title: Conscience: the professional and the personal.
abstract: Conscience is sometimes thought of as private, personal, individual, possibly religious, and not be questionned. This paper seeks to present and make plausible an account of conscience as social, possibly secular, and fallible (and hence corrigible). In the light of this account of professional conscience is offered and conclusions are drawn about the questions that should be answered in the event of a nurse making an appeal to conscience.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D003242:Conscience; D034462:Dissent and Disputes; D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D010684:Philosophy; D011361:Professional Competence; D035621:Secularism