CONSCIENCE: AQUINAS Flashcards
What is Aquinas’ approach?
Theological.
What does Aquinas explain conscience as being?
The God-given gift of ratio.
What does he link conscience too?
Syneresis, a human inclination toward good.
What did St Augustine of Hippo believe conscience was alternatively?
Reason, the intellect, and the mind were all one power in human beings.
Why is ratio a fundamental part of human beings according to Aquinas?
Of all creatures, only humans deliberate over moral matters.
How can ratio be viewed as progressive?
Ratio moves our thinking from one thing to another.
What does St Paul’s letter to the Romans suggest that Aquinas proposes?
That we can move from the knowledge of this world to the knowledge of the eternal world.
What did Aquinas note was within us?
Sensuality, which tempts us towards evil, as demonstrated by the Garden of Eden.
What are the two things present in humans?
Syneresis and Sensuality
What overall view did Aquinas have of humans?
Positive, tend to lean towards the good.
What have some Christian writers described Conscientia as?
A kind of spark of moral wisdom.
What did Aquinas understand conscientia as?
‘Reason making right decisions’.
What is conscience for Aquinas?
An act within a person, a pronouncement of the mind.
Give a quote about conscientia from Summa Theologica?
“The same is manifest from those things which are attributed to conscience.”
What does St Paul say about going against reason?
“Everything that does not come from faith is sin.”
What does going against faith mean for Aquinas?
Faith means coming from conscience.
What does Aquinas say human beings should do?
What they think is right, and that they can use reason to discern correctly.
What are the two types of ignorance according to Aquinas?
Vincible ignorance and invincible ignorance.
What is vincible ignorance?
Lack of knowledge for which a person can be held responsible.
What is invincible ignorance?
Lack of knowledge for which a person is not responsible.
What scenario does Aquinas use to explain this idea of ignorance?
The situation where mistaken reason bids a man to sleep with another man’s wife, thinking she’s his own wife. He is free from fault.
What does John Henry Newman state about conscience?
“Conscience is the aboriginal Vicar of Christ.”
What does St Paul say in Romans about ignorance?
“everything that does not come from faith is sin.”
What does Aquinas state about invincible ignorance?
Aquinas does not believe that God will condemn humans for invincible ignorance.
What does Aquinas’ theory assume?
The same telos for all - ‘goodness’.
What further information does Aquinas give on ignorance?
Recognises that people feel deeply responsible for things they could not have foreseen. We cannot help this as it is invincible ignorance.
What is conscience an act of?
Using reason to progress towards the good, telos, perfection.
What is conscience strongly linked to for Aquinas? What does it make us different from?
Ratio from God - makes us different from animals - “imageo dei”.
How does Aquinas’ theory differ to Freud’s?
Aquinas asserts that God and religion bring humans wholeness - following divine law and rightly reasoning make us better people.
For Aquinas what banishes guilt from a person?
God’s Grace.
What example does Pope Benedict XVI reflect upon when considering conscience?
Jesus’ trial.
Which two of these does our ratio help us connect with?
Divine & Eternal Law.
