cons - 2. ‘Aquinas is more convincing than freud on: b.The process of moral decision-making’. Discuss Flashcards
1
Q
intro
A
- Aquinas is more successful with the use of synderesis and conscientia than freud and the super-ego
2
Q
paragraph 1
A
- Synderesis and conscientia definitions
- Both S and C joined together forms our conscience and helps us to decide on moral decisions
- SUCCESSFUL – explains why there is moral disagreements
- Newman – God given – hard to say why we disagree
- BUT individuality of decision making means that we make our own different moral decisions
- Also explains the change of view over time – always developing and using our synderesis more and understanding it and same with conscientia
3
Q
paragraph 2
A
- ON THE OTHER HAND – Freud uses the super-ego – parental figure and authority gives us a set of moral controls
- SUCCESSFUL - does explain the differences that we see in morals between people still not as successful
- Also uses a psychological explanation as to our conscience and the morals that we develop whereas Aquinas is more based of natural law theories - so more empirical evidence and more scientific
4
Q
paragraph 3
A
- NOT SUCCESSFUL – Popper – he is pseudo-scientific as you can’t say if it is true or false as his ideas are based in the unconscious
- BECAUSE – Froome -many stand up to authority and challenge it and others have fear over it – not fully successful when considering Freuds ‘father figure’ concept
- ALSO – generalises his ideas based off a small number
- WHEREAS AQUINAS – used reason and rationality – improvement to other theological views, not as heavily reliant on God (Newman) – it is a human/ personal thing
- Explains what we see with development of moral decisions on a more understandable and personal level (reason)
5
Q
conclusion
A
- Aquinas is more successful
- Freuds science and use of unconscious makes it hard to understand and also see when considering people – very controversial views
