CONSCIENCE

Question 1

Aquinas on the conscience

Answer 1

It is not the voice of God or an intuitive moral compass. It is a process.

Question 2

Aquinas quote on how the conscience works

Answer 2

“The mind of man making moral judgements”

Question 3

3 ways Aquinas describes the conscience

Answer 3

Witness - the recognition when we have/have not done something.

Inciting/binding - Whether something should be done or not.

Excuse/accuse/torment - Judgement surrounding whether something has been done well or badly.

Question 4

Synderesis (Aquinas)

Answer 4

Our natural disposition towards doing good and avoiding evil, which can never be wrong as it is implemented by God

Question 5

Aquinas quote on synderesis

Answer 5

“The requirement of the law is Witten in their hearts, used alongside the conscience”

Question 6

Conscientia (Aquinas)

Answer 6

Moves our will to act in practical ethical decisions and judgements. Making judgements about what we have done and what we are going to do - uses ratio.

Question 7

Ratio (Aquinas)

Answer 7

Given as we are made in God’s image.

A natural inclination to our proper purpose, we come to know our telos and the principles of natural law through synderesis and theoretical reasoning (intellectus)

Question 8

Synderesis, ratio and conscientia (Aquinas)

Answer 8

We use our ratio (Divine good connecting us to the divine realm) to cultivate synderesis (Doing good and avoiding evil) to produce the act of conscientia (Reason making right decisions) within the human reason.

Question 9

4 tiers of law connected to Aquinas’ conscience

Answer 9

The eternal law shows the tendency to lean towards God (synderisis), which is revealed through the divine law.

Natural law - Use of ratio to check the divine laws are aligned with observations in nature.

Human law - Use of ratio to check the divine and natural laws are aligned with human laws/rules. This uses conscientia.

Question 10

Vincible ignorance (Aquinas)

Answer 10

A lack of knowledge in which a person can be held responsible or morally culpable.

Cannot claim that the conscience justified the action.

Question 11

Invincible ignorance (Aquinas)

Answer 11

A lack of knowledge in which a person is not responsible. An individual acting to the best of their knowledge but getting it wrong.

Aquinas - God wouldn’t condemn those who act wrongly out of invincible ignorance.

Question 12

Vincible ignorance example (Aquinas)

Answer 12

Going on a long drive and getting into an accident due to falling asleep at the wheel - the driver knew they were tired before setting off.

Question 13

Invincible ignorance example (Aquinas)

Answer 13

Strangers meeting at uni and getting into a relationship, they start talking about their family history and it turns out that they are half siblings.

They have committed incest - but cannot be blames as there is no way they could have known this.

Question 14

The id (Freud)

Answer 14

Our basic instincts and desires which exist in our unconscious mind. Directs us to eros (which directs life-sustaining activities, the energy for eros comes from libidos) and Thanatos (destructive forces in humans which are expressed as anger)

Question 15

The ego (Freud)

Answer 15

Satisfies the demands of the id in a safe and socially acceptable way. Operates in both the conscious and unconscious mind.

Question 16

The super-ego (Freud)

Answer 16

Develops during early childhood, ensuring that moral standards are followed - motivating us to behave acceptably.

Question 17

Psychosexual stages of development (Freud)

Answer 17

Oral - the mouth eg sucking, swallowing. Can lead to dependencies such as smoking.

Anal - Witholding or expelling feces. Can lead to obsessiveness, meanness, untidiness.

Phallic - Masturbation. Self-obsession, envy, inferiority.

Latent - Little or no sexual motivation present.

Genital - Penis/vagina. Sex

Question 18

In which psychosexual stages of development does the ego/super-ego develop? (Freud)

Answer 18

Ego - anal
super-ego - phallic

Question 19

The Oepidus complex (Freud)

Answer 19

In the phallic stage, boys sexually desire their mothers and girls sexually desire their dad.

But boys become aware that their dad might castrate them if they find out about these feelings. Girls get penis envy, due to their frustration.

Instead, boys identify with their dad and adopt his mannerisms, similarly girls identity with their mum

Question 20

Frazer’s Primal Horde story (Freud)

Answer 20

The leader of a tribe kept all of the women to himself, and had sex with them all.

The other tribal men got frustrated so killed and ate the tribal leader so they could have sex with all the women.

This caused more issues as fights were happening over who each person was sleeping with - they realised that rules were needed regarding sex.

We all derive from these people, so we inherently have rules around sex.

Question 21

Lamarckism (Freud)

Answer 21

A theory of evolution based on the principle that physical changes in organisms over their lifetime could be transmitted to their offspring.

Question 22

Sean Caroll’s criticism of natural law (Aquinas)

Answer 22

Purpose is not built into the ‘architecture’ of the universe

Question 23

Piaget’s defence of Freud

Answer 23

The conscience is just the result of the way we raise children.
The claim that conscience is the result of conditioning/socialisation is scientifically accurate.

Question 24

Dawkins on morality

Answer 24

Our moral sense partly came from evolution – which programmed us with empathy to care about other people, reproduce, educate, etc, all of which is evolutionarily advantageous for a herd species like

Question 25

Aquinas on guilt

Answer 25

Our conscience gives us clues as to what God would deem right and wrong - if something feels wrong guilt occurs.

This tells us there is a problem with our relationship with God which can be fixed through grace.

Question 26

Freud on guilt

Answer 26

A result of an inner conflict in the mind - the struggle between what you desire and what you feel you should or shouldn’t do.

The inner turmoil of guilt causes you to do bad things.

It is not a consequence of wrongdoing but a cause of future wrongdoings.

Question 27

Strohm on Freud’s interpretation of guilt

Answer 27

He drew on Nitzche

“Conscience…cruelty which turns inwards once it is unable to discharge itself”