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The importance of conscience
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Conscience
Decisions that add or take away from their love for God, love of self, or love of neighbour is the job of every conscience. All people are faced with moral and immoral choices in every day life. What helps solve ones problem is their conscience. There are three things that help one develop their conscience. They are the teachings of the magisterium, tradition and scripture.
The Magisterium. The Catholic faith tells one that if one follows the Church’s teachings on moral issues, one will become a more loving and Christ- like person. A Catholic has a responsibility to pay attention to what the church teaches and take into consideration how this will affect our relationships with God. When one solves a problem through magisterium, one must solve this problem with humility. This means that one can admit that they need help, and turn to the Catechism of the Catholic Church to help solve the problem. When one does this, it is difficult to admit to God and the Church that one needs help.
Scripture. Another teaching that helps develop a person’s conscience is scripture. Scripture is the teachings of God and Jesus in the bible. Scripture helps to solve problems because it reminds one of the moral problems Jesus faced. The teachings of scripture have set guidelines on how a person may solve a problem. This helps one to analyze their own problems and relate them to the teachings of Jesus, God and the bible. The Scripture teaches one what to do in a Christ- like way.
Tradition. Tradition is the third thing that helps one develop their conscience. Tradition sometimes makes it difficult for a person to solve a problem through magisterium and scripture. Tradition is the way the world around us is and a person is often influenced by their society. When one is faced with moral dilemma and the decision is based on tradition, it can make us further away from God. These decisions are normally based on family and friends doing the same thing, and one may feel that they should do something, because everyone else is.
Magisterium, Scripture and Tradition are the three important components that we take into consideration when facing a problem. They shape and develop ones conscience.
When you walk down the street you notice millions of different kinds of people. Some with a piercing, some with bunch of friends and some with a book in their hands. What is it that makes people so different from one another? Our personality and our character are not born with us, but they are influenced by our actions and the people around us. When we are young we are around our family and they teach us their tradition, which becomes the building blocks for our personality. However, where do traditions come from and what happens when someone fails to follow the traditions? Questions like these have no definite answers but different point of views. Shakespeare for example shares his point of view about traditions in his two famous plays “Romeo and Juliet” and “Much Ado about Nothing.”
The call of conscience is continuous and it “summons” people to the challenge of assuming the ethical responsibility of affirming their freedom through resolute choice. For instance, people can structure and live their existence in a meaningful and moral way (Hyde, 2006, p. 39). Call of conscience is a driving force that pushes people to do what is morally right not only for them, but for others as well. Furthermore, call of conscience is a call of Being, “the call of Being demands courage from those who remain open to it and, in doing so, stand ready to acknowledge how their ways of thinking and acting may not be as authentic and respectful as they could possibly be” (Hyde, 2006, p. 51). A call of conscience persuades someone to do the right thing no matter what, even if a person helping someone else has the potential of having negative percussions for doing
moral decisions, we will be analyzing why this scenario poses a dilemma, possible actions that
Spirit), the nature of man and the need for salvation, and sin and the means of atonement.
US Catholic Church. Catechism of the Catholic Church. Complete Edition ed. N.p.: US. Catholic Church, n.d. Print.
For many cultures, tradition is the basis of their history. One example of this is the Hawaiian culture whose history was destroyed when they were forced to stop their ancient dances which told stories of their past. Adversely, tradition has played negative roles in society as well with the battle between the Muslims and Christians in many middle-eastern countries. Tradition plays many roles in today's society. Our goal should be to grasp the idea of what they really mean.
Religions play a crucial role in impacting how adherents live their lives and their understanding of humanities enduring questions of life. Religion is an active system of faith. Christianity is a religion centred on the teachings of Jesus Christ and the bible. A living tradition is one that is active amongst followers in present society. Whereas a dynamic tradition is capable of adapting and amending in order to meet the needs of society. Christianity is formed as a living and dynamic tradition, which is defined by its distinct characteristics. Characteristics include, sacred texts and writings, rituals and ceremonies, beliefs and believers and ethics. Ultimately, Christianity is shaped as a living and dynamic tradition through the characteristics of religion’s impacts on adherents.
Forming a good conscience relies heavily, first and foremost on the virtue of prudence. The virtue of prudence is the practice of discerning the good in all circumstances, and choosing the right means of accomplishing it (CCC, 1806). By using our consciences and the virtue of prudence, one can determine what the best outcome of a situation is and strive toward that. In the political world this entails voting for candidates yo...
Ethics are influence from many demographics which include family influences, peer influences, past experiences, religion, and situations. People decide whether something is ethical and whether or not it is right or wrong based on these influences. Individuals decide whether something is ethical or unethical based on family influences because people absorb about the ethical status or something family members based on how our families act. Also individuals also conduct their decisions based on peer influences because classmates and friends that surround us, usually impact a person’s believes on what is right or wrong overtime. Furthermore, people also resolve to their decisions on whether something is right or wrong established on past experiences because they predict their benefits on demographics that had happened to them in the past. Additionally, people select some decisions based on religion because a person’s religious beliefs will usually inspire he or she on what is right or wrong. Finally, another way people base their ethical decisions is based on the situations they are in because people sometimes change their beliefs depending on the circumstances they are in.
Today I will be interviewing Baumeister, Gilligan, and Piaget who are some of the most influential psychologists in the field of moral development. I will be interviewing these three so and I have three critical questions in the field of moral development that I would like each to answer. I will then conclude with a brief summary of the similarities and differences between the psychologists I have interviewed.
Is morality relative? Ruth Benedict and James Rachels have opposing views on this conroversial question. Benedict, "a foremost American anthropologist who taught at Columbia University" (Pojman 370) believes that morality is relative to one's culture and that one's behavior which is deemed moral or immoral is dependent upon cultural norms. Her argument is as such:
No decision procedure – moral decision making is too complicated to have a single criterion for decision
Many philosophers believe that all human action stems from desire or motive or urge or some such thing. On this view, if men ever do the good or the right it is because in some sense they desire to. Perhaps the desire to do the right is sometimes nothing more than the pressures of past societal or parental training, or conceivably it might stem from some sort of social instinct planted deep within us, or more likely it stems from the realization that it is in the long-term interest of the agent. But in any case it is supposed that men do not act independently of some kind of desire. Consider the stark expression of this view from an important ethical theorist, Richard Brandt:
...e to change their own morals or religious beliefs. Religious people answer to a higher power and find their morals help them overcome everyday obstacles that are put in their paths. The path of morality and religiosity seems to have a positive outcome in a person’s life.
During the Late Middle Ages, Christian followers and clergy were becoming increasingly concerned about the corruption of the church. Some had even declared that the dogma was false, however, the church had dealt with similar challenges before. In the 1500’s a new series of attacks on the church’s authority had started to destroy Christianity creating both political and cultural consequences.