What is special about conscientious objection?

Journal article

The deliverances of our conscience are heartfelt, but not necessarily reason-based, moral convictions that concern our own behaviour. The fact that conscientious objections to a regulation, like a prohibition or obligation, express a heartfelt conviction that it is morally wrong to comply or morally permissible not to comply with the regulation provides a moral reason to respect the conviction because failing to do so is likely to cause objectors considerable suffering. But for conscientious objections to succeed in justifying exempting objectors from complying with the regulation, the suffering caused by forcing compliance must outweigh the suffering produced by exempting them from compliance. In the case of obligations, this necessitates that others with a similar competence are available to replace them. Conscientious objectors can never justifiably demand to be granted exemptions. This takes acts of generosity made feasible by favourable circumstances, such as the availability of replacements.

Authors: Persson, I

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Wiley
• Journal: Bioethics
• Volume: 36
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 374-380
• Publication date: 2022-01-26
• Acceptance date: 2021-12-03
• DOI: 10.1111/bioe.12999
• EISSN: 1467-8519
• ISSN: 0269-9702
• Language: English
• Keywords: conscientious objection; act of generosity; suffering; conscience