Kate Brennan
Viewpoint:
1. How do guilt and conscience play a role in responsibility?
Kate Brennan: Your conscience will tell you whether something is right or wrong and then it is up to you to make a decision based off of what your consciece told you. Then, if you made a bad decision, you (being a normal person) feel guilty for it. We as people are ultimately responsible for the actions we make and if we made a bad decision, we're guilty for them too.
Sheila Nunez: Sometimes I make sure to follow through on tasks or responsibilities that I have so that I won't feel guilty for not being dependable. For example, I don't want to have to take out the trash, but I'll feel guilty if I don't and will end up getting punished by my parents.
2. How does one's conscience help to guide decision making?
Brennan: People make decisions based off of their conscience and whether something is a good or bad idea. If your conscience tells you it's a bad idea, chances are you're not going to do it. If your conscience tells you it's okay, then you'll most likely choose to do it. Our conscience basically can make or break a decision for us. I personally base my decisions off my conscience.
Nunez: I feel as though I have a really strong conscience, if I feel bad for doing something I have to repent, or if I feel guilty before doing something, I can't make myself do the act. I generally go by the rule that if I feel guilty
about something before, that I'm going to ultimately feel bad for it later, I can't make myself do the act. I generally go by the rule that if I feel guilty about something before, that I'm going to ultimately feel bad for it later.
3. In your opinion, is guilt a harmful or helpful emotion? Why or why not?
Brennan: Guilt to me can be both helpful and harmful. It can be helpful because if I do something wrong, I deserve to feel guilty for it and have that emotion following me around all day. It teaches you not to do said action again. It can be harmful though because feeling guilty is one of the worst feelings in the world. What if you feel guilty for something that you didn't even do? Or something that isn't a big deal? It's a burden that no one likes to feel.
Nunez: As uneasy as the feeling is, I think it's a helpful. It helps people to stay grounded and in touch with reality. If you feel guilty before doing something that's questionable, it helps to prevent you from doing something that you may regret in the future. If you feel guilty after doing something questionable, it can help you to repent and to ultimately feel beter with yourself. For example, if you yell at your friend and you feel guilty about it later, then you can say "sorry" and hopefully mend the friendship. Here, the guilt can not only be for your benefit, but can also serve as a healing tool for the victim.
Sheila Nunez
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Understanding the relationship between guilt & responsibility through others.