My major explores, analyzes, and evaluates discourses on the idea of the conscience. Central questions of my major include the following: what is a conscience? How does one believe their conscience operates? Can one have multiple consciences? If a conscience does indeed exist, what factors contribute to its formation? Is the conscience a psychological process? How do different disciplines such as anthropology, psychology, and philosophy perceive the idea of a conscience? If a conscience does exist, does it stem from genetics? Or is it a by product of a person’s social class or religion? How do Western authorities affect people’s attitudes toward the idea of a conscience and perceptions of “truth”? Do Western authorities create contradictory or universal messages of what constitutes a conscience? In this major, I will try to answer these questions by taking a range of psychology, anthropology, philosophy, religion, biology, and English courses. In psychology courses, I will study how psychologists view genetic makeup and the environment as factors that influence the idea of the conscience. In the sociology and anthropology courses, I will learn how sociologists’ and anthropologists’ view how culture shapes the idea of a conscience. In philosophy, English, and religion, I will try to familiarize myself with major Western philosophers’ theories and Christian doctrine on the idea of the conscience. I hope that the different disciplines will enrich each other, that what I learn in religion or philosophy will shape my understanding in, for example, psychology and anthropology, or that certain religious or philosophical theories or perceptions may contribute to the makings of what psychologists or sociologists deem the conscience, and vice versa. I hope to get a taste of different disciplines’ philosophies of “ethical” behavior, and how such a thing like the conscience may monitor this behavior.

Along the way, I also hope to develop my own “ethical” awareness as well as understand how authorities and culture contribute to my perception of my conscience and ethics. In this postmodern age, it is easy to question the existence of reality and ethics, but hard to deny selfhood and the existence of happiness. I believe that a person’s perception of a conscience has something to do with his or her ideas of happiness. I believe “good” and “bad” choices exist, and that a person’s perception of ethical behavior partially contributes to his or her ethical decision-making. In doing this major, I hope to learn—at least to some degree—what way culture may work against or promote “good” choices. I have always been interested in what contributes to “good” behavior and how that might correspond to a “good” life.

In undertaking this major, I hope to become more aware of why I make certain “ethical” decisions as well as to understand why others make their own. My wish is that this major will help me to understand others in a way that encourages compassion. I do not want, however, to become so entrenched in another person’s situation that I forget how that person’s actions affect the well-being of those around them. In this project, one of my goals is to become more empathetic, but not relativistic. For my final project, I want to apply my studies of conscience to the twenty-first century mental disorder of anorexia nervosa. I am interested if a moral component exists within the formation of anorexia nervosa. Particularly, I want to investigate language surrounding sacredness (one of Graham and colleagues' (2009) five moral dimensions). Do pro-anorexic (pro-Ana) individual blogs have more words relating to purity and disgust in contrast to medical blogs? I am interested in the tie between modern day anorexia nervosa and “holy anorexia” which took place during the medieval age. After this research, I hope to explain my findings to the psychology and religion clubs at St. Olaf, and perhaps, make a poster for a psychology symposium.

This major suits the classical concerns of liberal arts because it not only undertakes a search for “truth” or “truths,” but questions the significance of defining things such as “truth,” “beauty,” or “virtue.” I believe the first step in searching for answers to perennial human questions is to first learn what an individual believes to be real. This major is about searching for “reality” or a “reality.” I also contend that this major relates to the distinct interests of St. Olaf College because it will help me to start developing a “global perspective.” A crucial step in gaining such a perspective is to understand the complexities of an individual’s culture as that individual moves toward understanding others. I do not want to be the person who unconsciously assumes that I understand my culture just because it is my own culture. My goal is to be more conscious of how little I know and to see different behaviors in a different light.

I am interested in occupations such as social work, teaching, counseling, research or clinical psychology. Since I will be learning about people’s perception of conscience and ethical action, this major may be useful in the future for understanding types of behavior relevant in those fields and understand proper reactions toward those behaviors. In addition, even if I do not go into those fields, I believe that learning about the idea of a conscience is useful for any profession and life skills, for it will help me to develop my own idea of the conscience and my own ethical system.