8. Conscience: Freud's approach - conscience is guilt

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  • 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 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
    • 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
    • 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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