For you, what is the function of conscience?

ACTIVITY:

CONSCIENC
E
CASE
STUDIES

Situation 1
You go to school whose academic standards are
high, and which requires excellent grades from
students. This situation is further complicated by
your demanding parents who expect you to do well.
You have pretty good grades during your first three
years in college. You are now in your senior year,
and in one of your major subjects

Your professor has been quite unfair.

She has planned a difficult test for you
and your classmates. You know from
past experience that half of the
students in class cheat during exams,
thus ruining any chance for a curve.
You have studied quite hard, but you
know that unless you cheat, many
others will get higher grades than you.
What would you do?

List four reasons why you should cheat

and four reasons why you should not.
Then decide whether you will cheat or not

Is cheating right?
Does the argument because everyone
else is dong it make it right?
Is it right to say that its better to
cheat than to repeat?
Can you think of some consequences
for society if morality is based on this
argument?

Situation 2
A good friend offers you prohibited drugs for you
to get high initially, you hesitate and refuse. He
tries to convince you by saying that his experience
with drugs is quite fun. Besides, he says, you
cannot really hurt anyone but yourself. He adds
that it is your business and nobody elses if you
take drugs or not. The law and your parents should
not prevent you from fully enjoying yourself.

Would you accept the offer and

experiment with drugs?
Give four reasons for taking the drugs
and four reasons for not taking them.
Decide whether you will take the drugs
or not.

Will your decision on whether or not to take the

drugs be different if the drugs referred to are
marijuana or shabu?
Do parent and society have the right to limit fun?

For you, what is the function of conscience?

CHRISTIA
N

What

CONSCIE
forNCE
you

is
conscience?

For you, what is the function of conscience?

CHRISTIA
N
For you,CONSCIE
what is
NCE
the function of
conscience?

For you, what is the function of conscience?

What
CONSCIE
NCE
Is
NOT...
Conscience is our

FEELING OF
GUILT

For you, what is the function of conscience?

Conscience is
NOT a
FEELING OF
GUILT

Nakakakunsensya ang
ginawa ko.

For you, what is the function of conscience?

Conscience is
NOT a
FEELING OF
GUILT

Guilt- a sign that our

conscience is at work in a
concrete moral situation.

For you, what is the function of conscience?

Conscience is
NOT a
FEELING OF
GUILT

Guilt = Conscience?

For you, what is the function of conscience?

What is
Conscience?

For you, what is the function of conscience?

It is the norm of
personal morality, our
ultimate subjective
norm for discerning
moral good and evil,
with the feeling of
being bound to follow

For you, what is the function of conscience?

It is the inner voice:

Summoning us to love
the good and avoid evil
Applying objective moral
norm to our particular
acts
Commanding: do this and
dont do that

For you, what is the function of conscience?

For this Law which I am

laying down for you
today is neither obscure
for you nor beyond your
reach. It is not in
heaven nor is it beyond
the seas No, the word
is very near to you. It is
in your mouth and in

Types of Conscience
1. Correct or true Conscience judges
what is really good as good and what is
really evil as evil according to the true
principles of morality
A good and pure conscience is enlightened by
true faith, for charity proceeds at the same
time from a pure heart and a good
conscience and sincere faith (CCC 1794)

2. False or erroneous conscience

one which mistakenly judges
something as morally good which is
objectively evil

Types of Erroneous Conscience

A. Scrupulous
conscience
one that for little or no
reason judges an act to be
morally evil when it is not,
or exaggerates the gravity
of sin, or sees sin where it
does not exist.

Scrupulous conscience
Example:
A student was starring at the floor while thinking of
the right answer in the Philo exam, when the answer
sheet of his classmate accidentally fell on the spot
where he was looking at the floor.
He is deeply bothered by his conscience that he
violated the 7th commandment and thus he will go
to hell unless he confesses his sin.

B. Lax Conscience
Judges on insufficient ground that
there is no sin in the fact, or that the
sin is not as grave as it is in fact.
Being insensitive to a moral obligation
in a particular area.
Tendencies to make excuses for
omissions and mistakes.

Example
Pedro makes the sign of the cross before attempting
to snatch the pearl earing of a jeepney passenger in
front of the Quiapo Church. He believes that by
making the sign of the cross would forgive the
action he is about to do in order to feed his family of
six.

Types of Conscience
3. Certain conscience it is not
necessarily right; it excludes all
fears of error about acting rightly;
the person has no doubt about the
correctness of his/her judgment.

Types of Conscience
4. Doubtful Conscience

Suspends
judgment of an action if possible the
action should be omitted, if the action
should be necessarily performed, one
examines more carefully the
circumstances of the action or consult
an expert.
May occur in business transactions,
surgical operations and other
professional practices.

In case of doubt the person is obliged

-To make an effort to remove all doubts
by direct investigation or consultation,
thereby changing the doubtful
conscience into a certain subjective
conscience.
-To discern

Reflex Principle
Rules of prudence that do not solve doubts
concerning the existence of law, moral principles or
facts.
Indicates the greater right and lesser evil and which
side is to be favored as long as doubt persist.

Reflex Principle
1. In doubt, fact is not to be presumed, it must be
proved.
2. In doubt, presumption stands on the side of the
superior.
-Consult an expert

Reflex Principle
3. In doubt, stand for the validity of the
act or the validity of an examination or
an appointment to an office.
4. In doubt amplify the favorable
(positive outcome) and restrict the
unfavorable (negative outcome)