Conscience Flashcards
“The conscience is just the super-ego” essay
A: conscience is just the super-ego. Feelings are developed through psychosexual development. id is the primal instinct. ego responsible for knowing what the socially acceptable thing to do is. Super-ego responsible for producing feelings of guilt when the super ego is imbalanced with the the id. Strong argument as we can see that we are clearly influenced by childhood. OCD stems from childhood.
CA: infallible - Popper. Freud only used small sample sizes. Does not take into account differences between twins, for example, in a household. Would be the same to him
E: Piaget reached similar a similar conclusion to Freud - different consciences due to different upbringings. Called the state after the age of 11 autonomous reality.
A: conscience is just the super-ego as if the conscience comes from God it would mean that every single person would have the same conscience. Freud might be right as an omnibenevolent God would not tell people to do immoral acts
CA: Aquinas - conscientia is placed in everyone as made in God’s image. Knowledge of the primary precepts. Guilt tells us if we have disobeyed God. Vincible and invincible ignorance. Synderesis. Ratio. Not God commanding sinful things
E: Just cultural relativism. Fletcher would agree there is such a difference between societies and cultures. FGM. Highlights how conscience is the super ego as Freud takes social norms into account
Aquinas’ view on the conscience
Aquinas:
- God gave us the ability to reason (ratio) as we were made in the image of God.
- Conscience is the God-given ability to understand right and wrong while taking synderesis into consideration.
- After the action is done the conscience either accuses you or excuses you
- Sin to act against conscience even though it’s fallible to correct it
-HOWEVER: doesn’t take environmental and social factors into account
- should always obey?
- overly optimistic world view
Augustine’s view on the conscience
Augustine:
- Conscience is God-given, when God speaks to the individual in solitary moments.
- some of his followers argue that the conscience is more important than the teachings of the church. E.G Martin Luther - conscience wouldn’t accept his teachings
- Thinks everyone has the same conscience
- HOWEVER: in court the voice of God turned Peter Sutcliffe as the Yorkshire ripper
- cannot be questioned, is the voice within
- can go against teachings of the church
- God contradicts himself?
Freud’s view on the conscience
- Boys have deep sexual desires to replace their fathers to have possession of their mother
- The conscience is psychologically created in order to stop ourselves from carrying out out basic desires
- our super-ego observes the ego and judges it when you have committed wrongdoing - is the source of guilt
- HOWEVER: conscience does not suddenly come into existence at 5-6 years old, but moral development is a gradual process
- does not apply to all cultures. E.g. Tobriand islanders: the uncle of the kid is the authority figure
- many feminists argue that Freud is phallocentric. Karen Horney and Clara Thompson: there is no penis envy but the envy that women experience is the superior status that men have in society.
Jean Piaget
- Similar ideas to Freud’s authority figures
- heteronomous morality: 5-9 rules must be obeyed/ rules et down by a higher authority
- Autonomous authority: 10+ personal code of conduct develops based on social perceptions
- adults use a mixture of the two
Dawkins’ view on conscience
- We have evolved an intuitive sense of right and wrong - lust to be nice
- no reciprocal altruism = a misfiring of our selfish genes
- we transcend the the survival battle through conscience and moral sense
“To what extent should the conscience be regarded as a reliable guide in decision making“ essay
A: Not fully reliable as is influenced by what is around you. Authority figures. Oedipus complex. Not reliable s if he thinks the conscience is just the super-ego not reliable. It is just fear of punishment.
CA: However conscience does not suddenly come at 5-6 years old A Christian view e.g Butler: the ultimate decision make. Makes us act wards happiness of others. God given. Have to do what conscience says
E: bad argument as not reliable, people do bad things with the excuse that their conscience told them to. E.g. Yorkshire ripper
A: Fromm not reliable as based on authority. Conscience was derived from fear of displeasing authority. - leads to blind rigid thinking. Nazi’s neuremburg trial. Humanitarian conscience our own authority figure. Therefore not always reliable
CA: Aquinas reliable, we are what cause moral disagreement. We all have synderesis and conscentia. Conscience wants to follow precepts but our reason is what ruins it. The conscience itself is reliable. We just persue apparent goods. Must follow to develop conscience
E: If we accept the notion that conscience can be informed and change over time, we must also accept the counter-notion that conscience can be misinformed and stunted by lack of proper education. In this sense the conscience would still be present in a person but would not act as a reliable guide to ethical decision making.
