ratio
Aquinas argues that all humans are created with ‘ratio’ - reason placed in each of us as a result of beng created ‘imago dei’.
Synderesis
- our natural desire to do good and avoid evil
- synderesis tells us the primary precepts: worship God, live in an orderly society, reproduce, educate, protect and preserve human life and defend the innocent.
- These primary precepts are the articulation of the orientations in our nature toward the good; the natural inclinations of our God-designed human nature, put into the form of ethical principles by human reason.
Consienta
- The primary precepts are applied to situations or types of actions – a process called conscientia.
- Natural law is Aquinas’ theory on how God is the grounding and source of morality. Conscience is about the human psychology involved in understanding and applying natural moral law.
- Conscience is ratio (reason) used to understand and apply God’s natural law.
Real vs apparent goods
We might reason that something is in accord with our nature’s goal and is thus good, when really is not. Such actions are called apparent goods because they only appear good to someone engaged in faulty reasoning. They are not real goods. Despite this potential for our conscience judging something bad to be good, Aquinas still insists we must follow it
Whether errors in conscience that lead to sinful acts will be forgiven depends on what?
Whether errors in conscience that lead to sinful acts will be forgiven or pardoned depends on the type of ignorance that caused the error.
What is invincible ignorance?
Invincible ignorance involves circumstances where a person could not have known better and so are not to blame for their action.
What example does Aquinas give of invincible ignorance?
Aquinas gives a highly implausable example. If a man were to sleep with someone other than his wife but whom he mistakenly believes is his wife, then this is not something that he should be held morally responsible for.
What is vincible ignorance?
Involves circumstances where a person could have known better and so are to blame for their action. It typically involves some kind of negligence or ignorance of which moral principle is relevant to a situation.
What example does Aquinas give of vincible ignorance?
Of a person comitting adultery. the person has applied their reasoning incorrectly, believing that on some level the affair is good. They should, however, have known the divine law ‘Do not commit adultery’ . They are responsible for this lack of knowledge.
Criticisms of Aquinas’ view of the conscience
- Research carried out on moral development by thinkers such as Piaget shows that moral thinking develops over time. this suggests that Aquinas is wrong in suggesting that synderesis is innate
- Fails to take into account the social and environmental factors that seem to affect peoples moral views
- Leads to an unhelpful conclusion that we should obey our conscience even if it is in error.
- Over-optimistic about human nature. His view of apparent goods is naive, suggesting that people do not deliberatly choose evil acts.
What is meant by descriptive moral reasoning?
Aquinas was not as aware of different cultures as we are today. As we now know thanks to modern anthropology, there are vastly different moral beliefs across cultures; this is called descriptive moral relativism.
Who uses descriptive moral reasoning to criticise descriptive moral realism?
Fletcher made the argument that this could be taken as evidence that there is not an innate God-given ability of reason to discover the natural law, since then we should expect more moral agreement. Freud would argue that it is society which conditions our moral views. There either is no natural moral law or human reason is unable to discover it. So, what Aquinas thought was human nature was really just his culture.
What are the three aspects of our personality according to freud?
Freud thought the conscience was just the result of psychological forces that science could understand. Freud believed the mind was divided into the Id (our unconscious animalistic desires), Ego (Our conscious decision-making self) and the Super Ego (the part of us that “stores” the values we introjected ((unconsciously adopted)) from authority figures during childhood and is the source of our moral feelings).
Who was freud influenced by?
Freud was influenced by Nietzsche who argued that human conscious mind (what Freud called the ego) developed by necessity when humans underwent the radical change from hunter-gatherer to farmer.
Why did our conscience develop according to Freud?
Our natural animalistic instincts (What Freud called the Id) were of less use to us in the new environment of society, in fact they were a hinderance as they called on us to behave in ways that would make society fall apart. Consciousness emerged as the space in-between our instincts and the outside world as a mediator which had to decide which instincts to act on and which not to.
What is the ego?
Our conscious decision making self. It is the part of our personality that mediated between the id and the demands of social interaction. The ‘reality principle’
What is the Id?
Our conscious animalistic desires. It is the instinctive impulses that seek satisfaction in pleasure. The ‘pleasure principle’
The superego
The internalised ideals from parents and society that tries to make the ego behave morally. The ‘morality principle’
Psychosexual stages
What are they in order and what age from and to
1) Oral stage: Between birth and 1.5 years old
2) Anal stage: 1.5 – 3 years old.
3) Phallic stage: 3-6 years old.
4) Latency stage: 6-puberty.
5) Genital stage: Puberty-adulthood
Psychosexual stages general A01
According to freud we all go through set stages of psychological and sexual development. They start at birth and end in late childhood. Characterised by the focus of the libido. Children require specific satisfaction or pleasure during each stage - this is called gratification. If they get too much or too little gratification during a stage they can become fixated, which can lead to a personality type e.g. oral personality, anal expulsive peronality ect
Criticisms of frued
- Karl popper criticised frued for being unscientific; his theories were ‘unfalsifiable’ and lacks empirical evidence. A large amount of Freuds work was based on case studies such as ‘Little Hans’. Thus we cannot be sure that his findings are reliable and he may also be criticised for researcher bias.
- karl popper said it is pseudo-scientific
- Erich Fromm has argued that Frued is only partially correct about the conscience. Many people do not have a conscience that is driven by fear of punishment and authority. This does not explain the acts of those who challenge authority. Fromm argues that there is a humanitarian concience that some of us develop
Key differences between frued and aquinas
- Freud not God-given
- freud linked to unconscious mind whereas Aquinas believed that we actively use and reason
- Frued believes society affects the development of the conscience.
- reasoning incoreectly for Aquinas is often invinsible ignorance. whereas, Frued would argue it is due to internal conflicts and possibly neurotic repression
- Emphasis of guilt
What is conscience the product of for Freud vs Aquinas
- Aquinas: the product of reason. God has created us with the ability to reason and we have the awareness of the moral law (synderesis) within us.
- Freud: conscience is not rational. It is the product of the unconscious mind. It is the internalised voice of our parents and society that is in the superego, and it attempts to restrain the inappropriate desires of the id. The inner struggle is subconscious and hidden from us.
Who develops Freuds view and how?
Erich Fromm. He does not totally agree with freud but he believes that each of us has two consciences: the authoritarian conscience and the humanistsic conscience. It depends on the individual as to which is stronger. For most of us, the authoritarian conscience dominates
