Conscience

Question 1

What does ‘synderesis’ refer to?

Answer 1

The inner principle directing a person towards good and way from evil.

Question 2

What does ‘conscientia’ refer to?

Answer 2

A persons reason making moral judgements.

Question 3

What is Aquinas’ view of the conscience?

Answer 3

The conscience is not a feeling or an inner voice bug is rather the process of reasoning. It is the rational ability to understand the difference between right and wrong.

Question 4

What is Aquinas’ argument of reason and God?

Answer 4

He believed that our ability to reason is given to us by God as a result of being created in the image of God. It then becomes our responsibility to use our God-given reasoning correctly. We do this by developing an intellectual virtue of prudence or ‘phronesis’, the ability to make judgements based on the circumstances we find ourselves in.

Question 5

What does Aquinas argue the synderesis is?

Answer 5

Synderesis is our natural inclination that we seek to ‘do good and avoid evil’. It involves our awareness of what the moral rules are. Synderesis is not a one-off act, but a habit of reasoning that we develop with practice so that we will come to understand and be able to apply the moral rules.

Question 6

To Aquinas, what are our responsibilities?

Answer 6

To educate our conscience and become better at reasoning and thinking through moral rules and to develop our conscience through the repeated use of right reason.

Question 7

To Aquinas, what is ‘conscientia’?

Answer 7

The practical out working if synderesis. It is the intellectual process of making actual moral judgements and applying them to the situations we face. Conscience is something that is an act. As Joseph Fletcher would later argue, conscience is a very, not a noun, this is certainly true of Aquinas’ understanding of conscientia.

Question 8

What does Aquinas state in ‘Summa Theologica’?

Answer 8

‘It is therefore clear that ‘synderesis’ is not a power, but a natural habit.”

Question 9

What is stated by Aquinas in ‘Summa Theologica’?

Answer 9

“Conscience is not a power, but an act. For conscience, according to the very nature of the word, implies the relation of knowledge to something, knowledge applied to an individual case.”

Question 10

What does ‘phronesis’ refer to?

Answer 10

A practical wisdom, particularly in relation to moral decisions.

Question 11

What is ‘vincible ignorance’?

Answer 11

A lack of knowledge for which a person is responsible.

Question 12

What is ‘invisible ignorance’?

Answer 12

A lack of knowledge for which a person is not responsible.

Question 13

How does Aquinas explain conscience can make mistakes?

Answer 13

It may be that we do not properly develop or educate our conscience yet we may also have difficulties in the ‘conscientia’, the actual application of our moral rules.

Question 14

According to Aquinas, how is our conscience developed?

Answer 14

We develop our conscience as we gain more experience of reasoning and applying moral rules, hopefully we develop our phronesis so that we make fewer errors. In terms of the errors that we make, Aquinas categorises them as showing either vincible ignorance or invincible ignorance.

Question 15

What is the ‘authority of conscience’?

Answer 15

Whether our conscience is right or wrong, it is effectively all we have in the moment of decision, so Aquinas argues that we are obliged to follow our conscience. It carries authority even on the occasions that it is wrong,

Question 16

What was J.H. Newman’s view of the conscience?

Answer 16

Newman’s view of the conscience is more of an immediate inner voice rather than our own reasoning. Conscience is effectively God’s voice speaking to us directly. It is authoritative and we ought to obey it. We experience guilt and shame when we disobey it.

Question 17

What does Sigmund Freud reject?

Answer 17

Rejects the idea of God and the soul. The mind is like a machine and psychology is the process of scientifically studying and unpacking the layers of this complicated machine. For Feud the mind has three layers.

Question 18

What is Freud’s ‘ego’?

Answer 18

Our conscious self that mediates between the id and the demands of social interaction.

Question 19

What is Freud’s ‘Id’?

Answer 19

The instinctive impulses that seek satisfaction and pleasure.

Question 20

What is Freud’s ‘superego’?

Answer 20

The internalised ideals from parents and society that try to make the ego behave morally.

Question 21

What does Freud argue the conscience is?

Answer 21

Conscience is superego and can be explained psychologically. It is formed by society, particularly parents. It is a reaction to all the demands that are placed upon a person that they cannot live up to. We start to internalise the voice of our parents but this continues with every interaction with authority figures. The superego retains ‘the character of the father’ but as we get older other masters and authority figures are also significant.

