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Appealing to Heaven : = Conscience, Authority, and Moral Knowledge in the Political Philosophy of John Locke.

Record Type:	Language materials, manuscript : Monograph/item
Title/Author:	Appealing to Heaven :/
Reminder of title:	Conscience, Authority, and Moral Knowledge in the Political Philosophy of John Locke.
Author:	Ray, Gabrielle Stanton.
Description:	1 online resource (437 pages)
Notes:	Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 84-04, Section: A.
Contained By:	Dissertations Abstracts International84-04A.
Subject:	Philosophy. -
Online resource:	click for full text (PQDT)
ISBN:	9798351460765

Appealing to Heaven : = Conscience, Authority, and Moral Knowledge in the Political Philosophy of John Locke.
Ray, Gabrielle Stanton.

Appealing to Heaven :Conscience, Authority, and Moral Knowledge in the Political Philosophy of John Locke. - 1 online resource (437 pages)

Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 84-04, Section: A.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tulane University, 2022.

Includes bibliographical references

This dissertation investigates the concept of conscience, and its status in the philosophy of John Locke. I am particularly interested in conscience's role in Locke's political philosophy, where it has an important function in his resistance theory. But my research in Lockean conscience also takes me outside of the realm of his political thought, drawing from Locke's texts in epistemology and moral psychology, as well as his work on religious toleration.It is difficult, and perhaps impossible, to articulate a unified, "Lockean," concept of conscience. Whether we focus on conscience's status within just one of these perspectives, or compare the perspectives to each other, significant inconsistencies emerge.In his early epistemological treatment of conscience, Locke depicts conscience as a "witness" to the natural law; an expression of our "rational apprehension of what is right." But in his later epistemology, conscience becomes nothing but a highly subjective, self-interested "opinion."An equally dramatic (though inverted) trajectory is detected in Locke's works on toleration. The early works characterize conscience as a dangerous threat to political stability, arguing for the necessity of "Imposition." But in the later works, Locke embraces the cause of religious toleration, and even goes so far as to characterize freedom of conscience as a "Natural Right."It is tempting to resolve these inconsistencies by hypothesizing that Locke's understanding of conscience evolved over time. But this is not a satisfactory resolution. For, as I will argue, the most problematic tension occurs within one of Locke's most mature texts, the Second Treatise. There, Locke often characterizes the right of resistance in terms of making a so-called "Appeal to Heaven," which essentially means to consult one's conscience in the absence of any other "judge on earth" to resolve the conflict. However, the figure he uses as a model of "Appealing to Heaven" raises alarm. This is the Biblical figure Jephthah, whose crime against natural law through the murder of his daughter makes him a suspicious representative for "conscience."I will argue that Locke's inclusion of Jephthah signals the persistence of significant unresolved tensions in Locke's theory of conscience.

Electronic reproduction.
Ann Arbor, Mich. :
ProQuest,
2024

Mode of access: World Wide Web

ISBN: 9798351460765Subjects--Topical Terms:

559771
Philosophy.
Subjects--Index Terms:

ConscienceIndex Terms--Genre/Form:

554714
Electronic books.

Appealing to Heaven : = Conscience, Authority, and Moral Knowledge in the Political Philosophy of John Locke.
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520 $a This dissertation investigates the concept of conscience, and its status in the philosophy of John Locke. I am particularly interested in conscience's role in Locke's political philosophy, where it has an important function in his resistance theory. But my research in Lockean conscience also takes me outside of the realm of his political thought, drawing from Locke's texts in epistemology and moral psychology, as well as his work on religious toleration.It is difficult, and perhaps impossible, to articulate a unified, "Lockean," concept of conscience. Whether we focus on conscience's status within just one of these perspectives, or compare the perspectives to each other, significant inconsistencies emerge.In his early epistemological treatment of conscience, Locke depicts conscience as a "witness" to the natural law; an expression of our "rational apprehension of what is right." But in his later epistemology, conscience becomes nothing but a highly subjective, self-interested "opinion."An equally dramatic (though inverted) trajectory is detected in Locke's works on toleration. The early works characterize conscience as a dangerous threat to political stability, arguing for the necessity of "Imposition." But in the later works, Locke embraces the cause of religious toleration, and even goes so far as to characterize freedom of conscience as a "Natural Right."It is tempting to resolve these inconsistencies by hypothesizing that Locke's understanding of conscience evolved over time. But this is not a satisfactory resolution. For, as I will argue, the most problematic tension occurs within one of Locke's most mature texts, the Second Treatise. There, Locke often characterizes the right of resistance in terms of making a so-called "Appeal to Heaven," which essentially means to consult one's conscience in the absence of any other "judge on earth" to resolve the conflict. However, the figure he uses as a model of "Appealing to Heaven" raises alarm. This is the Biblical figure Jephthah, whose crime against natural law through the murder of his daughter makes him a suspicious representative for "conscience."I will argue that Locke's inclusion of Jephthah signals the persistence of significant unresolved tensions in Locke's theory of conscience.
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