conscious

conscious is often associated with something that tells us what is right or wrong

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  • Created by: laila777
  • Created on: 14-01-15 16:15

conscience, non-secular views

Butler's view of conscience: he believes that conscious come from God and that it's the hightest and most powerful thing in the human hierachy because it is given from God and because it differentiates us from animals and therefore it makes us more suprior because we have suprior knowledge. butler believes that humans share a human nature and that morality is simply a matter of following human nature. he believed that were influenced by selflove (desire for happiness for the self) and benevolence (desire for the happiness of others). Butler suggests that the conscience adjudicates between these two interests and it behaves as a guide. the conscience is a girt from God and has the absolute supreme authoirty in ethical judgemnt and its role is to show the way towards the good. it then directs us towards focusing on the benevolence and away from self-love. From Butler it is an intrinsic part of human nature and to dismiss morality is to dent that intrinsic part of human nature. 

Newman's view of conscience: he believes conscience is God's voice and through God's voice we understand what is right and wrong. He believes this because he says that it's surprising that an individual can feel guilty for an action even when it's impossible for others to know. it is that feeling of guilt that proves that conscience comes from God. he also said that conscience does not create truth, but it does detect truth that already exists. it is the responsibility of a person to intuitively decide what truth God is guiding them towards. therefore, for newman following conscience was following the Divine law which must be followed at all times. 

Aquinas' view of conscience: he believes that conscience comes from our reasoning, it's the voice of our reasoning and because of it we are able to distinguish what is right and wrong.  he argued that there was two parts to making a moral decision: 1- the synderesis: this is the right reason, the awareness of being able to do good and prevent evil. 2-the conscienta: it distinguishes between right and wrong and applies this knowledge in making the moral decision. he believed that those who did wrong pursued an apparent good (something they believe is good but doesn't actually fit the human ideal) and not a real good (one that did fit the human ideal).

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