Consciousness is the supreme instance in which the bourgeois subject knows and recognizes himself, examines and evaluates himself, judges and justifies himself. That instance is generally recognized and accepted without debate or doubt: it is the ultimate and authoritative source of truth on oneself, to which every other authority – be it legal, moral or divine – must submit. In bourgeois culture every individual only feels obliged to comply with the law if what it prescribes is approved by his conscience, and he feels entitled to violate these requirements if this is done "following his conscience."