Conscience

Question 1

What is ratio? (aquinas)

Answer 1

• -He believes ratio was a God-given gift to distinguish us from animals. The Bible refers to humans being made in God’s image and likeness (Genesis 1:27) and it’s therefore, according to Christians, placed in every person.
• -Ratio is more than simply comprehending things, understanding them or perfecting them. Ratio moves us in our thinking from one thing to another. It’s an act of working things out.
• -Aquinas was inspired by the Biblical story of Paul’s letter to Romans (1:20), which suggests that we can move from the knowledge of this world to knowledge of eternal world. Ratio connects us to the eternal realm, people say they are having a powerful sense of the wrongness or rightness of something and Christians might describe this as a connection to a higher knowledge, some eternal or divine insight.

Question 2

What is synderesis? (aquinas)

Answer 2

• -Aquinas thought that within each human there’s a principle called Synderesis, which directs us towards good and away from evil.
• -He believes that there is a sensuality (pleasure seeking) within each of us, which tempts us towards evil. This is seen in the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden where Eve and Adam were tempted to eat the forbidden fruit.
• -But, while Aquinas thought that both Synderesis and sensuality are present in humans, he was sure about the outcome of any conflict between them.

Question 3

What is conscienta? (aquinas)

Answer 3

–For Aquinas, conscience is an act within a human person arising when the knowledge gained from the application of ratio to Synderesis is applied to something we do. Conscience is ‘reason making right decisions’ (Summa Theologica); it’s not a voice giving us commands.

Question 4

What is ignorance? (aquinas)

Answer 4

• -Aquinas believes in the importance of conscience, even when you are wrong and your actions lead to bad outcomes. To go against reason is wrong, as Paul says ‘everything that does not come from faith is sin’ (Romans 14:23). For Aquinas, we gain faith (in God) through our conscience, and we gain our consciousness from ratio.
• -Aquinas believes we should do what we think is right, and that humans can, using reason, deduce what is right. Aquinas believes we make mistakes because our knowledge is wrong or incomplete, and ratio relies on our knowledge.

Question 5

What are the 2 types of ignorance?

Answer 5

Vincible ignorance and invincible ignorance

Question 6

What is vincible ignorance?

Answer 6

–Vincible ignorance is a lack of knowledge for which a person can be held responsible; they ought to have known better. They can’t say that ‘conscience’ justifies their action.

Question 7

What is invincible ignorance?

Answer 7

–Invincible ignorance is a lack of knowledge for which someone isn’t responsible. It’s when a person acts to the best of their knowledge, having done all they can to reasonably inform themselves, but nevertheless the wrong outcome still occurs. Aquinas doesn’t believe that God will condemn humans for invincible ignorance. If they fear God and live according to their conscience, God, in his infinite mercy, will give them salvation.

Question 8

Explain Aquinas’ example for ignorance

Answer 8

• -Aquinas uses an example where a man mistakes his use of reason and commits adultery. This is clearly an evil act based on ignorance of the divine law, the commandment prohibiting adultery, which he should already know. But, if the misjudgement comes about by thinking the woman really is his own wife, and if she wants him, then his will is free from fault. Aquinas uses this unlikely scenario to make the point that human beings must do what their ratio tells them is right. He is deliberately trying to emphasise that a person isn’t blameworthy for invincible ignorance, for making a mistake, even when the mistake involves breaking the commandment against adultery, an act that the Bible suggest should be punishable by death (Deuteronomy 22:22).
• -Following conscience is the priority in making a moral action. Although it seems unlikely that anyone would believe a man who said he thinks the woman he slept with was his wife when she wasn’t, the point that is being made is that we make moral decisions when they have imperfect information. This because we are finite creatures and can never have all the facts about a situation available.

Question 9

What is conscientia in operation?

Answer 9

–Aquinas believes if we practice good habits and work towards the good (Synderesis), your reason (ratio) will help you to act well. And if you try to gather knowledge to inform your decisions then your actions can’t be blameworthy (invincible ignorance) even if there are things you do not know. This is conscientia in operation.

Question 10

What does Aquinas acknowledge pragmatically?

Answer 10

–Aquinas’s acknowledges, pragmatically, that we make mistakes, but argues that a person shouldn’t be blamed for a genuine mistake arising from invincible ignorance.His basic positive view of human inclination towards the good is tempted by an awareness of the sensual temptations that draw us away from synderesis.

Question 11

Why can Aquinas’ approach to conscience be criticised?

Answer 11

–His approach to conscience can be criticised for failing to take into account the social, political, environmental and economic pressures that affect a person’s moral decision-making. Shame and guilt, regrets about past actions and a misplaced sense of duty are just some of the factors that affect our conscience and heavily influence our moral decision-making.

Question 12

Explain Freud’s psychological approach to conscience

Answer 12

o In his book, ‘An outline of psychoanalysis’ and ‘The ego and the id’, Sigmund Freud argued conscience isn’t based on rational decision-making, it’s a product of psychological factors that influence us in ways that may or may not be healthy.
o Freud developed the theory of psychosexual development. He argued that psychological development takes place in a series of fixed stages, and each stage is linked with the libido (sexual desires).
o The libido is a source of pleasure, frustration or both.

