Conscience- Aquinas and Freud

Ratio- reason. This is placed in every person as a result of being created by God. In the case of conscience this is reason of the practical sort,requiring careful judgements of individual circumstances. 

Synderisis- an inner principle, impanted by God in all persons, directing a person towards good and away from evil.

Conscientia- a person's reason making moral judgments. In general, the conscience, but in Aquians used to distinguish idnivdual acts of conscience- in which we may be mistaken. 

Vincible ignorance- ignorance which we could easily overcome and for which we are blameworthy.

Invincible ignorance- ignorance which cannot be overcome by my own efforts and for which I cannot be blamed. 

1. We should always seek what is good and are naturally inclined to do so (synderisis)

2. Reason decides what is good

3. Part of the definition of 'good' is 'rationally chosen'

4. Therefore, what our reason tells us is good is the good to be pursued 

5. Therefore, if we do not follow our reason, we are seeking somehtng which our reason tells us is not good.

6. Therefore, we must always follow our reason

Super-ego - Freudian term for that part of the psyche which is the internalised voice of our parents and other authority figures. It contradicts the id and, by working internalised ideals recieved from our parents, it tries to make the ego act 'morally' 

Id- Freudian term for the basic self and its drives. It refers to instinctive impulses that seek satisfaction in pleasure.

Ego- In Freudian thought, the idea of the rational self, capable of exercising some control over the id, the primitive self. It mediates between the id and the demands of social interaction.

Psychosexual development- we are innately sexual beings who go through various stages of development, which he calls oral, anal, phallic, latent and genital. 

Oedipus complex- Boys inherited reasons subconsciously wish to sleep with their mothers and kill their fathers. 

Post hoc, propter hoc fallacy- Literally 'after this, because of this'. The logical error of assuming that because one event follows another that therefore the first event caused the the second. 

The mature dimension- healthy and is identified with the ego's search for integrity. Concerned with right and wrong and acts dynamically and responsively on things of value. Looks outwards to the world and the future, developing new insights into situations. 

The immature dimension- compromises the mass of guilty feelings that humans acquire in the early years as their super-ego deveolops. Guilty feelings have little to do with the rational importance of the action the person is feeling guilty about. Acting out of a desire to seek apporval from others. 

We are all influenced by external authorities. Individuals internalise these rules. Guilty conscience is displeasing the authority. Free will is an illusion we imagine we have free will, and we have a choice and our moral views are personal. 

Fromm argued that in the more liberal and tolerant societies of modern Europe and America, it is not the church or the state that creates the group conscience. 

This belief leads to From developing a Marxist understanding of the liebral economy and its moral conscience. 

Fromm argues that humans are predetermined creatures. This determinism sits uncomforatbly with Fromm's view that life offers hope. 

How is it possible to rise above alienation if everyone is determined to be alienated. 

Fromm analysed the situation but did not establish the cure. 

Michael Foucault argued that the conscience acts to condemn the individual and not to liberate

How is conscience based on love of and for life to be used?