Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

CONSCIENCE (Lat. con-scientia, litera...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 971 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

CONSCIENCE (See also:Lat. See also:con-scientia, literally " knowledge of a thing shared with another See also:person " or " See also:complete knowledge," and derivatively " consciousness in See also:general)  , a philosophical See also:term used both popularly and technically in many different senses for that See also:mental See also:faculty which decides between right and wrong . In popular usage " See also:conscience " is generally understood to give intuitively authoritative decisions as regards the moral quality of single actions; this usage implicitly assumes that every See also:action has an See also:objective or See also:intrinsic goodness or badness, which " See also:con-See also:science " may be said to discern much in the same way as the See also:eye See also:sees or the See also:ear hears . Moralists generally, however, are agreed that in all moral judgments of this See also:character there is an implied reference to moral See also:laws, the validity of which is in some ethical systems the true subject See also:matter of conscience . The See also:part played by conscience in relation to See also:general moral laws and particular cases will vary according to the view taken of the character of the general laws . If, on what is called the " jural theory, these laws are regarded as deriving their authority from an See also:external source, the operation of conscience is so far limited . It may be held to recognize the validity of divine laws, for example; or it may be confined to the deductive See also:process of applying those laws to particular cases, known as " cases of conscience " (see See also:CASUISTRY) . If, on the other See also:hand, the general laws are regarded as intuitive, then the discernment of them may be taken as the true See also:function of conscience . In either theory, conscience may be understood as the active principle in the soul which, in See also:face of two alternatives, tells a See also:man that he ought to select the one which is in conformity with the moral See also:law . Apart from the two functions of discerning between right and wrong, and actively predisposing the See also:agent to moral action, conscience has further a retrospective action whereby remorse falls upon the man who recognizes that he has broken a moral law . See See also:ETHICS; also See also:BUTLER, See also:JOSEPH; and compare the moral sense " See also:doctrine of See also:Shaftesbury . There are certain See also:special uses of the word " conscience." A Conscience clause is the term given to a special See also:provision often inserted in an See also:English See also:act of See also:parliament to enable persons having religious scruples to absent themselves from certain services, or to abstain from certain duties, otherwise prescribed by the act . Conscience See also:money is the name given to a See also:payment voluntarily made by a See also:person who has evaded his obligations, especially in respect of taxes and the like .

This usage derives from the last function of conscience mentioned above . Conscience Courts were See also:

local courts, established by acts of parliament in See also:London and various provincial towns, for the recovery of small debts, usually sums under L5 . They were superseded by See also:county courts (q.v.) .

End of Article: CONSCIENCE (Lat. con-scientia, literally " knowledge of a thing shared with another person " or " complete knowledge," and derivatively " consciousness in general)
[back]
CONSANGUINITY, or KINDRED
[next]
HENDRIK CONSCIENCE (1812-1883)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.