Thinkers on Conscience Flashcards
Aquinas on conscience
“Reason seeking understanding”
“The mind of man making moral judgements”
Synderesis (learning) and conscienta (using)
Ability to distinguish good+bad
Romans 2:14-15a on conscience
“Law written on their hearts”
Augustine on conscience
God’s love “poured forth”
Butler (1692-1752) on conscience
“Ability to distinguish between approval+disapproval of their own actions”
“Magisterially exerts itself…without being consulted”
“Had it power as it has manifest authority, it would absolutely govern the world”
“Our natural guide…assigned to us by the Author of nature”
God-given guide to conduct + happiness
Focuses on love for others
Intuitive, authoritative and automatic
Cardinal Newman (1801-1890) on conscience
“I toast the Pope, but I toast conscience first”
“Law of the mind”
Voice of God, a messenger
Intuitive, unknowingly we follow God telling us what to do
Freud (1856-1939) on conscience
BOOK - Outline of Psychoanalysis
Healthy conscience is our ego
Construct of the mind, apparent through guilt
Culturally dependent
Piaget on conscience
Developmental conscience
Heteronomous morality - immature conscience that develops through consequences of actions into autonomous authority
Depends on cognitive development
Kohlberg on conscience
6 stages of developmental conscience
Authority figures and need to gain approval shapes it
RC Church on conscience
“a law written by God. To obey it is the very dignity of man; according to it he will be judged”
MacNamara on conscience
Conscience isn’t a voice, if is more a moral path, an attitude to life
