Richard Sorabji
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199644339
- eISBN:
- 9780191745812
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199644339.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
The Greek expression for conscience meant in the 5th century BCE: sharing with oneself, as if one were split into two, knowledge of a personal defect, not yet always a moral one. The Christian Saint ...
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The Greek expression for conscience meant in the 5th century BCE: sharing with oneself, as if one were split into two, knowledge of a personal defect, not yet always a moral one. The Christian Saint Paul was to link knowledge of the personal with knowledge of a general law of both right and wrong. Gandhi paraphrased in Gujarati Plato's Apology, in which Socrates is portrayed as having an inner warning voice. Platonists were to identify it with conscience, and, like Gandhi, to discuss how it worked. Gandhi treated his own inner voice, like Socrates but unlike Saint Paul, as indubitable, but conceded that it takes practice to hear it aright. He regarded the voice as God's, but as reminding one of values, not as supplying them, and as binding, even when mistaken. Conscience, he thought, speaks only to the individual, but may tell one to change the conduct of others.Less
The Greek expression for conscience meant in the 5th century BCE: sharing with oneself, as if one were split into two, knowledge of a personal defect, not yet always a moral one. The Christian Saint Paul was to link knowledge of the personal with knowledge of a general law of both right and wrong. Gandhi paraphrased in Gujarati Plato's Apology, in which Socrates is portrayed as having an inner warning voice. Platonists were to identify it with conscience, and, like Gandhi, to discuss how it worked. Gandhi treated his own inner voice, like Socrates but unlike Saint Paul, as indubitable, but conceded that it takes practice to hear it aright. He regarded the voice as God's, but as reminding one of values, not as supplying them, and as binding, even when mistaken. Conscience, he thought, speaks only to the individual, but may tell one to change the conduct of others.
Maurizio Viroli
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691142357
- eISBN:
- 9781400845514
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691142357.003.0024
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter considers the writings of Ernesto Rossi, who recognized the absolute authority of moral conscience and posited it as the foundation of his religious conception of life. Sentenced to ...
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This chapter considers the writings of Ernesto Rossi, who recognized the absolute authority of moral conscience and posited it as the foundation of his religious conception of life. Sentenced to twenty years in prison for his participation in conspiratorial activity, he wrote to his mother, Elide Rossi, from the penitentiary in Piacenza, on January 20, 1933, that he was happy she no longer had any tie with the Catholic religion. For Rossi, Catholicism was at most an inferior conception of life compared to philosophical knowledge. Rossi prefered a soft religion—soft and yet capable of guiding one's action—to a revealed or bad religion. The chapter then turns to the writings of Massimo Mila, who was imprisoned in 1935 because he belonged to the Justice and Liberty movement. He believed not in the Christian religion but rather in a profound secular religion, based on the supreme value of the intrinsic intention of the one who acts and the conviction that one's faith is solely the “purity of the moral intention.”Less
This chapter considers the writings of Ernesto Rossi, who recognized the absolute authority of moral conscience and posited it as the foundation of his religious conception of life. Sentenced to twenty years in prison for his participation in conspiratorial activity, he wrote to his mother, Elide Rossi, from the penitentiary in Piacenza, on January 20, 1933, that he was happy she no longer had any tie with the Catholic religion. For Rossi, Catholicism was at most an inferior conception of life compared to philosophical knowledge. Rossi prefered a soft religion—soft and yet capable of guiding one's action—to a revealed or bad religion. The chapter then turns to the writings of Massimo Mila, who was imprisoned in 1935 because he belonged to the Justice and Liberty movement. He believed not in the Christian religion but rather in a profound secular religion, based on the supreme value of the intrinsic intention of the one who acts and the conviction that one's faith is solely the “purity of the moral intention.”
Robert Devigne
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780300112429
- eISBN:
- 9780300133905
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300112429.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter examines and analyzes Mill's focus on Plato's attempt to reconcile the goals of creative, wise individuals and the universal good. In On Liberty, for instance, Mill's central argument ...
