Moral Conscience through the Ages

Fifth Century BCE to the Present

Richard Sorabji

The first study of its kind
A brilliant demonstration of Sorabji's unmatched breadth of learning
Brings together philosophy and religion, ancient and modern
Draws on the history of the debate to illuminate contemporary questions of conscience

Moral Conscience through the Ages

Fifth Century BCE to the Present

Richard Sorabji

Description

In Moral Conscience through the Ages, Richard Sorabji brings his erudition and philosophical acumen to bear on a fundamental question: what is conscience? Examining the ways we have conceived of that little voice in our heads - our self-directed judge - he teases out its most enduring elements, the aspects that have survived from the Greek playwrights in the fifth century BCE through St Paul, the Church Fathers, Catholics and Protestants, all the way to the 17th centurys political unrest and the critics and champions of the eighteenth to twentieth centuries. Sorabji traces a history of conscience over this long period and examines an impressive breadth of recurrent topics: the longing for different kinds of freedom of conscience, the proper limits of freedom itself, protests at consciences being terrorized, dilemmas of conscience, the value of conscience to human beings, its secularization, its reliability, and ways to improve it. These historical issues are alive today, with fresh concerns about topics such as conscientious objection, the force of conscience, or the balance between freedoms of conscience, religion, and speech. The result is a stunningly comprehensive look at a central component of our moral understanding.

Moral Conscience through the Ages

Fifth Century BCE to the Present

Richard Sorabji

Introduction
1:Sharing knowledge with oneself of a defect: five centuries from the Greek playwrights and Plato to St. Paul and first century pagans
2:Christian appropriation and Platonist developments, 3rd to 6th centuries CE
3:Early Christianity and freedom of religion, 200-400 CE
4:Doubled conscience and double-bind: a medieval insight and a 12th century misconstrual?
5:Penitence for bad conscience in pagans and Christians, 1st to 13th centuries
6:Protesters and Protestants: 'terrorisation' of conscience and two senses of freedom of conscience, 14th-16th centuries
7:Advice on particular moral dilemmas: casuistry, mid-16th to mid-17th centuries
8:Freedom of conscience and the individual in 17th century England
9:Four rehabilitations of conscience and connexion with sentiment: 18th century
10:Critics and champions of conscience and its continuing re-secularisation: 19th to 20th centuries
11:Freedom of conscience, religion and speech: different balances in different legislations
12:Retrospect: Nature and value of conscience
Index

Moral Conscience through the Ages

Fifth Century BCE to the Present

Richard Sorabji

Author Information

Richard Sorabji, Wolfson College, Oxford

Sir Richard Sorabji is Honorary Fellow of Wolfson College at Oxford University and fellow and emeritus professor at Kings College, London. He is the editor of fifteen books, and founder and general editor of the Ancient Commentators on Aristotle series, in which more than a hundred volumes have been published.

Moral Conscience through the Ages

Fifth Century BCE to the Present

Richard Sorabji

Reviews and Awards

"Sorabji's encyclopaedic investigation is an excellent starting point for scholars investigating the many debates over the scope and significance of conscience." - Jeffrey Hause, The Philosophical Quarterly

"Few authors have the breadth and depth of knowledge required to write such a history. Richard Sorabji demonstrates in this work an impressive grasp of Western philosophy and an effortless ability to move across disciplinary boundaries. Moral Conscience Through the Ages will quickly establish itself among scholars as the standard treatment of its subject. But what is most impressive is that without sacrificing the rigour that academic researchers demand, he has also written a book that is accessible and practical enough to find its way into the hands of policy makers in debates concerning freedom of conscience and conscientious objection." - Michael Hickson, Trent University, Ontario

"Sorabji provides a wide-ranging survey of moral conscience throughout the whole Western tradition right up to the present day, beginning with the Greeks ... A wide range of recent issues is brought into the mix: hate speech, the conscientious objector, cartoons of the Prophet, and the treatment of Muslim divorce ... this [book] has something for pretty much everyone." - Dr Alan Towey, Classics for All

"Sorabji provides a comprehensive history of the concept of conscience" - Margaret Atkins, New Blackfriars