Conscience

If everyone had a conscience, we wouldn't need laws.

For me it's not a voice in my head, it's just that I would feel bad about myself if I would do bad things to other (undeserved bad things, that is). I just think that I wouldn't like if someone would do that to me.

I always see a little devil and a little angel above my head discussing with each other what's right and wrong :D

No, seriously now:

I would never kill a cute kitten or some other fluffy animal. I would feel really bad about it. I never hear somehting like a "little voice in my head" or anything, I'm not schyzofrenic, everything I think is from myself, and I'd feel myself very bad for doing a cruel thing.
In computer games and flash movies that's different though, there it's funny. Because it isn't real :D

Oh and I'd never kill a baby either, though I wonder why some people find it worse to kill a baby than to kill an adolescent or adult. The adult has much more conciousness, much more to lose, while the baby hasn't got such an extremely high conciousness level yet. It also has one, of course, which is why killing a baby is very bad as well, but less than the adult.

To me, it's always been a "This feels like something I shouldn't be doing"... or, more a "what if someone sees this thing that i probably shouldn't be doing"

If I do something I was taught not to do, like say being rude to someone on the street, then I later think back to the incident and wonder, "Should I have said that?" or "Hmm, maybe it would have been better to..." It's almost compulsive for a while. I also feel a bit embarrassed and stupid.

Conscience is acquired. My morals have been deeply routed in me since birth. I think it would take a lot to have some perverse effect on them (such as: being subjected furthermore to life in a gang-infested environment, or going to war).

I don't kill people because it's against the law, and I'd be punished for it. I wouldn't kill someone because..I'm not a bad person, and don't want to cause harm.

I don't have any objection to killing people, I have an objection to others not killing people.

There's no little voice in your head (not normally). It's just a poetic way of describing your mind.

I don't rob banks either, but it's because a) nobody else I know does, b) it's a lot of work, and c) I wouldn't like jail very much.

However, I don't physically or verbally abuse people because a) I know how it would feel and b) I hate 'burning bridges' with people because it limits my future opportunities.

Based on these principles, I've developed a system of morality I use when talking about these things with people.

Consience is your sense of right and wrong, I believe.

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Original post by Etnu If everyone had a conscience, we wouldn't need laws.

No, because some people don't listen to right/wrong or don't think about it or they have a problem whose solution may involve breaking the law and their need of solving that problem could override their sense of right/wrong (such as a man can't afford medicine to cure his dying wife so he steals it).

I don't have a conscience. But I do have common sense. And enough common sense to know killing some guy is going to put me in jail for a long long time(And I don't want to go to jail). I also don't hurt animals because I am not some cruel heartless person.

I have a massive consience. And reading through this thread kind of freaks me out! LMAO! You guys are freaks!

Anyway, why in the hell would anyone want to harm someone else, after they sit and think about it long enough? Come on, you could have easily been born as that person. Or someone could easily be thinking about doing the same thing to you. I don't want people ripping me off, so I don't rip others off. If I owned a company, I wouldn't want people ripping off my companies products, so I also wouldn't do that. But my consience goes farther than that. I could have been born into this life as a rat, or a bird, or a deer. I won't go there, though :)

It comes pretty damn easy for me, to place myself somewhere else for a moment, even in anger. But I don't think there are many people like me out there. Which is pretty scary, really.

I partially believe in fairness, I wouldn't kill a child, even if I was %99.9 sure he would grow up to be the person that killed me, because there wouldn't have been a chance for that kid to have beaten the odds. I also try to hold my own ideals, and trying to make the world a place I would want to live in. This doesn't mean I'm a total do-gooder though. If I feel that I would enjoy the world more if it were constantly warring -and crime thrived- then I would go for that. Of course I don't desire that, but that's my belief.

So the general idea seems to be that you would feel bad about doing certain things. I wonder if this is cultural or genetic?

And I wonder where it came from in the first place. It's obvious why killing people is considered Wrong - if we all killed each other, there'd be nobody left. Although I personally think that common sense is a more sensible method of control than some sense of morality. But how about other things which are considered Wrong, which don't seem to have a sensible reason? For instance - kids seing pornography. I don't understand how it could hurt kids, so why is it "immoral"?

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Original post by Rottbott So the general idea seems to be that you would feel bad about doing certain things. I wonder if this is cultural or genetic? And I wonder where it came from in the first place. It's obvious why killing people is considered Wrong - if we all killed each other, there'd be nobody left. Although I personally think that common sense is a more sensible method of control than some sense of morality. But how about other things which are considered Wrong, which don't seem to have a sensible reason? For instance - kids seing pornography. I don't understand how it could hurt kids, so why is it "immoral"?