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This chapter examines and analyzes Mill's focus on Plato's attempt to reconcile the goals of creative, wise individuals and the universal good. In On Liberty, for instance, Mill's central argument lies in the objectives of freedom and justice. Nineteenth-century philosophers and commentators on Plato focused on the theme of freedom and the general good, a theme that Mill himself would also be concerned with. The chapter examines writings that focus and center on moral theory, particularly Mill's assessment of Plato's moral teachings, Adam Smith's theory of moral sentiments, and Kant's conception of the moral conscience. It explains how Mills would confront Plato's moral theory with the purpose of developing a conception of justice that would challenge Kant's position. It explores all the positions that Mill tool in order to fulfil his project of harmonizing the cultivation of self-defining, self-commanding individuals and the development of higher modes of social unity.Less
This chapter examines and analyzes Mill's focus on Plato's attempt to reconcile the goals of creative, wise individuals and the universal good. In On Liberty, for instance, Mill's central argument lies in the objectives of freedom and justice. Nineteenth-century philosophers and commentators on Plato focused on the theme of freedom and the general good, a theme that Mill himself would also be concerned with. The chapter examines writings that focus and center on moral theory, particularly Mill's assessment of Plato's moral teachings, Adam Smith's theory of moral sentiments, and Kant's conception of the moral conscience. It explains how Mills would confront Plato's moral theory with the purpose of developing a conception of justice that would challenge Kant's position. It explores all the positions that Mill tool in order to fulfil his project of harmonizing the cultivation of self-defining, self-commanding individuals and the development of higher modes of social unity.
Shirley Williams
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199257010
- eISBN:
- 9780191596223
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199257019.003.0016
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, International
Shirley Williams looks more specifically at the moral issues surrounding the global distribution of resources, capabilities, and incomes. She is highly critical of some of the economic policies and ...
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Shirley Williams looks more specifically at the moral issues surrounding the global distribution of resources, capabilities, and incomes. She is highly critical of some of the economic policies and political regimes of some of the rich countries, and demonstrates, from Indonesian and Russian examples, how Western governments and international agencies failed to recognize and give support to the institutional reforms necessary to ensure that their transition to a market‐based economic system would be successful. She emphasizes the need for a new and more holistic approach to economic development; indeed, she avers that global social justice demands it. Williams concludes by observing that the moral conscience of society is very much alive, and reminds us of the role of the churches and private individuals that helped initiate the Jubilee 2000 movement, which was geared towards lifting the burden of debt from some of the poorest countries in the world. However, she is clearly not satisfied that either national governments or supra‐national agencies are doing enough to ensure that global capitalism works to the benefit of all the peoples of the world––and particularly to those in the greatest need.Less
Shirley Williams looks more specifically at the moral issues surrounding the global distribution of resources, capabilities, and incomes. She is highly critical of some of the economic policies and political regimes of some of the rich countries, and demonstrates, from Indonesian and Russian examples, how Western governments and international agencies failed to recognize and give support to the institutional reforms necessary to ensure that their transition to a market‐based economic system would be successful. She emphasizes the need for a new and more holistic approach to economic development; indeed, she avers that global social justice demands it. Williams concludes by observing that the moral conscience of society is very much alive, and reminds us of the role of the churches and private individuals that helped initiate the Jubilee 2000 movement, which was geared towards lifting the burden of debt from some of the poorest countries in the world. However, she is clearly not satisfied that either national governments or supra‐national agencies are doing enough to ensure that global capitalism works to the benefit of all the peoples of the world––and particularly to those in the greatest need.
Simon Căbulea May
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- June 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780198794394
- eISBN:
- 9780191835896
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198794394.003.0014
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The Moral Conscience principle claims that a conflict between the demands of a law and the demands of an individual’s sincere moral conscience provides her with a defeasible moral entitlement to an ...
