Answer to Question #320449 in Psychology for Raha

Question

What is consciences and what are the functions of consciousness

Answer 1

The term “conscience” translates the Latin “conscientia”, which refers to sharing “knowledge” (scientia) “with” (con-), The literal meaning of the term does not specify the type of knowledge involved and whom that knowledge is shared with. However, the concept has traditionally been used to refer to moral knowledge (we talk indifferently of conscience and moral conscience) that is shared with oneself. This reference to the self does not rule out that the source of the morality in question be external to the self. For example, it might be God, as in the Christian tradition, or the influence of one’s culture or of one’s upbringing, as in the Freudian theory of the Super-Ego.

functions of consciousness

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 behaviour and ultimately our self against those principles.

A conscience that is both well-formed (shaped by education and experience) and well informed (aware of facts, evidence and so on) enables us to know ourselves and our world and act accordingly. Seeing conscience in this way is important because it teaches us ethics is not innate.

As such, conscience is the most fundamental of all moral duties—the duty to unite one's powers of reason, emotion, and will into an integrated moral whole based upon one's most fundamental moral principles and identity. This very fundamental nature gives conscience its primacy in deliberation about particular acts.