The voice of conscience in Rousseau's Emile

被引:3
|
作者
Kodelja, Zdenko [1 ]
机构
[1] Ctr Philosophy Educ, Educ Res Inst, Gerbiceva 62, Ljubljana 1000, Slovenia
关键词
conscience; voice of conscience; voice of God; ethics; Rousseau;
D O I
10.1080/17449642.2015.1045211
中图分类号
G40 [教育学];
学科分类号
040101 ; 120403 ;
摘要
According to Rousseau, conscience and conscience alone can elevate human beings to a level above that of animals. It is conscience, understood as infallible judge of good and bad, which makes man like God. Conscience itself is, in this context, understood as divine, as an 'immortal and celestial voice'. Therefore, if the voice of conscience is the same as the voice of God, then conscience is nothing human. However, although this interpretation is correct, there are some problems with it. If we take into consideration the fact that conscience is in the same context defined first as a unifying principle which makes us like God, second as a thing which is in the middle between God and man and thirdly as a middle thing or mediation that integrates extremes organically, then conscience cannot be either simply human or divine. The second problem is the following: How can one who hears the voice of God know that he really hears his voice? And, if he is the only one who hears it, how can we know that he hears it?
引用
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页码:198 / 208
页数:11
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