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Conscience - Coggle Diagram
Conscience
Aquinas
Synderesis & Conscientia
s = the inner principle directing humans towards good and away from evil. key precept of his NL. we are aware of this moral rule and we have a desire to fulfil it. we cam use reasoning to develop the habit of synderesis, being fully aware of moral rules
c = a persons reason making moral judgments, forming moral judgements; the process of applying our knowledge to the unique circumstances before us - something we must practise, to do efficiently
two types of mistakes
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once conscience has reasoned, humans are bound to follow the decision made, is possible however that conscience can be mistaken. A is relatively optimistic about human nature and believes that we do not deliberately choose acts that we know are evil; rather we makes mistakes and pursue apparent goods
ratio
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God not directly communicating with us, but has provided us with a powerful tool for moral decision-making
humans are created with 'ratio' - reason placed within us as a result of being created in the image of God
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Freud
forming the conscience
conscience is superego and can be explained psychologically. it is formed by society, particularly by the parents
it is a reaction to all the demands that are placed upon a person that hey cannot live upto. we start to internalise the voice of our parents, and this continues with every interaction with authority figures.
a gap emerges between the ego (who we actually are) and the demands of the superego (our idea of an ideal person formed by all these early interactions)
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psychosexual development
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goes through several stages, development may be either healthy or unhealthy
3 aspects of personality
id
the unconscious self, which contains our basic desire, drives and passions (two key ones: sex and death)
superego
something that is within the ego - it is a reaction to the id. set of moral controls and ideas given by authority and often opposed by id. F is particularly interested in it
ego
is the conscious self. it is the part seen by the outside world and the thinking we are most conscious of
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3 layers of the mind
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unconscious
those thoughts and feelings that are buried beneath the surface of our mind and cannot be retireved, except by psychoanalysis
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believe the mind was like a machine, purpose of psychology was to uncover its workings.
Strength
Aquinas on conscience
good explanation of moral disagreement. if conscience is directly linked to God (as Newman argues) then its confusing as to why people disagree over right and wrong. A stresses individual reasoning in conscience - able to explain these issues
explains why someone may change moral views over time, something that a more direct view of the conscience struggle with
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Freud's view
'scientific'
based on psychology rather than theology, in engaging in empirical research he is attempting to be scientific
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Fletcher
one persons conscience might be different to another's. it explains why peoples consciences come to different decisions - our conscience decided there and then in the situtionas it arises
Weakness
Aquinas on conscience
A fails to take into account the social and environmental factors that seem to affect peoples moral views
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doesn't fit in reality
A's rational view does not fit with how we experience the phenomenon of conscience. we are conscious of a more immediate and intuitive sense rather than a process of delveration and reflection
overly optimistic
A perhaps guilty of being being so about human nature. his view of apparent goods is naive, suggesting that people do not delibaretly choose evil acts
Augustine's view of OS and the divided will would be more cautious of our abilities - A also optimistic about rational abilities
not helpful
A reached the uncomfortable conclusion that we should obey even if it is in error, does not seem helpful
Freud's view
partially correct
Erich Fromm argued this. many people do have a conscience that is driven by a fear of punishment by authority. this does not explain the acts of those who challenge authority. however Fromm argues that there exists a humanitarian conscience that some of us develop
research limited
although his work can be seen as empirical and scientific, the research that it is based on is limited
pseudo-scientific
Karl Popper has accused him of this. meaning his work is not scientific all. he noted that scientific claims have the ability to be proven wrong If they are false. by basing his ideas on the unconscious and suggesting that things only revealed in psychoanalysis means F's theory is unfalsifiable and thus not proper science
Fletcher
many christians would argue conscience comes from Gos so should be listened to, so should all arrive at similar conclusions
says that conscience is not internalised values pf the individuals culture but most people are influenced by their cultural upbringing. your conscience is inly as goof and the environment you were raised in
Fletcher
sees conscience as a thing you do, not something that exists = as a verb not a noun. love is the only universal, each other case need to work out 'creatively,contrusctivley, fittingly' solution to other cases. there's isn't God in your head to help but we have autonomy to work it out and make decision applying 4 working principles
'the traditional error lies in thinking about conscience as a noun instead of as a verb. this reflects the fixity and establishment - mindedness of all ethics as contrasted to love ethics. there Is no conscience, 'conscience' is merely a word for our attempts to make decisions creatively, constructively, fittingly'