conscience = soul?

Question

Will somebody please explain to me how the fact that humans have a conscience be used to justify the existence of a soul because I see no necessity there?

Answer 1

The 'absence' of conscience in general engenders standards of 'not guilty' character, weather or not guilt should or shouldn't be recognized. Granted such can affect the elements of a 'soul'(overall 'individual' existence), and contribute to reflections of 'soul searching' discovery ~ but only when 'conscience' exists can individual assessment be considered full circle, or 'just' with collective responsibility in mind.

People without 'conscience' generally live in isolated individuality without regard for the effects of their existence on others ~ those directly, or indirectly observing and/or absorbing the effects.

So, conscience cannot equal soul, and represents only an element of 'soul' that binds standards together, or separates standards into categories of individuality. With, or without, the MANY definitions of 'soul', conscience remains a general element of character development ~ and reflects individual ability, or disability in, and from ~ individual lives, AND collective unity.

Answer 2

For me Empathy = Conscience, the ability to understand the impact of one's decisions on others and put one's self in their shoes. Also as a personal belief To be Conscious = Life = Soul. I don't see that they are directly linked.

I've yet to find proof positive that just because you understand you can hurt someone, or have hurt someone, that you do or do not have a soul. Or that there is any physical proof for 'I think therefor I am'. Nor does this theory take into account psychopaths or people with mental illnesses that leave them essentially amoral.

There again all of this depends an awful lot on your interpretation of the word soul. If a Soul for you has a classically religous symbolism then we are talking about Judgement. If we didn't understand Good and Evil then how could we be judged so the very fact that we can and do means that there must be a reason.. conscience = soul.

If the word soul is simply the energy contained in our bodies during our lives that must go somewhere when we die then conscience has nothing to do with it.. but consciousness does.

It depends a lot on your interpretation of words and meanings and to a certain degree your beliefs too.

Answer 3

Well a soul is what makes you actually alive. Your body is just carbon -get rid of the soul and that's all it is, you are no longer living. Everyone's soul is different even if you are genetically identical (like twins or clones), and everyone has, or at least has until they choose to ignore it, a conscience. It's something innate which tells you to do the right thing - though go against it for long enough and you become immune to it as it seems to fade, until sometimes people no longer have a conscience.

Answer 4

If what you mean by conscience is the voice within that bugs you when you do something wrong or tries to keep you on the right path, then I would say that conscience = supersoul.

The supersoul, known as Paramatma in Sanskrit, is the plenary expansion of the Lord that resides in the heart of every living being in this material world. He accompanies us through all the many bajillions of lifetimes we spend here gently nudging us in the right direction. He also witnesses all of our desires and actions and gives us what we deserve in some future space, time. So the soul, you, are the witness to the voice of the conscience, the supersoul (God in the heart). The conscience is the Lord trying to help you keep out of trouble.

The Bhagavad-gita gives this decription of the Paramatma: "Everywhere are His hands and legs, His eyes and faces, and He hears everything. In this way the Supersoul exists. The Supersoul is the original source of all senses, yet He is without senses. He is unattached, although He is the maintainer of all living beings. He transcends the modes of nature, and at the same time He is the master of all modes of material nature. The Supreme Truth exists both internally and externally, in the moving and nonmoving. He is beyond the power of the material senses to see or to know. Although far, far away, He is also near to all. Although the Supersoul appears to be divided, He is never divided. He is situated as one. Although He is the maintainer of every living entity, it is to be understood that He devours and develops all. He is the source of light in all luminous objects. He is beyond the darkness of matter and is unmanifested. He is knowledge, He is the object of knowledge, and He is the goal of knowledge. He is situated in everyone's heart." (Bg. 13.14-18)

Answer 5

my opinion is that conscience is something developed through ones environment at a very young age. it is then somehow fastened into our brain. the soul has nothing to do with the conscience. it is one of the individual things of human. although i believe the soul of a person can have influence on its conscience, it is not a way to justify the existance.

Answer 6

I've never heard this. I know philosophers such as Socrates, and most notably Descartes, though of the mind as an immaterial soul. But this has been disputed down through the centuries.

There is no empirical proof for the existence of souls.

Answer 7

I DON'T THINK ALL THE HUMANS HAVE A CONSCIENCE, I KNOW A BUNCH OF PEOPLE THAT DON'T HAVE CONSCIENCE, BUT THEY CRY WHEN THEY SEE A DRAMA MOVIE.. THE MEANING OF CONSCIENCE DEPENDS A LOT OF YOUR FAMILY, THE WAY YOU ARE RAISED... THINK ABOUT DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, THEY DON'T HAVE THE SAME RULES, PEOPLE HAVE DEFFERENT NOTIONS OF GOOD AND BAD..BUT WE ALL HAVE SOULS, WELL WE SUPOSED TO HAVE ONE:).. YOU CAN DUMP A GIRL WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE FEELINGS FOR HER, BUT YOU CAN TAKE CARE OF AN ANIMAL THAT YOU FOUND ON A STREET...

Answer 8

Funnily enough altough i believe in the concept of soul i really believe there are too many out there without a conscience so maybe it's not that simple as you imply it to be :-)

Answer 9

It should not be used to justify. It affirms it which is different.

The issue of creation is an open issue. If you believe in a creator, then conscience and soul make sense. If you believe in natural creation, then we are random quirks of nature and soul makes no sense.

Answer 10

is your moral experience your soul? No purely as a portray isn't the canvas. Your moral experience covers your soul and adjustments with journey and expertise. even as your soul is unborn and unchanging. does your moral experience develop into your soul once you kick the bucket? No even with the undeniable fact that it does provide the ' spin ' on the position you'll finally end up next.