Review article

CONSCIENCE: PHILOSOPHICAL AND LEGAL REVIEW

Laura Vilić orcid.org/0000-0003-3707-7792 ; PhD student, J. J. Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Law Osijek

Abstract

In the contemporary, modern (democratic) world, conscience is becoming a construct that increasingly finds its place in the legal field. Although it is part of a person's intelligence, spirituality, and inner self, conscience is today an indispensable part of the law and the legal system, and it finds its place in the most important international documents (and domestic ones) and thus comes to the fore "outside" as well. As a result, this right is recognized as a kind of "counter right", i.e., a right of a person to appeal to his/her conscience - in a conscientious objection. Accordingly, the paper raises the following questions: What is conscience? Which legal standards value conscience? What problems arise from the said right? This paper tries to answer these research questions through philosophical, ethical, and legal discourse, but also to gradually show how from the aforementioned right - the right to conscience - we arrive at a conscientious objection as the last instance of human autonomy, that is, free decision-making in accordance with one's own conscience.

Keywords

law; ethics; legal standards; conscience; conscientious objection

Hrčak ID:

306201

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/306201

Publication date:

17.7.2023.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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