Conscience (Aquinas, Butler, Durkheim)

Question 1

Aquinas and religious ethics

Answer 1

Natural Moral Law, to Aquinas, is religious ethics.
- God is the grounding source of morality
- Conscience is the ratio used to understand and apply God’s natural law
- Ethics is using reason to discover the Natural Law and to conform to our Telos of glorifying God and following his law
- This knowledge of the Natural Law allows us to understand right and wrong

Question 2

Natural moral Law and conscience

Answer 2

• Primary precepts → Reason and Conscience allow us to find the 1st principles of God’s law and intentions for human life (Telos)
• Synderesis rule → We have an orientation towards doing good because we were designed by God, who is good
• Conscienta → Primary precepts applied to situations/actions, so we arrive at Secondary Precepts (eg Do not kill leads to being against abortion)
• Secondary precepts → we can use reason to see how these interact (eg Euthanasia versus the precept of not dying)

BUT
We can know God’s law but never understand God himself

Question 3

Conscience as reason

Answer 3

Features of conscience stem from applying NML to moral actions:
- Witness - knowing whether we have done something good or not
- Bind and Incite - “through the conscience we judge that something should or should not be done
- Accuse, torment or rebuke - “by judgement we judge that something done is well done or ill done”

• Conscience is our ability to know whether we have done something, whether we should have done it, and whether it was done well.
• If we have done something wrong, our conscience will accuse, torment and rebuke us – causing feelings of guilt.

Question 4

2 parts to conscience and human mistakes with conscience

Answer 4

2 parts to conscience:
- Synderesis; knowing to do good and avoid evil
- Conscientia; the act of applying this to situations

• Because human reason is fallible, so too is conscience.
• Aquinas says we cannot be mistaken in primary precepts or synderesis
• But people can be mistaken in conscientia, due to original sin, corruption or unvirtuous habits, thus carrying out the wrong action.
• People can also be mistaken by real and apparent goods

Question 5

conscience quote and explanation

Answer 5

“Every judgment of conscience, be it right or wrong … is obligatory … he who acts against his conscience always sins”
- This is because if you choose to act against your conscience, then you are choosing to do something you believe to be evil.
- Conscience is thus always ‘binding’.

Question 6

vincible ignorance

Answer 6

• involves circumstances where people would have known better so are responsible for their actions
  Usually involves ignorance where moral principle is relevant to a situation
• Actions that go against natural law out of vincible ignorance are sins because they should have known better
• E.g. if a fire breaks out in a building because it wasn’t looked after, the person in charge of the building is to blame for this action because they know better and are aware of the consequences

Question 7

invincible ingnorance

Answer 7

• Involves circumstances where people can’t have known better so they’re not held accountable for their actions
• Actions that go against natural law but are done out of invincible ignorance are not considered sins because they are involuntary
• E.g. if a drunk person jumps in front of your car and there’s nothing you could do, you wouldn’t be held responsible for hitting them because you didn’t know that was going to happen

Question 8

role of conscience in moral decision making (lying)

Answer 8

• Lying, even if teleological beneficial is a betrayal of reason as the conscience knows it is incorrect.
• It is not rational as it conflicts with the synderesis rule
• Lying violates the Primary precept of keeping Order in society, so should never be done.
• Aquinas does accept exceptional circumstances, eg evasive truths.
• He does recognise that Conscience is fallible, as a lack of initial knowledge can affect reasons ability to correctly dictate the right actions to take (if you do not know all of the prior information before making a decision, the decision is likely to be flawed.

Question 9

Joseph Butlers view on conscience

Answer 9

• it is ‘intuitive’
• similar to aquinas as it has a final say in what is right and wrong
• direct us towards focusing on happiness/interests of others rather than ourselves
• holds authority over all other aspects of human nature
• innate faculty that enables humans to judge the morality of their actions
• ‘guide assigned to us by the author of our nature’ –> put there by God so must be obeyed

Question 10

self love and butler

Answer 10

• pursuit of ones happiness
• Rejected and criticised the hedonic and egoistic theories, argued that self love and conscience can be compatible if understood properly
• SL is natural & legitimate, not selfish/immoral
• Can lead to virtuous actions if properly guided by reason & conscience

