Conscience

Question 1

Which philosophers are associated with the conscience?

Answer 1

• Lawrence Kohlberg
• Sigmund Freud
• St Thomas Aquinas

Question 2

Who is Lawrence Kohlberg?

Answer 2

An American psychologist best known for his theory of stages of moral development

Question 3

According to Kohlberg, what is the conscience shaped by?

Answer 3

A person’s cognitive and moral development which is influenced by various social and cultural factors

Question 4

What did Kohlberg believe that individuals progress through?

Answer 4

Stages of moral reasoning and that the development of the conscience is an ongoing process that continues throughout a person’s life

Question 5

What are the stages of moral reasoning (according to Kohlberg)

Answer 5

• pre-conventional
• conventional
• post-conventional

Question 6

What is the pre-conventional stage of moral reasoning?

Answer 6

Individuals are focused on their own self-interest and avoiding punishment

Question 7

What is the conventional stage of moral reasoning?

Answer 7

Individuals are focused on social norms and values

Question 8

What is the post-conventional stage of moral reasoning?

Answer 8

Individuals are focused on universal ethical principles and personal moral codes

Question 9

What is a way in which Kohlberg illustrates the development of the conscience?

Answer 9

The Heinz dilemma

Question 10

What is the Heinz dilemma?

Answer 10

A story about an ethical dilemma faced by a character named Heinz that was used by Kohlberg to assess the moral reasoning skills of those he asked to respond to it - Heinz must decide whether to steal an expensive drug to save his dying wife

Question 11

What is a critique of Lawrence Kohlberg’s view of the conscience?

Answer 11

Kohlberg’s theory was based on research that used only boys as subjects. In the 1980s the theory was criticised by the American psychologist Carol Gilligan for universalising patterns of moral development exhibited by boys did not take into account a woman’s way of thinking or patterns of behaviour.

Question 12

Who is Sigmund Freud?

Answer 12

An Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis

Question 13

What is Sigmund Freud’s view on the conscience?

Answer 13

Sigmund Freud rejects conscience as being God-given or even developed through social interaction but rather is psychologically created to stop ourselves from carrying out our base desires. Freud does not believe in a soul but rather that we feel conscience through our guilt and does this by splitting up the conscience into three parts.

Question 14

What three parts does Freud split the conscience into?

Answer 14

• Id
• Ego
• Super-ego

Question 15

What is the Id?

Answer 15

The part of our mind concerned with our basic drives (such as hunger, thirst and sexual desires)

Question 16

What is the Ego?

Answer 16

The Ego tries to find a balance between the Id’s desires and the demands of the external world

Question 17

What is the Super-ego?

Answer 17

It represents our internalised sense of morality and social standards. The super-ego is often described as the conscience because it is responsible for feelings of guilt and shame when we act in ways that violate our moral standards or social norms.

Question 18

What is a critique of Sigmund Freud’s view of the conscience?

Answer 18

Freud’s argument is based on the idea that the Conscience is manufactured from experiences and conditioning. St Thomas Aquinas and Joseph Butler argue for a more God-given conscience.

Question 19

What is Aquinas’ view of the conscience?

Answer 19

Aquinas believed that the conscience is a rational judgement of right and wrong and it is given to us by God

Question 20

According to Aquinas, what is the fundamental principle of the conscience?

Answer 20

Synderesis

Question 21

What is synderesis?

Answer 21

It is an inherent awareness of the universal moral principles , such as do good and avoid evil - “synderesis is said to incite to good, and to murmur at evil” (Summa theologica)

Question 22

What did Aquinas emphasise in relation to the conscience?

Answer 22

He emphasised the importance of conscience formation and education - stating that individuals need to cultivate their conscience by learning and adhering to moral principles (such as the Ten Commandments)

Question 23

What is a critique of St Thomas Aquinas’ view of the conscience?

Answer 23

Boston Uni: “The intellectualistic analysis of conscience Aquinas provides appears to regard conscience as mechanistic and undynamic.”