Question 13

According to Freud, what are the psychosexual stages of development?

Answer 13

1. Oral (0-1 years): concerned with withholding and swallowing.
2. Anal (1-3 years): concerned with withholding and expelling.
3. Phallic (3-6 years): concerned with masturbation.
4. Latency (6 to puberty): concerned with the absence of sexual motivation.
5. Genital (puberty to adulthood): concerned with sexual intercourse.

Question 14

Why are Freud’s theories about genital controversial?

Answer 14

o Freud’s theories about genitals are controversial. He thought frustrated women envy penises, and boys suffer from a fear of castration (Snip-snip down there) and have deep desires to replace their father to have exclusive possession of their mother (this known as Oedipus complex).
o While most of his thinking has now been challenged or rejected, his most famous discovery was the idea that there is an inner unconscious that interacts with our conscious awareness of our actions.

Question 15

What does Freud believe our mind is made from?

Answer 15

• -Unconscious mind
• -Preconscious mind
• -Conscious mind

Question 16

What is unconscious mind?

Answer 16

Unconscious mind: the repressed thoughts and feelings, including primitive desires, wish fulfilment, pleasure and dreams of gratification.

Question 17

What is preconscious mind?

Answer 17

Preconscious mind: the memories not readily available but accessible.

Question 18

What is conscious mind?

Answer 18

Conscious mind: the thoughts a person currently has, which the unconscious mind can’t access.

Question 19

What are the 3 aspects of the human personality?

Answer 19

o The three aspects of the human personality (the id, the ego and the super-ego) operate at different levels of the mind.

Question 20

What is the Id?

Answer 20

• -The id is an unconscious aspect of personality that’s present from birth. It’s driven by the pleasure principle; it seeks immediate pleasure. If the striving for immediate pleasure fails to satisfy all wants, needs and desires, then anxiety and tension result.
• -For instance, the desire for food or drink to satisfy hunger or thirst is really strong and drives infants to cry when they want food or drinks.
• -Libido is central to our personality, sexual pleasure and sexuality begins in early childhood. Children show an early interest in their genitals and form sexual interests in other people.
• -For Freud, the libido drives the id to desire sexual pleasure, and we feel frustrated if that desire isn’t satisfied.
• -It’s not always possible to satisfy all of the id’s desires. For example, food may not be available, and hunger may go unsatisfied. Freud thought in situations where satisfaction was not possible, the id would imagine being satisfied. E.g. when we’re hungry, we would imagine having food to please our gratification.

Question 21

What is ego?

Answer 21

• -It’s not socially acceptable to seek immediate gratification for all of our desires, i.e. to act on all of the impulses of the id. If we did we would be lustful, greedy and angry.
• -When we are young we are taught by our parents and by wider society what is, and isn’t, socially acceptable and we develop tactics to satisfy our desires in ways that don’t disrupt society’s rules.
• -This negotiation between the id and social norms is governed by the ego. The ego is driven by the reality principle.
• -Freud used the analogy of a horse and its rider to explain the relationship between the id and the ego. The rider (the ego) manages and guides the horse (the id).
• -Delayed gratification is a strategy used by the ego to manage the tensions caused when the id’s desires aren’t immediately satisfied. The pleasurable activity is put off until a time and place when it will not be viewed as inappropriate.
• -A good conscious can, therefore, be seen as the effective operation of the ego over the id, where desires are achieved in such a way as to avoid punishment from social authorities.
• -Meaning the ego moderate our behaviour so that it’s socially acceptable. In this way, our ego acts as our conscious.
• -E.g. when we are hungry in school, we don’t eatin lesson as it’s looked down upon. This activity is delayed until we go to a suitable place to eat (the dining hall).

Question 22

What is super ego?

Answer 22

• -This part of the human psyche is developed around the age of five. The super-ego is the source of inner moral standards of right and wrong that children acquire from their family and society.
• -Fulfilling society’s rules leads to a sense of pride and accomplishment, approval and recognition. Failing to live up to these rules leads to criticism, punishment and guilt.
• -The super-ego dominating over the ego means a person would avoid actions that might result in them breaking the rules.
• -If we act on our desires, we will feel guilty. This can interrupt the balance between the id and the ego and make it difficult for the ego to manage the id.

Question 23

Explain the sense of Freud’s psychological approach to conscience

Answer 23

• -Barbara Engler and Bernado Carducci, using Freud’s teaching, say the id, ego and super-ego aren’t separate but rather they represent a variety of different processes, functions and dynamics within the person.
• -Later psychologists developed Freud’s theory with specific reference to conscience. They argued that conscience has a mature and an immature dimension.
• -The mature dimension is healthy and is identified with the ego’s search for truth. It’s concerned with what’s right and wrong. The mature conscience looks outwards to the world and the future, developing new insights into situations.
• -The immature conscience deals with our guilty feelings and acts out a desire to seek approval from others.
• -Conflicts between the mature and immature dimensions of conscience emerges when we make moral decisions. On the one hand, I feelguilty about something as I was brought up to think it was wrong. On the other hand, I no longer believe it’s wrong. The immature conscience urges us to conform to the will of the majority in order to live in harmony with others in society, while the mature conscience encourages us to persue individual self-fulfilment.