Question 11

benevolence and butler

Answer 11

• concern for the happiness of others
• Uses benevolence mainly refer to a particular passion or cluster of passions
• Thought of it as a ruling principle
  Anti-utilitarian
• Critical of Thomas Hobbes, argued benevolence was just a part of human nature as self love was

Question 12

conscience as the mediator and butler

Answer 12

• Conscience plays a crucial role in mediating between self-love and benevolence
• Enables individuals to see that their own happiness and happiness of others are not mutually exclusive but intertwined
• Can navigate the balance between acting for own good and good of others

Question 13

self reflection and conscience and butler

Answer 13

• B’s concept of conscience is closely tied to the idea of self-reflection
• Believed that conscience involves reflecting on one’s motives and actions to determine whether they align with moral principles
• This reflective process distinguishes human beings from animals
• Enables us to act not just out of instinct/desire but from moral consideration

Question 14

durkheim background

Answer 14

• French sociologist who first established sociology as an academic subject
• He is most known for his book ‘On the Division of Social Labour…’
• Assumptions of his:
• Humans are inherently social beings
• We are made up of the social constructs and environments around us
• Social institutions regulate behaviour and enforce norms
• Societies evolve therefore “collective consciousness” evolves

Question 15

collective conscience and durkheim

Answer 15

Shared set of beliefs and values that bind a society together but can vary across societies
- Exists independently of individual thoughts and feelings
- Emerges through social and cultural interaction as well as shared experiences
- Values and norms instilled through various institutions like family, school religion etc
- Personal consciences are largely shaped by the collective conscience
- Argued that modernisation could lead to anomie

Question 16

collective conscience purpose according to durkheim

Answer 16

• Influences how people perceive right and wrong
• Provides a moral foundation for social life
• Helps with conflict resolution and fosters a sense of cultural identity
• Argues that a strong collective conscience promotes social solidarity as it enables individuals to feel connected to one another and feel as though they are part of a larger community

Question 17

moral regulation and durkheim

Answer 17

Durkheim believed that morality is the basis of all society
- Morality isn’t just about defining good and bad, but the broader concept of how people live alongside one another
- Because we exist in groups of populations and societies, we can’t just do what we please, we have to act based on how it will impact others.
- This altruistic view of morality is key to Durkheim’s theory
- There has to be a system of morality because we live in large groups. This is moral regulation
- Only actions that place others above yourself are moral

Question 18

Anomie and Durkheim

Answer 18

• Anomie is a concept given by Durkheim in 1897, in his book “Suicide” referring to a state of normlessness, with no social cohesion, leading to feelings of isolation.
• This was identified as a cause of deviance that led to crime, in places where there were no clear shared norms, or a person was not socialised into them.
• Anomic - socially disoriented
• Durkheim conducted a study (1897) into suicide rates, and found an association with weaker collective norms. (TIETS)

Question 19

mechanical solidarity

Answer 19

• Living with other people means that we have to divide the world up in categories that are meaningful and common to everyone else.
• Categories of thought are moral categories even if they are referring to objective reality or morally neutral things like time or distance because they are the result of a group coming together
• Our sense of morality is derived from the social situation of our life, what cultures and religions etc. we belong to. These are groups that impact and shape the way we perceive the world
• People feel connected through similar work, people uplift each other through shared areas of work, study or interest
• All our categories of thought are derived from group understanding of a concept, like measuring time or distance

Question 20

organic solidarity and durkheim

Answer 20

• Stems from the need for others’ services and mutual reliance on each other
• More division of labour in a society characterised by organic solidarity
• Individuals can be likened to organs of a body, where their functions are interdependent but differentiated.
• Rather than uniform, absolute rules, focus on relations between different groups

Question 21

role of religion and durkheim

Answer 21

• Main function of religion is to create a collective conscience as it reinforces moral beliefs and values to be reinforced in society
• Rituals and worship bring people together in shared experience and generates “collective effervescence” which is a heightened sense of community and emotional connection
• Religion fosters a sense of belonging and unity in individuals which creates a collective identity that transcends individual differences
• It provides a moral framework to regulate and establish norms that is then picked up on by collective conscience
• Religion serves as an authority that transcends individual opinions and is reliable in terms of moral frameworks especially in times of crisis which reinforces social stability

Question 22

durkheim quote

Answer 22

‘the totality of beliefs and sentiments common to the average members of a society forms a determinate system with a life of its own’