Do all people have a conscience? Conscience: what is it and why does a person need it? When a person hears the voice of conscience

In everyday life we ​​often say the following phrases: “A man without conscience”, “unscrupulous”, “no shame, no conscience”, “have completely lost my conscience”, “live according to my conscience”.

Yes, not every person has a conscience. Some have it, others have it dormant, for the time being, and others have it completely absent or lost due to zombification or degradation of the soul.

Those people who have a conscience act according to their conscience, according to the principle: “Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you.”

A conscientious person weighs his actions, corrects mistakes, restrains irritation and negative emotions. Even when you really want to respond to the offender with rudeness for rudeness, he finds words and expressions to stop the unpleasant conversation or scene.

Such a person may lose loved ones, friends, but he will never lose himself, because he has a conscience - a good adviser in life. The sense of conscience unusually protects its owner from the loss of the most important thing - honesty and decency. Those whose conscience lies dormant for the time being, one day realize that they have lived their lives incorrectly, violating natural laws.

The conscience of such people awakens, and with it comes problems associated with working out everything that was done in life not according to conscience, but the way they want. Repentance comes: “Why did I do this then?” Sometimes this “why” hangs in the air, because the situation, the problem cannot be corrected - time has simply passed, and with it the people who participated in this situation.

Let's talk about those who have no conscience at all. It seems that they were the most unlucky in life. A person without conscience is an aggressor, a ruthless person. It seems to him that he is strong, cunning, dexterous. He is lucky, and everything works out for the time being, for his soul is slowly smoldering. Today he deceived, tomorrow he stepped over love, friendship, family relationships, betrayed someone or sold him for money.

Sooner or later, such a person becomes lonely, unnecessary to anyone. And even those for whom he worked especially hard leave him. There is nothing worse than oblivion and loneliness.

Conscience clearly regulates all values ​​from spiritual to material. Therefore, a person without conscience clings to material values, losing the most important ones - spiritual ones. And then they say about him: “He has neither shame nor conscience.”

And since he has no conscience, he is not able to love, feel sorry, or be merciful.

Do not knock on closed souls, just hand over all the problems associated with this person to the will of the Higher Powers and time - this way you will save your bright soul from destruction.

Conscience does not torment those whom it should torment, but those who have it. Conscience is very similar to a little worm that eats away at an apple. Only, unlike an apple, human conscience sharpens the soul. And then the person understands that it is his conscience that has awakened, which does not give him peace day or night.

Live in harmony with your conscience, and the main thing is that you yourself believe that you are acting fairly, that is, according to your conscience.

Academician N.V. Levashova in March 2010

What is this – a joint message (Conscience)?

It seems that such a concept is close to everyone - Conscience... What could be hidden in it? But, most likely, it is not without reason that words close to us are being massively replaced with foreign ones. This means that what is native, to which we often do not attach importance, can actually contain a lot of interesting and deep things that connect us with our roots - our ancestors.

In order to figure it out for ourselves and help others figure it out who wished it, people, guys from the Omsk cell of the Russian Social Movement “Renaissance. Golden Age" was organized "Round table" on the topic Conscience.

In general, when discussing with each other, everyone argues from their own bell tower, due to their experience and knowledge, but there are many opinions, but there is only one truth, and we will approach it gradually. During the discussion, the question arose: do all people have a conscience? Really good question!

Some participants in the Round Table expressed the opinion that every person has a conscience from birth. Let's figure it out. This is quite possible if she already present at the birth of a specific person in his genetics. This means that the genetics of such a person have evolved for more than one incarnation on this Earth, or more precisely, in this or a similar society (for some people, even beyond the Earth). That is, this quality arises in a person (Entity) at a certain stage of his development, and with proper development it can become entrenched in the structures of this Essence, i.e. in genetics. And if a person has incarnated from a relatively high level, then the concept of Conscience is already embedded in his genetics.

But as for its awakening... Now on our Earth all sorts of conditions have been artificially created so that even if such an acquired quality as conscience could awaken, it would be quite difficult for a person to live with it. Since there are many traps, thanks to which the concepts of “anti-conscience” (like: act for your own good; develop yourself; if someone else is beaten, this is his karma, you don’t need to interfere) begin to actively take root in the minds of our children from an early age - teachers, television programs, and, what’s most offensive, by the parents themselves, who raise their children by their own examples.

But the genetics of most peoples are strong enough to be able to awaken (even if not completely) in such conditions, and it is our duty to help other people overcome such “traps.” Thus, during the current life, a person can contribute to both deepening and further strengthening the concept of conscience in his genetics, and to “putting it to sleep.” Here a lot depends on the person himself.

But do not forget that the above concerns the indigenous peoples of Russia.

For example, another people in their “holy scripture” says that, since the concept of “ Conscience"is not in the Torah itself, then there is no such concept in nature... The same applies to the concept of “morality” ( video). Interesting logic? It is not the laws of nature that determine what should be written in the “sacred books,” but the text of some “sacred book” that determines what can be in nature, and what is not and cannot be in it.

So, if you follow the concepts from such a “holy book,” you can do whatever you want, even murder, as long as it does not contradict what is written there... And at the same time, you yourself no need to think– “holy scripture” does it for you.

But for some reason, following the logic of Scripture, it turns out that sometimes responsibility for a particular act does not depend on the essence of the act committed, but, for example, on the religion of the person to whom this act was directed. And to the indignation from the public, there is approximately one answer: that’s what it says in mine“sacred scripture”, and it gives me this or that right.

UD it's great, isn't it?

Torah Torah - of course, you need to know what is written there, but we have enough problems of our own to deal with. At the round table, everyone saw their own facet of the concept of “Conscience” and shared this with everyone present.