Question 24

Comparison of Aquinas and Freud on guilt

Answer 24

 One way of thinking about guilt is that it’s the conscious telling a person they have done wrong.
 According to Aquinas, guilt is the sense that an action isn’t good or accordance with divine law. Synderesis indicates that things aren’t right, and guilt is the result. For Aquinas,guilt helps God to restore a proper relationship with a person. The consequences of sin are damaging as they disrupt a person’s relationship with God. To reunite, guilt must end and good relations must be re-established.
 Freud’s approach is that guilt is a result of internal; conflict in the mind; the struggle between what you desire and what you feel you should or shouldn’t do. ‘The tension between the demands of conscience and the actual demands of the ego is experienced as a sense of guilt’ (Freud, ‘The Ego and the Id’).
 Both shame and guilt seem to be present in the story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis, a story that informed Aquinas’ thinking about guilt. In Genesis 3:6-10- after eating from the fruit of knowledge, Adam and Eve realise they are naked and cover themselves with fig leaves. When they hear God coming nearby, they quickly hide due to the shame that God will see them naked.
 Both Freud and Aquinas see the links between guilt and desire. For Freud it was sexual, while for Aquinas it embraced all sensual desires.
 For Aquinas, they gave into sensual pleasures when they were tempted by the fruit of knowledge. Thus, they experienced guilt when they realised they were naked and had done wrong.
 In a Freudian perspective, the story illustrates the tension between desire for the fruit of knowledge encouraged by the id and then the sense of guilt at having done something that God forbade as a manifestation of the super-ego.

Question 25

Is the presence or absence of God within the workings of the conscience and super-ego? (Comparing Aquinas and Freud)

Answer 25

 For Aquinas, knowledge in this world leads us to a higher knowledge, to the divine goodness of God’s law. God made us with ratio and synderesis. Conscientia is explained by this connection with God and God’s law.
 For Freud, he makes no reference to God in approach to conscious, and links religion to the kind of social authority that can cause the super-ego to become overactive.
 However religion can work simultaneously with Freud’s teaching. Parallels can be drawn between Freud’s description of a healthy personality with the id, ego and super-ego in balance, and Aquinas’ belief in the effective use of reason and the development of good characteristics & habits that it leads to.
 Also, the psychological forces at work within a person doesn’t contradict the belief in reason or the possibility that reason connects to a divine law. It could be argued imbalances in the relationship between the id, the ego and the super-ego interrupt the process of reasoning.

Question 26

Comparing Aquinas and Freud on the process of moral decisions-making

Answer 26

 For Freud, moral choices are choices that strike a balance between a person’s desires and socially acceptable behaviour.
 For Aquinas moral decision-making involves the application of ratio, synderesis and Conscientia to bring about decision that are good and not evil. Whilst with Freud, there’s no place for a connection to divine in his approach.
 Aquinas was writing in the 13thCentury, long before behaviour and social sciences emerged and began to study human behaviour, and human society and social relationships. Moral decision-making isn’t framedby a theological approach anymore for many people.
 For Freud, new psychologists have developed different thinking around moraldecision-making and the interplay between the id, the ego and the super-ego. For instance, some think that, like the id, the ego is also present from birth and is, therefore influenced by nature as well as by nurture. However, Freud’s theory of psychosexual development has been discredited over the years

Question 27

Comparing Aquinas and Freud on whether conscious is linked to reason or the unconscious mind?

Answer 27

 Freud argues conscience isn’t a reason-based process. It’s not linked to the synderesis or ratio, because there’s an unconscious and a preconscious dimension to the operation of the mind when it makes a moral decision.
 Even if someone has the right knowledge and can use their reason to make a good moral judgement, their unconscious and preconscious mind can lead them to act immorally.
 Aquinas’ ideas that conscious is directly linked to reason isn’t accepted by all Christian’s thinkers. St Augustine of Hippo thought that conscience is the intuitive voice of God directing us to God’s law in their hearts. Others suggest conscience is a product of imagination or of human capacities. Perhaps, therefore, there’s a spiritual dimension to conscience to which neither Aquinas nor Freud give credit.

Question 28

Does conscience exist or is it an umbrella term covering various factors involved in moral decision-making?

Answer 28

 When we commit significant acts, we usually say we were ‘following our conscience’. But is there one uniform concept of conscience or is it a term that encompasses lots of factors involved in decision-making?
 Augustine argues that conscience exists as part of the human body, a message from God to the brain, some sort of intuition or insight.
 Both Aquinas and Freud are against the idea of conscience being a disconnected thing. They both believe that multiple factors influence the moral decisions-making process. For Aquinas, conscience involves ratio, synderesis and conscientia. For Freud, conscience involves the operation of the id, ego and super-ego at different levels of the mind.
 Yet it can be argued that there are many more factors that influence moral decision-making, including culture, environment, genetic predisposition and education.