Conscience: Simple, Powerful, Infallible

[crowfeather]

It escapes me just why it is that somebody else's bias gets counted as a bad thing.
Everyone has biases. Especially those who accuse others of having them.

 

[joe1776]

You kill that many people and then yourself because you genuinely believe you're right.

Arrogant people don't genuinely believe they right? I think arrogant people genuinely think they're right about everything. Art, music, architecture, battle strategy, you name it. Adolf was an expert.

 

[joe1776]

A little too simplistic, but ok. The problem is that the conscience among and between fallible humans is decidedly diverse and inconsistent throughout history.

Conscience is a moral guide. You can't possibly judge conscience by behavior because people ignore their consciences for many reasons.

 

[joe1776]

One person's conscience is another person's bias. There is no consistency here. No infallibility. Too bad.

I'd be happy to debate your conclusions if you're willing.

 

[joe1776]

Yes. It's more associated with empathy than anything else.

Empathy is a factor in the strength of one's conscience. But empathy doesn't explain how judgments of morality and fairness are made.

 

[Nietzsche]

Arrogant people don't genuinely believe they right? I think arrogant people genuinely think they're right about everything. Art, music, architecture, battle strategy, you name it. Adolf was an expert.

Perhaps this is a difference in how we view it. Arrogance to me, is something shallow. False confidence. Something that flees when the situation turns against you. The arrogant surrender, they don't shoot themselves at the final moment rather than live in a world where they lost.

Genuine belief in your cause is, however, indefatigable.

 

[YmirGF]

Perhaps this is a difference in how we view it. Arrogance to me, is something shallow. False confidence. Something that flees when the situation turns against you. The arrogant surrender, they don't shoot themselves at the final moment rather than live in a world where they lost.

Genuine belief in your cause is, however, indefatigable.

Similarly, believing ones conscience to be infallible is also a pretty good recipe for disaster.

 

[Sunstone]

Conscience is universally the same? Good to know we all want to murder our sisters if their behavior distracts from the family's honor, like they do in Afghanistan.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Empathy is a factor in the strength of one's conscience. But empathy doesn't explain how judgments of morality and fairness are made.

There needs to be a way to relate that determines morality and equanimity in a society. Empathy brings it about. Morality is just another way of describing stability within a culture.

 

[joe1776]

Similarly, believing ones conscience to be infallible is also a pretty good recipe for disaster.

It's just plain, everyday logic.If conscience is the only moral authority we have, it has to be regarded as infallible. On what logical basis could you justify regarding it as fallible? You have no choice but to trust it if you want to do the right thing.

 

[joe1776]

There needs to be a way to relate that determines morality and equanimity in a society. Empathy brings it about. Morality is just another way of describing stability within a culture.

Morality is concerned primarily with how we humans treat each other. Empathy is certainly a key in how well we do. However, conscience is a moral guide which answers questions about fairness, right, and wrong.

 

[Sunstone]

It's just plain, everyday logic.If conscience is the only moral authority we have, it has to be regarded as infallible. On what logical basis could you justify regarding it as fallible? You have no choice but to trust it if you want to do the right thing.

Conscience must be "infallible" because it's the "only source of moral authority we have"? ROFLMAO. It is entirely conceivable that you could have only one source for something and that source be wrong or false.

 

[joe1776]

Conscience is universally the same? Good to know we all want to murder our sisters if their behavior distracts from the family's honor, like they do in Afghanistan.

You are pointing out a traditional bias in a morally immature culture. That bias will change someday just as the traditional bias of slavery changed in our country and most of the world.

 

[Sunstone]

You are pointing out a traditional bias in a morally immature culture. That bias will change someday just as the traditional bias of slavery changed in our country and most of the world.

You presume to know the future. Moreover, that "bias" might -- for all you know -- be exactly what their consciences tell them to do.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Morality is concerned primarily with how we humans treat each other. Empathy is certainly a key in how well we do. However, conscience is a moral guide which answers questions about fairness, right, and wrong.

It doesn't always work that way. Sunstone makes a good point such as in the case of morality and conscience involving honor killings.

 

[joe1776]

Conscience must be "infallible" because it's the "only source of moral authority we have"? ROFLMAO. It is entirely conceivable that you could have only one source for something and that source be wrong or false.

Maybe an example will help.

Harry kills Sally. The facts of the case are not in doubt. An unbiased jury examines their consciences and find Harry's act immoral. Since conscience is the only guide we have, we have no basis whatsoever to think the judgment might be wrong. If it can't be found wrong, the judgment has to be right.

Now, a jury might be wrong in analyzing the facts, but that's a flaw in reasoning. It's not a failure of conscience.

 

[joe1776]

You presume to know the future. Moreover, that "bias" might -- for all you know -- be exactly what their consciences tell them to do.

I presume to know their future because I learned from the past. Moral progress has been happening for centuries all over the world. As for conscience being at fault, we've already covered that ground. That would mean that, unlike the rest of the world, they would be unable to change, to make moral progress.

 

[shunyadragon]

It escapes me just why it is that somebody else's bias gets counted as a bad thing.
Everyone has biases. Especially those who accuse others of having them.

The sky is Carolina blue on a clear 4th of July at noon.

 

[shunyadragon]

Conscience is a moral guide. You can't possibly judge conscience by behavior because people ignore their consciences for many reasons.

The problem here is you propose a rather egocentric uniform anecdotal view of everybody's sense of conscience as a moral guide is the same. This too much of a robotic view of human nature, and the evidence is against you in this.

 

[joe1776]

The problem here is you propose a rather egocentric uniform anecdotal view of everybody's sense of conscience as a moral guide is the same. This too much of a robotic view of human nature, and the evidence is against you in this.

It's not egocentric, uniform, anecdotal or robotic... It's a simple system, based on Nature's binary code: pain and pleasure. If it wasn't logically sound, posters would be making counter-arguments. The only thing I've encountered is a couple of feeble attempts that were easily shot down.