RE: Conscience

Question 1

what did St. Augustine believe about the connscience?

Answer 1

• literally the voice of God

- God knows out actions and the choices behind them.

Question 2

what did Cardinal Newman believe about the conscience?

Answer 2

• it’s a messenger from God.

- truth detector rather than truth inventor.

Question 3

What did Joseph Butler believe about the conscience?

Answer 3

• humans are influenced by 2 principles, self-love and love for others.
• conscience gives us instant intuitive judgements about what we should/shouldn’t do.
• we should always use our conscience.

Question 4

what did Aquinas believe about the conscience?

Answer 4

• god-given inbuilt ability to recognise right from wrong.

- allows a level of human reasoning and practical wisdom

Question 5

What did Freud believe about the conscience?

Answer 5

• pre-rational function of the unconscious mind.
• human behaviour determined by 3 structures in the mind, the id, ego and superego.
• the superego punishes the id and ego with guilty feelings. therefore, conscience is just another term for guilty feelings.

Question 6

What did Piaget believe about the conscience?

Answer 6

• until age 11, children’s thoughts are shaped by authority figures, adults etc.
• after age 11, we start to think more ‘abstractly’. this is known as a more ‘autonomous morality’.

Question 7

what did Erich Fromm believe about the conscience?

Answer 7

• originally, he believed conscience to be authoritarian, derived from a fear of displeasing authority.
• similiar to Freud’s idea of guilt
• he later considered considered conscience to be humanitarian.
• human beings have free will and the capacity and drive for self-actualisation.
• we all have the ability to judge our own behaviour.

Question 8

how is Aquinas’ approach theological?

Answer 8

it states that the conscience is our GOD-GIVEN ability to quickly make decisions

Question 9

what is the ‘ratio’ part of moral reasoning according to aquinas?

Answer 9

• we’re made in the image of god and so we retain the gift of ratio (the ability to make use reason practically and reach sound conclusions). This is known as natural law.
• even non-christians still know what is good and bad because of this.

Question 10

what is the ‘synderesis’ part of moral reasoning according to aquinas?

Answer 10

• when making a moral decision, we recognise one thing as being immediately true: ‘good is to be done and evil avoided’.
• ‘synderesis’ is our inbuilt ability to recognise right from wrong.
• it’s the foundation of our moral reasoning, the conscience is the next step?

Question 11

what did aquinas believe about the ‘conscience’ stage of moral reasoning?

Answer 11

-it’s the conclusion of the process of moral reasoning.

Question 12

what is vincible and invincible ignorance?

Answer 12

VINCIBLE

• ignorance that you’re responsible for.
• made a judgement without making reasonable steps to make that judgement.

INVINCIBLE

• lack of knowledge that you can’t be held accountable for.
• people cannot be held accountable for this

Question 13

what did Joseph Fletcher believe about situation ethics and conscience?

Answer 13

• he said that other philosophers, such as Aquinas, believe that conscience is a thing, which is wrong.
• for a situationist, conscience describes the weighing of the possible decision before it’s taken.
• conscience is a term used for attempts to make decisions correctly.

Question 14

how does the conscience come from God?

Answer 14

• Augustine defined it as the literal voice of god telling us what to do.
• Newman states that the conscience is a messenger from God. said that it’s a ‘truth detector rather than a truth inventor’.
• Butler states that it’s innate and placed within us by God. if it instructs you to act in a certain way, you must follow it.
• Aquinas said that our ability to distinguish right from wrong comes from God. this is known as ‘ratio’. we also have a natural inclination to do good and avoid evil (synderesis).
• Aquinas rejects conscience as the voice of god but ultimately argues that it comes from God. conscience is the consclusion of moral decision making.

Question 15

how is the conscience not god-given?

Answer 15

• joseph fletcher said that conscience is not a thing which can be experienced intuitively. it’s just something you do when you make moral decisions.
• Freud said that the conscience is linked to the human mind as opposed to God. links to feelings of guilt caused by society, upbringing etc.
• Freud said that it’s linked to the structure of the mind. the superego is the values/morals of society. it controls the id’s impulses and can punish it with feelings of guilt.
• Piaget rejects the idea that the conscience comes from God. prior to age 11, the conscience relies on authority figures through punishment and reward. we become more autonomous following age 11 as we think more ‘abstractly’.
• erich fromm first thought that the conscience is derived from a fear of displeasing authority. this led to guilt, causing a greater submission to authority. he then believed that all human beings have the capacity for self-improvement, we can judge and evaluate our own behaviour, making us our own authority figures.