Catholicism and Conscience
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-2013
Publisher
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University
Abstract
The Catholic tradition on conscience is very extensive, while being quite unified. One may wonder, if the teaching is so unified, why there would be so much to say. The reason is because the tradition is unified on a tension. The first pole of the tension is that under no circumstances should one violate one's conscience – one must always follow even an erring conscience. The other pole of the tension is that, at the same time, a rightly formed conscience is expected to concur with Catholic teaching. These two moral requirements, that one should follow one's conscience and that one should follow Church teachings, are potentially in conflict. The requirements may not align, and if so, then a point of tension has appeared between an individual's conscience and the Church's teachings. Here I will endeavor to provide only a brief overview of the immense literature surrounding the Catholic understanding of conscience. In the first section I will provide some background to the subject of conscience, in the second some examples of perennial issues that arise in the discussion of conscience, and in the third some current examples of conscience in the news.
Recommended Citation
Green, B. P. (2013). Catholicism and Conscience. Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University.
