Individuality In Sophocles Antigone

It is a common knowledge that there are more than seven billion people in the world, therefore each person is unique in his own way. In fact, this distinction indicates a greater value to every individual life, protecting each human from becoming a simply extra number in the list. Such kind of individuality provides humanity with a specific purpose and allows to make choices which basically define it. Actually, as humans, people distinguish themselves by who they truly are and not what they are. Society has been trained to act in a right way if faced a moral dilemma or any type of ethical situation. In general, the intentions of humanity are good. However, there is still a high level of crime, wars and terrible events happening on the regular

This notion has existed and formed since the times of the origin of the Christian Church. Even though it was not explicitly related to the Gospels, the term conscience was named twenty-five times in the letters of St. Paul in a number of different senses. An instance which represents the concept of conscience can be seen in the Old Testament, specifically, "I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go, my heart does not reproach any of my days" (Job 27:6). What is more, the heroine in Sophocles’ "Antigone" challenges the order of her King in favor of higher allegiance to an "unwritten law" (Sophocles., Gibbons and Segal). Thus, in fact, a history full of before-mentioned examples of opposition between the civil obedience and internal moral truth. Writers of the earlier and later Middle Ages connected conscience with the power to distinguish good from evil and identified it as "synderesis". St. Augustine viewed conscience as an innate ability that exhibits the moral law of God, thus, God-given. Augustine believed the capacity of reason to be considerably larger that it truly is. In accordance with Aristotle, the reason is innate and universal and, in turn, requires to be implemented in order to come to a recognition of right and

If situate conscience into the consideration of natural law, it can be defined as the God 's instrument as a part of the Divine ordination in order to persistently urge the human to be what he designed him to be. Conscience leads human 's free will. Therefore, it can be stated that human remains aimless in the universe without the guide of conscience. There exist a number of various definitions of the notion of natural law. Commonly, natural law is associated with the "laws of nature", indicating the order which naturally directs the changes and alterations of the material and physical universe. Even though the concept of "laws of nature" is quite near, its complete ethical purpose is a course for God 's rule in every essence of human nature. In accordance with St. Thomas definition, the natural law is "nothing else that the rational creature’s participation in the Eternal Law" ("SUMMA THEOLOGIAE: The Various Kinds Of Law (Prima Secundae Partis, Q. 91)"). However, it is vital to mention that the natural law is not "necessary" to follow by men. Humans are not as irrational beings who are obliged to follow the natural law. That means that though it should be followed, one is able to choose to not to follow it. A deep knowledge of conscience and natural law is an integral part of any authentic Catholic witness. In particular, Saint Paul presented one of the first connections of natural law and conscience in Christianity ("Conscience And Natural Law: What The Church Really