Critically evaluate the claim that conscience is dictated by society an upbringing.

Jean Piaget first postulated the idea that conscience is not the voice of God but a result from our upbringing and what we learn. He was a developmental psychologist who studied the behaviour of children. He theorised that children go through different stages in their understanding of the world around them, and it is not until the age of 10 that young people have a fully developed sense of morality. This scientific approach is very plausible because it is based on observations, and makes predictions that can be tested. For example, you can describe two different situations to a six year old, one of which is someone lying and a minor bad consequence arising, the other is someone accidentally causing a very negative consequence. For a six year old, the latter case would ‘make mummy more cross’ because their understanding is that something is bad because it hurts or upsets people. Ask an older child, and they will accurately say that a parent would be more cross with the child who told a lie. Piaget is showing that conscience is something we learn as we grow and develop.
This theory seems to contradict Newman’s ideas. Newman was an intuitionist, believing that conscience is ‘the voice of God’. He believed that when faced with a moral decision, we get a sense of moral direction from God, which we can either listen to or ignore. Conscience is an ability to detect the right course of action. For Newman, following the conscience was more important than listening to the teachings of the Pope. In this way, we do not learn what is right or wrong from our parents or from religious leaders or scriptures. Conscience is a law that speaks to the human heart, a law written by God. Piaget’s view may seem more accurate, as it is possible to observe and validate it. However, many people do not like