The Conscience

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  • The Conscience
    • First applied by Aquinas, who defined it as the mind of man making moral judgements.
      • Its part of Natural Law that allows us to derive the basic laws rationally
      • In Summa Theologica  the conscience is the 'application of knowledge  to activity'
      • Recto ratio is right reason. it is an intellectual process of gaining knowledge and sifting through evidence logically.
        • In Summa Theologica  the conscience is the 'application of knowledge  to activity'
      • weaknesses
        • Different societies have different moral laws
        • There are different  opinions about morals
          • Aquinas says that if reasoning is done well then there will be the same conclusion
        • If it is part of natural law then isn't consistent with the modern understanding of how nature works
    • For Cardinal Newman The Conscience is a messenger of God.
      • By following our conscience we are following Divine Law.
      • The conscience does not invent the truth it detects it.
      • He wrote that "feeling ashamed or frightened at transgressing the voice of conscience, implies that there is one to who we are responsible.
      • Influenced by Augustine
    • Augustine believed the voice of God whispers to us about what is right and wrong.
      • "You must turn inward and see God as your witness"
      • It is the divine love.
      • The most important element of moral decision making
      • The problem with the conscience is that it cannot be questioned.
    • Freud had a radically different belief system. He believed our sense of the soul is the mechanistic functioning of the mind, the operation of the Super ego.
      • He believed that the conscience is the controlling, restraining self. The values learnt in childhood as we internalize the disapproval of others, creates a guilty conscience, which leads us to our moral decisions.
      • A criticism  is can you call this a conscience.
    • Piaget did not believe in religious explanation and you could see conscience develop over time.
      • He was a developmental psychologist
      • His theory  was that between 11-15 we develop reason through abstract concepts.
        • This means people only develop from a heterogeneous morality to a autonomous morality.
          • This was supported by Colburge, who believed there were different stages of human development
    • Fromm believed that there were two types of conscience.
      • An authoritarian conscience which is ruled by external authorities, which if you disobey you are punished by guilt.
        • Fromm used the example of Nazi Germany, where people were made to feel guilty by helping the Jews.
      • Humanistic approach is where experience gives us moral honesty. It leads us to realize our potential.
    • The Roman Catholic Church believes that the conscience is the law of the heart and that it is a law written by God.
      • At the second Vatican Council they said "to obey it is the very dignity of man, according to it we will be judged."
    • Problems with the idea of the Conscience with religion.
      • People go against this moral conscience. So if its the voice of God who's fault is it if we do bad things/
      • Why do Christians have different views on morals.
      • The Eurythro Dilemma
      • If you're Atheist, why do you have a conscience.
    • The Bible say in Jeremiah, "I will put my law in their minds and write it in their hearts."
      • The Old and New Testament say that we have a divine morality.
    • Oxford Dictionary: "A person's moral sense of right and wrong, viewed as acting as  a guide to one's behaviour"
    • Joseph Butler, an Anglican Bishop, believed the conscience was the faculty of reflection. This means it separates us from other sentient beings.
      • The part of process that humans have when they are aware of their own situation.
      • The human being's reflective nature is what develops the conscience.
      • The Rolls Sermon were written to encourage criminal lawyers that criminals have no conscience and that is why they they break the law.
        • Butler saw the conscience as the voice of God. He thought it was selfish, 'In everything you do to others as you would have them do to you'
      • Critisimes
        • Self esteem should not be the basis for a conscience.
        • It makes all criminals seem innocent instead of guilty.

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