I understand it’s that little voice in our head. But whenever I look it up all I find is religious reasons why we have it and what it is. I myself believe in God but I want the true scientific reason for this “conscience”
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Humans are a social species, and our own survival depends on the success of the “tribe”
This means we have evolved a lot of altruistic behaviors that serve little individual benefit but benefit the tribe as a whole.
You inherently want to help a child in distress – any child, not just yours.
Watching someone do something wrong when you can easily help is excruciating – you have an instinctive response to demonstrate the correct way to do something.
And when you have the opportunity to do something that benefits yourself but harms the tribe, you agonize over the decision. The clash between instinct to help yourself and instinct to not harm the tribe is your “conscience”
Some people still pick the harm option of course, it doesn’t always work.
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