As a result of the conversation, the opinions of the majority of people who came to the meeting agreed on a common point: conscience is a measure of a person’s actions: he acts for himself, or outward, for the benefit of others. Nikolay Viktorovich Levashov said this very well on the first day of his Seminar in Moscow in March 2010:

"In order to evolutionary development was going in the right direction and at a high pace, you need to understand some simple things: in order to learn to influence external processes and events, a person needs not to “row for himself,” but to give! Those. his actions should be directed not at himself, but outward. When a person is concerned only with his body - his stomach and intestines - he is not able to significantly influence external processes. But if he tries to work outward, then the effect will appear there, where his efforts are directed! In order for something to change noticeably in a person during one life, he must “plow like Papa Carlo”! He must constantly work on himself, fight against his shortcomings, get rid of instilled instincts and perverted worldviews, addictions and wrong things. He must clearly recognize and understand higher level of responsibility, which certainly accompanies a higher level of skills!..”

Conscience Not all living beings who call themselves people have it (see above). Acting according to conscience is when you understand responsibility for the action you perform (as well as inaction!) and you will not do as you would not want to be treated (or not treated) with you.

And now I suggest you think a little about the spelling of the word itself - Conscience(based on materials from the Internet, in particular from the Wikipedia website). Conscience – with seating news, that is, generally known information and experience accumulated by us and our ancestors over many lives (about the laws of nature, about good and evil, etc.), passed on from generation to generation.

When a person reaches the level of generation conscience, he learns to think and be guided not by personal interests (this is better, more convenient, easier for me), but by larger-scale interests (this is better for the family, nature, planet). When a person reaches the level of generation conscience, there is an assessment of one’s own and other people’s interests, their comparison and the collapse of “narrowly focused and less valuable” in favor of “broadly targeted and more valuable.” Proceed according to conscience- means to act in the interests of society as a whole: the society of people, living organisms, nature, that is, it means often sacrificing personal interests, if necessary.

If a person (from indigenous peoples) does not have a severely damaged genetic connection - the connection with his roots - his ancestors, at the genetic level he will have a fairly strong sense and understanding of conscience. That is why sophisticated methods of degradation are applied to the peoples of Rus', since such fundamental concepts for us as honor, conscience, mutual assistance It is very difficult to put to sleep - they are quite highly developed in our genetics.

Conscience is a kind of spiritual instinct that distinguishes good from evil faster and more clearly than the mind. He who follows the voice of conscience will not regret his actions.

In the Holy Scriptures, conscience is also called the heart. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ likened conscience to “ oku”(eye), through which a person sees his moral state (Matt. 6:22). The Lord also likened conscience to “ opponent,” with which a person must be reconciled before he appears before the Judge (Matt. 5:25). This last name indicates a distinctive property of conscience: resist our bad actions and intentions.

Our personal experience also convinces us that this inner voice, called conscience, is located beyond our control and expresses itself directly, apart from our desire. Just as we cannot convince ourselves that we are full when we are hungry, or that we are rested when we are tired, so we cannot convince ourselves that we have acted well when our conscience tells us that we have acted Badly.

Conscience in Holy Scripture

The will of God becomes known to man in two ways: firstly, through his own inner being and, secondly, through revelations or revelations communicated by God and the incarnate Lord Jesus Christ and written down by the prophets and apostles. The first way of communicating the will of God is called internal, or natural, and the second - external, or supernatural. The first is of a psychological nature, and the second is historical.

The existence of an internal, or natural, moral law is clearly evidenced by St. Paul, saying: when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what is lawful, then, not having the law, they are a law unto themselves, for they show that the work of the law is written in their hearts (Rom. 2:14-15). And on the basis of this law, written in the hearts, written laws were formed among the pagan peoples, which served as a guide for public life and fostered moral freedom in each individual person. Although these morals and laws were imperfect, without them it would have been worse, since complete arbitrariness and licentiousness would have established themselves in human society. If there is a lack of care, people fall like leaves, says the wise one (Prov. 11:14).

Everyone’s conscience tells them about the presence of the natural law of morality in a person. Having spoken about the work of the law, written in the very nature of the pagans, the apostle adds: their conscience testifies(Rom. 2:15). Conscience has its basis in all three known psychic powers: knowledge, feeling and will. The very word conscience(to know, to know), as well as the usual expressions: conscience has spoken, conscience recognizes or conscience rejects - show that there is an element of knowledge in conscience. Further, the feeling in the conscience of joy or sorrow, peace or discontent and anxiety makes conscience akin to feeling. Finally, we express ourselves: conscience keeps me from doing this, or conscience forces me to do this, therefore, we attribute conscience to will. Thus, conscience is a “voice” (as is usually expressed) arising from a peculiar combination of all three mental abilities. It arises from the relationship of a person’s self-awareness to self-determination and his activities.

Conscience has the same significance for activity that logic has for thinking. Or as the inherent human sense of rhyme, tact, etc. - for poetry, music, etc. Next, conscience is something primitive, innate to man, and not derivative, imposed. It always testifies to man’s Godlikeness and the need to fulfill God’s commandments. When the tempter seduced Eve in paradise, her conscience immediately appeared on guard, announcing the impermissibility of transgressing God’s commandment. Eva said: We can eat the fruits of the trees, only the fruits of the tree, which is in the middle of paradise, God said, do not eat them or touch them, lest you die(Gen. 3:2-3). That is why the ancients spoke about conscience: est Deus in nobis, i.e. In conscience we feel not only the human, but also the higher-human, or divine, side. And according to the words of the wise Sirach, God has set his eye on the hearts of people (Sir. 17:7). This is the essence of the indestructible power and greatness of conscience in relation to human intentions and actions. You cannot bargain, negotiate, or enter into deals with your conscience: conscience is incorruptible. There is no need for reasoning and conclusions to hear the decision of conscience: it speaks directly. As soon as a person thinks of doing something bad, conscience immediately appears at his post, warning him and threatening him. And after committing a bad deed, conscience immediately punishes and torments him. It is not in vain that they say that it is not man who controls conscience, but conscience that controls man. A person is dependent on his conscience.

