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"And always let your conscience be your guide" were the words of Pinnochio's consultant, Jiminy Cricket. Conscience may be defined as a subjective norm of morality, which involves the process of applying and committing to individual knowledge of moral principals and values to specific cases. Even though, according to the Catholic Church, a well-formed conscience should reveal the will of God and be in alignment with church teaching, this is not always the case. Because, with conscience, moral absolutes do not exist, decisions can be made based on purely subjective criteria, which can lead to moral relativism. This issue is currently of great concern to bioethicist; should conscience be the primary guide to ethically-based medical decisions?
When considering ethical values pertaining to medicine, the role of conscience is extremely significant. Contrary to popular belief, an ethically-grounded conscience is much more than Freud's "still small voice" that an individual may hear,......

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Approximate Pages: 5 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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