Plural of conscience; your inner sense of right and wrong, and your feeling of guilt when you do something bad.
From Latin 'conscientia' (knowing together with, from 'com-' with + 'scire' to know). This psychological concept was central to medieval Christian theology.
The word literally means 'knowing together with'—as if there's another part of you that *knows* what you did—and neuroscience now shows your brain literally does keep parallel tracks of your actions and your moral code!
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