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The Moral Conscience principle claims that a conflict between the demands of a law and the demands of an individual’s sincere moral conscience provides her with a defeasible moral entitlement to an exemption. This chapter argues that this principle is vulnerable to an unfairness objection. There is nothing special about moral conscience that would justify granting an exemption, it claims, that is not shared by a variety of non-moral projects. Thus, there is no principled moral reason for a defeasible entitlement to moral conscience-based exemptions that is not an equally good reason for a defeasible entitlement to non-moral project-based exemptions. Since the chapter assumes that people are not defeasibly entitled to such project-based exemptions, it advocates scepticism about the Moral Conscience principle.Less
The Moral Conscience principle claims that a conflict between the demands of a law and the demands of an individual’s sincere moral conscience provides her with a defeasible moral entitlement to an exemption. This chapter argues that this principle is vulnerable to an unfairness objection. There is nothing special about moral conscience that would justify granting an exemption, it claims, that is not shared by a variety of non-moral projects. Thus, there is no principled moral reason for a defeasible entitlement to moral conscience-based exemptions that is not an equally good reason for a defeasible entitlement to non-moral project-based exemptions. Since the chapter assumes that people are not defeasibly entitled to such project-based exemptions, it advocates scepticism about the Moral Conscience principle.
Carolina Armenteros
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780801449437
- eISBN:
- 9780801462597
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9780801449437.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter describes the genesis of Maistrian historical thought in De l'état de nature and De la souveraineté du people (1794–96), two essays that refute Jean-Jacques Rousseau and contain most of ...
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This chapter describes the genesis of Maistrian historical thought in De l'état de nature and De la souveraineté du people (1794–96), two essays that refute Jean-Jacques Rousseau and contain most of Maistre's historical thought in potentia. It was in refuting Rousseau that Maistre redefined nature as a mysterious divine agent and a source of reason; he insisted that will and perfectibility are history's main agents and society's foundations; and developed the ideas on probability and moral conscience that were so important for his realist conservatism and his philosophy of history. Indeed, the essays include a sophisticated model of historical causation that constitutes an early example of moral statistical theory.Less
This chapter describes the genesis of Maistrian historical thought in De l'état de nature and De la souveraineté du people (1794–96), two essays that refute Jean-Jacques Rousseau and contain most of Maistre's historical thought in potentia. It was in refuting Rousseau that Maistre redefined nature as a mysterious divine agent and a source of reason; he insisted that will and perfectibility are history's main agents and society's foundations; and developed the ideas on probability and moral conscience that were so important for his realist conservatism and his philosophy of history. Indeed, the essays include a sophisticated model of historical causation that constitutes an early example of moral statistical theory.
Richard M Reitan
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824832940
- eISBN:
- 9780824870591
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824832940.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter examines the fluidity of moral subjectivity by juxtaposing rinrigaku texts with moral writings by religious apologists. More specifically, it considers the conflict between the ...
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This chapter examines the fluidity of moral subjectivity by juxtaposing rinrigaku texts with moral writings by religious apologists. More specifically, it considers the conflict between the discipline of ethics and religion regarding the authority to speak for “the good,” and especially the extent to which the state should play a role in shaping the individual's moral conscience. At stake here was the question of human interiority. Rinrigaku scholars of early Meiji Japan argued that if the state is barred from such a role, moral unity will never be realized. They insisted that religion was irrational and therefore inappropriate as a basis for morality. Many religious apologists countered that the autonomy of one's conscience was inviolable. This chapter argues that the discursive exchange between rinrigaku scholars and defenders of religion reflects the way the production of the good and epistemological preconceptions were inextricably bound to one another.Less
This chapter examines the fluidity of moral subjectivity by juxtaposing rinrigaku texts with moral writings by religious apologists. More specifically, it considers the conflict between the discipline of ethics and religion regarding the authority to speak for “the good,” and especially the extent to which the state should play a role in shaping the individual's moral conscience. At stake here was the question of human interiority. Rinrigaku scholars of early Meiji Japan argued that if the state is barred from such a role, moral unity will never be realized. They insisted that religion was irrational and therefore inappropriate as a basis for morality. Many religious apologists countered that the autonomy of one's conscience was inviolable. This chapter argues that the discursive exchange between rinrigaku scholars and defenders of religion reflects the way the production of the good and epistemological preconceptions were inextricably bound to one another.
