3. Conscience: The conscience in Augustine of Hippo
- Created by: Alasdair
- Created on: 26-06-17 14:15
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- 3. The conscience in Augustine of Hippo
- Influenced by Plato
- Asserted there is one God
- Source of all goodness
- Thus there can only be one virtue: virtue
- All other supposed virtues such as goodness and justice are just one aspect of virtue (which is God)
- Thus there can only be one virtue: virtue
- What binds all aspects of virtue to one virtue (which is God)?
- Augustine's answer was divine love
- Conscience emerges from outflow of divine love
- The conscience is God's love poured forth to human beings
- It is when God speaks to the individual and it reveals itself in solitary moments
- The conscience is God's love poured forth to human beings
- Source of all goodness
- Asserted there is one God
- Augustine believed when God's love and moral virtue are revealed, human beings experience their own inadequacy
- e.g. you are playing a sport you think you are good at
- Suddenly international athlete joins in the game and you quickly realise that what you thought of as good is, in fact, just ordinary
- Same is true of expeirence of God
- Since God is perfect love and virtue any divine experience will reveal inadequacies of being human and also our inability to do anything about it
- Same is true of expeirence of God
- Suddenly international athlete joins in the game and you quickly realise that what you thought of as good is, in fact, just ordinary
- e.g. you are playing a sport you think you are good at
- Augustine's view had profound effect on later medieval writers
- Made conscience most important element of moral decision making
- Followers of Augustine have often argued, over centuries, that conscience is more important than moral teachings of Church
- e.g. Luther started life as an Augustian monk. He broke with Roman Catholic Church claiming his conscience would not allow him to accept teachings of pope
- Followers of Augustine have often argued, over centuries, that conscience is more important than moral teachings of Church
- Other writers have placed conscience above teachings of Bible
- e.g. in late 18th and 19th centuries, Christians wrestled with issue of slavery
- St Paul, in his letter to Philemon, supported institution of slavery
- Many Christians, e.g. William Wilberforce, struggled with St Paul's message, as they believed in authority of Scripture
- In end, they rejected Biblical teaching in favour of their conscience
- Today many Christians, such as Desmond Tutu, wrestle between their conscience and biblical condemnation of gay sexual acts
- e.g. in late 18th and 19th centuries, Christians wrestled with issue of slavery
- Made conscience most important element of moral decision making
- Criticisms
- Cannot be questioned
- It is the voice of God within
- Many find this view that conscience cannot be contradicted hard to accept. esepecially when it goes against teachings of the church
- Those who oppose idea of conscience argue that it is not possible to verify whether it is God's voice or self-delusion
- It also raised issues of a God who contradicts himself if conscience of one person leads that individual to do precisely reverse of someone else
- Example
- In 1951, Protestant citizens of Toulouse rose in revolt against their Catholic rulers
- They were led by their conscience to do so
- A few weeks later, they were butchered by Catholics, whose consciences told them that Protestantism was a cancer to French state that needed to be destroyed
- It might be argued that neither side demonstrated love of God, which Augustine's conscience was meant to reveal
- In 1951, Protestant citizens of Toulouse rose in revolt against their Catholic rulers
- Cannot be questioned
- Influenced by Plato
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