6. Conscience: Butler's Approach - Conscience comes from God (II)

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  • Created by: Alasdair
  • Created on: 26-06-17 18:44
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  • 6. Butler's Approach - Conscience comes from God (II)
    • It is wicked to "blind" one's conscience to clear the way for a wrong action
      • People can easily convince themselves that all sorts of wrong actions are right and, for Butler, this corruption of conscience by self-deception is worse than the evil action which results from it
    • Your conscience will tell you to watch out for the interests of others as far as possible:
      • The consequence of an action is not what makes it right or wrong, as that has already happened
      • The purpose of conscience is to guide a person into a way of life that will make him happy
      • Conscience will harmonise self-love and benevolence
        • This may take some sorting out, and so in moral dilemmas we may be uncertain what to do
      • Conscience controls human nature
    • Strength
      • Optimistic view of humans
        • Butler argues human beings, created in God's image, exist to be happy and moral life will bring them that
    • Criticisms
      • Self-esteem should not be the basis of the conscience
        • The conscience does not exist to make human beings think that they are good but to convict them when they do wrong
      • It could be argued that criminals are not wrongdoers through lack of self-respect but through too much self-regard
      • The optimism of this view of human nature has been undermined by  the atrocities of the 20th century
        • Tragedies such as the mass genocide of the Jews in Nazi Germany show human nature to be brutal

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