Defense Date

3-19-2014

Graduation Date

Spring 2014

Availability

Immediate Access

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

Theology

School

McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts

Committee Chair

Gerald Boodoo

Committee Member

James Bailey

Committee Member

Elochukwu E Uzukwu

Keywords

Conscience and Community, nature or nurture of conscience, Globalization and moral responsibility, Sinful social structures, Systemic Corruption, communalism and tribalism, Theories of moral development, Tribalism and communalism

Abstract

This research focuses on the impact of the moral community (or social context) on the formation of conscience and its implication for moral responsibility. It is an interdisciplinary approach to theological reflection that is particularly attentive to psychological, philosophical, sociological, and neurobiological viewpoints showing how these have either distorted or broadened our understanding of conscience in its relation to community and social responsibility, or its formation in relationship to our moral development. It stresses reciprocity of conduct (for we are "responders") and the complementarities of internal and external sanctions. It insists that the influence of conscience on behavior is undermined by a fixation on its cognitive aspect at the detriment of the feeling aspect such that retrieving the latter will broaden our appreciation of its deep but subtle influence. While admitting the richness of African communalism<<

Format

PDF

Language

English

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