معرفت اخلاقی

This article employs an analytical-comparative method to explore the concept of moral conscience from the perspectives of Allameh Mesbah Yazdi and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, aiming to uncover the theoretical distinctions and commonalities between these two thinkers in analyzing the nature of moral conscience and its cultivation. Findings reveal that Allameh Mesbah does not regard conscience as an independent faculty but rather as a synthesis of rational activities (cognitive aspect) and appetitive faculties (inclinative aspect), which exists as an abstract philosophical concept lacking an external objective referent and is derived from the interaction of these two dimensions. He emphasizes the pivotal role of education in shaping the integrity or corruption of conscience. In contrast, Rousseau identifies moral conscience as an "innate and immutable natural sense" inherent to humanity, capable of intuitively discerning good and evil and unaffected by socio-historical conditions. While Allameh Mesbah considers reason an inseparable component of ethical processes, Rousseau deems "negative education" (avoidance of teaching vices) sufficient for the flourishing of conscience and views reason as an obstacle to conscience. The study demonstrates that the fundamental divergence between the two perspectives lies in their analysis of the essence of moral conscience: Rousseau posits conscience as a fixed instinct independent of reason, whereas Allameh Mesbah characterizes it as a dynamic phenomenon dependent on the interplay of reason and education.