Conscience

What is the conscience?

Believed to be the inner-voice that tells us what is right and wrong,• When people feel satisfaction or guilt it is seen as the conscience

1 of 36

What does the bible say about conscience?

The bible doesn’t use the word “conscience” but does speak of the “heart” of man that carries divine laws , Jesus said those “pure of heart” will one day see God. Saint Paul also talks about Gods law being written on the hearts of humans

2 of 36

What has God given people the ablity to do?

God has given the ability to know right or wrong even to those who don’t directly know him

3 of 36

What does Matthew say about the pure of heart?

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” (Mt 5:8)

4 of 36

What did Augustine of Hippo believe?

Conscience is the voice of God speaking to us, which we must seek within ourselves, • Conscience is a tool for observing the law of God within human hearts

5 of 36

What did Saint Thomas Aquinas believe about the conscience?

did not see it as innate knowledge as ight or wrong, but God gave us the ability to use reason to make correct ethical decisions

6 of 36

What did Aquinas belive Ratio was?

a divine gift from God, a fundamental part of human beings, an act of working things out, ratio connects us to the eternal realm

7 of 36

What did Aquias belive Synderesis is?

regular use of right reason, a collection of moral principles which we discover through observation of NL, we must have a completed synderesis for our conscience to be moral-aquired through learning from mistakes, "synderesis rule"=do good avoid evil

8 of 36

Why does apparent goods come about?

comes about due to a flawed synderesis, it is an error made knowingly

9 of 36

What did Aquinas believe about the conscience?

god given faculty but not the diect voice of God, it allows us to diffrenctiate between the good and the bad, two aspects of the conscience (synderesis and conscientia), "the mind of man making moral decisions"

10 of 36

What did Aquinas believe Conscientia is?

ability to execute synderesis in a practical sense, derives secondary precepts and applues them, and we make mistakes if we fail to inform our consciences on which moral principles are correct

11 of 36

What is vincible ignorant?

within the realm of duty, you should be knowledgable (giving money to a homeless man, despite having good intentions it could keep him on the streets longer)

12 of 36

What is invincible ignorance?

factors that are beyond our control (giving money to a homeless shelter thinking yor helping when the homeles could be abused without you knowledge)

13 of 36

What are the strengths of Aquinas' ideas?

recognises conscience has sorting function, recognises role of reason instead of just emotions, he says it's not God which means he recognises consciences can be misguided, protects our freedom of choice

14 of 36

what are the weaknesses of Aquinas' ideas?

if god gave us reason he could be indirectly controlling him, rests on NL being built in to creation, more complex, requires supernatural being, we make quick decicions in new diallemas showing that we dont undego a length process of reasoning

15 of 36

What did Butle believe about the conscience?

allows us to act as a moral judge, directs us away from the selfish pursuit of our own interests, ability to use reason to detemine rightness of actuin, gives us instant intuitive judgements about what we should do, we do what our conscience says

16 of 36

What is Butler's quote on conscience?

"There is a principle of reflection in men by which they distinguish between approval and disapproval of their own actions…this principle in man…is conscience”

17 of 36

What did newman say the conscience was?

“a messenger of him, who both in nature and in grace, speaks to us behind a veil, and teaches and rules us by his representatives" Innate voice of God, a clear indication of the right thing to do.

18 of 36

What does Newman believe many of us ae guilty of?

A counterfeit- a conscience shaped by society

19 of 36

What are the problems with saying the conscience is the innate voice of God?

God can be blamed for bad decisions, questions autonomy, if you dont believe in Gof you are unable to use his guidance, suggests God is in time, God is perfect so cannot come in to contact with negativity

20 of 36

What are the stages of Freuds psychosexual development?

oral 1-3 yrs (sucking and swallowing), Anal 1-3 yrs (withholding and expelling), Phallic 3-6 yrs (masturbation), Latency 6 yrs to puberty (absence of sexual motivation, Genital puberty to adulthood (sexual intercourse)

21 of 36

What are the three parts if the mind?

Unconscious (repressed thoughts and feelings) Preconscious (memories not readily available but accessible), Conscious (thoughts we currently have which is not accesible by the unconscious mind)

22 of 36

What are the three aspects of human personality?

ID (basic instincts) Ego (mediator between ID and super ego, most outward personality), super ego (consists of Ego-ideal which praises good actions and conscience which makes us feel guilt for bad actions)

23 of 36

What did Freud believe about conscience?

originated in human mind, cannot be voice of God due to differing ethical opinions, the social creation of conscience comes from the desire to please the authority. a christian conscience is unhealthy due to rules it imposes

24 of 36

How does Freuds ideas question whether conscience is innate or required?

If it is innate then it should operate the same in each individual. However differences show that moral principles could be acquired and conscience is just the ability to apply rules- so conscience could still be innate

25 of 36

What are the weaknesses of Freuds ideas?

If conscience is an expression of the unconscious application of rules that we were given in childhood it cannot be taken seriously in ethical decisions, if our conscience comes from unconscious promptings from early years then are we really free

26 of 36

What are the strengths to a psychological approach?

recognises role of guilt, accounts for cultural differences, doesn't propse supernatural deity, differing feelings of guilt can be explained by upbringing, values are learned so it makes sense to think morals are learned

27 of 36

What are the weaknesses of a psychological approach?

seems to be common laws that all people hold true so isn't culturally determined, if uprbring and social factors are the only factors then 2 people in same familt should have same values, moral obligation to strong to reflect societal norms

28 of 36

Who was Jean Piaget?

Psychologist who focused on work in cognitive development for children, he said morals were a result of cognitive development?

29 of 36

What did Piaget notice?

children playing in three stages: playing in there own, playing with others with a sense of absolutions, a more co-operative phase of compromise

30 of 36

What did he believe about children under and over 11?

Children under 11 only look at consequences of actions but children over 11 take intentions in to account, by the age of 11 of child should have required a fully developed conscience

31 of 36

What is Heteronomous autonomy?

-(ages 5-10) conscience is immature, rules are not meant to be broken and punishments are expected if they are. Consequences of action will show a child whether an action is right or wrong.

32 of 36

What is Autonomus Morality?

(above age 10)- develop own rules and understand how rules operate in a society, they are less dependent on others for moral authority

33 of 36

What did Lawerence Kohlberg believe?

People move from behaving in socially acceptable ways because they are told to do so by authority figures and want to gain approval, development occurs through social interaction

34 of 36

What was Erich Fromms early ideas?

external authorities as we grow up apply rules and punishments, A guilty conscience is a result of displeasing the authority, if the authority is God then we will feel an immense fear of being rejected, when we feel guilt we become more submissive

35 of 36

What was Fromms later ideas?

we assess and evaluate our own behaviour. Our experiences, teachings and examples by others help us to form our own personal integrity, we then assess our own success as a moral agent

36 of 36

Get Revising

Conscience

Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Back

Card 3

Front

Back

Card 4

Front

Back

Card 5

Front

Back

Comments

Similar Religious Studies resources: