Conscience, Evil and Its Forgiveness

C. Conscience. The ‘Beautiful Soul’. Evil and its Forgiveness (§632-671)

In withdrawing from the impossible reconciliation of moral duties and Nature, self-consciousness rejects positions that draw contradictions between laws of duty and real action. Instead self-consciousness determines that what it is inwardly sure of must be the truth, the right action (§635). The surety is conscience. Conscience's judgements are individual, but the recognition of conscience as the right is understood by all conscientious persons (§640).

Conscience is a way in which morality can be both individual, non-categorical, but also universal, befitting of the true essence of morality (§638). All of the acts of conscience for the good of the self could be defended as for the good of the universal, but the self is aware that not all consciences will determine them to be so. Therefore conscience, the very manifestation of surety of self, also wrestles with self-doubt (§648). An act must be made by a fully-conscious actor to be beyond the doubt of others. This criterion is so strong that it excludes the criterion of real-world consequences (§651).

Language is the means of relation between all persons, and thus it is the mode of relations between conscientious actors (§652).

Conscience, as the will that is not tied to real-world consequences is essentially empty; it is tempted not to act in the real world at all, to avoid compromising its pure will (§655-657). This is the "beautiful soul" - an uncommitted Spirit (§658).

This Spirit looks down on the active individual and judges it. The active individual is guilty of imperfect action, and is aware of this, but the beautiful soul is in turn guilty of judging without deigning to be involved in the action. Here again we see an opposition or juxtaposition of parts of the self. Hegel claims that this is an appearance of God (§671), but leaves any explanation of this claim to the following section, Religion.