8. Conscience: Freud's approach - conscience is guilt
- Created by: Alasdair
- Created on: 26-06-17 19:21
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- 8. Freud's approach - conscience is guilt
- There is no such thing as the soul and Freud's view on the mind was essentially mechanistic
- The human personality consisted of three areas:
- The Super-Ego
- Set of moral controls given to us by outside influences
- Our moral code or conscience
- Is often in conflict with the id
- The Ego
- Conscious self
- The part seen by the outside world
- The id
- Unconscious self
- The part of the mind containing basic drives and repressed memories
- It is amoral, has no concerns about right and wrong and is only concerned with itself
- The Super-Ego
- The conscience is most clearly connected with sense of guilt we feel when we go against our conscience
- Conscience then is simply a construct of the mind
- In religious people this would be in response to perceptions of God
- in non-religious people it would be their responses to externally imposed authority
- Conscience then is simply a construct of the mind
- There is no absolute moral law
- All our moral codes, and thus the content of our consciences, are shaped by our experiences
- It is culturally dependent and this explains varieties of moral codes that are to be found in different societies
- The super-ego internalises the disapproval of others and creates the guilty conscience which grows into an internal force regardless of any individual rational thought or reflection
- Is it not just a form of moral control which traps us in its grasp?
- Strengths
- Conscience is independent of God
- No problem with interpretation/ignoring voice of God
- Explains different moralities either social or cultural because of different authorities
- Explains our feelings of guilt
- Conscience is independent of God
- Weaknesses
- Conscience responds to things other than guilt
- Conscience itself does not have authority
- We choose whether or not to follow it
- Sometimes a guilty conscience leads to morality (questioned authorities)
- It's dismissive of religion + hope, meaning religion gives to people
- Learned conscience cannot be reliable
- Depends on morality of authorities
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