How does conscience work? By their actions, conscience is distinguished legislative And judging(punishing). The first is the scale for measuring our actions, and the last is the result of this measurement. Ap. Paul calls the legislative conscience indicating about the actions (of the Gentiles; Rom. 2:15). And elsewhere: I speak the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience bears witness to me in the Holy Spirit(Rom.9:1). But in St. Scripture says more about the judging conscience. So Adam after the Fall, Cain after fratricide, Joseph’s brothers after taking revenge on the innocent - they all experience torment in their conscience. 2 Samuel talks about broken heart, i.e. about a condemning conscience (chap. 24:10). The Psalms of David speak more than once about such a human condition. The New Testament says about the scribes and Pharisees who brought a sinner to the Lord Savior that: they began to leave one after another, convicted by conscience(John 8:3). In the messages of St. Peter and Paul, in places about conscience, more is said about the judging conscience, i.e. rewarding or punishing.

What states of human conscience exist? Since conscience is a natural voice heard in the very nature of man, as a result it is in close connection with the entire state of the human soul, depending on its moral development - on education, lifestyle and history in general. This idea is confirmed by St. Scripture. The history of Revelation has as its task to reveal the law most clearly, and, moreover, in accordance with man’s own knowledge. Ap. Paul recognizes the gradual growth of moral wisdom in man and demands it when he says: Everyone who is fed with milk is ignorant of the words of truth, because he is a child; solid food is characteristic of the perfect, whose senses are accustomed to distinguish between good and evil(Heb. 5:13-14); and further: And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.(Rom. 12:2). The development and improvement of conscience depends both on the education of the mind and on the improvement of the will. Strict justice, in particular the love of truth and the coordination of practical actions with theoretical knowledge, are the main foundations of clarity, sharpness and liveliness of conscience (conscientiousness). And there are external auxiliary means for this: the instructions of parents, the voice and example of the best part of society, and most importantly - the Holy One. Scripture, which clearly and in all purity reveals moral truths and rightly denounces human vices.

If conscience depends on the general state of a person, mental and moral, formed under the influence of the environment, both an individual and entire nations, which is very often perverted, then for this reason the voice of conscience is heard by different people in completely different ways, sometimes contradictory . It is known from history that people sometimes commit the most cruel acts, even terrible crimes, citing the voice of their conscience. Let us recall, for example, the Inquisition, the custom of pagan peoples to kill weakly born children and decrepit old people, etc. And among us, often one with a clear conscience does something from which the conscience of another is indignant. Finally, in the same person, conscience can speak differently at different times. It follows from this that conscience does not manifest itself in the same way in everyone, that its voice can be true and untrue, and both to varying degrees. That's why ap. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians speaks of a weak or erring conscience, a conscience of idols, i.e. conscience that recognizes idols as real powers (1 Cor. 8:7,13). Consequently, the opinion of those who think that a person’s conscience contains “a complete and organized moral law, the same and always equal content” cannot be accepted, and therefore, in cases of error and moral corruption, he should only take a closer look at his conscience in order to understand his delusion, your perverted state and turn to a better path.

The history of the life of pagan peoples and their conversion to Christianity does not confirm this view. History shows both that not all nations have the same code of commandments, and that when converting pagans to Christianity, the matter was not limited to just reminding them of the contents of their conscience. A difficult and prolonged work took place in the entire being of the pagan, a continuous and persistent influence on his entire consciousness. That is why the missionaries’ struggle with pagan superstitions and morals is far from easy, as it would be if this theory about conscience were correct. But, nevertheless, this struggle is possible, it produces results, and the pagans convert to Christianity. And this is a sign that the opportunity is open for all people to correct their conscience and be guided by its correct and pure instructions. Each person is the image and likeness of God.

Truth or fallacy, certainty or doubtfulness (probability) - these are the properties of legislative conscience. We call the judging conscience calm or restless, peaceful or disturbing, comforting or painful. In St. In Scripture it is called a good, pure, immaculate conscience or an evil, vicious, defiled, burned conscience. Before the Jewish Sanhedrin, St. Paul testified that he lived with all good conscience before God until this day(Acts 23:1). Ap. Peter exhorts Christians to have a good conscience, so that those for whom you are slandered as evildoers may be put to shame by those who reproach your good conduct in Christ(1 Pet. 3:16 and 21). In the Epistle to the Hebrews, St. Paul expresses confidence that we have a good conscience because we want to behave honestly in everything(13:18). He commands to have sacrament in a clear conscience(1 Tim. 3:9). And I myself strive to have an immaculate conscience before God and people(Acts 24:16), he says about himself. In his letter to the Hebrews, the apostle calls the conscience evil or evil when he calls approach with a sincere heart, with full faith, sprinkling [the Blood of Christ], cleansing the heart from an evil conscience. (Heb. 10:22). In his letter to Titus, the apostle calls the conscience “defiled” when he speaks of people: their mind and conscience are defiled. They say that they know God, but in deeds they deny, being vile and disobedient and incapable of any good deed.(Titus 1:15). Burnt but in conscience the apostle calls those false speakers, through which in recent times some will depart from the faith, listening to seducing spirits and teachings of demons(1 Tim. 4:1-2). The burning sensation here signifies a painful consciousness of guilt.

By strength or energy, conscience is called decisive or meticulous. She is akin to a suspicious conscience. It is characteristic of persons prone to despondency and who do not trust the means of cleansing from sins. Under the influence of passions and the noise of the world, conscience is often hard to hear and becomes muffled. If you often drown out the voice of conscience, then it becomes quieter, conscience gets sick, dies, and such a process ends in the death of conscience, i.e. a state of dishonesty.

