Conscience

Question 1

Aquinas on Conscience

Answer 1

St Aquinas, St Jerome and St Paul saw the conscience as our ability to know what is right and wrong, and is a gift from God

‘Every judgement of conscience, be it right or wrong, be it evil or morally indifferent, is obligatory, in such wise that he who goes against it always sin’ - Aquinas

Humans follow the Synderesis Principle and ratio (reason) and conscientia (the process of applying reason to moral judgements)

Question 2

Criticism’s of Aquinas View of Conscience (x5)

Answer 2

It is surely illogical that God would create something imperfect, and it is also illogical to follow you conscience ALWAYS if it can be wrong

Modern scientists accept Darwin’s theory of evolution, rather than the Genesis mythology. Current genetic diversity must come from 100,000

Aquinas does not consider, Hegel, Piaget or Freud’s view that our conscience directs us to internalised expectations rather the objective truth

St Augustine thinks that the conscience is God

There is also no evidence

Question 3

Sigmund Freud

Answer 3

The Id is appetitive and seeks immediate gratification, and the Ego manages the Id’s socially unacceptable desires by channelling it through the reality principle

The Super Ego is where moral lessons learnt during upbringing are internalised, and is what many people call their conscience

Freud thought that trauma during the 5 stages of psychosexual development could lead to Neuroses in later life

Question 4

Advantages of Freud’s View of the Conscience (x5)

Answer 4

Freud conducted experiments using real patients such as ‘Anna O’, so he uses empirical evidence

Piaget thought that the conscience was influenced by upbringing and Hegel thought that the conscience was society’s expectations upon us

Richard Dawkins thought that the conscience was a product evolution as it could serve as a beneficial social mechanism

Contemporary science agrees that trauma in earlier can affect later life

Freud does not expect the conscience to be perfect

Question 5

Criticisms of Freud’s View of the Conscience (x3)

Answer 5

Freud does not consider the possibility of there being any relation between God and the conscience

Freud’s work is generally viewed as pseudoscience

Many thinkers believe that Freud puts too great an emphasis on human sexuality as underpinning every aspect of psychology, rather than looking at a wider ranges of possible influences on the human mind

Question 6

Comparing Freud and Aquinas (x6)

Answer 6

1) Both Aquinas and Freud see the conscience as a human making moral decisions
2) Both see it as not the direct voice of God
3) Both think that the conscience can be in opposition to society and can be wrong

1) Disagree about whether the conscience is God-given
2) Disagree about objective moral right or wrong or just society
3) Disagree about whether guilt derives from moral wrongdoing or internal conflict between different aspects of the personality

Question 7

Ignorance

Answer 7

Vincible Ignorance: Lack of knowledge for which a person is responsible

Invincible Ignorance: Lack of knowledge for which a person is not responsible

Aquinas agreed that the conscience could be wrong, due to ‘apparent goods’ but held people responsible dependent on the type of ignorance. Using ‘right reason’ will improve the accuracy of a conscience

Question 8

Advantages of Aquinas’ Argument (x2)

Answer 8

Fits with the Genesis mythology which has God create Adam and Eve ‘Imago Die’, and this would appear to supports Aquinas’ belief that conscience is ‘God-given’

Aquinas recognises that the conscience can be deceived by ‘apparent goods’ but this does not make humans immoral