Conscience

Question 1

What does Kohlberg say about the conscience?

Answer 1

• Three levels in moral development: pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional
• First level is understanding of right and wrong as the right is rewarded and the wrong is punished
• Second level is the decision to obey society’s rules and thus avoid guilt
• The final level is a recognition that where the needs of individuals and society conflict, the individual must give way to society. This also means a development of conscience
• Reached and tested his conclusions with moral dilemmas

Question 2

What does Freud say about conscience?

Answer 2

• Three aspects of the mind: the id, the ego and the super-ego
• The super-ego has an important role in developing morality and it acts as the ‘inner parent’
• Rules and regulations are internalised so we can’t escape them, to try do so brings about guilt

Question 3

What does Durkheim say about conscience?

Answer 3

• Argued that the conscience is social conditioning
• God is society, he doesn’t exist but is a useful idea as a belief in God gives individuals a moral obligation to obey society’s demands
• To say someone has no conscience is merely to say that they aren’t well adjusted in society
• For him, an act is simply bad because society disapproves of it
• Conscience is a mechanism whereby the group grows stronger so conscience has evolutionary value

Question 4

What does Fromm say about conscience?

Answer 4

• A conscience rises out of fear and being rejected by society
• Argues that people aren’t really troubled by a moral issue, they are troubled because they have disobeyed a command, they have an authoritarian conscience
• He also argues that we have a humanistic conscience, that is intuitive of what is human and inhuman, what makes life flourish and what destroys it
• To reject the authoritarian and embrace the humanistic is to free ourselves and realise our full potential

Question 5

What does Schleiermacher say about conscience?

Answer 5

• Conscience is a source of direct revelation form God, so to disobey it is a sin
• For him, conscience is part of what God does, guiding people from within
• As direct revelation, this takes priority over all else

Question 6

What does Butler say about conscience?

Answer 6

• Conscience is in human nature, it is a reflective principle placed in us by God
• It is a natural guide, so it is our duty to follow it
• He says our conscience is based on prudence and benevolence
• By prudence he means our natural love of self and benevolence is natural love of others
• Both are equally as necessary to the balanced self
• As a judge, the conscience works intuitively
• Since this is a God-given faculty, it must be followed