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Ethics.2 > Conscience > Flashcards

Conscience Flashcards

1
Q

what is on the spec for conscience?

A
  • Aquinas teleological approach

- Freuds physcological approach

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2
Q

Albert einstein quote?

A

“never do anything against conscience even if the state demands it”

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3
Q

dictionary quote for conscience

A

moral sense of right and wrong felt by a person and affecting behaviour

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4
Q

what is ratio?

A

reason placed in every person as a result of being created in the image of god.

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5
Q

what is conscientia?

A

a person’s reason making moral decisons

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6
Q

what is synderesis?

A

do good avoid evil

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7
Q

“ratio” can move our knowledge from where to where?

A

knowledge of this world to knowledge of the eternal world.

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8
Q

what does “ratio” enable us to have?

A

powerful sense of rightness or wrongness of something.

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9
Q

how are conscience and ratio connected?

A

conscience is what is culturally, socially or politically “normal”
connecting with the divine
reaches beyond what is socially acceptable
“ratio” is what enables us to do this
conscience is “recta ratio”= right reason; reason making right judgments

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10
Q

how is ratio and synderesis connected?

A

we can use “ratio” to cultivate the habit of “conscience”

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11
Q

when does conscientia come about?

A

when we apply ‘ratio’ to ‘synderesis’ and we know how we ought to act.

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12
Q

what are the two parts in making moral decisions?

A

synderesis- do good avoid evil
conscientia- distinguishes between right and wrong and make the moral decision- reason actively applying the synderesis rule in concrete situations

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13
Q

conscience quote from summa theologica?

A

“conscience is an act…for conscience is said to witness, to bind, or incite, and also to accuse, torment, or rebuke”

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14
Q

what is vincible ignorance?

A

a lack of knowledge for which a person can be held responsible because they ought to have known better. the individual is responsible

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15
Q

what is invincible ignorance?

A

a lack of knowledge for which a person is not responsible because its a factual mistake for whatever reason they couldn’t have known and got it wrong. not responsible and Aquinas thought god will not condemn humans for invincible ignorance.

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16
Q

why according to aquinas can we not help invincible ignorance?

A

because he recognised that people feel deeply responsible for things they could not have foreseen.

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17
Q

what is the thomist view?

A

what cannot be accepted is the idea that a fully informed conscience can lead someone to act against what is morally right. e.g. your conscience will not tell you against the 10 commandments.

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18
Q

what will happen when we use reason excellently?

A

we will arrive at the precepts of natural law

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19
Q

what is the catholic magisterium?

A

thomist view- some actions are “intrinsically evil” because they go against what it is to be human. an informed conscience would never lead us against these absolute rules

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20
Q

what is proportionalism?

A

based on natural law. arrive at general moral rules as to what should or should not be done but there can be proportional reasons which would justify acting against these in certain situations

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21
Q

what do proportionalists say to the catholic magisterium?

A

reject it and hold the view that conscience is decisive in deciding whether a proportionate reason is present or not.

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22
Q

what approach did freud give?

A

psychological

23
Q

what is conscience according to freud?

A

product of psychological factors that influence humans in ways that may or may not be healthy.

24
Q

what theory did he develop?

A

psychosexual development, arguing that psychological development takes place in stages and each stages is associated with each part of the body.

25
Q

why was conscience psychologically created?

A

in order to stop ourselves from carrying out our basic desires which might be socially unacceptable.

26
Q

for freud the human personality consisted of three layers of self what are they?

A

Id, Ego, Super ego

27
Q

what is the Id?

A

the unconscious self, part of the mind containing basic drives and repressed memories. it is amoral, has no concerns about right and wrong and is only concerned with itself. it is intrinsic impulses that seek satisfaction in pleasure.

28
Q

what are some characteristics of the Id?

A
  • entirely unconscious part of the mind
    -central component of personality
    -driven by pleasure
    seeks immediate gratification
29
Q

what is the ego?

A

the conscious self, the part seen by the outside world. meditates between the id and the demands of social interaction.

