Conscience (Leaving Cert Religious Education): Revision Notes
Informed Conscience
What is an informed conscience?
An informed conscience means continuously educating yourself about moral and ethical issues. Rather than making decisions based on gut feeling alone, you actively seek out knowledge and wisdom to guide your moral choices.
St. Catherine of Siena provided a memorable way to understand this concept through her "guard dog" metaphor.
The guard dog metaphor
St. Catherine of Siena's Guard Dog Metaphor
St. Catherine of Siena described an informed conscience as a well-fed guard dog. This metaphor helps us understand how conscience works:
- The guard dog barks and alerts you to potential moral dangers
- It warns you about evil, sin, temptation, wrongdoing, and areas where moral conflict might arise
- Like any guard dog, it must be fed regularly
- If you neglect to feed it (stop informing your conscience), the dog becomes weaker
- Eventually, an unfed conscience stops alerting you to moral dangers entirely
The key message is clear: an informed conscience is a well-fed conscience.
Ways to inform your conscience
There are several important methods for developing an informed conscience:
Listening to others' opinions on ethical matters
Seek advice from people who are themselves well-informed and whom you respect. These individuals can offer valuable perspectives on moral issues you're facing.
Learning from life experience
Experience serves as one of life's greatest teachers. Through living, we learn valuable lessons:
- Bad experiences teach us to avoid similar situations in future
- Positive experiences show us behaviours worth repeating
- Many of these experiences have moral and ethical dimensions that inform our future choices
Gaining general wisdom
We can educate our conscience through various sources:
- Reading books on ethics and morality
- Following objective news sources
- Observing appropriate behaviour in daily life (such as thanking others for their help)
Knowing all the facts
When facing a moral dilemma, your conscience nudges you towards what seems right. However, you need complete information about the situation to make truly informed decisions. Poor information has led to countless historical injustices, including the criminalisation of certain groups and the mistreatment of vulnerable people.
Drawing on your faith
Example: Faith-Based Guidance
Religious beliefs can provide guidance on ethical matters. For example, Islamic teaching views alcohol consumption as sinful, which would inform a practising Muslim's conscience when offered an alcoholic drink.
Why is it necessary to inform your conscience?
The importance of maintaining an informed conscience becomes clear when we consider the consequences of ignorance:
Preventing injustice and harm
An informed conscience helps us avoid causing injustice and stops us from harming others. It acts as a moral safeguard in our decision-making.
Learning from history
Throughout history, uninformed consciences have led to terrible atrocities:
Historical Consequences of Uninformed Consciences
- The Nazi persecution of Jewish people
- The imprisonment of unmarried pregnant women in Ireland
- Various forms of violence and discrimination
These examples show how lack of proper moral education can lead to widespread harm.
Protecting others
Having an informed conscience isn't just about personal benefit. More significantly, it helps us protect our fellow human beings by developing a deeper understanding of them and their needs.
The ultimate importance
When you consider all the atrocities that have occurred throughout history due to uninformed moral decision-making, it becomes clear that having an informed conscience is probably the most important thing one will ever develop.
This benefits not only yourself but, more importantly, helps protect others through deeper understanding and moral awareness.
Past exam questions
2023: Explain how having an informed conscience could guide a person to behave in a morally mature way in a decision-making situation. (40 marks)
Key Points to Remember:
- An informed conscience requires continuous education about moral matters
- St. Catherine of Siena's guard dog metaphor shows that conscience must be "fed" with knowledge
- Five key ways to inform conscience: listening to wise others, learning from experience, gaining general wisdom, knowing all facts, and drawing on faith
- Informed conscience prevents injustice and protects others from harm
- Historical atrocities often resulted from uninformed moral decision-making
- Developing an informed conscience may be the most important thing you can do for yourself and others