Utilitarianism, by John Stuart Mill. Read it years ago in Moral Philosophy, and I haven't revisited it since. At least not as a book. But some of the things I learned have stayed in the mind, either as puzzles or insights.
I remember doing an essay on conscience in utilitarian thought, and quoting Mill's definition of what constitutes conscience. I love the way philosophers ask questions some of us would never even formulate, and then answer them with a sublime confidence in the coundness of their own reasoning. Here's Mill on conscience - now stay with me - this gets easier:
The binding force [of conscience] consists in the existence of a mass of feeling which must be broken through in order to do what violates our standard of right, and which, if we do nevertheless violate that standard, will probably have to be encountered afterwards in the form of remorse. http://www.utilitarianism.com/mill3.htm
So, that's how you get a guilty conscience. That mass of feeling violated and the later remorse. All of this came back to me while reading William Stringfellow's brief essay on conscience. He is not so interested in the general question, what is conscience. He goes for the more personal question, what is a Christian conscience - and then gets interesting. Here's some of the wisdom of Stringfellow:
Conscience, in the gospel, as well as in the actual experiences of the early Christians, refers to the new or restored maturity of human life in Christ.
A person who becomes a Christian... suffers at once a personal and a public transfigurationOne's insight into one's own identity as a person is, at the same time, an acceptance of the rest of humanity... Each time a person is baptized, the common life of all human beings in community is affirmed and notarized.
The baptized, thus, lives in a new primary, and rudimentary relationship with other human beings signifying the reconciliation of the whole of life vouchsafed in Jesus Christ. The discernment - about any matter whatsoever - that is given and exercised in that remarkable relationship, is conscience. In truth the association of baptism with conscience, in this sense, is that conscience is properly deemed a charismatic gift.
The initiative in conscience belongs to God; the authority of conscience is the maturity of the humanity of the Christian; the concern of conscience is always the societal fulfillment of life for all.
What transpires in decisions and actions of conscience, on the part of a Christian or of some community of Christians or of many Christians positioned diversely, is a living encounter between the Holy Spirit and those deciding and acting in relation to human needs in society.
Conscience requires knowing and respecting one's self as no less, but no more, than human. The exercise of conscience represents - as 1 Peter remarks- living as a free human being...Conscience is the access of the Holy Spirit to human beings in their decisions and actions in daily existence.
A Keeper of the Word. Selected Writings of William Stringfellow. ed. B W Kellermann (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994) 299-301.
That's an impressive piece of baptistic pneumatology! The conscience of the baptized is characterised by reconciled humanity and human maturity, actions and decisions for the good of all, freedom and relational renewal, and all within the sphere and orbit of the Holy Spirit's dynamic presence, and in the context of a community of the baptised. In five pages Stringfellow outlines approach to a spirituality of conscience, ethics, justice, compassion, truth-telling and love at the service of the world. Brilliant.
Comments