The Foundations of Moral Responsibility and Conscience
Moral Responsibility: Definition and Scope
Moral responsibility derives from the commitment that an individual acquires moral obligations. Etymologically, it means the need to respond. The individual is responsible for dealing with everything that occurs in life. This is the human need to respond to people and the environment. This need is intrinsically linked to the freedom to choose the right course of action. The degree of responsibility varies among moral subjects. Legitimate coercion can also serve as a defense against liability. Moral responsibility is indicative of moral progress in individuals and groups.
Autonomy and Moral Heteronomy
Autonomy and moral heteronomy relate directly to moral responsibility. On the one hand, humans regulate some of their behaviors. Furthermore, the individual is free, rational, and conscientious in their actions toward themselves and the environment. Proponents of social primacy argue that the individual is part of a whole where their actions gain meaning. They concede that human society develops, but argue that instincts often supersede rational thought. Autonomy and heteronomy refer to actions regarding conformity (or lack thereof) to norms, values, and obligations.
Defining Moral Autonomy
Autonomy refers to the ability of the moral agent to act according to their own will and take responsibility for their actions. The individual is responsible and is obliged to address the consequences that their actions may have. Achieving autonomy requires preparation and maturation, both rational and emotional.
Understanding Moral Heteronomy
Heteronomy refers to the subject’s dependence on norms and values that are external or alien to them, which they merely observe or submit to. The subject is forced or made responsible by external forces.
Key Theorists on Moral Development
Autonomy and heteronomy are needed to explain human actions from both the individual and social dimensions. Immanuel Kant defends the autonomy of the free individual, who acts according to their own will. Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg support moral autonomy as one of the most important features of morality, achievable through learning that progresses from heteronomous to autonomous stages. This learning involves personal growth and emotional soundness, which depends on material conditions, experience, and acquired knowledge. Educational processes are important for the development of moral autonomy.
The Moral Conscience
The moral conscience is viewed in two ways: First, it is considered the defense of values that regulate moral norms; on the other hand, contemptuously, it is regarded as the “Jiminy Cricket.” This “little voice” dictates what is right or wrong. In Psychology, it is understood as “the human mental process that realizes itself as the subject of an activity.” Through conscience, the human realizes that their actions are completely unified. Through conscience, the individual plans their actions and must anticipate the consequences that such actions will entail. Psychological and moral consciousness are closely related. Moral consciousness involves knowing and recognizing inherent value judgments.
Functions of Moral Conscience
The functions of moral conscience include:
- To ascertain argumentative or intuitive procedures as absolute and valid criteria to guide human beings on how to carry out their moral actions.
- The moral consciousness issues value judgments about the legality or moral wrongfulness of an action.
- Through their moral consciousness, the individual acts as a “judge,” examining activities and issuing evaluative judgments about their morality.
Origins and Social Role of Conscience
There are different positions regarding the acceptance of moral consciousness:
- Some argue for its divine origin.
- Others welcome it as something learned.
- Some argue that social relations produce a certain kind of moral consciousness.
Social moral consciousness is educated both rationally and emotionally. The individual can make mistakes when trying to act morally right. Resorting to the individual conscience as a judge for arbitrary or selfish reasons is not acceptable. However, neither general opinion nor external powers alone validate moral judgments. Society, its governing powers, and agents of socialization must strive to cultivate the moral conscience of a citizen so they can issue and enforce moral judgments that lead to critically informed moral actions.