Conscience Flashcards
Newman
Newman saw conscience as an immediate inner voice and is effectively God speaking to us directly
Aquinas’ view
Aquinas does not view conscience as the ‘voice of God’, but rather a combination of the natural human desire to do what is right, and
reason (both of which are created by God).
Synderesis
This is the natural inclination to do good and avoid evil.
• This is part of God’s design for human nature.
Ratio
Ratio is reason.
Conscientia
This is the intellectual process of combining our inclination to do right with our practical reason in order to reach a decision
• Aquinas recognises that it is possible to make mistakes when we desire to do the right thing, but our reason (ratio) is faulty. We
might be mistaken about the facts of the case, or we might be pressured into making a hasty decision for example.
Vincible and invincible ignorance
When we make mistakes when our intention was good but we were wrongly informed, then these are not ‘sins’.
• There are many forms of invincible ignorance: a child who is too young to know right from wrong; a friend who buys a plane
ticket as a gift, and then the plane crashes, is not blameworthy (even if he feels guilty).
• When we are not properly informed because we fail to use our common sense, or fail to acquaint ourselves with the facts then
we are vincibly ignorant. If a drunken man crashes his car into a minibus then we cannot claim that he is innocent, because he
knows that drinking and driving is both unwise and against the law. Even is he is a foreign visitor he cannot claim that he didn’t
know the laws of our country because he is capable of finding them out.
Strengths of Aquinas’ view
It explains why God might give conflicting messages
(which is possible if we subscribe to Newman’s view – eg
why would God tell some Christians to condemn
homosexuality, and others that gay marriage is good ?)).
If Christians disagree then Aquinas’ view suggests that at
least one side has wrongly applied their reasoned
Weaknesses of Aquinas’ view
Conscience feels more intuitive than Aquinas suggests. We very often ‘feel’
first then apply reason later. People are more likely to think of conscience
as the gut reaction we have when we feel that something is wrong.
Freud’s view
The id consists of our desires and drives. This part of the mind is self centred and pleasure seeking. A fundamental part of the id
is our libido (sex drive). It is evident in young children fascinated by their sexual organs, there is then a period of latency, and it
re-emerges at puberty.
• The ego is the rational self, which is more organised and realistic. It mediates between the id and the need for social interaction.
• The superego is the internalised voice of authority figures such as parents, teachers, priests. When our libido re-emerges at
puberty it is accompanied by the superego – the internalised, subconscious voices of our parents warning us to ignore sexual
feelings. The superego also punishes the ego with feelings of inferiority, anxiety and guilt.
• Freud was an atheist, but he recognised the link between God and guilt
Strengths of Freud’s view
Freud sees his explanation of conscience as scientific fact.
Other psychologists such as Piaget recognise some truth
is his argument – for example, Piaget recognises a
heteronomous stage of morality where children were
‘good’ only because they had been told what was right
and wrong. They did not question this until they
developed an autonomous morality later in life.
Weaknesses of Freud’s view
Freud’s view necessarily links our morality to our upbringing, but this would
suggest that we would all have very different moral views; in fact what is
‘right’ often seems to be shared across all cultures and backgrounds. This
suggests that there is perhaps an objective moral truth to which we all have
access.