What is it about?
How does conscience guide action in contexts of moral conflict? This article reflects on the uses of silence to command truth through a discussion of Thomas More's late letters, focusing on his conflict with King Henry VIII. It also offers a reflection on the importance of silence and conscience in the world today.
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Why is it important?
Conscience is vital to the exercise of moral action. The autonomy of conscience as a self-determined act is threatened by those who intimidate, coerce, and deny the truth to serve their own ends. When persons are pressured to make decisions and act in ways that compromise their values, ideals, and beliefs it is both their wellbeing and their rights that are imperiled. The Renaissance humanist, Thomas More, showed how silence is a powerful tool to frustrate the tyrannical actions of powerful leaders and institutions set on denying the truth and corrupting right action. What is interesting about this case is that More was for many years a close friend and confidant of the very person who would ultimately bring about his persecution and execution, King Henry VIII. It also offers an important precedent for legal debates on the integrity of conscience and the right to silence.
Perspectives
"In cases where persons are pressured to speak against their will, silence offers a powerful response. Silence is used as a tool to frustrate tyranny, to refuse acquiescence, to reject harassment, and to call attention to the malice of false accusations. Silence, in such cases, is enacted to protect the rights of others, and one's own. To enact silence is to assert one's freedom, and to preserve one's moral integrity. The right to make choices in good conscience, without fear of persecution, prosecution, or coercion, needs protection. For too many, still, the rights to silence and conscience are not protected in law, nor are they properly respected in the administration of justice."
Thomas Pooley
University of South Africa
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Thomas More's silence and the ethics of conscience, Moreana, December 2019, Edinburgh University Press,
DOI: 10.3366/more.2019.0061.
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