But, speaking about the state of lack of conscience, we do not understand the absence of the punitive power of conscience in a person, but only the absence of conscience, i.e. the trampling of all divine and human laws and rights, the withering away of all moral feeling. Of course, the storms of passions and the noise of this world can drown out the punitive voice of conscience. But even in this case, the judging conscience is reflected in the person. It then manifests itself in secret despondency, melancholy, melancholy, and a state of hopelessness. And when the passions and noise of the world subside (which happens throughout life, but especially before death), then an evil conscience attacks a person with all its fury. It then produces anxiety and fearfulness in a person, and a painful expectation of future retribution. Cain, Saul, Judas, Orestes can serve as models. So conscience is either a comforter or a tormentor.

We have given all the excerpts from the Holy Scriptures related to the human conscience. It remains to point out only one place in the message of St. Paul to the Corinthians; it reads like this: I mean conscience not my own, but another; for why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience? (1 Cor. 10:29). In these words, conscience appears to be an individual authority: this means that each person has a conscience only for himself. It follows from this that I must beware of raising the voice of my conscience to the level of a law for others and thus causing damage to my conscience. I must treat both my own conscience and the conscience of others with attention and leniency.

The nature of conscience

Conscience is a universal moral law

The presence of conscience testifies to the fact that, as the story goes, God, already at the very creation of man, inscribed His own in the depths of his soul. image and likeness(Gen. 1:26). Therefore, it is customary to call conscience the voice of God in man. Being a moral law written directly on the heart of man, it acts in all people, regardless of their age, race, upbringing and developmental level.

Scientists (anthropologists) studying the customs and customs of backward tribes and peoples testify that so far not a single tribe, even the most savage, has been found that would be alien to certain concepts of moral good and evil. In addition, many tribes not only highly value goodness and abhor evil, but for the most part agree in their views on the essence of both. Many, even wild tribes, stand as high in their concepts of good and evil as the most developed and cultured peoples. Even among those tribes in which deeds that are disapproved from the dominant point of view are elevated to the level of virtue, complete agreement with the views of all people is observed in everything else concerning moral concepts.

St. writes in detail about the actions of the internal moral law in people. apostle Paul in the first chapters of his letter to the Romans. The Apostle reproaches the Jews for the fact that they, knowing the written Divine law, often violate it, while the pagans “have-nots(written) law, by nature they do what is lawful... They show(by this) that the work of the law is written in their hearts, as evidenced by their conscience and thoughts, which either accuse or justify one another.”(Rom. 2:15). App right there. Paul explains how this law of conscience sometimes rewards and sometimes punishes a person. Thus, every person, no matter who he is, Jew or pagan, feels peace, joy and satisfaction when he does good, and, on the contrary, feels anxiety, sorrow and oppression when he does evil. Moreover, even pagans, when they do evil or indulge in debauchery, know from an inner feeling that God’s punishment will follow for these actions (Rom. 1:32). At the upcoming Last Judgment, God will judge people not only by their faith, but also by the testimony of their conscience. Therefore, as the apostle teaches. Paul, and the Gentiles can be saved if their conscience testifies to God of their virtuous life.

Conscience has great sensitivity to good and evil. If man were not damaged by sin, he would not need a written law. Conscience could truly guide all his actions. The need for a written law arose after the Fall, when man, darkened by passions, ceased to clearly hear the voice of his conscience. But essentially, both the written law and the internal law of conscience say one thing: “As you want people to do to you, do so to them”(Matt. 7:12).

In daily relationships with people, we subconsciously lose more of a person’s conscience than written laws and rules. After all, you can’t keep track of every crime, and sometimes the law of unrighteous judges is “whatever the drawbar is: where you turned, that’s where it went.” Conscience contains within itself the eternal and unchangeable law of God. Therefore, normal relationships between people are possible only as long as people have not lost their conscience.

On maintaining a clean conscience

“Keep your heart above all else, for from it are the springs of life.”(Proverbs 4:23) With these words, Holy Scripture calls on a person to take care of his moral purity.

But what about a sinful person who has stained his conscience; is he forever doomed? Fortunately, no! The great advantage of Christianity over other religions is that it opens the way and provides the means to fullclearing conscience.

This path consists of repentantly surrendering your sins to the mercy of God with the sincere intention of changing your life for the better. God forgives us for the sake of His Only Begotten Son, who on the cross made a cleansing sacrifice for our sins. In the sacrament, and then in the sacraments of confession and communion, God completely cleanses a person’s conscience “from dead works” (Heb. 9:14). That is why he attaches such great importance to these sacraments.

In addition, the Church of Christ possesses that grace-filled power that makes it possible for the conscience to improve in sensitivity and clarity of manifestations. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God”. Through a clear conscience, God’s light begins to act, guiding a person’s thoughts, words and actions. In this blessed illumination, man becomes an instrument of God's providence. He not only saves himself and improves spiritually, but also contributes to the salvation of people who communicate with him (let us remember Saints Seraphim of Sarov, John of Kronstadt, Elder Ambrose of Optina and other righteous people).

Finally, a clear conscience is a source of inner joy. People with a pure heart are calm, friendly and friendly. People with a pure heart already in this life anticipate the bliss of the Kingdom!

“It is not the greatness of power,” argues St. John Chrysostom, - “it is not a lot of money, not the vastness of power, not bodily strength, not a luxurious table, not luxurious clothes, not other human advantages that bring complacency and joy; but this can only be the fruit of spiritual well-being and a good conscience.”

What is remorse?

Committing a sin for the first time, a person feels a certain [internal] conviction and experiences. Having committed the same sin again, he experiences less conviction, and if he... is inattentive and continues to sin, then his conscience hardens.

