The Ethical Interpretation of Hegel's “Real Conscience” from the Perspective of Law and Philosophy

In the system of Hegel's law and philosophy, conscience has the essential difference between "formal conscience" and "real conscience" in the moral and ethical stages. In the moral stage, "formal conscience" is the pure and abstract subjective self-confidence of the individual. The self-consciousness can easily turn the conscience to the point of being evil in the absence of absolute reflection. While in the ethical stage, "real conscience" is a kind of ethical design and value pursuit for good, which stipulates the corresponding objective action standard and obligations of the moral subject. So, it can avoid the possibility of conscience moving toward evil. When "real conscience" truly has an ethical character, the good and freedom of self-reliance will be realized, and the realistic ethical spirit and will be manifested by objective and universal ethical entities such as the family, the civil society and the country. It truly achieves the value transcendence of ethics to moral.