Conscience Flashcards
Fromm
Jew in Nazi Germany during holocaust, sociologist
Fromm on Conscience
The Authoritarian Conscience
He believed our conscience was nothing more than the regurgitation of propaganda from our authority. It feels guilt when disobedient and reward when compliant. The Milgram exsperiment greatly summport this.
What was the Milgram Experiment
Actors shocked with electricity by volounteers who were told it was part of a memory experiment by ‘scientists’in white coats (figures in authority).
And over half of the participants in the U.S. went over the lethal dose of electricity despite protests from actors and 90% in Germany
Durkheim
Sociologist
Believed in a collective conscience that evolved out of necessity, a herd mentality almost. If you’re a criminal or go against society you are simple socially mal adjusted.
Kholberg
Psychologist
Pre Conventional
Follow parental guidance, seek reward and avoid punishment.
Conventional
Follow societal / peer influence
Post Conventional
Barely any reach this stage of moral development, it is true individual morality. Using only our unbiased internal moral compass to decide between right and wrong.
Used the hienz dilemma to test.
Would you steal for your loved one if they had cancer and needed drugs you couldn’t afford from a pharmacy?
Once you’re a thief, do you deserve to goto jail as punishment?
Freud
Psychologist
Id, instinctual animalistic drives that power most of our subconscious, seeks instant gratification.
Ego, mediator of two. It is our rational thought.
Super ego, more focused in long term goals . IT is the negative aspect of our superego that is our conscience, simply parental commands we have been conditioned to follow.
Butler
Religious conscience.
Believed that conscience was split into two conflicting parts
Love of self (egoism) / love of others ( altruism) ( benevolence)
And conscience is man’s “ principle of supreme reflection “ allowing us to mediate between the two.
Aquinas on conscience
Conscience is our God given capacity for REASON.
BUT eg with real vs apparent goods it can be mistaken so shouldn’t be our first moral guide.
Augustine and Shliermacher
Believe conscience is the voice of God speaking to us, and when we sin, we go against our true conscience. If we act immorally and blame our conscience, then we are wrong. It was our original sin, which actually influenced.
Shleirmacher said we have an “ absolute dependence “ on God. Conscience is something God does, guiding us from within.
Fletcher on conscience
Joseph Fletcher says all other views on conscienceare wrong, it is not descriptive it is a VERB. It is doing good agapeistic things that better others.
