Issues Of Conscience Research Articles

Towards an ethical-dialogical approach to religious education: a theoretical analysis from the cases of Ireland and England

This article draws on the experiences of Ireland and England, which support different conceptions and practices of religious education (RE), in order to provide a normative framework for the organisation of RE in multicultural states. This analysis consists in an assessment of three conceptions of RE: the liberal conception, which emphasises neutrality and objectivity; the pragmatist conception, which is egalitarian in character; and the tradition-oriented conception, which is based on a substantive ethics. Rejecting the view that RE should be only informative and free from criticism of content, I will make the case for an ethical-dialogical approach to RE, whereby pupils can learn from each other’s beliefs and experiences, as availed by their own cultural traditions, without setting aside their capacity to evaluate different moral claims. This approach to RE is especially designed to multidenominational schools that recognise the ethical potential of learning from religion, but are sensible towards issues of conscience in plural environments.

Sumienie według oświeceniowych filozofów

In these remarks, I recall the understanding and presentation of the issue of conscience by the three significant Enlightenment representatives, i.e. I. Kant, A. Smith, Voltaire and P.T. Holbach. First of all, it was undertaken by ancient philosophers, then by Christian theologians, and finally by the philosophers of the Enlightenment. However, the philosophers recalled here had analyzed it in opposition to both – the first and the latter tradition. They had proposed such solutions that were, in their opinion, much more rational, yet they differed significantly. Nevertheless, each of them was an innovative and inspiring starting point for serious discussions.

Pacifist utopias: humanitarianism, tragedy and complicity in the Second World War

Pacifist utopias: humanitarianism, tragedy and complicity in the Second World War

Women's Ordination in the Church of England: Conscience, Change and Law

Women's ordination raised issues of conscience across church traditions. The Church of England's statutory legal framework prevented these issues being confined to the Church; they were also played out in parliamentary debate. The interface between law and conscience has, however, considerable historical and contemporary resonance, as well as sound theological pedigree. This article therefore considers the place of conscience in legal and philosophical thought before the Enlightenment. It looks at norms of conscience in Roman Catholic and Church of England liturgical use. On a broader canvas, it looks at the interplay between thought, conscience and religion in human rights case law. The article suggests that a consensus of thought which sees the dictates of conscience as founded in, and inseparable from, the teachings of religion begins to break down in the early seventeenth century. Yet human rights courts find themselves deciding cases of conscience or religion where conscience and religion are often intertwined and where the external manifestation of one is governed by the inner promptings of the other. Such difficulties are not limited to the human rights courts but also play out in debates pertaining to ordination. While the North American churches sought to deal with issues of conscience head on, the Church of England very carefully avoided the language of conscience in its early discussions of women's ordination, conscious, it seems, of a lack of consensus around its meaning and source. As the women's ordination debates developed, arguments of conscience were often deployed more by those opposed to the move than those who supported it. Conscience became as much the locus of pain caused by another's action as it was an inner faculty for self-guidance. Its valence shifted from an intellectual to an emotional category.

Die Aufrichtigkeit als die Wurzel der Moralität. Kant (und Nietzsche)

Abstract In this essay, I examine the motive of inner truthfulness in the moral philosophy of Kant, which came to the fore in his work in the 1790s. Truthfulness and sincerity are interpreted as the roots of all morality. In the first chapter, I present two interpretations of inner honesty from two different perspectives: in relation to a duty to oneself and to the issue of conscience. The second chapter (the core of the essay) works out the main demand of truthfulness, especially in the context of the theory of radical evil from Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason. As a last step, I show that with the motive of truthfulness, Kant’s philosophy meets the thinking of F. Nietzsche, with its emphasis on sincerity.

