The Primacy of Conscience in the Roman Catholic Tradition

Abstract

Everybody is aware of having a conscience, but ideas of what conscience is and how it operates differ. This is not surprising, as conscience is a complex reality, susceptible to a variety of interpretations. The question of the primacy of conscience has also in recent times been the subject of debate. This article aims to shed light on the issue by reviewing the theological development of the meaning and function of conscience in the Roman Catholic tradition through some of the key witnesses of that tradition in the moral field. Most importantly, it stresses the often forgotten dimension of the role of the virtue of prudence in the formation and judgment of conscience. This helps to illuminate how the primacy of conscience is to be understood.