Conscience: The Self in Search of The Good

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Conscience The Self in Search of The Good

• Chapter 3

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Highlights

• Chapter 1, something at our very core seeks the
  good
• Chapter 2, the human is a moral agent
• Chapter 3, the importance of
• Others
• Having a direction in life
• Character ones body
• Conscience
• Developing ones conscience

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A. The importance of others

• Am I my brothers keeper? (Gen. 4.9)
• Are you responsible for your sister and brother?
• Western society doesnt like yes as the answer
• Freedom is seen as independence from others.

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Existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre

• Others can become my hell
• I may choose to build bridges but that is wholly
  my decision. I dont need others. I can be a
  full human being and free without them.

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• We are unique individuals
• But, we dont need to see others as enemies of
  our autonomy
• The other makes it possible for us to be our true
  selves.
• See pages 42-43 of text

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Narcissism

• An unhealthy love of self (see page 43)

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Having Direction in Life

• Knowing who you are means knowing where you stand
• Everyone stands somewhere
• You need to know your commitments, where you
  stand on the great issues

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My identity lies in my commitments

• Charles Taylor, in Sources of the Self, shows how
  a human lives a sense of direction
• Our moral orientation forms part of our identity
• We are framed by our commitments (e.g., R.C.) and
  our particular identifications (being Quebecois)

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Consider how we introduce ourselves

• Name
• Statement of relationship
• Social role
• Position
• Career
• Our fundamental stance framed in terms of who we
  are

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Importance of communication language

• Our stance in life shaped by a community that
  shares a common language
• There is no way we could be inducted into
  personhood except by being initiated into a
  language.
• Language contains shares common experiences
  commitments
• Think of the inside joke

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Special words for Catholics

• Incarnation
• Trinity
• Grace
• Eucharist

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Christian notion of person

• Trinity
• God a union of three persons Father, Son Holy
  Spirit
• Three distinct persons in ONE God
• Hypostasis and prosopon (Greek Latin) for
  person, referred to what one could see from the
  outside
• Person an individual with rights
  responsibilities a unique autonomous
  individual who is conscious can act
• A meaning out of the expression of the persons of
  the Trinity united as one in God

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God is love

• Love pours itself out toward another
• In God this breathing forth of love is a
  communion of love that is Father, Son, and
  Spirit. This love generated the Son and breathed
  forth the Spirit so that there are three persons.
  At the same time, this love binds the three into
  a unity.
• Person the outpouring of love toward the other
• We are made in Gods image i.e., by and for love
• Humans are social beings.
• Person essentially means the self as
  relationship

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Character Ones Body

• Do you not know that your body is a temple of
  the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from
  God? (1 Cor. 6.19)
• character how your actions over time tend to
  become fixed in your body.
• (consider those who train for athletics ? muscle
  memory/strength/endurance, technique
• Moral fibre is like muscle fibre the more you
  use it, the stronger your character
• See page 49

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Once Character Traits take root not easily
changed

• Repeating action ? becomes fixed ? takes root in
  you ? others see this as one of your character
  traits
• Read excerpt from Full Disclosure by William
  Safire on pages 49 50
• What you believe value, your habits, your moral
  principles ? your choices

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The importance of Conscience

• See excerpt from A Man for All Seasons p. 51
• Conscience
• The place where we hold ourselves in our own
  hands
• A voice that calls us to love and do what is
  good and to avoid evil.
• A law inscribed in human hearts by God
• Our most secret core and sanctuary where we are
  alone with God whose voice echoes in depths
• Make own notes on Conscience in the teaching of
  the Church p. 52
• Conscience in contrast to Freuds concept of
  superego page 53 54

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Timothy OConnells Three Senses of Conscience

• Conscience is a capacity to recognize right
  wrong
• A basic orientation to do good, an essential
  human trait
• Sociopaths / psychopaths have no conscience
• Conscience is a process of moral reasoning
• Requires learning facts, values, how to reason
• A life-long process
• Seek out guidance from others
• Conscience as judgment
• Conscience is incomplete until acted upon
• See Gulas chart on page 55, copy into your notes

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Development of ones conscience

• No simple answer
• Conscience develops
• As you mature
• As you take account of the norms values of your
  tradition
• As you deal with your failures, sins, weaknesses
  and your need of support from others and God
• As you participate in prayer and sacrament
  (Eucharist, Reconciliation)
• As you grow in the virtue of humility

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Misinformed Conscience p. 57

• RATIONALIZATION
• TRIVIALIZATION
• MISINFORMATION
• THE END JUSTIFIES THE IMMORAL MEANS
• MEANS TO AN END
• DIFFICULT REASON

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Moral Decision-Making

• Copy the diagram on page 58