The Conscience

Corporal laws are set by the entities whom we have all agreed, either by show of non-objection or active acceptance, would possess the power to decide for the entire society/country what is right and wrong so that the necessary system of crime and punishment can be effected. These laws do not denote absolute rights and wrongs but serve as a set of yardsticks by which actions can be evaluated and then accorded punishment if they do not conform to the general accepted behaviour used as the basis for these laws.

When you scold or cane a child because he has done wrong, you impose upon him your own notion of right and wrong which in turn is derived from the notion of right and wrong that you were exposed to and influenced by when you were growing up. As with corporal laws, these are not absolute rights and wrongs but a set of measures which you use to evaluate events that take place in daily life.

What is conscience? A tribesman who grows up feeding on the flesh of his fellow tribesman who has been killed while hunting is taught that this is a means of subsistence and is therefore correct. We do not condone this behaviour because our social values are different from his. His conscience will tell him that eating the flesh of his fellow man who was killed by accident is 'good' while ours tell us that such behaviour is 'evil'. Which conscience is correct?