Monday, February 11, 2008

الضمير المستتر


Conscience is an ability or sense that distinguishes whether our actions r right or wrong. It is also the attitude which informs our moral judgment before performing any action.

Freud regarded conscience as originating in the superego, which takes its cue from our parents during childhood. According to Freud, the consequence of not obeying our conscience is "guilt" which can be a factor in the development of neurosis. Your conscience is a societal construction which keeps you operating under the social ideology through the negative-feedback system of guilt.... and im sure freud dint mean 'it takes its cue from our parents during childhood' as a default state.. since immoral ppl can raise very ethical children and vice versa..

conscience and guilt r almost always inseperable; when spoken of one u mention the other involuntarely.. and even tho both are intangible, somehow unmeasurable feelings/sensations, yet conscience is the most difficult to maintain, and guilt is the most haunting..

The human animal has a set of instincts and drives which enable him to form/interact in societies.. groups of humans without these drives, or in whom they r insufficiently strong, cannot form cohesive societies and do not reproduce their kind as successfully as those that do. They either cannot survive in nature, or r defeated in conflict with other, more cohesive groups.

i like to think the conflict is rather within!

8 comments:

Tiger said...

well thats the indirect definition why some people are called animals because they dont have that inner discussion...but u know what if u look at it from another view some of them becomes superior due to this disability which simply enables them to do stuff that no other human can do because they lack even the intent to suspect if its wrong or right they just do it!!!

so if someone is superior does he have to be an animal from inside? could be!!

example?
politicians,laywers,greedy businuess men all over the world(ela man ra7ema rabee)

Marvin said...

I think conscience follows a set of external rules of conduct which are taught to the individual. Cohesive groups reinforce a standardized conscience among the group's members.

But guilt often needs no reason or rules to inflict pain and damage which no one can see except through the bizarre actions that may result. ;-)

Anonymous said...

You know, many tried to build on top and harness the strength of the human conscious. It goes all the way back to the first laws and virtually all religions. There are a number of things that fuel conscious. From childhood experiences with guilt. To fear of punishment. They all fuel the feelings of guilt.
The subject of conscious is very complicated to fit in a comment :)

PŕōuđPāŀĩ said...

nimer: i intentionally mentioned human animal coz we r classified under the animal kingdom, but what makes us different from animals is 1) the ability to think and act on our thoughts 2) common sense 3) the ability to communicate coherently (and plz dont come up with 'parrots can talk' and 'cats are naturally smart' parrots only repeat and immitate and cats are natural preditors akid they will be smart! but not smart enuf to know math etc etc)

and yes some ppl throw away their conscience and (might) rise in life and grow somehow, but still its unethical, and in this life, they will be disrespected by a lot of ppl coz they r sly, and in the afterlife they will know that every action has a reaction and consequence, and a price to pay. (a hefty one too).

PŕōuđPāŀĩ said...

Marv; i very much agree with the second part..

PŕōuđPāŀĩ said...

Q: interesting that u related guilt with fear of punishment.. 3ala 3aksak i think inno its more influenced by disappointing God and oneself by doing the 'wrong' thing.. everyone has a set of wrongs and right what i might find wrong u may find right so its kind of subjective and differs from one to another.. at least the social wrongs-rights.. the religious ones r set and final. or at least thats what i think :D

i know its a big subject, but feel free to comment all u want :)

Tiger said...

pali: look at it from this angel..

desperate measure requires desperate acts ya3nee thats god wisdom in creation..now if u think normal animals have had conscience would u think they would survive in nature...no the basis of survival struggle of nature is based on defending ur need to exist.....humans tend to have guilt and consience stuff simpley inhirited becoz in most of times they dont have to be in the survival struggle.. but if u put them under the same equation then again animal kingdom and realty facts rules over logic

examples: soldiers in battles they kill another human based on their need of survival..

now lets put it this way ur conciense is an indirect reflection of how u define survival(the level of survival for u as a human differs between every human and another).. and then it becomes ur own bench mark that u relate guilt to it.

for example a cancer patient lets say specificaly a conservative female cancer patient would consider it a sin if she is uncovered for a strange man (i.e her own doctor) but due to her struggle of survival she has to..she might try to balance and find a female doctor but in case she couldnt shall she live in her own bench mark of guilt or shall she survive? the same question goes for abortion,mercy killing, clawning animals... it all depends on how u define the required level of survival.

for the greedy men their survival level is so high so their benchmark of guilt is almost zero..liked the sub bas 7atekraheenee men kotor ma ba7kee:P

PŕōuđPāŀĩ said...

nimer: ballasht t5abbes ka2ennak? lol min eimtan its a sin to be uncovered udam a doctor??? ka2enno laysa 3alal mareedi 7araj? i will ignore that part and talk bout ur first.

i donno whats ur fascination with ppl who have no dameer w 3aysheen bi hal dinya, whether better or worse, kulna 3aysheen. il muhem at night when u lay ur head to sleep, il shu3ur il zbaleh of guilt kills. inno nothing is worth it. la temshayet shughul, wala becoming rich. w yes, the human animal was intended la2anno bi nazari the human animal is a low life. ppl who caves in to their instincts IMHO r losing the privilege of having a brain which God bestowed on us as a blessing and a fine line that seperates us from animals thus the label 'animal' becomes well deserved!!

الاقصى