Conscience

Question 1

intro

Answer 1

a moral faculty or feeling prompting us to see that certain actions are right or wrong.

• Decision making has an ethical component to it
• Human nature has quality of self-reflection, can regret decisions, wish we had acted differently

Question 2

bible

Answer 2

• OT has no word
• Paul Romans 2:15, requirements of law are written on their hearts. Paul viewed it as universal knowledge of gods law. can be corrupted but saved through JC love

Question 3

newman

Answer 3

• innate sense of right/wrong
• cosicnece is gods voice
• guilty = standing before divine
• guided by RCC teaching. toast pope but conscience first

Question 4

criticism of Newman

Answer 4

• where do we place scripture?
• palmer, supports polytheism. don’t know if it is gods voice or demon
• anscombe, things do vile things in name of conscience

Question 5

butler

Answer 5

faculty of reflection
separates humans from other beings
selfish, but can harmonise with altruism
criminals have no conscience

link between god nature and morality. struggle between conscience and passion. must live disciplined life

+divine command theory

Question 6

plato

Answer 6

tripartite
4th part is syneresis
innate faculty
most people other than philosophers are ignorant of good

Question 7

augustine

Answer 7

gods voice 
reason, intellect and mind are one
fall, look to scripture 
realise inadequacy when god is revealed in solitary moments
voice cannot be questioned

following conscience bridged epistemic distance, willing to confess

Question 8

aquinas - ratio

Answer 8

god given, imago Dei

marks us apart from other creatures

Question 9

syneresis

Answer 9

syneresis - naturally inclined to seek good. aided by ratio
- use syneresis to rationally know 5 pp

can be wrong because of vincible ignorance
apparent goods

Question 10

conscientia

Answer 10

derive 2nd p and apply them
end decision is conscientia
process from syndereiss to consicentia 
evolves prudence
conscience is a verb

Question 11

prudence

Answer 11

• result of balancing our needs against others
• virtue of right reasoning, telos
• should not feel guilty for everything
• understanding, judgement and good deliberation

Question 12

ignorance

Answer 12

vincible - morally responsible. punishment is harsher
guilt is lessened if due to laziness and increased if deliberately ignorant (affected)
must educate using scripture, PP

invincible ignorance

e. g. bombing of dresden
e. g. sleeping with twin sister

Question 13

analysis of aquinas

Answer 13

+ fletcher
+aristotle, voluntary and involuntary decisions
+ kant, conscience is practical reason

• butler, ignorance is avoided by listening to god
• newman, ignorance is false conscience
• plato, ignorance is always wrong
• Foucault, conscience is not positive, it condemns
• Dawkins,e evolution

Question 14

freud

Answer 14

conscience is part of unconscious mind, all about guilt, sex is driving force

influenced by oedipus and primal horde

id - unconscious. biological force. pleasure principle

ego - mediates. connected with conscious. rules by reality principle, sense and reason

super ego - unconscious. upbringing. internalises anger. parent figure - father. ruled by guilt.

psychosexual stages, driven by libido

• phallic. attraction for mother, guilt, castration
• genital. sexual conflict. checked by social coercion

Question 15

developments of freud

Answer 15

general: mature vs immature

fromm

• freud is mysognyistic
• dont have free will, reduced to obedience
• authoritatrian vs. humanistic

feuerbach

piaget
heteronomous morality, immature
autonomous morality, reason for ourselves

trivers, evolutionary psychology

Question 16

negatives of freud

Answer 16

fromm, too mysonyistc

jung, religion can be liberating

gula, difference between moral conscience and self concerned super ego

popper, cannot be falsified

hick, shows how experience of nature reveals god