Conscience Flashcards
What is conscience?
Our sense of moral right and wrong
What are the four main questions about conscience?
- What is conscience?
- Where does conscience come from?
- Is conscience innate or acquired?
- What is its function in ethical decision-making?
What quote did Mark Twain write about conscience?
“I have noticed my conscience for many years, and I know it is more trouble and bother to me than anything else I started with”
What is the problem with conscience?
It lacks consistency whether between people in general, or in any particular person. If conscience is so changeable, how can it be a reliable guide?
What does Biblical teaching say about conscience?
It is assumed by some biblical writers and early Christian teachers that our conscience is God-given. Traditional Christian teaching is based on this-everyone knows what is right and wrong as God has given us this ability. It is also implied that by following their conscience, everyone can follow the divine law.
What quote does St Paul use in his letter to the Romans about conscience?
“They show that what the law required is written on their hearts.”
What did Thomas Aquinas believe conscience was?
He saw conscience as the natural ability of people to understand the difference between right and wrong. It is reasoning used correctly to find out what God sees is good.
What does Aquinas think people innately do?
He believed that all people aim for what is good and try to avoid the bad. It is innate to seek the good, and sin is merely falling short of God’s ideals, when people seek apparent goods, which are actually bad because they are not using their powers of reason properly.
What quote does Aquinas use to explain conscience?
He argued that conscience “was the mind of man making moral judgements.”
What two essential parts does conscience contain according to Aquina?
Syderesis and conscientia
What is synderesis?
The repeated us of what Aquinas termed ‘right’ reason, by which a person acquired knowledge of basic moral principles and understands that it is important to do good and avoid evil.
What is conscientia?
The actual ethical judgement or decision a person makes which leads to a particular course of actions based upon these principles
What does Aquinas mean when he says it is always right to follow your conscience?
That it is always right to apply your moral principles to each situation as best as you can. He does not mean that if you follow your conscience you are always right- as if your principles are wrong, your conscience will be wrong too.
What is the problem with Aquinas’ approach?
The fact that he fails to take into account direct revelation from God.
What did Joseph Butler say distinguished people from animals?
He wrote that the most crucial thing which distinguished women and men from the animal world was the possession of the faculty of reflection of conscience.
What quote did Joseph Butler use to describe the principle of reflection?
“There is a principle of reflection in men by which they distinguish between approval and disapproval of their own actions…this principle in man…is conscience.”
What did Butler agree with Aquinas about the conscience?
Like Aquinas, Butler believed conscience could determine and judge the rightness or wrongness of different actions and thoughts.
Why did Butler believe that conscience held a powerful position within human decision-making?
Because it “magisterially exerts itself” spontaneously “without being consulted.”
How important was conscience to Butler?
He saw that it was something authoritative and automatic, and he gave conscience the final say in moral decision-making, as the final moral authority.
What quote did Butler use to describe the authority of conscience?
“Had it strength, as it has right; had it power as it has manifest authority, it would absolutely govern the world.”
How did Butler see human nature?
As hierarchical and at its top was conscience.
How does Butler define self-love?
Butler thought of this as wanting the well-being or self or enlightened self-interest, not selfishness.
How does Butler define benevolence?
Butler saw this as wanting the well-being of others.
What is the hierarchy of human nature according to Butler?
- At the bottom are basic drives, such as the drive for food, which influence us without any thought for the consequences.
- Above this are two general impulses: self-love and benevolence
- Higher than this is the principle of reflection, linked closely to the conscience and it is that which makes us approve of disapprove of our actions.
Where did Butler view the principle of reflection/ conscience as coming from?
He saw it as being given to us by God. He believed conscience was a person’s God given guide to right conduct and its demands must therefore always be followed if someone is to be truly happy.
Why does Butler argue we need our conscience/ principle of reflection?
We have to use it to lead a proper, happy life.
What is Butler’s view on what conscience is based on?
He does not try to analyse whether conscience is based on reason or feeling or both: he just says that it obviously exists; it comes from God and must be obeyed if a person is to be truly happy.
How did Butler view mistakes made by conscience?
He did not see mistakes made by conscience as a serious problem, as he believed that in any moral dilemma most people will see intuitively what is the right thing to do.
What does Butler consider wicked?
He considers it wicked to ‘blind’ one’s conscience to clear the way for a wrong action. People can easily convince themselves that all sorts of wrong actions are right and, for Butler, this corruption of conscience by self-deception is worse than the evil action which results from it.
What does Butler think conscience will lead people to do?
He thinks that conscience will tell you to watch out for the interest of others as far as possible.
How did Butler view the consequences of actions?
The consequence of an action is not what makes it right or wrong, as that has already happened.
What is the purpose of conscience according to Butler?
The purpose of conscience is to guide a person into a way of life that will make him happy.
What does Butler say conscience will harmonise?
Conscience will harmonise self-love and benevolence- this may take some sorting out, and so in moral dilemmas we may be uncertain what to do.
What does Newman believe a person is doing when they follow their conscience?
When a person follows conscience he is simultaneously, in some mysterious way, following divine law.
What does Newman consider conscience to be?
Conscience is a “messenger” of God and it is God speaking to us when we feel this intuitive moral knowledge and make moral decisions.
What does Newman believe conscience is for Christians?