Françoise Dastur and Robert Vallier
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780823233731
- eISBN:
- 9780823277070
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823233731.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Language
This chapter argues that what makes the character of moral conscience paradigmatic as the experience of alterity and passivity is that the dimension of affirmation originally constitutes it and is ...
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This chapter argues that what makes the character of moral conscience paradigmatic as the experience of alterity and passivity is that the dimension of affirmation originally constitutes it and is inscribed directly on it. It first examines Paul Ricoeur's claim that conscience is “the most deeply hidden passivity” in contrast to other passivities that belong to the experience of the proper body and the relation to the Other. It then considers Emmanuel Levinas's argument that the Other is neither “Being” nor a “being” easily grasped by a concept, along with Martin Heidegger's statement that “ontology” is always “practical,” always “engaged,” and therefore always includes an intrinsically ethical dimension. It also asks whether it is possible to think Being and the Other without opposing them before concluding with an analysis of the dialectic of alterity and ipseity that constitutes the most fundamental level of Ricoeur's hermeneutics of the self.Less
This chapter argues that what makes the character of moral conscience paradigmatic as the experience of alterity and passivity is that the dimension of affirmation originally constitutes it and is inscribed directly on it. It first examines Paul Ricoeur's claim that conscience is “the most deeply hidden passivity” in contrast to other passivities that belong to the experience of the proper body and the relation to the Other. It then considers Emmanuel Levinas's argument that the Other is neither “Being” nor a “being” easily grasped by a concept, along with Martin Heidegger's statement that “ontology” is always “practical,” always “engaged,” and therefore always includes an intrinsically ethical dimension. It also asks whether it is possible to think Being and the Other without opposing them before concluding with an analysis of the dialectic of alterity and ipseity that constitutes the most fundamental level of Ricoeur's hermeneutics of the self.
Vera Schwarcz
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824838737
- eISBN:
- 9780824868857
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824838737.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
Drawing upon classical sources in Hebrew and Chinese (as well as some in Greek and Japanese) Colors of Veracity sets out to expand the “lexicon” for veracity in our time. With poetic attentiveness to ...
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Drawing upon classical sources in Hebrew and Chinese (as well as some in Greek and Japanese) Colors of Veracity sets out to expand the “lexicon” for veracity in our time. With poetic attentiveness to connotations and nuance is manifest throughout the book, which redefines both the Jewish understanding of emet (a notion of “truth” that encompasses authenticity) as well as the Chinese commitment to zhen (a vision of the “real” that includes innermost sincerity of the heart-mind in the seeker for veracity). By focusing on the dilemmas of moral conscience embodied by dissidents such as Liu Binyan, Liu Xiaobo and Vaclav Havel, the book illustrates the courage it takes to pursue veracity out of an inner conviction that truth matters, even if it cannot be mapped in its totality. Veracity is shown again and again to be neither black nor white. No vivid colors such as the red of the Chinese Communist Party (with its official propaganda journal entitled “Seek Truth”) suffice in painting its parameters. Instead, what emerges is a vision of “fractured luminosity” which inspires and sustains the moral conviction of those who pursue truth against all odds, including the inner obstacles of prejudice and self-deceit.Less
Drawing upon classical sources in Hebrew and Chinese (as well as some in Greek and Japanese) Colors of Veracity sets out to expand the “lexicon” for veracity in our time. With poetic attentiveness to connotations and nuance is manifest throughout the book, which redefines both the Jewish understanding of emet (a notion of “truth” that encompasses authenticity) as well as the Chinese commitment to zhen (a vision of the “real” that includes innermost sincerity of the heart-mind in the seeker for veracity). By focusing on the dilemmas of moral conscience embodied by dissidents such as Liu Binyan, Liu Xiaobo and Vaclav Havel, the book illustrates the courage it takes to pursue veracity out of an inner conviction that truth matters, even if it cannot be mapped in its totality. Veracity is shown again and again to be neither black nor white. No vivid colors such as the red of the Chinese Communist Party (with its official propaganda journal entitled “Seek Truth”) suffice in painting its parameters. Instead, what emerges is a vision of “fractured luminosity” which inspires and sustains the moral conviction of those who pursue truth against all odds, including the inner obstacles of prejudice and self-deceit.
