Conscience and the Moral Insight

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter offers an introduction to the field of ethics and the central place of conscience within it. To explicate the idea of conscience, I draw upon the work of nineteenth-century Harvard philosopher Josiah Royce. Royce understood conscience as the product of a certain insight, what he called the moral insight, which he defined as “the realization of one’s neighbor, in the full sense of the word realization; the resolution to treat him unselfishly.” I then go on to illustrate parallels to Royce’s moral insight in the works of Plato, Jean Piaget, Hannah Arendt, Joseph Ratzinger, and Anthony DeMello. This is followed by a discussion of the work of Jonathan Haidt aimed at tracing the universality of conscience across cultures and strategies for putting conscience into action—even in a pluralistic society. I wrap up this chapter with two subsections: (a) some structural remarks about the field of ethics, anticipating the theme of Chap. 3: Can a corporation have a conscience? and (b) two serious objections to the very idea of treating corporations as morally responsible entities. This chapter is an organic part of a larger work about the overall contribution of Kenneth Goodpaster to the field of applied ethics and is best read in the context of that larger work.