For Christians, it is more than simply a ‘law of the mind’ since it comes from God.
How does Newman view conscience relating to truth?
He says that conscience does not invent the truth, but at its best it detects the truth.
What quote does Newman use to imply the existence of god and his role in conscience?
“If, as is the case, we feel responsibility, are ashamed, are frightened, at transgressing the voice of conscience, this implies there is One to whom we are responsible, before whom we are ashamed, whose claims upon us we fear.”
What did Augustine of Hippo believe about conscience?
He identified it with the voice of God speaking to us.
What does Augustine urge all Christians to do?
To be concerned about their conscience and to consider it most seriously.
What quote did Augustine use to highlight the important of conscience?
“Return to your conscience, question it…turn inward, brethren, and in everything you do, see God as your witness.”
What is the problem with saying that conscience is the voice of God?
The problem is the fact that people have different ideas about what is right and wrong, and different views about what God is saying to them.
What is similar between Butler’s, Newman’s, and Augustine’s ideas on conscience?
They all rely on a more intuitionist approach whereby people are able to sense or intuit what is right and wrong, because God reveals this to them personally.
What did Freud believe about the soul?
He believed there was no such thing as a soul
How did Freud view the mind?
As essentially mechanistic.
What three areas did Freud conclude that human personality consisted of?
- The super-ego
- The ego
- The id
What is the super-ego?
The set of moral controls given to us by outside influences. It reinforces ideas of correct behaviour implanted in us when we are young.
What is the ego?
The conscience self; the part seen by the outside world.
What is the id?
The unconscious self the part of the mind containing basic drives and repressed memories. It is amoral, as it has no concerns about right and wrong and is only concerned with itself
What is conscience according to Freud?
For Freud, conscience is most clearly connected with the sense of guilt we feel when we go against our conscience. Conscience then is simply a construct of the mind, in person to externally imposed authority which is then internalized. For religious people these may be a response to their perceptions of God.
What did Freud say that our conscience was shaped by?
Freud did not believe in any absolute moral law and held that all our moral codes, and thus the content of our consciences, are shaped by our experiences- it is culturally dependent and this explains the varieties of moral codes that are to be found in different societies.
How is conscience connected to guilt according to Freud?
The super-ego internalises the disapproval of others and creates the guilty conscience which grows into internal force regardless of any individual rational thought or reflection.
What issue does Freud’s idea of conscience raise?
If our conscience was shaped by outside experiences, then it would imply that this is just a form of moral control and that we have no freedom.
How have psychologists since Freud expanded on his ideas?
They have included that of immature and mature consciences which develop as we grow up. This will not necessarily be a continuous development and some people will never reach the stage of having a mature conscience.
What did Jean Pieget think a child’s moral development depended on?
According to Piaget a child’s moral development grows and the ability to reason morally depends on cognitive development.
What two stages of moral development did Piaget suggest?
- Heteronomous morality
- Autonomous morality
What is heteronomous morality according to Piaget?
(between the ages of approximately 5 and 10 years) when the conscience is still immature, rules are not to be broken and punishment is expected if a rule is broken. The consequences of an action will show if it is right or wrong.
What is autonomous morality?
(approximately ages 10+) When children develop their own rules and understand how rules operate in and help society. The move towards autonomous morality occurs when the child is less dependent on others for moral authority.
How did Lawrence Kohlberg follow Piaget;s ideas?
He identified six stages of moral development which he believed that individuals had to follow in sequence.
What did Kohlberg feel most adults did in regards to conscience?
Kohlberg believed that most adults never developed beyond keeping the law.
What did both Piaget and Kohlberg believe?
They believed that most moral development and the development of a conscience occur through social interaction.
What were Erich Fromm’s first belief about what influences humans (authoritarian conscience)?
He believed that all humans are influenced by external authorities who apply rules and punishments for breaking them, and that these rules are then internalised by the individual.
What did Fromm originally believe a guilty conscience was the result off? (authoritarian conscience)?
It was the result of displeasing authority and if that authority is God then the fear of being rejected will have a powerful influence on an individual. Disobedience produces guilt, which in turn weakens our power and makes us more submissive to authority.
What would be an example of the authoritarian conscience?
The Nazi control in Germany.
What was Fromm’s later approach to conscience?
The humanistic conscience
Why did see his later form of conscience (the humanistic conscience) healthier?
The humanistic conscience was much healthier, since it assesses and evaluates our behaviour. We use it to judge how successful we are as people. It is our real self and leads us to realise our potential as far as possible.
What did Fromm’s later approach say conscience was based on (the humanistic conscience)?
We use our own discoveries in life, and the teachings and examples of others, to give us personal integrity and moral honesty- quite the opposite of the slavish obedience and conformity of the authoritarian conscience.
What did the Roman Catholic Church say that conscience was based on?
At its second Vatican Council it discusses the issue of conscience and agreed that there was a law inside each person which speaks to the individual heart.
How does the Roman Catholic Church understand conscience?
As a personal and inner sense of right and wrong, but which worked like any law, and which held the person obedient.
Where does the Roman Catholic Church think conscience come from?
In one Council document, the Pastoral Constitution of the Church in the Modern World, they stated that conscience is a “law written by God. To obey it is the very dignity of man; according to it he will be judged.”
