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Single Idea 21786

[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / c. Ethical intuitionism ]

Full Idea

Conscience is the expression of the absolute title of subjective self-consciousness to know in itself and from within itself what is right and obligatory, to recognise only what it knows as good, and that what is thus known is right and obligatory.

Gist of Idea

Conscience is the right of the self to know what is right and obligatory, and thus make them true

Source

Georg W.F.Hegel (Elements of the Philosophy of Right [1821], 137), quoted by Stephen Houlgate - An Introduction to Hegel 08 'The Problem'

Book Ref

Houlgate,Stephen: 'An Introduction to Hegel' [Blackwell 2005], p.193

A Reaction

[compressed] This is the sort of rabbit-out-of-the-hat move that Hegel loves, and I find implausible. Mill made the key point about conscience.

Related Idea

Idea 3769 With early training, any absurdity or evil may be given the power of conscience [Mill]

The 31 ideas with the same theme [we have an in-built morality detector]:

7503 Plato never refers to examining the conscience [Plato, by Foucault]
6237 Fear of God is not conscience, which is a natural feeling of offence at bad behaviour [Shaftesbury]
8066 Butler exalts conscience, but it may be horribly misleading [Anscombe on Butler]
6238 We approve of actions by a superior moral sense [Hutcheson]
6239 We dislike a traitor, even if they give us great benefit [Hutcheson]
6240 The moral sense is not an innate idea, but an ability to approve or disapprove in a disinterested way [Hutcheson]
6242 We cannot choose our moral feelings, otherwise bribery could affect them [Hutcheson]
6247 Everyone feels uneasy when seeing others in pain, unless the others are evil [Hutcheson]
6256 Can't the moral sense make mistakes, as the other senses do? [Hutcheson]
7258 The forefather of modern intuitionism is Richard Price [Price,R, by Dancy,J]
21786 Conscience is the right of the self to know what is right and obligatory, and thus make them true [Hegel]
3769 With early training, any absurdity or evil may be given the power of conscience [Mill]
2933 Why do you listen to the voice of your conscience? [Nietzsche]
4496 'Conscience' is invented to value actions by intention and conformity to 'law', rather than consequences [Nietzsche]
11050 Moore's combination of antinaturalism with strong supervenience on the natural is incoherent [Hanna on Moore,GE]
23726 Despite Moore's caution, non-naturalists incline towards intuitionism [Moore,GE, by Smith,M]
7259 Ross said moral principles are self-evident from the facts, but not from pure thought [Ross, by Dancy,J]
5913 The moral convictions of thoughtful educated people are the raw data of ethics [Ross]
6971 I would describe intuitions of good as feelings of approval [Ayer]
5205 Moral intuition is worthless if there is no criterion to decide between intuitions [Ayer]
2705 How can intuitionists distinguish universal convictions from local cultural ones? [Hare]
2712 You can't use intuitions to decide which intuitions you should cultivate [Hare]
4128 Intuitionism has been demolished by critics, and no longer looks interesting [Williams,B]
20286 Following an inner voice for morality is irresponsible in a rational agent [Singer]
8051 Mention of 'intuition' in morality means something has gone wrong with the argument [MacIntyre]
7261 Internalists say that moral intuitions are motivating; externalist say a desire is also needed [Dancy,J]
7262 Obviously judging an action as wrong gives us a reason not to do it [Dancy,J]
7265 Moral facts are not perceived facts, but perceived reasons for judgements [Dancy,J]
7260 If there are intuited moral facts, why should we care about them? [Dancy,J]
2864 The main objection to intuitionism in ethics is that intuition is a disguise for prejudice or emotion [Blackburn]
6177 Moral intuition seems unevenly distributed between people [Rowlands]