Conscience (Edexcel A-Level Religious Studies): Revision Notes

Conscience

The conscience is simply the term used for attempting to make decisions appropriately according to the situation, based on agape. It is a verb, a doing word, not a noun this means it is something we do rather than something we own.

For Fletcher conscience plays a role in working out what to do. He says "conscience" is a verb and not a noun. when he says conscience 'is not a noun' he means that conscience is not the name of an internal faculty nor is it a sort of internal 'moral compass', which guides people through rules of what is right and wrong.

📝 For example, if you had to decide whether to allow Diane Pretty to be euthanized. The 'noun' view of conscience would mean we would think about what to do as an abstract, perhaps reason about it, or ask for guidance. Whereas the 'verb' view of conscience would mean that we would need to be in the situation and experience the situation. Maybe, you might conclude that it is right to allow her to be euthanized, maybe you will not, but whatever happens, the outcome could not have been known beforehand. What your conscience would have us do is revealed when you live in the world and not through armchair reflexion.

It is a work of moral reasoning rather than just a faculty or an inner voice inside of us, but the reasoning is simply our understanding of what is the most loving thing to do in any situation. It is applied using practical reasoning before the decision is made that takes into account consequences and who the action will affect.

In a loving way the conscience directs an action rather than just being a place of confessions or guilt in your mind. Guilt makes judgements based on a set of fixed rules whereas the conscience uses love to make these rules. This means that it does not just make a judgement on something being bad because it is against a rule of some kind, it is instead a thing that can be used to make a judgement in a situation based on the outcome.

The conscience is not: • Something that guides human action like a moral compass. • A store of reliable rules within a human. • A kind of inner voice with access to divine truth. • An internalised parental value system as Freud would have you believe.

The ability to reason to the extent that Aquinas would have you believe. Argument for Fletcher's understanding of conscience when making moral decisions:

• Fletcher's understanding of conscience is something that is used widely in society. We often have to 'do the right thing based on the situation' for example with social workers decide whether a child should be placed in foster care or in the family home, they make decisions based on good conscience. They need to consider all scenarios thinking about the impact on all people involved, rather than blindly applying the rules.
• It allows for an approach that is flexible and teleological as humans act in good conscience within each specific situation when decisions are made.
• It ensures there is autonomy within all decisions as the conscience is a process not a pre-programmed set of rules grained within a human.

Argument against Fletcher's understanding of conscience when making moral decisions:

• Fletcher's understanding of the conscience points away from humans having universal morals. Yet empirical evidence would indicate that this does exist for example murder being wrong in all cultures and societies.
• The question of whether individuals can ever be wise enough to know the right course of action applies, societies need a fixed way in which to make moral decisions.
• Through this understanding of the conscience Fletcher is only interested in the reasoning for future actions, and pushes to one side the question of conscience looking back and making judgments on actions that we committed in the past.