Killing isn't just wrong because it's illegal, it's also wrong because you are robbing that person of their life. Robbing their family of that person, and even if they don't have any living family members and their life is in a terrible state, it still doesn't give you the right to take their life away, because you're erasing that person from the earth (besides memories of them), and maybe their life could get better, you don't know.

On any level killing is wrong, basically.

Kids looking at pornography is wrong because it screws them up, confuses them. For example, a kid was reported to have watched pornography from a young age with his grandfather. The family thought nothing of it, but by the time he was seven, he was caught several times peeping in on the neighbors and masturbating, and trying to grab his mother in sexual ways.

Seriously, it screws kids up.

It seems, that you sir, don't have common sense. Think things through before you ask.

By the way, if you still don't thing killing is wrong (you know, it's not capatilized), then you are either sociopathic (psychopathic is no longer used), or you need to re-evaluate your life.

It's not a good sign when your own mother thinks you're nuts.

EDIT - And yes, I get a 'feeling' that stops me from doing something wrong, or even thinking about certain things. No, I'm not a religious man, but I have a conscience.

It's mainly a gut feeling, you just know that what you're thinking of doing is wrong, so you don't bother. (Mind you, I've never considered killing somebody.)

You may be considered a sociopath, because you are at whatever age and you still can't seem to distinguish right from wrong, and only back off because of the law. Sad, really.

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Original post by Rottbott So the general idea seems to be that you would feel bad about doing certain things. I wonder if this is cultural or genetic?

In my opinion, cultural, no doubt about it.

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Original post by Rottbott And I wonder where it came from in the first place. It's obvious why killing people is considered Wrong - if we all killed each other, there'd be nobody left.

Of course. We must have some inherent knowledge that taking another humans life is an extremely serious matter, but I doubt we are born with the belief that it is wrong to do so.

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Original post by Rottbott Although I personally think that common sense is a more sensible method of control than some sense of morality. But how about other things which are considered Wrong, which don't seem to have a sensible reason? For instance - kids seing pornography. I don't understand how it could hurt kids, so why is it "immoral"?

Common sense versus morality...

This is a topic that I'm fairly interested in. We are brought up to be part of a general belief system that, more often than not, seems aberrant to me. However, common sense is not necessarily homogenous. One man may think it common sense to exact revenge upon another man for an ill deed, while another may think it common sense to forgive him or seek some kind of apology. Some of you mentioned in this thread that you wouldn't kill a baby because you wouldn't want to go to jail. Fair enough, but I really doubt whether you could go through with such an act, and if so, it wouldn't be common sense that would make you feel unbearably guilty aftwerwards.

Also, you can't say "I don't have a conscience, I just don't do bad things because I'm not cruel." - It is your conscience that tells you whether an act is cruel in the first place.

Just as a side note, as children we are a pretty clean slate, so were are ripe for whatever our parents wish to mold us into. It is possible to breed offspring specifically for killing, which is a scary thought, really.

It's the parents' job to teach their children what is acceptable in their culture and their society (it varies from place to place). It is their job to teach their children what is considered right, and what is considered wrong to them and their people (right and wrong on North America is different from right and wrong in Asia, the middle east, Russia, we all have a different set of morals).

So, for example, in our culture it's the parents' job to teach their children that killing is wrong. Not only because it is illegal, but for many other reasons to back up this claim.

I think there's a big difference between "Conscience" and "Morals".

Conscience is : "I think therefore i am" by Descartes. I am, I am someone/something, i can feel my "uniqueness".

Morals are some common rules of behavior which helps (
Also Andy-Pandy and RottBott : It's morals that leads you to feel about what's wrong and what's good. Not an inner voice or innate power.
Most people who killed one day did that because they were "desocialized" (dunno if that word even exists, sorry), by their daily life, or by an emotionnal event in their life.
Eg; : you will kill your girl and the guy with who she was cheating, because at this moment, you don't feel the pressure of the society, you are the only one who suffers, the only one who can fix the problem you have. It's a passionated crime.

What is considered as a crime is whatever hurts the society in its operation.

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Original post by realitycheck I think there's a big difference between "Conscience" and "Morals". Conscience is : "I think therefore i am" by Descartes. I am, I am someone/something, i can feel my "uniqueness". Morals are some common rules of behavior which helps (

No, you're thinking of being "conscious", not a "conscience".

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Original post by Agony Quote: Original post by realitycheck I think there's a big difference between "Conscience" and "Morals". Conscience is : "I think therefore i am" by Descartes. I am, I am someone/something, i can feel my "uniqueness". Morals are some common rules of behavior which helps ( No, you're thinking of being "conscious", not a "conscience".

OK, just a language problem... Sorry !