A Short History of Conscience, Authorty and Obedience

The issue of conscience and authority has long been on the agenda of moral philosophy. In particular, the views of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes came to the fore when there was freedom of religion and conscience. Their views continue to influence the moral philosophers of today's world. In terms of organizing and maintaining individual and social relationships, different perspectives from past to present have been made possible by taking into account the common life practices. In today's world, the social configurations that have changed compared to the past and the problems arising from the encounter of different ethnic and social groups have caused re-emergence of solidarity in a common theme. The concept of cultural relativism, which is one of these common themes, refers to the evaluation of exposed judgments within the internal dynamics of culture. On the other hand, shaping of universal human rights and social solidarity on an intercultural ground makes the existence of an additional theme inevitable in terms of harmony and sustainability: conscience. Conscience is related to the commonization of the common living commitments and being in solidarity in sustaining social relations. Predicating the relations to be formed on the basis of conscience upon an essentialist foundation does not run parallel to the continuous reshaping of solidarity in practical life. In the absence of essentialist truths, and outside the original ethnic relativity, a new and sustainable togetherness starts to be shaped within these practices. Therefore, one of the themes that will spring to mind will be the values education. There are studies that include the answers given to the questions that come to mind about the theoretical possibilities of this and the determination and interpretation of the values already positioned in the practical structures.

Nurses' use of conscientious objection and the implications for conscience.

To explore the meaning of conscience for nurses in the context of conscientious objection (CO) in clinical practice. Interpretive phenomenology was used to guide this study. Data were collected from 2016 - 2017 through one-on-one interviews from eight nurses in Ontario. Iterative analysis was conducted consistent with interpretive phenomenology and resulted in thematic findings. Iterative, phased analysis using line-by-line and sentence highlighting identified key words and phrases. Cumulative summaries of narratives thematic analysis revealed how nurses made meaning of conscience in the context of making a CO. Conscience issues and CO are current, critical issues for nurses. For Canadian nurses this need has been recently heightened by the national legalization of euthanasia, known as Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada. Ethics education, awareness, and respect for nurses' conscience are needed in Canada and across the profession to support nurses to address their issues of conscience in professional practice. Ethical meaning emerges for nurses in their lived experiences of encountering serious ethical issues that they need to professionally address, by way of conscience-based COs. This is the first study to explore what conscience means to nurses, as shared by nurses themselves and in the context of CO. Nurse participants expressed that support from leadership, regulatory bodies, and policy for nurses' conscience rights are indicated to address nurses' conscience issues in practice settings.

A Family “Much Afflicted with Conscience”

The Verins emigrated to Massachusetts Bay in 1636. When Jane Verin disobeyed her husband by attending prayer services, he beat her severely. The residents of Providence subsequently disenfranchised him for having violated her liberty of conscience. This case study of one family reveals that, like other Non-Conformists who challenged the established Church of England before emigrating, they continued to face important personal dilemmas brought on by the dictates of their conscience even after their arrival in New England. Families split over issues of conscience, governance of the commonwealth, and maintaining order in the family household.

PROBLEMATYKA SUMIENIA W WYBRANYCH PUBLIKACJACH KS. PROF. STANISŁAWA OLEJNIKA

Problematyka sumienia zajmowała ważne miejsce w twórczości naukowej ks. prof. Stanisława Olejnika. Pojawiła się już w pierwszych jego publikacjach i pozostała ciągle powracającym przedmiotem refleksji. Artykuł przypomina doko- nania na tym polu zwracając uwagę że ks. prof. Olejnik czerpał zarówno z bogatej tradycji refleksji nad sumieniem, jak i poznawał, krytycznie oceniał i wykorzysty- wał ujęcia współczesne. Odważnie polemizował z poglądami błędnymi, a nawet wrogimi chrześcijańskiej wizji człowieka i jego sumienia. Nade wszystko cierpliwie wyjaśniał stanowisko etyki katolickiej. W trosce o czytelników nieustannie dopra- cowywał całościowe religijnomoralne ujęcie tematu sumienia. Odwoływał się do nauczania Kościoła, ale proponował także uniwersalne, humanistyczne spojrzenie, które przedstawił m.in. w ramach refleksji nad etyką lekarską.

Politicisation Without Party Discipline. A New Perspective on Christian Democracy in Modern Times

Scholars of morality politics have argued that while secular parties politicise value-driven issues, Christian Democrats are more reluctant to do so. By investigating the individual cosponsoring of proposals on conscience issues in the German Bundestag between 2005 and 2009, we show that Christian Democrats use their freedom in this context and engage more frequently in politicising moral issues than deputies of secular parties. However, MP’s engagement is also shaped by their religious denomination and the policy-specific issue salience. These findings enrich our understanding of the ‘Christian-Democratic Phoenix’ in modern times and shed new light on the motives that drive agenda setting of morality issues in the parliamentary arena.