The devil often finds an excuse for sins, and instead of admitting: “I did it to trample my conscience,” she justifies herself: “I did it so that the Elder would not be upset.” He turns the tuning knob to a different frequency so that we don't see our wrongdoing. One woman, coming to her confessor for confession, sobbed inconsolably and repeated the same phrase: “I didn’t want to kill her!” “Listen,” the confessor began to reassure her, “if you have repentance, then God has forgiveness of sin. After all, He forgave the repentant David.”

Joys cover sin, drive it deeper, but it continues to work from the inside. Thus, a person tramples on his conscience and therefore begins to harden, and his heart slowly becomes salty. And then the devil finds an excuse for him in everything: “This is a trivial matter, but this is a natural thing...” However, such a person has no peace, because the disorder driven deep does not stop. He feels restless and lacks inner peace and silence. He lives with incessant torment, suffers and cannot understand the reason for all this, because his sins are covered from above, driven deep down. Such a person does not understand that he suffers from having committed a sin.

Conscience in psychology

Psychology studies the properties of conscience and its relationship with other mental abilities of a person. Psychology tries to establish two points: a) Is conscience a natural property of a person with which he is born, or is it the fruit of upbringing and is determined by the life conditions in which a person is formed? and b) Is conscience a manifestation of a person’s mind, feelings or will, or is it an independent force?

Careful observation of the presence of conscience in a person convinces us that conscience is not the fruit of a person’s upbringing or physical instincts, but has a higher, inexplicable origin.

For example, children discover conscience before any education from adults. If physical instincts dictated conscience, then conscience would encourage people to do what is beneficial and pleasant to them. However, conscience very often forces a person to do exactly what is unprofitable and unpleasant for him. No matter how the wicked enjoy with impunity and no matter how good and praiseworthy people suffer in this temporary life, conscience tells everyone that there is a higher justice. Sooner or later everyone will receive retribution for their actions. That is why for many people the most convincing argument in favor of the existence of God and the immortality of the soul is the presence of a voice of conscience in a person.

Regarding the relationship of conscience with other forces of man, with his mind, feeling and will, we see that conscience not only tells a person about what is in itself good or bad in moral terms, but also obliges he must do good and avoid doing bad, accompanying good actions with a feeling of joy and satisfaction, and evil actions with a feeling of shame, fear, mental anguish. These manifestations of conscience reveal cognitive, sensory and volitional sides.

Of course, reason alone cannot consider some actions as morally good and others as morally bad. He tends to find one or another of our and other people's actions either smart or stupid, expedient or inexpedient, profitable or unprofitable, and nothing more. Meanwhile, something prompts the mind to contrast the most profitable opportunities with good actions, to condemn the former and approve of the latter. He sees in some human actions not only benefit or miscalculation, like mathematical calculations, but gives a moral assessment of actions. Doesn't it follow from this that conscience influences reason with the help of moral arguments, acting, in essence, independently of it?

Turning to the volitional side of manifestations of conscience, we observe that will itself is a person’s ability to desire something, but this ability does not command a person what to do. The human will, as long as we know it in ourselves and in other people, very often struggles with the demands of the moral law and strives to break out of the shackles that constrain it. If the volitional manifestation of conscience were only the implementation of human will, then in this case such a struggle would not exist. Meanwhile, the requirement of morality certainly controls our will. She may not fulfill these demands, being free, but she cannot renounce them. However, even failure to fulfill the demands of conscience by will does not go unpunished for her.

Finally, the sensual side of conscience cannot be considered as only a sensual ability of the human heart. The heart craves pleasant sensations and avoids unpleasant ones. Meanwhile, violation of moral requirements is often associated with strong mental anguish that tears apart the human heart, from which we cannot get rid of, no matter how much we wish and try. There is no doubt that the sensory ability of conscience cannot be considered as a manifestation of ordinary sensitivity.

Penance: Medicine for a sick conscience

Films about conscience:

The bill is non-evening. From September 17. Faith and conscience

About conscience

How to awaken your conscience?

Conscience- the human ability to distinguish and, the consciousness of good and evil (St. Ignatius Brianchaninov), natural law, requiring from the human mind a life pleasing to God (St.).

Conscience is a desirable or active force (ability) of the human spirit, pointing a person to good and demanding its fulfillment. Being closely connected with reason and feeling, conscience has a practical character and can be called practical consciousness (st.). If the mind knows and the senses feel, then conscience, as an active force, determines the type of activity of the spirit in relation to an object cognizable by the mind and sensed by the senses.

In the word “conscience,” the root “news” together with the particle “co” indicates “communication” and “co-action.” Human conscience initially did not act alone. In man before the Fall, she acted together with Himself, abiding in His human soul. Through conscience the human soul received messages from God, therefore conscience and is called the voice of God or the voice of the human spirit, enlightened by the Holy Spirit of God. The correct action of conscience is possible only in its close interaction with the Divine grace of the Holy Spirit. This was the human conscience before the Fall. However, after the fall, conscience was influenced by passions, and its voice began to fade due to the diminishment of the action of Divine grace. Conscience as the inner voice of God gradually turned into external conscience, that is, the ability to act for the sake of temporary, earthly, transitory interest, and not in the name of fulfilling the Divine commandment. External conscience led to hypocrisy, to the justification of human sins. Restoring the correct action of conscience is possible only under the guidance of the Divine grace of the Holy Spirit, achievable only through a living union with God, revealed by faith in the God-man Jesus Christ.

The conscience of a Christian has God as its source. Autonomy of conscience, that is, assigning to oneself the absolute right of self-determination in the moral sphere, is inherently a sin.

How to hear the voice of conscience?

Conscience manifests itself in a person in the form of moral feeling. Intending to perform, performing and/or having already performed some action that presupposes the possibility of its moral evaluation, a person, to one degree or another, internally feels how this action corresponds or.

