Conscience - essay - reliable guide

Question 1

Intro - To what extent is conscience a reliable guide for moral decisions making

Answer 1

• Latin ‘with knowledge’
• How a person discerns morality of an action
• 2 main approaches Psychological + theoretical - approach taken influences view on reliability
• To be reliable; constantly moral decisions, not influenced by external source, Universal across all people
• Due to failing 3 categories = not reliable

Question 2

To what extent is conscience a reliable guide for moral decisions making- 3 paragraph titles

Answer 2

• Constantly moral decisions
• Not influences by external sources
• Universal across all people

Question 3

1st paragraph title + aquinas

Answer 3

• Constantly moral decisions
• Aquinas 13th Century - Conscience is god-given
• Syneresis “do good, avoid evil” - innate knowledge of right + wrong –> consistently moral decisions
• Nietzsche (nihlist) disagree as right +wrong don’t exist
• Aquinas says can still make immoral decisions if do not reason syneresis correctly
• Vincible + invincible
• Invincible –> erring conscience (apparent good > real good) breakdown communication between syneresis + conscience (cause by lack of prudence)

Question 4

1st Paragraph what did other scholars say on this

Answer 4

• Constantly moral decisions
• Augustine (400AD) even when follwing conscience we make mistakes
  Timothy O’Connel - Conscience has 3 levels, 2nd level using moral reasoning to search out good and he states peopel often disagree
• Jean Piaget experiment with cups behind door, even when child didn’t know and opened door they were blamed by >10 (consequences of action determin morality). if conscience changes then cannot be consistent
• Hanna Ardent - ‘banality of evil’ looking at holocaust determines people often fail to think about morality fo actions
• Dawkins ‘the selfish gene’ humans are controlled by drive to survive, not morality

Question 5

2nd para - Theological views

Answer 5

• Not influenced by external forces
• Aquinas believes conscience is god-give e.g. syneresis –> not influenced
• Opinion also help by fellow scholars e.g. John Henry Newman - conscience as voice with divine origin, represents God’s moral law
• Joesph Butler - Conscience is god-given –> common Moral historical approach
• Modern Theological scholars view conscience as human reasoning based on Gods laws - e.g. Timothy O’Connell - moral reasoning + human experience as how we develop moral values (accounts for mistakes / immoral actions)

Question 6

2nd para - Psychological views

Answer 6

• Not influenced by external forces
• Psychological approach views conscience as impacted by external sources e.g. authority
• Freud divides conscience into 3; Id (immediate gratification, ego, (how we view the world / interact with world) super-ego (internalised standard of right + wrong)
• Id influences conscience driving away from immoral actions e.g. lust or pleasure principles
• Super-ego - authority figures influences conscience crate standard of right + wrong separate to morality or God (based on culture)
• e.g. Christianity imposes taboos + rules Freud calls it “adolescence stage of human development”

Question 7

other scholars on 2nd paragraph (not influenced by external sources)

Answer 7

• Marx - Conscience is part of individualism , perpetuated by capitalism to exert control over society
• Erich Fromm - Authoritarian conscience, all people influenced by external authority - disobedience –> guilt makes people more submissive

Question 8

3rd para - Theological views

Answer 8

-Universal across all people
- Aquinas conscientia - “conscience is application of knowledge to activity” this + syneresis are God-given should make it universal
- However can be wrong due to invincible ignorance
- Augustine - all people aim for what is good
- Conflicting conscience - multiple religions claim different truths, believe different things about ethical issues
- Aquinas account for this through conscience being mislead, (why would God allow people to sin through not fault of own)
- Vincient MacMara accounts for difference in morality as viewing conscience as how we ‘see’ world, not a voice
- Richard Guala sees consceince as living within Christian framework - not universal (non-Christians) unless take Karl Rahners ‘anonymous Christian’ approach

Question 9

3rd para - what do other scholars say

Answer 9

• universal across all people
• Freud calls conscience ‘moral policeman’ that develops through 5 stages
• Conscience changing is a common psychological approach –> Jean Pigat conscience matures as we grow from Heteronomous stages –> autonomous we become less dependent on others
• Kohlberg conscience moves from doing good because told by authority –> care for others
• Richard Rorty - No universal set of moral rules