Action Steps and Solutions for Physicians’ Exercise of Conscience

Conscience can influence physicians' interactions with patients in myriad ways and, by extension, can influence the interactions and internal dynamics of a health care team. The AMA's opinion around physicians' exercise of conscience appropriately balance the obligations physicians have to their patients and profession, and the rights of physicians as moral agents to exercise their conscience. While the opinion is an effective starting point, further guidance is necessary to clarify the process by which physicians should identify, manage, and, if necessary, report their conscientious refusals to patients, supervisors, or colleagues. In addition to laying out a proposed process for identifying and managing issues of conscience, this article will use relevant and timely examples to help clarify how a physician could apply this process in an instance of conscientious refusal.

Museum Ethics in the 21st Century: Museum Ethics Transforming into Another Dimension

This paper examines, on the one hand, museum ethics as a set of behavioural principles, and on the other, morals as individual values of right and wrong. It suggests a juxtaposition of the two concepts (ethics and morality) and looks at the conflicts that are increasingly being set up between the two when ethical precepts border on moral deeds and transform into issues of conscience. In other words, it treats ethics and morals as two different dimensions whereby ethics are seen to have parameters that are firmly prescribed and those of moral behaviour being variable and subject to change, thus reaching outside and beyond ethical precepts. To underscore this position, several narratives illustrating some of the problems facing museums today are presented, and primary issues that currently and that will continue to afflict museums in respect of ethics are discussed. Museums as science, as steward, and as societal advocate and the conflicts between these various roles are advanced with a view to laying the groundwork for new trends in the development of museum ethics in the 21st century.

Conscience and Carnage in Afghanistan and Iraq: US Veterans Ponder the Experience

Against the backdrop of the massive carnage of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, this article examines the institution of conscientious objection and the treatment of conscientious objectors. It concludes that while the number of objectors discharged from the US military in the two wars was small, the issues of conscience they articulated resonated widely through the ranks. This article seeks to make available their experience as a resource to inform the broader ongoing debate about the wars and their implications for military ethics.

Whistleblowers and the Media

In 2013, questions regarding what motivation would be sufficient and necessary to betray the secrets of one's own government and country have been relevant not only in the context of fiction but were raised by the actions of whistleblowers Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden. Both were prompted by issues of conscience to disclose vast troves of US government secrets. Neither was motivated by promises of money or reward. Both have suffered serious consequences from their disclosures. Manning has been found guilty of multiple acts of espionage and has been sentenced to 35 years imprisonment (less time already served in detention plus an extra allowance of 112 days in recognition of abusive and illegal treatment during detention). Manning's term, which is subject to appeal and the possibility of future Presidential pardon, is much longer than that given to any other US government employee who has disclosed secrets. Snowden remained stateless in a Moscow airport lounge for more than a month before being granted temporary asylum in Russia. His US passport has been cancelled and he faces espionage and theft charges in the US.

Literature as a Form of Narration: The Issue of Conscience in the Works of Kafka and Dostoevsky

Conscience is a phenomenon that’s been emphasized in many religions, philosophical schools of thought and mysticism. According to philosophy, conscience, which warns the person by means of providing a sense of inner peace or discontentment, is not solely a concept but the talent possessed by a person. On the other hand, dialectic argues that conscience is the result of a person’s breeding and knowledge determined by the social conditions in which the person lives in. Conscience is an internal voice that distinguishes the right from wrong.In literature, there are certain stories and heroes that are worth being studied meticulously and with attention. For example, Kafka, who describes the fundamental issues brought about by the modern era, has tried to disclose the truth of the century we are living in its rawest and naked form. In his writing, Kafka has always chosen allegorical and metaphorical narratives and through the characters he created, has emphasized the bureaucracy, alienation and the estrangement of human beings from humanistic values. In one of his stories, he tells the story of Gregor Samsa who turns into metamorphoses into a cockroach while in another story, he tells the tragic end of a character who has been sentenced to an undeserved punishment by a bureaucracy that exists outside of himself because of a crime he did not commit.Another example from literary texts will be Dostoyevsky. The love towards those small and poor people as well as the pity felt towards those empty and ridiculous men that live in the society, which is a common theme in the Russian literature, can be witnessed in his novels.At this point, Dostoyevsky as well as Kafka, take a critical look at the system through literature and have provided us with examples of conscience by means of questioning the system through the characters they created.Our subject matter in this text is to reveal that literature, in my opinion the most influential form of which is poetry followed by the novel, is actually an art form in which human beings as well as all concepts pertaining to human beings and to examine the relationship between literature and conscience. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v3n7p742

