Conscience Flashcards
Christians who believe that reason can help work out what is right and wrong
Clement of Alexandria, Aquinas, Martin Luther (common sense)
Christians who believe that we have innate moral knowledge
St Jerome, St Augustine, Paul,
How is the christian view of conscience compatible with a psychological one?
Aquinas’ conscienta can agree with psychology that culture shapes morality - can have social norms play a part in the application of moral obligation
what does freud refer to the conscience as
‘psychic policeman’
what is the genetic fallacy
scientific evidence does not impair the legitimacy of religious arguments
who supports a cognitivist conscience
Aquinas, Augustine, Butler
what is the hard-line thomist view
certain actions are intrinsically evil because they go against what it is to be human e.g. homosexuality
–>in this way you can never claim that conscience was calling you to act against moral rules
Daniel mills on conscience
butler’s conscience is liberal and can safely be follows because it allows us to do what is good for us and prevents harming others
Macnamara on Conscience
‘We don’t have a conscience, we are a conscience’
- modern, holistic view
- autonomous, natural
Piaget on Conscience?
Conscience is Acquired.
10+ = autonomous conscience
Before 10 you have an autonomous conscience
J.H Newman on Conscience
Conscience is the voice of God, updates the Augustinian view:
‘First I will drink to Conscience, then I will drink to the Pope’
Kant on Conscience
The conscience is a moral ‘faculty’ linked to god through the summit bonum
Augustine vs Aquinas on Conscience
- for Augustine Conscience is innate, aided by God’s grace, motivated by love of God & informed by Church
- for Aquinas what is innate is not god’s voice but the god-given faculty of reason aided by synderesis
Old Testament quote on Conscience
‘The divine law on one’s heart’
Paul on Conscience
‘God’s Law on one’s heart’