Question 22

According to Freud, what is psychosexual development?

Answer 22

All psychological problems are caused by sexuality, specifically early childhood awareness of libido. Freud argues that one further source of guilt is the Oedipus complex.

Question 23

What is Aquinas’ argument of the conscience dependent on?

Answer 23

A view of the conscience that is dependent on reason. It does not see conscience as the product of the unconscious mind. He believes that conscience is a real thing that is given by God.

Question 24

Why is Aquinas argument of the conscience an improvement to other theological views?

Answer 24

The conscience is rational rather than intuitive. This can be seen as an improvement in other theological views as this requires reasoning rather than relying in ‘guilt instinct’.

Question 25

Why does Aquinas’ argument if moral disagreement successful?

Answer 25

It explains moral disagreement, which is a difficulty for those who believe God directly speaks through conscience. Surely if God had communicated, we would all agree on what the standards are.

Question 26

What is a difficulty with Aquinas’ view of the conscience?

Answer 26

Aquinas’ view does nor fit with our experience of conscience feelings. Conscience does feel more intuitive and emotional in its promptings. We may rationalise at a later stage but the immediate experience is intuitive.

Question 27

What is Freud’s view of the conscience an umbrella term for?

Answer 27

For Freud, conscience is not dependent on reason. It is not a real existing thing, but an umbrella term covering various factors such as our upbringing and psychological development.

Question 28

What is Richard Dawkins view of the conscience?

Answer 28

Richard Dawkins has given an evolutionary account of how conscience could arise based on the idea that co-operation and treating others well would be a desirable trait and that this trait would be passed over many generations.

Question 29

What does Karl Popper argue on Freud?

Answer 29

An issue with Freud’s work on the unconscious is that his ideas cannot be falsified. Popper criticised Freud’s work and says that because of this Freudian psychoanalysis is not really science at all.

Question 30

What is Aquinas’ and Freud’s concept of guilt?

Answer 30

Aquinas argues that the most important aspect of human beings is rationality so it is important to start with the process of reasoning. For Aquinas, guilt would merely be a byproduct of acting against the way your conscious directs you. For Freud, conscience is guilt but not objective guilt. It is a psychological phenomenon that we might overcome as our guilt is not necessarily logical.

Question 31

What does Freud argue the creation of God is?

Answer 31

We create the idea of God to provide comfort when faced with a dangerous world where death may strike at any moment.

Question 32

What could alternate idea of the superego be?

Answer 32

Although Freud himself rules out God, this is not a necessary part of his theory. It may be that the superego he identifies is part of our God-given personality and moral framework. For Aquinas, God may not seem necessary, yet he is the one who creates humanity and provides the tool of conscience.

Question 33

What is moral decision making, according to Aquinas?

Answer 33

Moral decision making is rational and involves decisions about what we believe God requires us to do.

Question 34

What is moral decision making to Freud?

Answer 34

Moral decision making may be a reflection on the needs of the id and the superego, but often these are unconscious instincts rather than deliberately chosen thoughts. Our moral thinking is learned and caused, it is not innate and it is not free. We cannot help these guilty feelings and where the gal between who and superego is large we can develop psychological issues.

Question 35

What is Fromm’s argument?

Answer 35

He partially agrees with Freud’s view of the conscience. He believes that each of us has two consciences, the authoritarian and the humanistic conscience. Which one of these is stronger depends on the individual and their personality.

Question 36

What is Fromm’s ‘authoritarian conscience’?

Answer 36

The conscience begins with a fear of authority. We internalise our feelings of fear so that our inner voice becomes that of the authority. We fear and obey the authority’s rules even when they are absent. A good authoritarian conscience gives us a sense of well-being and security as we trust the authority to look after us.

Question 37

What is Fromm’s argument of the ‘humanistic conscience’?

Answer 37

The humanistic conscience differs greatly from Freudian views. It is our own inner voice reacting to how well we are functioning in life. It is a reaction of ourselves to our own behaviour, almost like looking in a mirror and asking, ‘what sort of person am I?’ Fromm argues that this conscience is a higher and more developed conscience, which is drowned out by the louder authoritarian conscience.

Question 38

What does St Paul state?

Answer 38

“The law is within our hearts”.