Social Workers, Conscience Protection and Practice

This is a review of conscience protection law and ethics in social work from different perspectives. The article's definitional work on professional and personal conscience decision-making processes seeks to clarify the professional conversation on conscience issues in social work with some focus on participation in the abortion decision as an example.

Beyond party discipline: UK Parliamentary voting on fox hunting

In the second term of the New Labour Government, the issue of fox hunting occupied 700 hours of parliamentary time and received extensive press attention. This article shows that the hunting case reveals a different pattern than that found for voting on other conscience issues in the UK parliament, with party an almost perfect predictor of voting in the two main parties. In examining this outcome, we focus on way in which the issue played in both the main political parties during the passage of the Hunting Bill. In the Labour party, the strength of backbench support for the Bill overwhelmed the ambivalence of the frontbench. In contrast, the Conservative Party became more united as a response to the increased politicisation of the issue by Labour backbenchers and increased extra-parliamentary political activity by the Countryside Alliance.

Conscience and Conformity: Some Moral Dilemmas in Seventeenth-Century England

AbstractThis paper considers how issues of conscience might be considered in seventeenth-century England. It looks at how some of the moral problems arising from the restoration of an episcopal Church of England in 1660 were debated, and focuses on the response of the clergy to the demands for conformity to the Book of Common Prayer, renunciation of the Solemn League and Covenant, and episcopal ordination. A large number of books were published on these subjects, and contemporary diaries show that ministers read these books and discussed the problems among themselves, in reaching difficult and often painful decisions.

Debating Abortion, Deliberative Reciprocity and Parliamentary Advocacy

An influential model of deliberative democracy advances a principle of reciprocity as a norm of democratic debate on morally controversial issues. This norm is at odds with behaviour that has been observed in political campaigning and policy making where advocates of competing positions talk past one another. Does this inconsistency stem from a contrast between the normative and empirical or from not considering empirically plausible practices of democratic debate in which reciprocity might be respected? One such practice is free votes on conscience issues in the UK parliament. This article examines six second reading debates in the UK House of Commons on abortion legislation to assess whether, in favourable circumstances, political debate is consistent with reciprocity. Utilising computer-aided text analysis, via the Alceste program, it finds no gross departure from the norm of reciprocity, suitably operationalised, but neither does it find complete conformity to the norm of reciprocity. Because advocacy is an important component of political representation, deliberative norms are qualified in practice.

Staging Vice and Acting Evil: Theatre and Anti-Theatre in Early Modern England

This article revisits the relationship between dramatic production and religious change in the sixteenth century, specifically by examining the allegorical Vice figure - a dramatic embodiment of evil forces - that came to particular prominence during this period. It suggests that the professional actor became increasingly associated with this figure of moral evil. I propose also that understanding the moral ambivalence of the actor’s presence can inform our understanding of many plays in which no obviously coherent Vice figure is present, but in which possibilities of such an allegory are important. It would be impractical to present this argument across the range of dramatic examples it deserves, particularly since substantial contextual argument will be necessary if the article’s conclusions are to have any weight. It is partly for this reason that an examination of Shakespeare’s Hamlet concludes the paper, a play needing no introduction. It will be suggested that the play’s issue of conscience was mediated in important ways by the actor’s potentially Vice-like presence, defined as such by Tudor legislation as well as by a variety of anti-theatrical religious writings.