CONSCIENCE AND SUPEREGO 425 



right and wrong. These norms could, moreover, be so restrictive 

 that they would prevent or inhibit normal growth to moral and 

 emotional maturity. They could operate practically uncon- 

 sciously in virtue of their early and unquestioned acceptance; 

 they constitute the way to do things, the way things have 

 always been done, and the factor of unconscious influence could 

 be increased if the norms themselves form parts of painful 

 emotional complexes. These norms can become involved with 

 elements of self-love, of self-deprecation, of childish dependence 

 on others, of aggressive or spiteful attitudes. Their character 

 can invade and color all the moral and religious life of an 

 individual, and, no doubt, of a society too. 



That moral codes are formed simply and universally as the 

 result of the repression and resolution of some sexually oriented 

 instinctual complex directed towards the parents is an unwar- 

 ranted generalization, however useful the concept might be in 

 understanding particular cases of abnormal mental develop- 

 ment. That a moral norm is nothing but an engulfed parental 

 image, unsusceptible of real growth and qualitative develop- 

 ment is also untenable, along with its corollary, that there is 

 no objective validity to moral, social and religious standards. 



But leaving aside these exaggerations, it must be admitted 

 that the concept of the superego has deepened our insight into 

 the actual workings of the human psychism, and has proved its 

 value in the solution of some difficult psychological problems. 



II. The Notion of Conscience 



Our purpose now, however, is to try to apply some of the 

 conclusions taken from the study of the superego to the 

 traditional understanding of the notion of conscience among 

 moralists. Before making this application, how^ever, some am- 

 biguities in the use of the word ' conscience ' should be cleared 

 up. In its strictest sense, the term ' conscience ' is used to 

 designate an act of the practical intellect, expressing the moral 

 quality of some concrete action either to be done or already 

 done. It is an act of conscious knowledge, and a comparative 



