Conscience Flashcards
What is Aquinas’ theory regarding Conscience?
- God gave us reason (ratio)
- Ratio tells us the synderesis rule (“do good and avoid evil”) and the primary precepts.
- Our reason also has the power of conscientia, applying the synderesis rule and precepts to situations.
- Our conscience is therefore the synderesis and conscientia together.
- Our reason distinguishes between good and bad, and causes us to feel guilty if we do bad.
What is the difference between vincible and invincible ignorance?
Vincible ignorance: ignorance that could have been prevented.
Invincible ignorance: ignorance out of our control/couldn’t be prevented.
What’s the weakness of Aquinas’ approach to Conscience?
He is too optimistic about human nature and expects humans to have an orientation towards goodness. This contradicts evil acts, like the Holocaust.
Skinner argues that psychological arguments about conscience are more effective because our moral views result from social conditioning.
Barth would say that it is wrong to base a theory on reason because human reason has been damaged by the Fall.
How could one defend Aquinas’ approach to Conscience?
Aquinas isn’t saying that humans will do more good than bad though, nor that humans will never do horrendously terrible things.
Aquinas thinks we are corrupted by original sin and he even thinks entire cultures can be corrupt. That’s probably how he would explain Nazism.
It’s possible for us to have an orientation towards the good and yet completely fail to act on it. So the fact that humans do terrible things does not counter Aquinas’ theory.
What does Freud claim Conscience is?
What we call ‘conscience’ is really just the result of the way we are raised to control our animalistic instincts.
What are the three parts of the mind according to Freud?
The Id - unconscious instincts
The Ego - our conscious self-aware decision-making self
The Super-Ego - an embodiment of the social rules conditioned into us by authority figures as a child.
Conscience is just an interaction between these three parts of the mind.
What are the five stages of psycho-sexual development according to Freud?
Oral Stage: Babies interacting with the world by putting things in their mouth.
Anal Stage: Children must control going to the toilet - they can control too much or too little.
Phallic Stage: Oedipus/Electra complex develops.
Latency Stages: Puberty, gender roles learned, sexual desires develop and is learned to be controlled.
Mature Genital Stage: Repressed sexual desire results in desire for love and family. Ego is fully formed to keep down the Id with reference to the Super-Ego.
What are some criticisms towards Freud’s approach to Conscience?
Freud was arguably not a real scientist; his studies were done on small sample sizes who were not a good cross-section of society.
Popper said Freud’s theories were unfalsifiable and therefore invalid - they couldn’t be tested.
How does Piaget support Freud’s approach to Conscience?
He was a real scientist, and argued that development of conscience can be seen in children.
Before the age of 11, he says that children have heteronomous morality. If they run into the road, and their parents shout at them to come back, they will learn not to do that again, but not because they understand that running in the road causes injury or death. It’s because they associate it with the loud scary noise of their parents yelling.
After 11, children develop autonomous morality, so they can start to consider why something should be avoided and have cognitive beliefs about how one ought to act.
What is the issue of cross-cultural moral disagreement and how does it criticise Aquinas and prove Freud’s views on Conscience?
If Aquinas’ primary precepts were really bestowed upon everyone, how come so many cultures disagree on moral codes? Cultures cannot decide what is universally right and wrong.
This implies Freud’s approach is more acceptable as our morality is shaped by our upbringing, not some divine law that is ingrained in all of us.
How could the issue of cross-cultural moral disagreement be dismissed?
There is still a set of core moral values that all cultures hold in common. No culture allows killing or stealing for no reason, and education and reproduction is valued in all cultures too. This suggests Aquinas’ theory of primary precepts remains applicable.
How could the dismissal of cross-cultural disagreement be challenged?
Cross-cultural similarities are necessary, practical requirements for a society to exist and not fall apart. This is a simpler explanation than everyone having primary precepts ingrained into them, so Freud’s theory seems more logical.
How does Fromm present an alternative explanation for Conscience?
He partially agrees with Freud but says each of us has two consciences.
1.) The Authoritarian Conscience. Begins with fear of authority. We fear and obey society’s rules even when it is absent, and it can give us a sense of security and safety. However, sometimes fear of punishment overrides all emotion, like with Nazis.
2.) The Humanistic Conscience. It is our own inner voice, reacting to what we are doing in our lives. Self-awareness. Fromm sees this as a more developed conscience but it is almost always drowned out by the authoritarian conscience.
How does Aquinas and Freud see guilt as a product of Conscience?
Aquinas: Not really interested in psychological issues of guilt and responsibility. Guilt is a byproduct of acting against conscience. Guilt is logical if we have reasoned but acted against reason.
Freud: Conscience is guilt but not objective guilt. We might overcome guilt as it is an irrational phenomenon.
How do Aquinas and Freud see God within their ideas of Conscience?
Aquinas: Sees our conscience as God-given. God and religion brings human completeness and following divine law helps us become better people. God created the tool of conscience.
Freud: God is an “obsessional neurosis”, a human invention designed for comfort. It prevents us from becoming whole. However, the superego could be part of a God-given conscience, or religious authority.
