Conscience - the organ of meaning

The organ of meaning

For Frankl, conscience is the “organ of meaning” - the capacity to intuitively discover what is right in a given, unique situation. General values (norms, principles) cover typical situations; conscience guides us in situations that are one of a kind.

Conscience can err

Conscience is human and therefore fallible. A person has no certainty of having read the meaning correctly - and yet must decide. This is at once an expression of humility and of freedom.

Conscience and the superego

Frankl distinguished conscience from the Freudian superego. The superego consists of internalised commands of parents and society; conscience can oppose them - as in those who, under totalitarian regimes, acted against the prevailing norms.

Educating conscience

In an age when traditions are fading and the ten commandments are losing their force for many, the task of education - according to Frankl - is to sharpen conscience, so that a person can hear the “ten thousand commandments” hidden in the ten thousand situations of life.

The transcendent dimension

In “The Unconscious God” Frankl wrote that conscience points beyond the human being - it is the “voice of transcendence”.