conscience

Question 1

what is conscience?

Answer 1

• the inner conviction that something is right or wrong

Question 2

For Kholberg what are the 3 main stages of moral development?

Answer 2

• pre-conventional
• conventional
• post conventional

Question 3

what is the pre-conventional level?

Answer 3

• right is what we’re rewarded for

- wrong is what we’re punished for

Question 4

what is the conventional level?

Answer 4

-obey societies rules and avoid guilt

Question 5

what is the post-conventional level?

Answer 5

• individual needs must give way in order to benefit society

Question 6

what is the Heinz dilemma?

Answer 6

• a women was near death from a special kind of cancer
• there was one drug which could help her
• the drug was expensive and the druggist was charging 10X that is cost
• Heinz stole from the store to get the drug for his wife

Question 7

what is Sigmund Freuds view of the conscience?

Answer 7

• as an aspect of the super-ego

- a psychological phenomenon

Question 8

what were the 3 elements of the mind that Freud identified?

Answer 8

• the Id (basic physical and emotional needs)
• the Ego (rational self)
• the super ego (controlling, restraining self)

Question 9

what does Freud mean that the conscience is part of the Super ego?

Answer 9

• given to us by authority figured (parents)
• it brings about guilt
• an active conscience tends to be a guilty conscience

Question 10

examine Freuds view of the super ego and conscience?

Answer 10

• then it cannot be seen as the voice of God

- nothing more than a left over expression of our childhood training

Question 11

Durkheims view of conscience and social conditioning?

Answer 11

• God is a projection of society’s powers, and a belief in God gives individuals a moral obligation to obeys society’s demands
• to disobey would be to disobey the will of God

Question 12

Durkheims view of collective conscience?

Answer 12

• the totality of beliefs and sentiments common to the average citizens in the same society
• an act is bad if the society disapproves of it

Question 13

what therefore is conscience to Durkheim?

Answer 13

• a survival mechanism developed through people adhering to shared moral values

Question 14

according to Freud what is the authoritarian conscience?

Answer 14

• our conscience arises out of fear of being shunned and excluded from society because we have been disobedient

Question 15

what is the humanistic conscience according to Freud?

Answer 15

• intuitive knowledge of what is human and inhuman

Question 16

for Freud what is the most supreme virtue in social systems?

Answer 16

• obedience

Question 17

what is the view that the conscience is the innate voice of God?

Answer 17

• For Augustine its innate
• put into human minds by God
• it amounts to an innate knowledge of Gods moral laws
• literally as the voice of God

Question 18

quote for conscience as the innate voice of God?

explanation

Answer 18

“in whose conscience God does not speak?”

- a source of direct revelation from God, to go against it would be a sin

Question 19

what are problems with the view that conscience is the vice of God?

Answer 19

• the amount of evil

- being morally good requires us to make free moral decisions, if its God we’re not free

Question 20

conscience as the God given faculty of reason:

Answer 20

• Aquinas starts with the synderesis rule

- do good , avoid evil

Question 21

according to Aquinas why should the conscience always be followed?

Answer 21

• truth comes from God, so to go against what you think your conscience is telling you to do is to go against God

Question 22

evaluation of Aquinas’ understanding of the conscience?

Answer 22

• seems to ignore the fact that large numbers of people act irrationally
• not everyone is aware of the synderesis rule
• many people follow the rule of self interest

Question 23

for Butler what is the conscience?

Answer 23

• its in human nature

- placed within us by God

Question 24

what does Butler mean by a ‘reflective conscience’?

Answer 24

• we are able to reflect morally on what we have done in the past and what we are about to do in the future

Question 25

what is Butlers view based on?

explain

Answer 25

• prudence (natural love of self)
• benevolence (natural love of others)
• in order for individuals to function morally we must balance between the two

Question 26

quote for Butler and following the conscience?

Answer 26

“it is our duty to walk in that path, and follow this guide”

Question 27

evaluation point for Butler?

Answer 27

• he doesn’t appear to consider the possibility that it may be distorted or evil

Question 28

what is the conscience for Fletcher?

Answer 28

• conscience is something we do, not something we have

- its choosing what agape love demands in the present situation

Question 29

what does Aquinas say about the role of the conscience and telling lies?

Answer 29

• it violated the primary precept of living on an ordered society
• however, accepts that the secondary precepts may apply differently in specific areas