[ZeRo]

I was just wondering what everyone else's opinion was on conscience.
I am currently watching Law & Order: SVU and Olivia Benson and Elliott Stabler ( the two main characters ) had a very brief debate about conscience.

In regards to a person raping a teen:
Benson said, "No, you're are born with a conscience..."
Stabler replied, "Ohhh, no, no, no... It's all about how you were raised."

I kind of gravitate towards Stabler's idea.

What are your ideas on this... ?

 

[snail]

I think it is inborn but requires activation. I remember the first time I ever felt mine, and it was horrible. There was nothing specific about what I had done that broke any rules, so it wasn't about how I was trained.

Two of my cousins were in town visiting, and the older cousin had a pin that I wanted, shaped like a cat with a red fake jewel in the center. She told me that I could have it if I beat her sister in a race. I did. ...but she changed her mind and decided not to give me the pin that had been promised as a prize. When she wasn't looking, I took the pin. This was an unloving act, but on a technicality, the pin was mine. I pinned it to my favorite doll and fell asleep holding the doll that night. When I woke up, I had the most horrible feeling of being separated from God, and it was a dread unlike anything I had ever felt. I cried until someone took me to where my cousin was staying to return the pin.

It looked like one of these, perhaps, only red.

I have heard other stories like this, of children experiencing the first activation of the conscience, sometimes while alone where there was no fear of any externally imposed consequences, over things that were not forbidden by the adults in their lives, and of it feeling the way I remember it.

 

[wisdom]

A year later, Snail's still around, at least in threads like this.

I'm recalling now my earliest experiences of an attack of conscience. I think I was about 9. Stuff I did and wasn't even criticized for, but I rightly felt that I'd acted badly. Although, to tell the truth, I don't think my conscience is very strong - I usually can justify things to myself. I think the NF types, maybe INFP most of all, need very little conditioning to have a conscience and that unfortunately some other types have to be raised carefully to feel bad about doing harm to anyone or anything.

 

[ZeRo]

I have terrible memory and at this point in time cannot think of a case where at a young age I have "knowingly" done something wrong and felt bad about it... I definitely must have, but I just can't remember... But I think because of this lack of memory it makes me question where my conscience came from...

--- This lack of personal "history" in regards to conscience at a young age makes me wonder if it was just something I had heard was bad and thus suffered the consequence making me learn a lesson in life...

I know I have definitely heard that "voice in my head", but I can't pin point when I knew that something was truly right and wrong.
_______________
Just a random scenario but:

For example: If a child hits another kid and the kid starts to cry and the child still continues until someone: the mother or father or relative "scolds" them and tells them not to hit or hurt other people...

Would the kid might have known better than to hit another kid with out the telling off (the beginning or prod of upbringing)... I dunno, this is just the scenario I am thinking of because a couple of times I have seen young kids hit other kids or what ever and after being told it is wrong asking why... in which the reply is, because you're hurting him/her etc...

Maybe this is a one off scenario or just those individuals, but still...

 

[MilkyWay132]

I have terrible memory and at this point in time cannot think of a case where at a young age I have "knowingly" done something wrong and felt bad about it... I definitely must have, but I just can't remember... But I think because of this lack of memory it makes me question where my conscience came from...

--- This lack of personal "history" in regards to conscience at a young age makes me wonder if it was just something I had heard was bad and thus suffered the consequence making me learn a lesson in life...

I know I have definitely heard that "voice in my head", but I can't pin point when I knew that something was truly right and wrong.
_______________
Just a random scenario but:

For example: If a child hits another kid and the kid starts to cry and the child still continues until someone: the mother or father or relative "scolds" them and tells them not to hit or hurt other people...

Would the kid might have known better than to hit another kid with out the telling off (the beginning or prod of upbringing)... I dunno, this is just the scenario I am thinking of because a couple of times I have seen young kids hit other kids or what ever and after being told it is wrong asking why... in which the reply is, because you're hurting him/her etc...

Maybe this is a one off scenario or just those individuals, but still...

I have a terrible memory, too. Frankly, I'm used to hearing my conscience so I can't really remember the first time I've had it activated. In fact, I can't vividly remember any of my child memories. I just remember little snapshots of the memories, and that's it. It's also a little cloudy because I moved a lot in my childhood. :/

 

[Mutatio NOmenis]

Conscience... the amount you can have seems to be determined before you are born. Sociopaths do not have any real conscience. Empaths have very strong conscience. As an Aspie, I used to be faced with being almost completely blind to the emotional states of others. As I grew older and isolated, I took it upon myself to get better at relating to others. I can say now that I have a heart of gold, but I could not have utilized it earlier due to my blindness.

 

[MilkyWay132]

Empaths? No, I wasn't talking about empaths. I was just talking about empathy in general, although I might of made it sound like I was talking about them. Really? It's good that you are able to relate to others better now that you're older.

 

[MilkyWay132]

Conscience... the amount you can have seems to be determined before you are born. Sociopaths do not have any real conscience. Empaths have very strong conscience. As an Aspie, I used to be faced with being almost completely blind to the emotional states of others. As I grew older and isolated, I took it upon myself to get better at relating to others. I can say now that I have a heart of gold, but I could not have utilized it earlier due to my blindness.

Just to let you know, I wasn't talking about Empaths---I was just talking about empathy in general. Besides that, I think it's nice that you find it easier to relate to others now that you're older. roud: Hmm...now that I think about it, I think it's kind of strange how Sociopaths have a sense of right and wrong, yet don't feel any remorse for their actions. [Unless I'm wrong, that is...]

 

[xezene]

Both.

They run in and out of each other, like streams in a river. They go hand-in-hand.

 

[timeless]

I think that people are essentially born with their conscience. The real question is what makes people disregard it; oftentimes, people know that a wrong act is wrong, but they find excuses to justify it. Of course, some people appear to have no distinction between right and wrong, but it seems that most do but rationalize it away.

 

[conformità]

I was just wondering what everyone else's opinion was on conscience.
I am currently watching Law & Order: SVU and Olivia Benson and Elliott Stabler ( the two main characters ) had a very brief debate about conscience.

In regards to a person raping a teen:
Benson said, "No, you're are born with a conscience..."
Stabler replied, "Ohhh, no, no, no... It's all about how you were raised."

I kind of gravitate towards Stabler's idea.

What are your ideas on this... ?

nobody is born with a conscience people have to learn empathy and consequences for their actions

 

[HannibalLecter]

Born and/or learnt.

 

[Naleena]

I agree with Hannibal. Can be both. I think it depends on the person too.

 

[agreenbough]

I tend to believe it's both inborn and learned. You're born with it but it develops depending on your environment. It's like being born with a natural ability to play the violin - but maybe you never find out you have a natual ability to play the viloin because you never had a chance to play. Maybe it never occurred to you to try, or maybe your parents couldn't afford lessons or told you to forget it. So the ability was never developed. And maybe lost over time from lack of use.

 

[naciketas]

Conscience is that which guides us through the turmoils of life and that eases us through the pleasures of life. Every one of us is guided by it at all times.

 

[Gracie]

Oh you are without doubt born with some form of conscience, unless you suffer from a genuine psychiatric condition. It's connected closely to empathy, I would imagine, and while genuine sociopaths or extreme narcissists can be earnestly without any kind of conscience, the vast majority of us have it.

Like most things, it is a combination of nature and nurture. I think the vast majority of us are born with a conscience, but depending on our upbringing/trauma, etc. we can either suppress this natural urge to feel the consequences of our actions in retrospect, or we can nurture it until we have a finely honed conscience that never fails to nag us when we've acted against our values.

There ARE people born without it, but they're very much the minority.