Conscience in Ethical Decision Making: Navigating Inner Conflicts and Upholding Moral Integrity

Context:

This article sheds light on the ‘conscience’,  voice of conscience, ‘crisis of conscience’ and its role in ethical decision making. 

What is the Voice of conscience?

• Inner value system: Conscience is an inherent, unchanging, and incorruptible aspect present in every human being.
  • It is like an inner voice that guides us to do what is right.
    • This inner voice is often called the ‘voice of conscience.’
  • It shows the moral goodness and badness of an individual’s own conduct. 
• Natural Phenomenon: It’s a natural part of every person and helps us make good ethical decisions.
  • If someone’s values are not well-developed, their conscience may be weak. But if someone has clear and informed values, their conscience is strong and helps them distinguish right from wrong.
• Helps in taking the right decision: A person’s conscience helps them look at situations from different viewpoints and make the right choices.
  • Therefore, individuals must learn to heed their conscience clearly to enhance ethical competence.

Confronting the Crisis of Conscience with Moral Resilience

• Inner Conflict: Crisis of conscience occurs when there’s an inner conflict between one’s moral compass and external pressures, leading to a difficult decision-making situation.
  • This creates inner turmoil and a sense of unease, making it hard to find a resolution.
• Causes of Inner Conflict: Factors like unchecked desires and lack of self-awareness contribute to this inner struggle.
  • Uncontrolled desires are more harmful than external pressures or hostile actions from others.
•  Way to overcome Conflict: Moral strength and clarity: Dealing with this crisis requires immense moral strength, calmness and clarity because 
  • One will have to fight with oneself.
  • tame one’s own noise and create a pause from within.
• Ancient Wisdom: In ancient teachings, individuals who master this inner conflict are described as ‘Arihant,’ meaning the ‘destroyers of real enemies.’
  • This highlights the importance of self-awareness and moral strength in navigating such challenges.

Need of conscience keeper

• A conscience keeper is someone who plays a crucial role in guiding and safeguarding an individual’s ethical decisions. A conscience keeper, such as C. Rajagopalachari to Mahatma Gandhi or the judiciary as guardians of the Constitution, offers moral guidance and clarity.
  • Their presence helps individuals uphold ethical principles and make principled decisions. 

Guardians of Governance: The Crucial Role of Conscience Keepers in Democracy

• Understanding the Importance of Role Clarity: In a democratic setup, where the executive branch holds significant influence over citizens’ lives, it’s essential for officials to fully comprehend their roles and duties.
  • This understanding helps prevent a crisis of conscience and ensures effective governance.
• Minimising Crisis of Governance: A crisis of governance arises when officials fail to adhere to their conscience, eroding public trust and causing a breakdown in decision-making processes.
  • This lack of moral integrity leads to a reluctance to accept responsibility for failures or impasses in governance. This is the point where the conscience keeper helps to guide officials to tackle situations effectively. 
• To resolve Challenges Faced by Bureaucrats: Citizens often turn to bureaucrats in times of trouble, expecting them to empathize and address their concerns.
  • This places bureaucrats in a dilemma, causing a crisis of conscience as they navigate personal and professional responsibilities.
• Navigating Crises with Inner Development: Conscience keeper helps in inner development of the individuals as successfully managing crises requires individuals to cultivate inner growth and emotional intelligence.
  • By minimising internal conflicts, officials can better handle external interpersonal challenges.

The Moral Compass: Conscience’s Vital Role in Ethical Decision-Making

• Facilitates Decision Making: Conscience helps in taking good decisions when an ethical dilemma arises in a given situation.
  For Example: A small boy stole bread (due to hunger) from a store and broke its glass while running but he was caught by its owner. Now, if the owner files a case against the boy for his loss (Glass),  the official may face an ethical dilemma. A dilemma between punishment for loss and stealing for hunger.  In such a situation, it is the conscience that guides officials in taking the right decision. 
• Develop analytic perspective: Conscience helps individuals in understanding a given situation from various perspectives. 
• Conflicts of interest: It helps in removing conflict of interest and shows a way for taking the right decision based on the given circumstances. 

News Source: Indianexpress

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