Hubbard Winslow, "Conscience Determines What's Right"
Abstract: Conscience is a unique eternal faculty enabling us by using reason to feel the difference between right and wrong. Three functions of conscience are (1) feelings of what we ought to do, (2) feelings of self-approval when we do it, and (3) feelings of remorse when we don't.
1. According to Winslow, what is "the exclusive dominion of conscience"?
2. How does Winslow characterize the two elements of conscience? Are these psychological elements considered as one faculty?
3. What is the distinguishing susceptibility of conscience?
4. Discuss Winslow's three main functions of conscience.
1. According to Winslow, what is "the exclusive dominion of conscience"?
The "exclusive dominion of conscience," according to Winslow is the intuitive perception and the attending feeling of moral truth.
He states the analogy: conscience is to moral truth as taste is to aesthetic truth.
2. How does Winslow characterize the two elements of conscience? Are these psychological elements considered as one faculty?
He states conscience is united with the soulboth soul and conscience are are eternal.
The two psychological elements are the cognitive (the experiential knowledge of the perception of a moral feeling) and the motive (the volition resulting from reason to act rightly).
Problem to be answered by Winslow If moral feelings and the moral faculty are unique in kind, how is it that they are composed of feeling, perception, intellect, and will?
3. What is the distinguishing susceptibility of conscience?
The distinguishing feature of conscience from all other dispositions of the self is the unique feelings of personal obligation and duty. Winslow says these are unique feelings not related to the actions of other persons.
4. Discuss Winslow's three main functions of conscience.
The three main motivating functions of conscience are:
(1) the impulse to do (what we believe to be what's) right and avoid (what we believe to be what's) wrong. (Objection to Winslow: note the ambiguous relation to knowledge in his restatement of the role of the intellect.)
(2) the unique delightful feeling of approval when we have acted in accordance with duty. (Objection to Winslow: note that we often do our duty grudgingly and often delight in avoiding our duty.)
(3) the unique feeling of remorse or guilt when we fail to do our duty (it we are rightly taught at home). (Objection to Winslow: conscience then appears not to be an innate eternal faculty if its exemplification depends on education.)
Recommended Sources
Conscience: James Mark Baldwin's Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology.
Medieval Theories of Conscience:the use and philosophy of "conscience" by Bonaventura, Aquinas, Scotus, Ockham, and others in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
FAQs
How does Winslow characterize the two elements of conscience? ›
He states conscience is united with the soul–both soul and conscience are are eternal. The two psychological elements are the cognitive (the experiential knowledge of the perception of a moral feeling) and the motive (the volition resulting from reason to act rightly).
How does your conscience determine whether an action is good or bad? ›Through our individual conscience, we become aware of our deeply held moral principles, we are motivated to act upon them, and we assess our character, our behavior and ultimately our self against those principles.
What is moral conscience examples? ›For example, a person might think killing muslim as moral in order to take revenge. In his conscience it is moral to kill muslim and help Hindu cause. Social norms: Moral conscience is guided by the social norms in general. It can impact the ethical thinking of an individual leading to unethical behaviour.
What is the importance of conscience in life? ›Conscience helps us hear the voice of God; it helps us recognize the truth about God and the truth about how we ought to live. Conscience is "a judgment of reason"1 by which we determine whether an action is right or wrong. Jesus told the apostles, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15).
What did Hubbard Winslow believe? ›Winslow Hubbard claims that the conscience has the power of perception. This means the conscience can recognize right and wrong using reason. Hubbard also claims that conscience is susceptible to a peculiar feeing.
What are the two rules of conscience? ›Ranking of the rules of conscience
obey the WMA rules of conscience than to obey their own conscience. in any service that violates their conscience.