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Definition: CONSCIENCE from Dictionary of Psychopathology

In psychoanalysis, equivalent to the superego: that which produces guilt and stands in opposition to the dangers of impulse expression. Correlated to moral and ethical imperatives.


conscience

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Inner sense of what is morally right and wrong. Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud held that conscience is the superego . English theologian Joseph Butler, the leading conscience theorist in ethics, saw the voice of conscience as ‘the candle of the Lord’. He argued that conscience is the part of human nature that guides us towards the moral integration of the self. Critics of conscience theories argue that the idea of conscience is an unreliable measure of a person's ability to choose right over wrong or good over evil. Development of conscience A baby reacts to the pleasure principle and is very self-centred, not in the sense of being selfish, but as a proper concern for self-preservation. Food and loving attention give pleasure and the baby expresses needs by crying. As a person grows older, part of the natural development is to learn to make decisions and to judge the effects of those decisions on other people. This is when the idea of the conscience comes into play. The…
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Full text Article Conscience

From Book of Bible Quotations
And it came to pass afterward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's skirt. And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men. For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, …
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Full text Article conscience

From Encyclopedia of Ethics
‘Conscience’—in the sense it has in such sentences as “Nobody can in good conscience tell damaging falsehoods about a neighbor”—derives from a sense of the Latin word conscientia introduced by the medieval Christian scholastics. Primarily, it stands for the consciousness human individuals sometimes…
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Full text Article conscience

From The Chambers Dictionary
the sense of moral correctness that governs or influences a person's actions or thoughts; scrupulousness, conscientiousness, diligence; inmost thought, consciousness ( Shakesp ). interj ( Scot ) an expression of surprise (also my conscience ). [Fr, from L cōnscientia knowledge, from cōnscīre to know…
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Full text Article Conscience

From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
A clause in an act of parliament to relieve persons with moral scruples from certain requirements, usually of a religious character. It acquired a wider significance in connection with the Compulsory Vaccination Act of 1898. Money paid anonymously to the government by persons who have defrauded the…
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Full text Article Conscience

From QFinance: The Ultimate Resource
Be the master of your will but the servant of your conscience. Sharma, Robin S. . MegaLiving!: 30 Days to a Perfect Life (1995). Sufficient conscience to bother him, but not sufficient to keep him straight. George, David Lloyd (Earl of Dwyfor). Referring to Ramsay MacDonald . Quoted in Life with…
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Full text Article conscience

From The American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language
a. An awareness of morality in regard to one's behavior; a sense of right and wrong that urges one to act morally: Let your conscience be your guide. b. A source of moral or ethical judgment or pronouncement: a document that serves as the nation's conscience. c. Conformity to one's own sense of…
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Full text Article Conscience

From Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology
Conscience is the moral dimension of human consciousness; it provides the means by which humans modify instinctual drives to conform to laws, moral codes, and social norms. Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) viewed the conscience as one of two components of the superego; the other component was the…
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Full text Article Conscience

From Cambridge Dictionary of Christian Theology
Conscience typically designates the human capacity to know right and wrong; it encompasses our moral consciousness and practical moral decision-making. Conscience operates before and after moral action. The antecedent conscience refers to our capacity for apprehending good and evil (or discerning…
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Full text Article Consciences

From Film Quotations: 11,000 Lines Spoken on Screen, Arranged by Subject, and Indexed
see also Ethics , Guilt , Immorality , Judgments , Morality , Principles , Right and Wrong , Wrongs and Wrongdoings ELSA CARRINGTON: “I'd sooner see you dead than let you do this.” RICHARD ASHENDEN: “Do you realize this might be the end of our forces in the East?” ELSA: “What difference does that…
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Full text Article conscience

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
Inner sense of what is morally right and wrong. Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud held that conscience is the superego . English theologian Joseph Butler, the leading conscience theorist in ethics, saw the voice of conscience as ‘the candle of the Lord’. He argued that conscience is the part of…
| 294 words
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