Conscience tends to be defined as that feeling which may make us believe that certain actions, or failures of actions are inherently wrong. When we ignore these feelings we feel guilt or remorse. Philosophers, religious leaders, psychologists and a variety of others have tried to determine the source of it, and many arrive at different answers.

In many religions that worship the Judeo/Christian/Islamic god, conscience is a God-given facility; something we have with us from birth. It’s still up to parents to help shape a child’s conscience by teaching about what is “right and wrong.” Catholics define the age of seven as the Age of Reason, where a child has the facility to understand this difference, and knows enough about sin, so as not to commit it.

Even though consciences are God-given from many religious viewpoints, very young children seldom seem to listen to theirs. A child who wants another child’s toy may be overridden with “coveting a neighbor’s goods” and may simply take the toy. Parenting helps the child understand that we don’t just take what we want. This may take some children a few years to learn.

Many people view conscience as “the little voice,” something that makes us feel with extraordinary conviction that an action committed or not committed may be wrong. The little voice may nag, complain or make us feel harassed when we act in a way we don’t consider right. This leads quite naturally to early psychological explanation of consciences.

To psychologists like Sigmund Freud, voice within was the superego, the set of rigid moral precepts that helped to control the want and take aspects of the id. Superego is the sum of things learned early in life about right and wrong, which impose themselves on the id to allow the self or ego to function within the bounds of a particular society. A person with poor superego control is considered id-driven.

Some believe that conscience is best described as the voice of reason. This is the view of Thomas Aquinas and numerous other philosophers though they may differ on the source. Reason is God-given to Aquinas; hence consciences are God-given. However, humans have a capacity to develop reason, and don’t necessarily do; so reason remains a facility that must be exercised and developed. To act conscientiously is to act on reason-based decisions.

An interesting forward move occurs when Aquinas discusses people who have erring consciences and make faulty decisions based on faulty reasoning. He states that this may not be the person’s fault if he has not learned enough to know what is right or wrong. Such an idea might be applied to the modern sociopath, who is said to act without conscience. Perhaps the sociopath had the ability to apply reason thwarted at an early age.

This idea that conscience must be taught occurs in numerous philosophical, secular, and religious theories. Learning reason, moral code of society, or what constitutes right and wrong lead us to that “inner voice” that tells us when we’re about to make a mistake. This may be considered intuitive, especially if you’re used to hearing that voice, but it has become intuitive through a set of learned behaviors.

Conversely, if conscience is viewed as an inborn, fully developed trait, you already have an implanted moral code and truly do come into the world with a sense of morality. Whether this is considered from a religious perspective or from an anthropological and social perspective, a sense of conscience may be one of the remaining animal instincts, geared toward human survival and maintenance of societal structure. The “inborn” theory, doesn’t account well for people who seem born without consciences, the so-called “bad seeds” of society.

More and more though, such bad seeds, especially those kids who weren't abused or parented poorly, are considered ill rather than evil and seem to have missed a crucial inborn instinct — perhaps due to genetic mishap — that would give them a moral code. What is unclear is the religious perspective on “bad seed” mentality. Why would God fail to give people a conscience if such is truly delivered full and capable of immediate moral action shortly after birth?