CONSCIENCE AND ITS ROLE IN MORAL LIFE

CONSCIENCE AND ITS ROLE IN MORAL LIFE

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I am glad to be here this afternoon and to give a talk on the role and relevance of conscience in moral life. Morality is said to be the science of good and evil. It is clear and indisputable that morality shapes human life and dignifies human person. John Paul II says in Veritatis Splendor that no one can escape from the fundamental questions: “What must I do? How do I distinguish good from evil?” These are questions each and every one of us needs to ask. Science and technology have questioned the foundation of moral life but does not remove the sacredness of human life because they gear towards the human good. John Paul II encourages us that, conscience spurs us on to face the most painful and decisive of struggles, those of the heart and of the moral conscience. Conscience needs to be understood as the moral dimension of the call to self transcendence. In this work I will give brief analysis on the following: the meaning of conscience, its formation and development, divisions of conscience, its role on moral life.

What is Conscience?
According to Wikipedia Encyclopedia, conscience is the ability or a faculty that helps one to distinguish whether one's actions are right or wrong. The Online Dictionary also describes conscience as the inner sense of what is right or wrong in one's conduct or motives, impelling one toward right action.
Harold M. Schulweis calls it “a wisdom whose origin and practice are as puzzling as they are precious”. He sees conscience as wisdom but problematic and valuable in its foundation and application. This ascertains the difficulty in following the right conscience. Conscience is a natural facility of our reason that does three things: reminds us always to do good and avoid evil, makes a judgment about the good and evil of particular choices in a specific situation, bears witness after the fact to the good or evil that we have done. Conscience is a judgment of reason whereby the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act. The Catechism of the Catholic Church suggests to us that, in all that he says and does, man is obliged to follow faithfully what he knows to be just and right (CCC 1778).
Through these definitions and many others, we can understand the general understanding of conscience as an important instrument of moral discernment. All the Catholic moral teachings on conscience, resorts to this very definition by catechism of Catholic Church. All these definitions have a central message, that is, conscience as a guiding principle, conscience as an instructor to human mind.

Formation and Development of Conscience
Is there any thing like formation of conscience? If yes, how? This question links us to the idea of origin and location of conscience. These factors determine the-how of formation of conscience. Benedict XVI in response to the question about the formation of conscience locates conscience in reason and faith. But, is reason acquired or intrinsic? Many scholars have argued that reason is intrinsic and takes a process of formation before it develops. Yes. However, the fact of its intrinsic nature of conscience should not be neglected. Conscience is natural and is innate in every person but is it developed through rational process. Formation of conscience could be affected by some factors such as, environment (nurture), culture (orientation), religion (faith), and knowledge (education).

In development of conscience, Peschke identified two levels of developing conscience, thus, must conscience and ought conscience. The former is predominantly authoritarian where the child follows the conscience of the parent. This involves fear of punishment. The later is progressive where the child has grown to maturity and is free to follow the dictates of his conscience. This is also known as adult conscience. My advice to parents or guardians is to make effort to form their children in proper manner of good use of conscience, because, the way one’s conscience is formed determines the type of conscience he has whether good or erroneous conscience. Keenan instructs us that we should live virtuous life because virtuous practices are exercises for the formation of our consciences. This brings us to the kinds of conscience. Conscience grows towards maturity by internalising and making its certain values and principles and it this which determines how moral decision is made.

Types of Conscience
For us to understand what conscience is all about, we need to know the varios types of conscience. There are two types of conscience, certain and erroneous conscience. A conscience is certain when it excludes the possibility of error. It is erroneous if it includes the possibility of error. Moral theologians indicate that erroneous conscience is a result of malformation of conscience. There are kinds of erroneous conscience: vincible and invincible erroneous consciences, lax conscience, perplex conscience, scrupulous erroneous conscience.

Conscience as moral principle
The scholastic understanding of conscience as a moral principle influenced the church’s teaching on conscience. The catholic teachings on the role of conscience is crystallised in the Vatican II document. However, this Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World gives a beautiful description of humanity as created in image of God, speaks of the essential unity of human nature, the dignity of human intellect, of truth and wisdom and the sanctity of conscience.
Conscience is simply the mind thinking practically and thinking morally. The mind thinks well when we understand moral principles and apply them in clear and reasonable ways. The mind thinks badly when we ignore or reinvent moral principles, or apply them in ambiguous and unreasonable ways. Here conscience involves thinking which identifies it as a mental process and as an integral part of human nature. It also sees conscience as a principle of discernment.
The role of conscience in moral life is central to moral decision making. How do we use conscience today in moral decisions? Basically, Christian morality today is faced with various moral issues. Today, there is the quest to act before thinking. If conscience is located in reason, it must take a rational process. Therefore, in moral decision making there must be the application of an aspect of reason known as conscience.
Following Michael Pennock and James Hogan models of moral decision, a STOP sign is used to explain the genuine role of conscience in moral life. For them, S signifies Searching out facts using the adverbs, what, why, how, where, who and when. T is thinking about the alternatives to the proposed problem and its consequences. O is others must be considered. P is prayer is a vital dimension.
Conscience is important to us because it verifies us as persons. It helps us to become people of God. It stands as our personal judge to our moral conducts. It is the secret core and sanctuary of Christians. In this vein, O’Callaghan reminds us that our conscience, as a basic moral principle, fulfils and is expected to fulfil the more complex role than its role as a typical standard of moral decision which is larger than distinguishing right from wrong in a given situation. Conscience transcends that. Its complex role is its ability to give colour and direction to our lives.
Conscience measures a contemplated act against the objective standard of the moral law, which is one aspect of the truth that sets us free and to which the Church bears witness to. Conscience applies this law of love in the particular circumstances of daily life. For this reason, conscience is the immediate norm of our moral action as it loves us to do one thing or avoid another by making a judgment of reason about the good or evil of a particular case.
Conclusion
The church today is challenged by the proposal to eliminate a conscience clause that allows doctors, nurses, and pharmacists to refuse to provide "care" (that is, abortions) or drugs that violate their consciences. All the explanations on conscience identify it as a moral principle. Following this trend of conscience clause elimination, the church is face with a big challenge. Our response to God's love is a call to grow, and this call is present within us as our conscience.
Finally, a fundamental principle of Catholic morality is that you must follow your conscience. Moral conscience is the key that makes this moral life possible. It is exactly how we know what the good is in specific cases, and it beckons us to always choose the good. And even when we choose wrongly, conscience calls us to seek God's merciful forgiveness so that we can begin again. Moral Theologians today are preoccupied with the contemporary models used to describe the role of conscience in moral life, that is, conscience in knowledge of ourselves as we find our selves in this concrete world. But we should not neglect the light of faith.