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Conscience (Thomas Aquinas (Conscience is the voice of reason (God given…
Conscience
Thomas Aquinas
Conscience is the voice of reason (God given ability to work out what is right and what is wrong) "Reason in a man, is rather like God in the world"
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He believed if one was informed about a situation, your conscience wouldn't "tell" you to do anything wrong
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- Synderesis: An inherent knowledge of the need to do right and avoid wrong
- Conscentia: Ability to distinguish Good and Bad (develops over time)
Concentia can be flawed - you need to work to hear it properly and it needs training as well as being bought up correctly(with the Bible), which Aquinas emphasized. Synderesis can be ignored.
There are two types of ignorance that means our conscience is flawed:
1) Invincible ignorance: Non-culpable ignorance, factors beyond your control
2) Vincible ignorance: Culpable ignorance, factors within the realms of your duty to be knowledgeable.
Kohlburg
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4) Respecting Laws because it promotes social order. Most reach this level but not all progress from this stage
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Butler
"There is a principle of reflection in men by which they distinguish between approval and disapproval of their own action. This is conscience"
Sees the conscience as a kind of internal, God given, moral compass pointing towards righteousness. It isn't a voice, but it is intuitive.
We are driven by 2 forces, self-love and benevolence and our conscience steers us towards the latter.
Butler holds ideas that the conscience both determines and judges and acts without introspection. It "Exerts itself" without permission but can be ignored even though it shouldn't be because it cannot be wrong
It is given to us by God (It is innate), but not the voice of God. It is intuitive but not overpowering.
"Had it strength as it had right; had it power as it had manifest authority, it would absolutely govern the world"
Conscience is a part of human nature, you are not acting in a human way if you are not acting in accordance with your conscience.
Newman
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"I shall drink to the pope, if you please, still. to conscience first and to the pope afterwards" - our conscience should have complete authority
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Freud
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Its a natural part of the psyche to want to avoid guilt, a guilty conscience is caused by conflicts during the creation of the super ego and it is independent of reason (Goes against Butler and Aquinas)
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Strengths
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We can witness that people want to avoid guilt, it is not a pleasant emotion
Freud claims that religion was "born from a man's need to make his helplessness tolerable" and that man maintains an unhealthy reliance on religion and many people in the Secular age agree with this.
Weaknesses
Only concentrates on the emotional side of the conscience not the cognitive (i.e. he only deals with the conscience as something that makes us feel bad)
Freud hated religion and only concentrated on the aspects that weakened it when there are many arguments that strengthen religion.
This attitude further weakens his argument because it leads him to see the conscience as a solely negative entity.
Piaget
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1) 0-2 years old = ability to differentiate themselves and learn about the permanence of objects
2) 3 - 7 years old = children can't see the world from a viewpoint other than their own, things are black and white
3) 8 - 11 years old = begin to think logically to develop explanations for the world
4) 11+ = Can manipulate ideas in their heads and can reason using abstract concepts (afterlife, future) They can think about hypothetical and ideological issues
Heteronomous morality (5-11 y/o) = they look beyond themselves for authority. Rules are obeyed with the expectation of punishment
Autonomus morality (10+) = develop a personal code of conduct based on the perception of socially acceptable behavioral patterns.
Fromm
Fled Germany after the war - post holocaust he wanted to work out how the Natzis could do their work and have a clear conscience
- He argued for 2 types of conscience
Authoritarian conscience (immature) = we feel guilty when we break an authorities rules when they aren't around, so we follow these rules all the time. We are all influenced by the environment in which we grow up. Everyday Germans would report Undesirables to the Gestapo because they were told to do so. Even when the Gestapo weren't around, they still reported them.
Humanistic conscience (mature) = develops to analyze morality and the authorities of our lives. It is much healthier as it assesses and evaluates our behavior. We question this authority.
Christian understanding
St Paul
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Conscience is reliable and shouldn't be listened to - it leads to the morally right action - "They show that the work of the Law, is written on their hearts, their conscience bearing witness"
St. Jerome
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God left part of himself in Adam, this was his conscience
Augustine
Sees the conscience as the voice of God - it enables us to see the moral rules from which all other laws are copied. This shows God's love - it was a gift from him
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We must seek God's voice (our conscience) ourselves. You have to listen to it in prayer and meditation
He followed Jerome's understanding of the conscience because a rational faculty which led people to make decisions