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Monographs on the functions and implications of emotions are legion in psychoanalytic literature. Horney, as well as other psychoanalytic pioneers, have engendered much thought by their analytic evaluation of neurotic and healthy facets of such feelings as love, ambition, hate, pride, etc. Ego psychology has also contributed greatly to the understanding of function and interaction of emotions.
By examining conscience and guilt, Dr. Knight has ventured not only into the examination of another group of emotions, but he has also tried to understand these emotions as a means to mediate “between man's impulsive life and the requirements of civilization.” By applying psychoanalytic insights to sociological concepts he attempts to enlarge the image of man “as a creature in search of meaning with spiritual insights and purposive control.”
In doing so, Knight has applied psychological thought to philosophical and religious scientific research. He has tried to link his studies to youths’ search for meaning and self, and thereby he has found ample reasons to undertake the difficult study of conscience and guilt. Of these concepts, conscience is treated with much greater intensity (six out of eight chapters) than guilt (one chapter only). Definitions and historical data are given in great detail and Dr. Knight's own existential approach is well expressed: “I believe that there are dimensions of conscience which extend beyond mere socialization. If rules are exclusively related to the workings of coercion, then the existence of the social order is truly a paradox. It seems absurd to assume that the real or genuine person is one stripped of social inhibitions. The character of man is not revealed better when he acts lawlessly than when he submits himself to discipline. It is part of human nature itself to take measures to control and direct its own tendencies.”
An interesting consequence of such a definition becomes the evaluation of the ability to act according to conscience. The p