The Problem of Conscience in the History of Western Ethical Thought

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le have the following two research themes this year.1. To take over the separate studies on the theories of conscience which we had conducted till last year and examine the theories of conscience in the modern and the present-day philosophy.2. To examine our previous historical studies of thought on the theories of conscience, then based on these studies, consider the significance of the concept of conscience in a modem ethical system and in an ethical speculation.Each concrete outcome is as follows.1a. As to the examination of the theories of conscience in the modem philosophy, Sato, a research sharer, presented a viewpoint to understand the integrated relation of Kant and Hegel on the theory of conscience in the German idealism. And Seiriki, a research supporter, made an inquiry about the relation of epistemology and moral sentiments of the moral-sense school in the English empiricism.1b. As to the examination of the theories of conscience in the present-day philosophy, Yuasa. a research sharer, conducted the study which tried to identify Nietzsche' s theory of conscience as the leading theory of Freud's psychoanalytic theory of conscience. And Yasukawa, a research supporter, conducted the study of conscience in Freud' s theory. And Hayashi, a research supporter, considered the significance and the function of conscience, arguing some concrete problems of Bioethics (such as the problems concerning the diagnostic technique of an unborn baby or the artificial abortion).2. As to the significance of the concept of conscience in an ethical system and an ethical speculation, all the researchers came to agree that we should neither take conscience as a mere subjective principle nor make little of the theories of conscience, but that on the contrary we need to take the phenomena of conscience positively as the logical premise which makes us start an ethical speculation.