The correctness of a person’s awareness of his moral actions depends on a number of factors, including: on the influence of the environment within which he lives (determined by cultural, religious traditions, local laws, etc.), on the factor of education, self-education, on the individual moral state .

Under the influence of these and some other factors, the voice of conscience, as a spokesman for the natural moral law, can be suppressed, muffled, and distorted. In this regard, what may seem good to representatives of some religious, social or ethnic groups may be assessed as evil by representatives of others (for example, blood feud, sexual promiscuity, attitudes towards abortion, etc.).

In relation to the definition of states of conscience, adjectives such as “good” (), “pure” (), “burnt” (), “vicious” (), “defiled” (), etc. are used.

Among the functions of conscience, there are three main ones. As a legislator, conscience indicates to a person how he should act in a given case, so that this action (plan, action, etc.) corresponds to what God has established. As a witness or judge, conscience determines whether a person has broken the law or not, whether he is right or wrong. Finally, the function of the bribe-giver is expressed in the fact that, depending on whether a person has violated the requirements of the moral law or not, he experiences either remorse and or satisfaction from the action taken.

St. Ignatiy Brianchaninov:
“Conscience guided man before the written Law. Fallen humanity gradually acquired an incorrect way of thinking about God, about good and evil: the false mind communicated its wrongness to conscience. The Written Law has become a necessity for guidance to true knowledge of God and to God-pleasing activities. The teaching of Christ, sealed by holy baptism, heals the conscience from the wickedness with which sin has infected it. What has been returned to us, the correct action of conscience, is supported and elevated by following the teachings of Christ.”

Stv. Feofan the Recluse:
"Conscience. Conscious of being obligated to please God, the spirit would not know how to satisfy this obligation if conscience did not guide it in this. Having communicated to the spirit a piece of His omniscience in the indicated natural symbol of faith, God inscribed in it the requirements of His holiness, truth and goodness, instructing it to observe their fulfillment and judge itself in serviceability or
malfunctions. This side of the spirit is conscience, which indicates what is right and what is not right, what pleases God and what does not please, what should and should not be done; having indicated, he imperiously compels one to do it, and then rewards it with consolation for fulfillment, and punishes it with remorse for non-fulfillment. Conscience is a legislator, guardian of the law, judge and rewarder. It is the natural tablet of God’s covenant, which extends to all people.”

Patriarch Kirill:
We most often imagine God's Judgment to be the same as human judgment. But Divine judgment is already at work, for the Lord was pleased to include judgment in the very nature of man. A person is capable of judging himself. By what law? State? No, according to the law of your conscience. And we know that very often the judgment of conscience turns out to be the most formidable for us. I had to meet with criminals sentenced to long prison terms. And when in a confidential conversation I asked what was most difficult for them now, very often they told me: “Conscience. I can't calm down. The punishment is already behind us, but the conscience does not recede.”
The court of conscience is the harshest and most impartial court, this is the court of God, because the Lord put a moral sense into our nature. Man is the only living creature that is capable of judging itself. And, probably, the Last Judgment will be a continuation of this judgment. Due to human limitations, we forget a lot, sins and conflicts fade from memory, and our conscience calms down. And sometimes conscience is destroyed by vices, drunkenness, or simply the habit of committing lawlessness. But God’s Last Judgment will make up for all the imperfections of our own human judgment: bad memory, cynicism, negligence, deviation from the Divine commandments - everything that did not allow us to fairly judge ourselves during our lifetime.

CONSCIENCE

Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary. 2010 .

In ancient Greek. mythology S. gets fantastic. depiction in the form of the image of Erinyes, goddesses of curse, revenge and punishment, pursuing and punishing criminals, but acting as benefactors (eumenides) in relation to the repentant. In ethics, the problem of personal socialism was first posed by Socrates, whom he considered the source of morals. a person’s judgments (Ancient Greek συνείδησις, like the Latin conscientia, means both S. and awareness). In this form, Socrates advocated the liberation of the individual from the unconditional power of societies over him. and tribal traditions. However, only at the time did S. acquire great importance in ethics, which reflected the liberation of the individual from the feudal estates, guilds and churches. regulation during the development of bourgeois. relationships. The question of personal S. is one of the centers. in the ideology of the Reformation (Luther’s idea that the voice of God is present in the consciousness of every believer and guides him regardless of the church). Materialist philosophers of the 17th–18th centuries. (Locke, Spinoza, Hobbes, other materialists of the 18th century), denying the innate S., draw attention to its dependence on societies. education, living conditions and interests of the individual. Limiting themselves to only stating this dependence, they, like, come to a relativistic interpretation. Locke, for example, says that “... if we cast a glance at people as they are, we will see that in one place some feel remorse because of the commission or non-commitment of actions that others in another place consider worthy" (Izbr. filos. prod., vol. 1, M., 1960, p. 99). Holbach expresses a similar opinion (see “System of Nature”, M., 1940, p. 140). Relativistic interpretation of S., which has an anti-feud among the enlighteners. and anticleric. direction, proclaiming the freedom of personal S., nevertheless deprives it of meaning. To the extent that S. is of a personal, “internal” nature, it makes it an object of influence from the state and society as a whole (although educators do not deny that S. is the prerogative of the individual. Holbach defines S. as an assessment, which “... in our own soul we give to our actions" - "Pocket", M., 1959, p. 172).