30
Q

what are some characteristics of the ego?

A
  • puts off pleasurable activity until a time and place when it will not be viewed as inappropriate.
  • meditates the desires vs social acceptability
  • reality principle, horse (ID), rider (ego)
31
Q

what is the super ego?

A

set of moral controls given to us by the outside world. moral code in conflict with id. makes ego behave morally.

32
Q

some characteristics of the super ego.

A
  • stores all internalised moral standards
  • based on behaviourism, rewarded by an act learns good behaviour
  • stops us from breaking rules
33
Q

what is freuds theory of the mind- iceberg metaphor?

A
  • part of ego and super ego partly submerged in water representing pre conscience mind
  • Id fully submerged shows unconscious mind
  • remaining ego/superego representing conscious mind
  • bottom of unconscious is sons love of mother
34
Q

according to freud how do we know we are not discerning the moral thing to do?

A

felling guilty because of the super ego

35
Q

freud quote on super ego?

A

“it observers the ego, gives it orders, judges it and threatens it with punishment, exactly like the parents whose place it has taken.

36
Q

how does the conscience develop? through the ego?

A

ego developed by the mind as a front to interact with society. socialisation if individual= repression of natural antisocial desires

37
Q

how does the conscience develop? through the super ego?

A

feelings of disapproval of society are “internalised” to form super ego. superego restricts the instinctive behaviour of individual.

38
Q

how has the conscience developed?

A

conflicts caused by creation of super ego lead to creation of a guilty conscience. conscience develops into a powerful force, independent of reason. leads to feelings of guilt based on perceived expectations of society.

39
Q

the super ego divides into two activities. freud used parents as an example, what are the two parts?

A

EGO- good parent will reward “good” behaviour with praise.

CONSCIENCE- parent will also punish “bad behaviour”

40
Q

for freud conscious is a “construct……

A

of the mind”

41
Q

how did Augustine see conscience?

A

“innate knowledge of right conduct”

42
Q

what quote did Augustine use to describe conscience?

A

“men see the moral rules written in the book of light which is called truth from which all laws are copied”

43
Q

for Augustine how are people able to sense right and wrong? and how does gods grace come into things?

A

god reveals it to us personally, this innate knowldege of right and wrong is gods gift= grace without grace humans cannot be good.

44
Q

for Joseph Butler (JB) what is conscience?

A

an essential part of being human, like aquinas we use it to judge if an action is god or bad

45
Q

what quote did JB use to describe conscience?

A

it’s our natural guide, the guide assigned to its by the author of our nature.

46
Q

what did John Henry Newman (Johny Carrey) say about conscience?

A

“voice of the Lawgiver” - voice of God following the prompting if the conscience is following the laws of God.

47
Q

for John HN what affects do parents have on conscience?

A

god implants conscience in human beings but the parents and society place the contents of the conscience in individuals.

48
Q

what is Fromm (Frogs) point of view on conscience?

A

conscience is influenced by external authorities (parents).
rules are internalised by the person.
disobedience causes guilt= weakens our power= makes us submissive to authority
called the authoritarian conscience

49
Q

what was Frogs later idea on conscience?

A

humanistic conscience- more mature conscience, it asses and evaluates our behaviour. our real conscience leads us to personal integrity and reach our full potential.

50
Q

what is Richard Dawkins (RD) idea on conscience?

A

In The Selfish Gene =, he argues that we have an evolved intuitive sense of right and wrong, what he calls a “lust to be nice”

51
Q

what is misfiring the selfish Gene for RD?

A

we do not ape the nastiness of nature… we rise above our origins”. we transcend the battle through conscience and the moral sense. humans are basically good

52
Q

what is Kants (manni) idea on conscience?

A

“the moral faculty of judgement, passing upon judgement itself” reason allows me to know my duty but conscience helps me be sure whether it is right or wrong

53
Q

for Kant can you speak of a misinformed conscience?

A

NO, makes no sense conscience is innate; it does what it does

Ethics.2 (11 decks)

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