“Thus conscience does make cowards of us all” – William Shakespeare.
Is it true? Does the conscience actually regulate our behaviour and make us timid and humble as Shakespeare suggests? Does the conscience have the power to make cowards of us? Or would it not be able to prevent us from becoming tyrants? More importantly, does the conscience actually exist?
The Oxford Dictionary defines ‘conscience’ as, “a moral sense of right and wrong especially as felt by a person and affecting behaviour (my conscience won’t allow me to do that) [or] an inner feeling as to the goodness or otherwise of one’s behaviour (my conscience is clear; has a guilty conscience)”
The concept of conscience has had a presence in literature throughout time. We particularly find themes relating to the conscience in classical literature. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, we see a powerful scene where Macbeth is shown struggling and fighting with his conscience whilst he ambitiously considers killing the present King and thus claiming the crown. Eventually, in the inner tussle between the conscience and the ambition, the conscience loses.
The theme of the vocal conscienceness is not just delt with in literature, but is a predominant thesis prevailent in all human thought. In Philosophy, ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle don’t explicitly mention conscience,but their discussions of virtues, practical wisdom, and weakness of will form the backdrop to medieval discussions of conscience. From here on the concept of conscience was developed in philosphy. Later on, the famous eighteenth century philosopher Bishop Joseseph Butler made autonomy of conscience the central concept of his theory on ethics and morality.
In the science of psychology, prominent psychologist Sigmund Frued talks about the development and the role of the conscience in his theory. Other later psychologists also use the concept of conscience in their cognitive and behavioural theories.
The conscience is not tangible and it is a complex idea to which different theorists have presented different ideas. I shall not delve into the details of what these different theorists say about conscience as that would be beyond the scope of this paper. However, since the concept of conscience has significant presence in literature, philosophy, and psychology it would be logical to conclude that the conscience does exist. Taki...
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... go back to the quote where we started from “Thus conscience does make cowards of us all”… the conscience would perhaps make cowards of us all, if it influence over us had substantial strength, however the conscience is weaker than that. It is shocking how easily it loses its voice. Rather than controlling us by making cowards of us, it allows us to degenerate into persecutors. Thus, conscience does make tyrants of us all.
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On May 11th, 1904 a young artist by the name of Salvador Dali was born in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain. An artist who would grow and who works would impact the world. Dali has several museums around the world with his artworks displayed. During my visit to the Dali Museum located in Saint Petersburg, Florida it was an intriguing and informative trip into the artwork of Salvador Dali.
The damp and moist bunkers coupled with vermin scurrying about led to all sorts of diseases running rampant., Some common diseases included Noma and Typhus (“Josef Mengele: The Cruelest Doctor in the Holocaust,” n.d.). The prisoners at Auschwitz worked for a total of 11-12 hours a day (“Auschwitz: The Camp of Death,” n.d.). Long, tedious role calls took up the rest of the time. The authorities fed the prisoners, 3 meals every day at camp. Prisoners with more demanding tasks received 1,700 calories while prisoners with less demanding work received. 1,300 calories (“Auschwitz Birkenau: Living Conditions, Labor, and Executions,” n.d.). This led to many people starving to death in addition to executions, a very common thing at Auschwitz. These would happen every day. Prisoners got executed by getting hung, shot, or gassed (“Auschwitz Birkenau: Living Conditions, Labor, and Executions,” n.d). For gassing the prisoners, Nazi enforcers would send Jews into large gas chambers. Then, from the outside, soldiers would throw Zyklon B into the chambers (Bohr, Meyer, and Wiegrefe, 2014). This would spread in the gas chamber suffocating the people to death. However, some people had to deal with even worse
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many awards and became very successful in his work as an artist. During his childhood and thereafter, during the Depression, Salvador Dali's artwork and personality were influenced by many different people and entities.