This is idealistic. developed the idea of ​​an autonomous individual who determines morals independently of society. law. Thus, Rousseau believes that the laws of virtue are “written in the hearts of everyone” and to know them it is enough to “... go deep into yourself and, in the silence of passions, listen to the voice of your conscience” (“On the influence of sciences on”, St. Petersburg, 1908, p. 56). Kant believes that morals are truly moral. The law for a rational being is only that which gives to itself. The idea of ​​personal autonomy ultimately led to apriorism. interpretation of S. According to Kant, S. is not something acquired. Everyone, as a moral being, has a conscience from birth. The idea of ​​personal autonomy was expressed even more sharply by Fichte, in other words. to-rogo unity. the criterion of morality is the S. “pure self,” and subordination to k.-l. to external authority - dishonesty. Subsequently, this individualistic S.'s interpretation was taken to the extreme in existentialism, in ethics. the concept of which denies the universal nature of morals. law: for example, Sartre considers unity. criterion of morality for “absolutely free” individual design, a person’s refusal of “bad faith” in k.-l. objective criteria.

Hegel already gave criticism of the relativistic and subjectivist understanding of S., who at the same time showed the contradictory nature of S. S. view. Hegel, S. “has its truth in the immediate certainty of itself,” “determines it based on itself.” But this self-reliability of S. entails a “separate person” who can “attribute... his own integrity” to any content. Therefore, Hegel points out, S. acquires its own only in “universal self-consciousness” thanks to the “universal environment” (society) in which a person finds himself (see Soch., vol. 4, M., 1959, pp. 339–52 ). However, recognizing the priority of societies. consciousness over the personal, Hegel interprets it objectively and idealistically, as the embodiment of the absolute. spirit, but its immediate. He considers religion to be an expression in the consciousness of the individual: “So, conscience, in the greatness of its superiority over a certain law and any content of duty... is moral, knowing that the inner voice of its direct knowledge is the voice of the divine... This lonely worship is at the same time essentially the worship of the community..." (ibid., pp. 351–52).

Feuerbach finds materialistic. the fact that S. appears to a person as the voice of his inner self and at the same time as a voice coming from the outside, interacting with the person and condemning his actions. He calls S. “another self” of a person, but points out that this alter does not come from God and does not arise “by a miraculous way of spontaneous generation.” “For, as belonging to this community, as a member of this tribe, this people, this era, I do not have in my conscience any special or other criminal statute... I reproach myself only with what he reproaches me with... or at least he could reproach me if he knew about my actions or if he himself became the object of an action worthy of reproach" (Izbr. filos. prod., vol. 1, M., 1955, p. 630).

The Marxist understanding of socialism reveals its social nature and shows it in terms of the living conditions of man and his ideological societies. position. “A republican has a different conscience than a royalist, a have has a different conscience than a have-not, a thinker has a different conscience than someone who is unable to think” (K. Marx, see K. Marx and F. Engels, Op., 2nd ed., vol. 6, p. 140). The sources of personal conflicts should ultimately be sought in social contradictions that in one way or another affect the individual and are reflected in his consciousness. Contradictions between the interests of different classes, between societies. and personal interests, between the reflection of socio-historical. the need for the will of societies. institutions and understanding of a private person put before the individual his own. choice, the alternatives of which constitute the problem of his personal S. It is in this sense that Lenin’s instruction should be understood that “the idea of ​​determinism, establishing the necessity of human actions, in no way destroys either the mind, the conscience of a person, or the assessment of his actions” (Op. , vol. 1, p. 142). Marxism does not deny the specifically personal character of socialism; it only reveals its content: the higher the society. development of the individual, her social activity and consciousness, the greater the role played by S. in her life. The conditions for this development of the individual are the elimination of class-antagonistic. relations in society and then communist. relations, as they become established, legal coercion will gradually give way to morals. influence, and this influence itself will increasingly coincide with the commands of personal S. and therefore, in the overwhelming majority of cases, will be carried out through personal awareness by the individual. "...In human relationships, reality will be nothing more than a sentence that the guilty person pronounces on himself... In other people, on the contrary, he will meet natural saviors from the punishment that he himself imposed on himself..." (Marx K. and Engels F., Works, 2nd ed., vol. 2, p. 197).

Lit.: Lenin V.I., On communist morality, M., 1961; Kant I., Critique of Practical Reason, St. Petersburg, 1908; his, Fundamentals to the Metaphysics of Morals, M., 1912; Karring G., S. in the light of history, trans. from German, St. Petersburg, 1909; Kropotkin P. A., Ethics, part 1, P.–M., 1922; Hegel G.V.F., Phenomenology of spirit, Soch., vol. 4, M., 1959, p. 339–61; him, Philosophy of Law, vol. 7, M.–L., 1934; Sartre J.-P., Existentialism is, M., 1953; Volchenko L.B., Marxist-Leninskaya about S., "VF", 1962, No. 2; Arkhangelsky L. M., Categories of Marxist ethics, Sverdl., 1963; Berbeshkina Z. A., The problem of S. in Marxist-Leninist ethics, M., 1963; Sartre J. P., L "être et le néant, P., 1943; Reverses W. J., Charakterprägung und Gewissense, Nürnberg, 1951; Hollenbach J. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. M. Issen des Kindes, Stuttg., 1956; R., An interpretation of Christian ethics, N. Υ., 1956; Moral and immoral society, N. Y.–L., 1960; Brunner E., Gott und sein Rebell, Hamb., 1958.

O. Drobnitsky. Moscow.

Philosophical Encyclopedia. In 5 volumes - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Edited by F. V. Konstantinov. 1960-1970 .

