Conscience

THE RELATIONSHIP OF CONSCIENCE TO NATURAL MORAL LAW

Do you still recollect when you were puerile? What do your father and mother, or your grandparents verbalize every time you do good or evil? According to them, there are two personages contiguous to you, one on your right and one on your left. They both endeavor to influence you to cull between right and erroneous

you must do in a situation. According to them, when you cull the good, you are following the person who is on your right. When you cull evil, you follow the person who is on your left.

Now, you may aurally perceive the words: “My conscience is clear” or “My conscience is not strong…”

What is conscience?

Man is mystically enchanted with the competency to agnize good or evil. This competency is called conscience. The word conscience emanates from the Latin word cum meaning "with" or have and scientia, which designates "cognizance" or erudition. Consequently, conscience betokens "with erudition" or

there is cognizance. It denotes the cognation of cognizance to something; for the application of erudition is demonstrated by the action taken.

The application of cognizance can be done in the following ways, according to Santo Tomas de Aquino:

With the avail of conscience, man apperceives that he has done or not done something. For example, you left your younger sibling in your care because your mother left. But you take care of visually examining television. As a result, your brother fell. It had a scratch on the arm. When your mother came, not only did your sister get a scratch, your mother withal optically discerned a lump on her forehead. When asked, you verbally expressed it just stuck to the wall so there was a scratch, but you do not ken why it has a lump. Even if you do not admit what you did and gainsay the truth, even if you convince others and believe you, your conscience kens what genuinely transpired. Conscience stands as a witness in this case because it proves the act done or not done by man.

Through conscience, man can determine if there is something he should have done but did not do or he should not have done but did. Perpetuating the example above, in your solitude you are restless, you feel you should

you tell your mother what authentically transpired to your brother. Conscience in this situation stirs the person to remind what should and should not be done.

With conscience, it is judged whether the thing done is done right and right or done erroneous or erroneous. For example, you ignore the whisper of conscience to tell your mother the genuine thing, your heart is no longer silent. Her apprehensiveness was exacerbated especially when your sister had a pyrexia. So you told your mother what genuinely transpired. You have been reprimanded but you have lost your solicitousness and you have felt placidity of mind. In this situation, the conscience can feel permissive, accusative or possibly oppressive. Conscience bothers man when

he did evil. This is what the phrase "I am restless, my conscience persecutes me" refers to.

It shows that the conscience is affixed to the human mind; so it is the facility of the mind to judge good and evil. Conscience is the substructure of the mind in judging right or erroneous. How does a conscience genuinely ken what is right and what is erroneous? Conscience is predicated on the quantification or judgment of action on the objective standard of Natural Moral Law.

Natural Moral Law was given to man when he was engendered. This is because he shares in the sagacity and goodness of God. Through this law, man has the faculty to distinguish between good and evil. Because of liberation, man has the faculty to do good or evil. It is rooted in his free will because the pursuit of good or evil is consciousness and liberation.

No one needs to peregrinate to school to learn or ken this law. It is engraved on the personality of an individual so its first principle is: It is human nature to do good and evade evil.

Man is the only creature who deserves to receive law from God. This is because he has to manage his actions through the felicitous utilization of his liberation and instinct.

Natural Moral Law is intrinsical in man because of his liberation. Ergo, those without liberation are not covered by this law. This law states what man should and should not do; so it guides human demeanor. The purport of the moral law is to give man the compulsory substructure so that he can make the right decisions and actions. Above all, the purport of this law is human goodness. Man is the only creature who can do evil: to eradicate others and to ravage himself. This is why

granted the Natural Moral Law. A person can eschew doing evil if he complies with this law.

Here are the characteristics of Natural Moral Law:

Objective - The law that governs man is predicated on truth. It emanates from the very truth - God. Truth is not engendered; so it is not a human invention. It is only discovered by man. This is a general fact with a plausible substratum. It is in line with authenticity and is not human-predicated. It is not influenced by anything especially the human view of it. It always subsists because it does not

affected, whether the person apperceives it or not.

General - Because Natural Moral Law is for man, it covers all people. It permeates all races, cultures, all places and at all times. This is because it is engraved on human nature; so it is understood by all and it is acceptable to all people.

Aeonian - It subsists and will perpetuate to subsist. This law is sempiternal, illimitable and immortal because it is perpetual. Human nature is aeonian so the law that governs it is withal perpetual. This is true anywhere and anytime.

Unchanged - Natural Moral Law does not transmute because human nature does not transmute. Even the purport of man in the world does not transmute. Despite cultural diversity, Natural Moral Law binds all people together. It additionally implements the same principle for all.

According to Lipio, moral law directs human life. He follows the moral law to do good, to have deference for others and to work with those who have been potentiated to look after the welfare of all. But that does not denote that man is

covered by the laws that he must comply with every day, rather, he must do what is right according to his character. Ergo, conscience is the personal moral standard of man. It is the facility to carry out broad general moral laws by one's own actions. It is utilized in deciding what is right and what is erroneous at the present time.

For example, albeit peregrinating to church is an obligation, there is a chance that a person will not be able to attend because he or she has an obligation to take care of a sick family member. This is the situation that there is no corresponding general law to address. What is needed here is a personal decision as to where the person utilizes his conscience. Judgment is always required in the practice of a standard or observance of moral law and here conscience is needed. However, if judgment is not in accordance with Natural Moral Law, the conscience can still err. There can be discombobulation as to what rules of conduct will be utilized. There may additionally be errors in the way this rule is utilized. Consequently, conscience can be relegated as right and erroneous according to Natural Moral Law.

Type of Conscience

That's right. The judgment of the conscience is veridical if all the phrenic conceptions and reasons required to apply the objective criteria are executed without error. Conscience is right if it judges right as right and erroneous as erroneous.

For example, you are authoritatively mandated to buy bread one day. You descry that the seller gave you more than twenty pesos. That same day your mother did not give you a lunch because your father did not earn enough to orally consume. You do not have a suitcase but you returned the extra change that was given to you. You are right, the mazuma is not yours so you should give it back.

Mali. Judgment of conscience is erroneous when it is predicated on erroneous principles or the right principles are applied in the erroneous way. According to Agapay, the conscience is erroneous if it judges the erroneous as right and the erroneous as erroneous. Still utilizing the example above.

You mentally conceived the extra change was a benediction to you because you had a lunch that day. You are right, you do not optate the seller to make a mistake in retaliation. It is not deplorable that you obnubilated the mazuma you are still thankful because the seller made a mistake.

With the right kind of conscience then, the general moral standard is applied in daily life. This is the personal standard utilized by man to evaluate noetic conceptions, words and deeds according to the Natural Moral Law which in turn is the substratum for kenning good and evil in a particular situation.