Is Conscience the Measure of a Person?

European Journal of Theology and Philosophy 4 (2):55-60 (2024)
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Abstract

One could say that we are human beings to the degree to which our conscience is developed. My paper analyses the conscience from an ethical point of view and states that it is to be understood as the measure of morality within a person. [‘Moral’ refers to a sense of right and wrong, and ethics to the principles of “good” and “bad” agreed by a society]. Taking into consideration that there are people who feel an acute sense of guilt when committing a crime and others who feel nothing, my work tries to identify the factors responsible for such a state of affairs. Therefore, it deals with the question, “Why are there considerable differences among people from the point of view of morality?”. I shall elaborate mainly on the role of education and genetic heritage, which are instrumental in the development of moral conscience within a person. Their influence in shaping it is ensured by the activity of the neurons and of other processes within the brain, which firstly produce the human consciousness. Other elements ‘grow’ on it.

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References found in this work

The puzzle of conscious experience.David J. Chalmers - 1995 - Scientific American 273 (6):80-86.
Real Materialism: And Other Essays.Galen Strawson - 2008 - Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press.
Is Consciousness Everywhere? Essays on Panpsychism.Philip Goff & Alex Moran - 2021 - Journal of Consciousness Studies 28 (9-10):9-15.
Analytic Functionalism.Wolfgang Schwarz - 2015 - In Barry Loewer & Jonathan Schaffer (eds.), A Companion to David Lewis. Oxford, UK: Wiley. pp. 504–518.

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