believe we are born with a certain
moral instinct that tells them right from wrong.
Therefore, if people just did what came naturally
by instinct they would be doing the right thing
according to their conscience.

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"THE LITTLE VOICE " THEORY
A voice inside telling right or wrong. To them it is
the voice of a force or a power other than
themselves who gives guidance.

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"FOLLOW THE CROWD" THEORY
This group believe the majority can't be wrong. If
enough people think or feel that something is right
then it must be, or wrong- it has to be so.

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"THE FEELING " THEORY
Conscience for some is a matter of how one "feels"
after the action is taken or a decision is made. If
you feel good - it was right, if you feel bad - it was
wrong. If a person feels bad, or guilty, then it was
wrong.

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"NO CONSCIENCE" THEORY
No conscience at all. The idea is something that
religions have made up to make people feel guilty
about certain actions. A person just does what
they decide to do or does what they must in a
given situation and that is all that should be
expected or required of anyone.

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"USING YOUR HEAD" THEORY
Conscience involves using our head - our ability to
reason, considering all alternatives and aspects of
a given situation while always keeping in mind
which values and priorities are most important and
which are not; and trying to do the most loving
and least harmful thing for all concerned. Number
7 is the teaching of the Catholic church. We also
believe that a person's conscience develops as that
individual's ability to think, to reflect and to
exercise clearer, more objective judgment matures

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THANK YOU