Kevin Vallier and Michael Weber
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190666187
- eISBN:
- 9780190666217
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190666187.003.0005
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
Exemptions from laws of general application are sometimes granted on the basis of an individual’s unwillingness to comply with the law. Most such volitional exemptions involve a conflict between the ...
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Exemptions from laws of general application are sometimes granted on the basis of an individual’s unwillingness to comply with the law. Most such volitional exemptions involve a conflict between the law and the demands of an individual’s religious or secular moral convictions. I argue here that a limited number of volitional exemptions can be justified on the basis of a futility principle. When otherwise morally permissible penalties for violating the law cannot be expected to induce the compliance of an intransigent minority, the penalties are futile, and the state has some principled reason to exempt the minority from the law’s requirements. Since the futility principle only applies to some cases of conscientious objection, it differs in important ways from justifications grounded in a general entitlement to religious or moral exemptions.Less
Exemptions from laws of general application are sometimes granted on the basis of an individual’s unwillingness to comply with the law. Most such volitional exemptions involve a conflict between the law and the demands of an individual’s religious or secular moral convictions. I argue here that a limited number of volitional exemptions can be justified on the basis of a futility principle. When otherwise morally permissible penalties for violating the law cannot be expected to induce the compliance of an intransigent minority, the penalties are futile, and the state has some principled reason to exempt the minority from the law’s requirements. Since the futility principle only applies to some cases of conscientious objection, it differs in important ways from justifications grounded in a general entitlement to religious or moral exemptions.
Eric Reinders
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520241718
- eISBN:
- 9780520931084
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520241718.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter shows how Chinese people were represented by Western missionaries as mindless and “body-ful”. It explains that this attitude of missionaries toward the foreign mind appears in various ...
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This chapter shows how Chinese people were represented by Western missionaries as mindless and “body-ful”. It explains that this attitude of missionaries toward the foreign mind appears in various metaphors of mindlessness which pervade the earlier-nineteenth-century reportage on China. It mentions that the Chinese were also sometimes viewed as a dense homogenous mass of bodies, as unemotional and unimaginative and as liars with no higher moral conscience.Less
This chapter shows how Chinese people were represented by Western missionaries as mindless and “body-ful”. It explains that this attitude of missionaries toward the foreign mind appears in various metaphors of mindlessness which pervade the earlier-nineteenth-century reportage on China. It mentions that the Chinese were also sometimes viewed as a dense homogenous mass of bodies, as unemotional and unimaginative and as liars with no higher moral conscience.
W. R. Matthews
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- October 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190246365
- eISBN:
- 9780190246396
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190246365.003.0013
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
W. R. Matthews found the moral argument (along with the teleological argument) the most persuasive of all the theistic arguments. He reflects upon the “moral evolution of mankind” and asks what it ...
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W. R. Matthews found the moral argument (along with the teleological argument) the most persuasive of all the theistic arguments. He reflects upon the “moral evolution of mankind” and asks what it implies concerning the nature of the universe; he discusses the conscience and asks, “On what grounds can we justify that sense of obligation which is the characteristic property of moral experience?” He ponders the nature of the good and asks, “What is the place of the Good in the general structure of the universe?” He finds that in each case he is led to the theistic hypothesis.Less
W. R. Matthews found the moral argument (along with the teleological argument) the most persuasive of all the theistic arguments. He reflects upon the “moral evolution of mankind” and asks what it implies concerning the nature of the universe; he discusses the conscience and asks, “On what grounds can we justify that sense of obligation which is the characteristic property of moral experience?” He ponders the nature of the good and asks, “What is the place of the Good in the general structure of the universe?” He finds that in each case he is led to the theistic hypothesis.