CONSCIENCE

CONSCIENCE is the ability of a person, critically assessing himself, to realize and experience his inconsistency with what he should have - failure to fulfill his duty. Phenomenological manifestations of conscience are internal emotional discomfort (“reproaches, pangs of conscience”), feelings of guilt, etc. From a cultural-historical point of view, the idea and concept of conscience are formed in the process of understanding various mechanisms of self-control. Unlike fear (of authority, punishment) and shame (which also reflects a person’s awareness of his inconsistency with certain accepted norms), conscience is perceived as autonomous. Historically, conscience is rooted in and related to shame; However, already early attempts to understand the experience, which will later be called “conscientious,” testify to the desire to differentiate shame itself and highlight as something special “shame before oneself” (Democritus, Socrates) - a kind of exteriorized version of the control mechanism that will be called conscience. In ancient Greek mythology, this function was performed by the Erinyes; in Euripides’ “Orestes” it was conceptualized as “consciousness of perfect horror.” Corresponding Greek the word - sineidesis (συνειδησιζ] - goes back to the verb ουνείδηνατ, which was used in expressions indicating a person’s responsibility to himself for the wicked acts he committed. Also, the Latin word conscientia (which is a kind of tracing paper from Greek) was used to denote not only consciousness in general , but also consciousness or memories of committed bad deeds or consciousness evaluating one’s own actions as worthy or unworthy.

In Christianity, conscience is interpreted as “God’s power”, as an indicator of moral duty (Rom. 2:15) - first of all, duty before God (1 Peter 2:19). At the same time, the Apostle Paul speaks of conscience as a value consciousness in general and thereby recognizes that those who adhere to different faiths have different consciences (1 Cor. 8:7,10), and therefore conscience needs Christian cleansing (Heb. 9:14 ), achieved through faith and love. In medieval literature, the deepening of the analysis of the phenomenon of conscience was mediated by the appearance of a special term - sindeiesis - and the formulation of an additional term in relation to the traditional lat. conscientia concepts. In scholastic philosophy, this concept denotes the commanding power of the soul, the internal knowledge of principles, which, in contrast to the “law of reason” (lex rationis), is instilled in man by God. Conscience synderesis, in contrast to conscience-conscientia, i.e. a person evaluates specific actions as good (good) or evil (bad), was interpreted as: a) the ability (or habit) of judging the correctness of actions from the point of view of “original correctness”, a feeling which is preserved in the human soul despite the Fall, and b) the ability of the will to perform the right actions. At the same time, the epistemology of these abilities was interpreted differently (by Thomas Aquinas, St. Bonaventure, Duns Scotus). The controversy surrounding this concept has revealed various functions of conscience, and more broadly, of moral consciousness: awareness of values ​​as general foundations of behavior and specific actions in which accepted values ​​are affirmed or violated, i.e., the correlation of specific actions with values. The distinction between conscientia and synderesis was partly retained by early Protestant moral theorists. In many new European teachings, conscience is presented as a cognitive-moral force (reason, intuition, feeling), the fundamental ability of a person to express value judgments, to recognize himself as a morally responsible being, intentionally determined in relation to good. For Kant, conscience means practical reason in the sense of the medieval concept of synderesis. The development of this line naturally led within the framework of new European philosophizing to the formation of a broader concept of moral consciousness (in many languages ​​the word “conscience” is related and consonant with words denoting “consciousness”, “knowledge”), highlighting its cognitive, imperative and evaluative functions. Along with this, attempts are being made to specify the concept of “conscience” itself. In the most general terms, it is interpreted as the “inner voice”; the differences relate to the understanding of the source of this “voice”, which is perceived either as independent of the person’s “I”, or as the voice of his innermost “I”, or as “another self”. Associated with this are various theoretical positions regarding the nature of conscience. 1. Conscience is the generalized and internalized voice of significant others or culture, and its content is culturally and historically variable; in this vein, conscience can be interpreted as a specific form of shame (T. Hobbes, F. Nietzsche, 3. Freud); in its extreme form, the position about the external conditioning of conscience is found in the conclusion that conscience is determined by the political views or social status of the individual (K. Marx). 2. Conscience expresses a person’s sense of disagreement with himself (J. Locke) and thereby acts as one of the proofs of a person’s personality and self-awareness (J. Butler, G. Leibniz). Close to this interpretation is the understanding of conscience as the voice of an impartial rational person (J. Rawls). 3. Conscience is not only metaphorically, but also essentially interpreted as the “voice of another”; “through the mouth of conscience” the Universal Law, the highest Truth, seems to speak, this is the voice (“call”) of transcendental forces: the guardian angel (Socrates), God (Augustine), natural law (Locke), presence-Desein (M. Heidegger).

These statements are not completely mutually exclusive. The first focuses on the mechanisms of historical and individual development of conscience; in the other two - on the phenomenology of less and more mature conscience. As a form of moral self-awareness and self-control, conscience expresses a person’s awareness of the failure of duty, the imperfection of good; in this regard, conscience is associated with feelings of responsibility and duty, and, no less, with the ability to be responsible and fulfill one’s duty. Reproaches of conscience indicate to a person his alienation from the ideal and cause a feeling of guilt. In its highest state, conscience means the disappearance of duty in free good will.

These differences are accompanied by differences in the understanding of the content of conscience and the role it plays in a person’s moral life. Conscience can be interpreted negatively and positively. As a negative conscience, it appears reproachful and warning, even frighteningly warning (Nietzsche), critical of the past, judgmental (Kant). In a positive interpretation, conscience, contrary to popular ideas about it, also appears as calling, encouraging care and “determination” (Heidegger). The interpretation of conscience as the voice of God predetermines its understanding as a call to perfection; Accordingly, conscience is recognized by a person as the will to perfection and is the main manifestation of the internal liberation of the individual. The perfectionistic dominance of conscience in individual moral experience is revealed in such a moral self-perplexity of a person in which he finds himself determined precisely in relation to what is morally better.

The expressions “calm conscience” or “clear conscience” in ordinary speech denote a person’s awareness of the fulfillment of his obligations or the realization of all his capabilities in a given specific situation. Essentially, in such cases it is about dignity. The interpretation of the actual phenomenon of “clear conscience” is different in different normative and value contexts. Firstly, a “clear conscience” confirms to the externally oriented consciousness its compliance with the requirements imposed from the outside, and therefore evokes a feeling of well-being and security,