intro
a moral faculty or feeling prompting us to see that certain actions are right or wrong.
- Decision making has an ethical component to it
- Human nature has quality of self-reflection, can regret decisions, wish we had acted differently
bible
- OT has no word
- Paul Romans 2:15, requirements of law are written on their hearts. Paul viewed it as universal knowledge of gods law. can be corrupted but saved through JC love
newman
- innate sense of right/wrong
- cosicnece is gods voice
- guilty = standing before divine
- guided by RCC teaching. toast pope but conscience first
criticism of Newman
- where do we place scripture?
- palmer, supports polytheism. don’t know if it is gods voice or demon
- anscombe, things do vile things in name of conscience
butler
faculty of reflection
separates humans from other beings
selfish, but can harmonise with altruism
criminals have no conscience
link between god nature and morality. struggle between conscience and passion. must live disciplined life
+divine command theory
plato
tripartite
4th part is syneresis
innate faculty
most people other than philosophers are ignorant of good
augustine
gods voice reason, intellect and mind are one fall, look to scripture realise inadequacy when god is revealed in solitary moments voice cannot be questioned
following conscience bridged epistemic distance, willing to confess
aquinas - ratio
god given, imago Dei
marks us apart from other creatures
syneresis
syneresis - naturally inclined to seek good. aided by ratio
- use syneresis to rationally know 5 pp
can be wrong because of vincible ignorance
apparent goods
conscientia
derive 2nd p and apply them end decision is conscientia process from syndereiss to consicentia evolves prudence conscience is a verb
prudence
- result of balancing our needs against others
- virtue of right reasoning, telos
- should not feel guilty for everything
- understanding, judgement and good deliberation
ignorance
vincible - morally responsible. punishment is harsher
guilt is lessened if due to laziness and increased if deliberately ignorant (affected)
must educate using scripture, PP
invincible ignorance
e. g. bombing of dresden
e. g. sleeping with twin sister
analysis of aquinas
+ fletcher
+aristotle, voluntary and involuntary decisions
+ kant, conscience is practical reason
- butler, ignorance is avoided by listening to god
- newman, ignorance is false conscience
- plato, ignorance is always wrong
- Foucault, conscience is not positive, it condemns
- Dawkins,e evolution
freud
conscience is part of unconscious mind, all about guilt, sex is driving force
influenced by oedipus and primal horde
id - unconscious. biological force. pleasure principle
ego - mediates. connected with conscious. rules by reality principle, sense and reason
super ego - unconscious. upbringing. internalises anger. parent figure - father. ruled by guilt.
psychosexual stages, driven by libido
- phallic. attraction for mother, guilt, castration
- genital. sexual conflict. checked by social coercion
developments of freud
general: mature vs immature
fromm
- freud is mysognyistic
- dont have free will, reduced to obedience
- authoritatrian vs. humanistic
feuerbach
piaget
heteronomous morality, immature
autonomous morality, reason for ourselves
trivers, evolutionary psychology
negatives of freud
fromm, too mysonyistc
jung, religion can be liberating
gula, difference between moral conscience and self concerned super ego
popper, cannot be falsified
hick, shows how experience of nature reveals god
