Chpt 1. The Picture of Dorian Gray

Thoughts on Morality.

"Conscience and cowardice are really the same things. Conscience is the trade-name of the firm."

Lord Harry told Hallward.

Here's one thing I like about Oscar Wilde is that the wit and wisdom in his words are not just trying to draw attention from others, rather, they have a much deeper meaning lies underneath the alliteration used here.

What is conscience? I'll have to admit that it is an abstraction for me despite the fact that  I learned this word years ago. Thus, I went online and looked up for it, "impelling one toward right action by the complex of ethic".  The definition is clear. As much as the vagueness this word has implied, it is surprisingly straightforward that conscience is a positive connotation, meaning the motivation behind people's tendencies for doing righteous things.

For a minute I was wondering the relation between cowardice and conscience since cowardice means the lack of courage to face danger and difficulties. Why on earth is one's behave of doing ethical things considered a way of circumventing unpleasant things/events in life?

The first thing comes to my mind is Daoism, in which it makes allegation that every one is born to be evil because of their desire for necessities such as food, water, etc. Then, another interesting theory comes up: Thomas Hobbes' "psychological egoism". In his theory, he believes that all human actions are in fact motivated by consideration of self-interest as opposed to the definition of conscience which is mentioned previously. Government absolutism is what Hobbes convinced our current social structure is. Maintain order and harmony is the pursuit as well as goal of such form of government.

Yet people don't realize that they are disobeying their nature, which tells them to follow the instincts and desires and be a hedonist. Immorality. Indulgence. Evil. They run in our veins and originate from years ago when Adam first eats the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

However, all of us are caught up in the system where collectivism is the only way of reaching the ultimate harmony in terms of human race. Therefore, from a small and personal perspective, deep in our nature our Id gives command that we should follow our desire 100% whereas our conscience tells us that we should follow the government and the rules so that it guaranteed that we, as a species, would be prosperous for as long as we could be.