Lesson 1 Flashcards
Conscience definition
A person’s moral sense of right and wrong, viewed as acting as a guide to one’s behaviour.
3 related functions the conscience plays
First, it tells us what we ought to do as a guide for our lives.
Second, it is a source of moral knowledge. That is, we might say “I know that stealing a pen is wrong because my conscience told me”.
Third, it might be thought of as a form of motivation. That is, it might be the thing that actually gets us up out of our seat to act in certain ways, even when things are difficult or even life threatening.
What actually is the conscience?
Conscience often it takes the form of having a ‘guilty conscience’ about something that you have done, implying that, in some way, you know that you did not do the right thing - even if, at the time, it was what you most wanted, or what everyone else was doing, or what you were able to justify (to yourself or others) rationally.
When do we use our conscience?
-Conscience is also used when thinking about, or advising others on, what should be done in the future.
-When there seems to be no clear moral guide about what to do, you might advise a person to follow her conscience.
-By that, you do not mean that she should think about all the moral arguments for or against, nor start looking up what is taught in scripture or what the law has to say.
-You mean something much more intuitive, personal and internal: that she should follow her own sense of what is right - even if other people argue against what she does, or shun her, or say that she is guilty.
How could the conscience develop?
-the brain is remarkably plastic, and that it adapts to habitual ways of thinking and acting.
-Every decision etches itself onto our neural pathways and suggests what our next decision should be; humans train themselves.
Peter Sutcliffe
One of the UK’s most notorious serial killers.
Killed 13 women and attempted to kill more (they were some escapes)
He targeted women.
His nickname is derived from Jack the Ripper who had the same modus operandi.
Augustine
-conscience god whispering
-authority- divine
-disobeying god is sinful
Newman
-origins : god, conscience detector of truth
-authority: divine
-disobedience: we fear displeasing god
Butler
-origins: god intuition, exert itself without consultation
-authority: divine, infallible
-deception of conscience worse than resultant action
Aquinas
-origins: god and human reason
-authority: divine but we need to use our reason and experience
-result of poor reason
Freud
-origins: internalisation of external authority by superego
-authority: society (and avoidance of guilt)
-guilt and neurosis can result if conscience disobeyed
Piaget
-origins: develops as we get older, autonomous morality = age 11+
-authority: heteronymous: an adult authority figure
Autonomous: we are our own authority
-disobedience: heteronymous- fear of punishment from authority figure
Autonomous - feeling of guilt
Fromm
Origins: authoritarian- comes from fear of displeasing authority
Humanitarian - our real self, aiming for self-actualisation
Authority: authoritarian- an ext authority figure
Humanitarian - we are our own authority
Disobedience: authoritarian- fear of punishment from ext authority
Humanitarian- we fail to reach self-actualisation
