Chalmers, Stuart Patrick
(2009)
Conscience in Context
A study of the nature of conscience
relating to its historical development
and existential environment.
PhD thesis, Pontifical University, St Patrick's College, Maynooth.
Abstract
The topic of conscience has fascinated me for a number of years. In the course of my
pastoral work in different parishes, and chaplaincy work with young people and those
in hospital, whether for mental or physical reasons, I have encountered countless
people who struggled with moral dilemmas or who felt crushed by guilt owing to the
gap between their practice and their knowledge of what they were called to do. I have
also met individuals who seemed to be unaware that, despite the gravity of the action,
what they were doing was in any way wrong. Whether mentioned or left implicit, the
conscience of each of these individuals played a vital role in the decision to choose
one course of action over another, in judging a completed action to have been right or
wrong, or even in exhibiting a state of perplexed uncertainty as to what should be
done next. Thinking over these different problems led me to reflect further on the
question of erroneous conscience. Could an action that was considered to be wrong by
others (particularly by the Magisterium of the Church) be good, virtuous or
meritorious if the individual believed it to be so? Do we live in parallel moral
universes, where the person ultimately defines what is moral solely by belief or
conviction, or do we have access to a ground of universal truth, rooted in our created
nature, as gifted by God? Therefore, should the pastor leave the individual in blissful
ignorance, or should he try to deepen moral understanding or help develop the moral
capacities of the people he encounters?
Consideration of questions such as these led me to investigate the possibility
of making conscience the subject of doctoral research. However, the resultant thesis is
not a study of pastoral problems, in the style of a manualistic analysis of cases of
conscience. Rather the study is at the level of fundamental moral theology, presented
in the hope that a deepened awareness of the nature and function of conscience will
shape my future pastoral activity, and in the hope that it might help others, too, in
their understanding of this core notion of morality.
Item Type: |
Thesis
(PhD)
|
Keywords: |
Conscience;
Environment; |
Academic Unit: |
St Patrick's College, Maynooth > Faculty of Theology |
Item ID: |
5243 |
Depositing User: |
IR eTheses
|
Date Deposited: |
25 Jul 2014 13:28 |
URI: |
|
Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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