UPSC 2023 GS-IV · 10 marks · 150 words
Is conscience a more reliable guide when compared to laws, rules and regulations in the context of ethical decision making? Discuss.
What “Discuss” demands
present several distinct facets of the issue and connect them into an argument, giving the competing views real weight rather than one line each.
The characteristic failure: a list of points with no argument running through them.
What a top answer must contain
These are the checkable specifics from the marking standard for this question — the actual case, committee, datum or thinker, not an instruction to “give examples”.
- Conscience's case: reaches where law is silent (crisis of conscience), pre-legal moral compass — Gandhi's 'court of conscience' higher than all courts
- Its unreliability: subjective, socially conditioned, rationalisation-prone (Eichmann's 'clear conscience' as the canonical warning)
- Law's case: uniform, predictable, accountable; its limits — unjust laws (apartheid-era) where conscience must override
- Resolution: laws as floor, conscience as check — a civil-service example (refusing an illegal order) with the vocabulary of moral courage
The band thresholds and the pre-scored sample answers behind this standard stay private — they are the calibration your copy is placed against.
Now write it, and find out what you actually scored
Attempt this question — typed or photographed — and it is marked against the standard above in under a minute: six parameter scores, a blunt verdict, and the points you missed. 50 free credits on signup, no card.
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