# Reading on the Conscience



## py3ak (Jun 14, 2009)

This thread convinced me that I have, at best, a superficial understanding of what the conscience is, what it ought to do, what it does when it's disordered, how it gets rectified, and so forth.

So what are good things to read on the nature, functions, diseases and recovery of the conscience?


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## MW (Jun 14, 2009)

py3ak said:


> So what are good things to read on the nature, functions, diseases and recovery of the conscience?



Perkins, Ames, and Durham have all written masterful works on the conscience which will abundantly reward a studious reader.


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## py3ak (Jun 14, 2009)

I was wondering if the various _Cases_ would be to the point, but wasn't sure if the casuistry assumed an understanding of the conscience or explicitly set one out.


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## MW (Jun 14, 2009)

py3ak said:


> I was wondering if the various _Cases_ would be to the point, but wasn't sure if the casuistry assumed an understanding of the conscience or explicitly set one out.



Both Perkins and Ames provide clear definition before entering into specific cases. Durham's is homiletical, so definitions are usually provided just after the explanation of each text.


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## py3ak (Jun 14, 2009)

Thanks! I shall see which one I can turn up most easily in a readable version.


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## MW (Jun 14, 2009)

py3ak said:


> Thanks! I shall see which one I can turn up most easily in a readable version.



Perkins was reprinted in the "English Experience" facsimile series, so it will be more readily available and the print will be alot clearer.


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## py3ak (Jun 14, 2009)

Excellent, thanks! I found a PDF of Ames but it is entirely illegible at points. I noticed, though, that he started off disagreeing with Perkins that conscience must be thought of as a faculty and not an act.


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## MW (Jun 14, 2009)

py3ak said:


> Excellent, thanks! I found a PDF of Ames but it is entirely illegible at points. I noticed, though, that he started off disagreeing with Perkins that conscience must be thought of as a faculty and not an act.



I can't double check that at the moment, but I doubt it is a significant difference. The equation of conscience with a form of knowledge means that it functions like the intellectual power, which can be described in a variety of ways.


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## py3ak (Jun 14, 2009)

According to Ames, Perkins argued that conscience couldn't be an act, because there are distinct acts of conscience, as accusing and excusing. Ames thought that was a weak argument.


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## MW (Jun 14, 2009)

py3ak said:


> According to Ames, Perkins argued that conscience couldn't be an act, because there are distinct acts of conscience, as accusing and excusing. Ames thought that was a weak argument.



Is this reflecting the discussion in secondary literature?

Certainly Ames is developing the tradition, and we would expect variety because of definitions provided by the schoolmen. I would be more inclined to see Ames as tightening definition than directly disagreeing. Afterall, Ames stll refers to a God-given power of the soul and Perkins still has acts of conscience.


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## py3ak (Jun 14, 2009)

No, no secondary literature - just the first page or two Ames. I took it as a mild disagreement because he speaks well of Perkins but says, "this reason is weak", and takes up the opinion of "the beft Schoolemen", that conscience is "an act of practical judgment, proceeding from the Understanding by the power or meanes of a Habit."


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## MW (Jun 14, 2009)

py3ak said:


> No, no secondary literature - just the first page or two Ames. I took it as a mild disagreement because he speaks well of Perkins but says, "this reason is weak", and takes up the opinion of "the beft Schoolemen", that conscience is "an act of practical judgment, proceeding from the Understanding by the power or meanes of a Habit."



So it is just an issue of basic definition. Ames is right, of course, to guard the practical syllogism and to make conscience an operative act. But I don't think this creates an alternative approach to Perkins, as is suggested by some of the secondary lit. It would be fair to say that Perkins wrote a book on Cases which pertained to questions of practical divinity, and provided his definition of conscience to introduce the subject, whereas Ames specifically set out to provide a theoretical framework for understanding the workings of conscience before entering into subjects which we would now identify as ethics.


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## ADKing (Jun 15, 2009)

Here is another work (although somewhat broader) that also has bearing on the question. Therapeutica sacra: shewing briefly ... - Google Books


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## py3ak (Jun 15, 2009)

Thank you, Mr. King! I was wondering if Edward Reynolds treatise on the faculties dealt with the conscience at all.


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