Abstract
Just as moral law is a practical foundation of religious morality in Newman’s thought, so is moral conscience. There is a tendency to interpret religious morality in his writings from the narrow perspective of conscience alone. However, his view of conscience needs to be interpreted more broadly in relation to his hermeneutics of the imagination. Conscience has two main functions: a moral sense (presenting a judgment of reason as a rule of right conduct) and a sense of duty (portraying a magisterial dictate as a sanction of right conduct). These functions can be explained by connecting the concepts of rationality and responsibility with the concepts of autonomy and theonomy. The moral sense represents the rationality of conscience, being its autonomous characteristic that engages both the abstract and concrete processes of reason – this is similar to but broader than the application of moral law. The moral sense determines when moral judgments attain certitude. This function reflects his hermeneutics of the imagination. The sense of duty represents the responsibility of conscience before God, being its theonomous characteristic that engages the magisterial dictate of a divine voice – but this does not entail an argument for the existence of God. The sense of duty introduces a theological dimension for conscience that provides a religious interpretation for the moral sense (dealing with truth) and confers religious meaning to moral character (dealing with holiness). This function reflects his theological hermeneutics. Often the sense of duty is viewed as the primary function of conscience, but the analysis explains that the moral sense has that role.
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Notes
- 1.
Rule (2004).
- 2.
- 3.
Walgrave (1986).
- 4.
- 5.
Sillem (1969–1970), II, 31, note 2.
- 6.
Merrigan (2008), 17–18.
- 7.
Crehan (1978).
- 8.
Coulson (1980).
- 9.
Artz (1980).
- 10.
- 11.
- 12.
- 13.
- 14.
Holmes (1979), 290.
- 15.
- 16.
Magill (1993).
- 17.
Aquinas (1948), 1ae, 11ae, Q. 19, art.5.
- 18.
Walgrave (1960), 353.
- 19.
Tillman (2008).
- 20.
Keane (1984), 26, 34, 109.
- 21.
Grave (1989), 34–37, 57.
- 22.
Hughes (2009), 192.
- 23.
- 24.
- 25.
Jonsen and Toulmin (1988), 174.
- 26.
Ferreira (1987), 189–197.
- 27.
Jago (1981), 61.
- 28.
Kent (1980).
- 29.
Newman (1986), 78.
- 30.
- 31.
- 32.
Beaumont et al. (2012).
- 33.
Dupré (2002).
- 34.
- 35.
Merrigan (2009), 49–51.
- 36.
- 37.
- 38.
Bischofberger (1974), 101–104, 117.
- 39.
Norris (1977), 93.
- 40.
Schüller (1986), 64.
- 41.
- 42.
Crowley (1991), 137–138, 150.
- 43.
Crowe (1977).
- 44.
Walgrave (1960), 152–153.
- 45.
Barmann (1964), 217.
- 46.
- 47.
Böckle (1980), 63.
- 48.
Fuchs (1983), 101.
- 49.
- 50.
- 51.
- 52.
- 53.
- 54.
Fuchs (1983), 45–46, 101.
- 55.
- 56.
de Achaval and Holmes (1976), I, 139.
- 57.
Walgrave (1960), 361.
- 58.
Brechtken (1973), 64.
- 59.
Casey (1984), 63.
- 60.
- 61.
- 62.
- 63.
Crosby (2004), 110–111.
- 64.
- 65.
Hughes (2009), 210–213.
- 66.
- 67.
Miller (2008), 142.
- 68.
Boekraad and Tristram (1961), 119.
- 69.
- 70.
Boekraad and Tristram (1961), 71, 74.
- 71.
Rosenberg (2007).
- 72.
Merrigan (2003).
- 73.
DeLaura (1969), 33.
- 74.
Coulson (1970), 89.
- 75.
Ferreira (1980), 136–137.
- 76.
Miller (2010).
- 77.
- 78.
Magill (1991).
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Magill, G. (2015). Moral Conscience. In: Religious Morality in John Henry Newman. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10271-9_6
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