Conscience Flashcards

1
Q

Synderesis

A

The inner principle directing a person towards good and away form evil

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2
Q

Conscientia

A

A person’s reason making moral judgements

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3
Q

Ego

A

The part of our personality that mediates between the id and the demads of social interaction

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4
Q

Id

A

The instinctive impulses that seek satisfaction in pleasure

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5
Q

Superego

A

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

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6
Q

Ratio

A
  • our God given reason

- works out what is right to do and what is practicle in given the circumstances

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7
Q

Wilkinson and wilcockson

A
  • architect designing a house - he may know what sort of house he wants to build but also needs to recognise the constraints he must work in
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8
Q

Vincible ignornace

A

Lack of knowledge for which a person is responsible

- applied reason incorectly

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9
Q

Invinsible ignorance

A

Lack of knowledge for which a person is not responsible

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10
Q

Invinsible ignorance example

A

A men sleeps with a woman who he mistakes for his wide that is not his wife (and she thinks he is her husband), they are not morally responsible

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11
Q

Freuds three aspects of personality

A

Ego, id, superego

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12
Q

Psychosexual development

A

Oedipus complex - male child pre-sexual development, child develops fixation for mother and views father as an obsticle to develop sexual desires
- child is jealous of father

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13
Q

freud’s stages

A
  • Oral - 0-1
  • anal - 1-3
  • phallic - 3-6
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14
Q

Conscience stems from reason or unconscious mind - Aquinas

A
  • a product of reason
  • God has created
  • have synderisis within us
  • use our conscientia to apply and make moral judgemets
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15
Q

Conscience stems from reason or unconscious mind - freud

A
  • not rational
  • from unconsious mind
  • super ego
  • inner sturggle is subconscious and hidden from us
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16
Q

Erich Fromm types of conscience

A
  • authoritarian conscience

- humanistic conscience

17
Q

Fromm - Authoritarian conscience

A
  • it is influenced by external authority
  • rules are internalised by person
  • disobedience causes guilt = weakens our power = makes us submissove to
  • Dominate fear of authourity - inner voice
  • eg ordinary germans feel guilty about disobeying the Nazis
18
Q

Fromm - Humanistic conscience

A
  • it assesses and evaluates our behaviour
  • our real self that leads us to reach our full potential
  • Our own inner voice reacting to how well we are functioning in life
  • a higher and more developed conscience
19
Q

Conscience is real and God given - Aquinas

A
  • its real and has been given to us by God through our ratio
  • Paul suggests that the gentiles and conscience regardless of access to the scriptures (OT)
  • (NT) Paul warns that people can damage their conscience by persistently not listening
20
Q

Conscience is real and God given - Newman

A
  • It is the voice of God
  • it is a pre-conditions - without it ther can be no such thing as morality
  • it needs to be obeyed - guilt, fear or shame
  • the conscience that we experience shows God exists
  • we know what is right and wrong through illative sense - feeling of guilt and responsibility
21
Q

Conscience and genetic predisposition

A
  • moral attitudes and thinking has evolved
  • Dawkins - humans are the sum total of their genes
  • genetic explination for morality
  • humans who cooperate with fellow creatures are more likely to pass in their ‘moral genes’
  • we seen good and moral attitudes
22
Q

Conscience as culture, environment and education - freud

A

Our upbringing plays a significant part in our moral views

23
Q

Conscience as cultural, environment and education - Piaget

A

Our moral views develop throguh at least two distinct stages:

  1. Heteronomous = Under 10s view rules as imposed by authourity figuers
  2. Autonomous = Older children understand rules as a thing that human beings make and can change/ there are social perceptions and punishments in proportion with actions
    - most adults use both
24
Q

Guilt freud

A
  • super ego warns us to ignore sexual feelings and punish the ego wuth feelings of inferiority, anxiety and guilt
  • links between God and guilt - God is a father figure, when we give was to our natural desires we feel guilt, we pass this onto our children
  • Guilt happens when we haven’t lived up to standards of authority
25
Guilt aquinas
- synderisis + ratio - we can wrongly apply these and so feel guilt - if we do not follow our conscience then we are doing somethig which our reason tells us is not good. We must always follow our conscience - if we feel guilt then we must work out if we are vinsibly or invincibly ignorat - guilt happens becuase we have failed to live upto an absolute standard of goodness
26
God - freud
- sees God as an ilusion | - there are links between God and guilt
27
God - Aquinas
- he is designer of our human nature - written in our design both synderesis and ratio - to do what is good we must fulfil our telos and live up to the absolute standard of goodness for human beings
28
Strengths of freud
- see his explinations as scientific fact - Piget finds some truth in his arguement - children do not question what is right and wrong until they developed an autonomous morality - Dawkins - dissmissed God as an objective truth - clear that parents and environment affect our moral and ethical ideas - recognises the importance of childhood and role of parents in moral development - explains why morals are so different
29
weakness of freud
- he link morality to upbringing - suggests we would have different moral views - there is no objective moral truth that we all have access to - his work can’t be falsified so it isn’t scientific - Freud only explains conscience as guilt, does not explain why some people seem driven to stand up agains authority rather than in obedience to it - ignores later life experience - does it make parents responsible for what there children do?/ what if parents are immoral - what about children from modern families eg single parents?
30
Strengths aquinas
- explains why God might give conflicting messages - if christians disagree then at least one side has wrongly applied their reason - it explains how we can change our minds on moral issues - highly influential view - supported by Catholic Church - clear set authority/guidance - supported by the bible - everyone can experience reason - included knowledge and reasoning as well as religion so everyone can apply it
31
Weaknesses Aquinas
- conscience feels more intuitive - we ‘feel’ first and then apply reason later (conscience is a gut reaction) - what is right differs even when we apply ratio as a result of social and environemntal factors - tension between the view that conscience can make mistakes and that you should always obey your conscience - some acts can never be morally blameless - assumes that good and evil are the same for everyone - what happens if you don’t believe in God
32
Conscience - augustine
- voice of God speaking to us - considered most seriously - ‘see God as your witness’ - people are able to sense right and wrong because God reveals it to us personally
33
Conscience - Joseph butler
- essential part of being human - separates us from animals - it is what we use to judge an action good or bad - automatic and authoritative - exerts itself spontaneously ‘without being consulted’ - has the final say in moral choices - God-given guide to right conduct - should always be followed - it is ‘our natural guide, the guide assigned to us by the Author of our nature’