What is ratio? (aquinas)
- -He believes ratio was a God-given gift to distinguish us from animals. The Bible refers to humans being made in God’s image and likeness (Genesis 1:27) and it’s therefore, according to Christians, placed in every person.
- -Ratio is more than simply comprehending things, understanding them or perfecting them. Ratio moves us in our thinking from one thing to another. It’s an act of working things out.
- -Aquinas was inspired by the Biblical story of Paul’s letter to Romans (1:20), which suggests that we can move from the knowledge of this world to knowledge of eternal world. Ratio connects us to the eternal realm, people say they are having a powerful sense of the wrongness or rightness of something and Christians might describe this as a connection to a higher knowledge, some eternal or divine insight.
What is synderesis? (aquinas)
- -Aquinas thought that within each human there’s a principle called Synderesis, which directs us towards good and away from evil.
- -He believes that there is a sensuality (pleasure seeking) within each of us, which tempts us towards evil. This is seen in the Biblical story of the Garden of Eden where Eve and Adam were tempted to eat the forbidden fruit.
- -But, while Aquinas thought that both Synderesis and sensuality are present in humans, he was sure about the outcome of any conflict between them.
What is conscienta? (aquinas)
–For Aquinas, conscience is an act within a human person arising when the knowledge gained from the application of ratio to Synderesis is applied to something we do. Conscience is ‘reason making right decisions’ (Summa Theologica); it’s not a voice giving us commands.
What is ignorance? (aquinas)
- -Aquinas believes in the importance of conscience, even when you are wrong and your actions lead to bad outcomes. To go against reason is wrong, as Paul says ‘everything that does not come from faith is sin’ (Romans 14:23). For Aquinas, we gain faith (in God) through our conscience, and we gain our consciousness from ratio.
- -Aquinas believes we should do what we think is right, and that humans can, using reason, deduce what is right. Aquinas believes we make mistakes because our knowledge is wrong or incomplete, and ratio relies on our knowledge.
What are the 2 types of ignorance?
Vincible ignorance and invincible ignorance
What is vincible ignorance?
–Vincible ignorance is a lack of knowledge for which a person can be held responsible; they ought to have known better. They can’t say that ‘conscience’ justifies their action.
What is invincible ignorance?
–Invincible ignorance is a lack of knowledge for which someone isn’t responsible. It’s when a person acts to the best of their knowledge, having done all they can to reasonably inform themselves, but nevertheless the wrong outcome still occurs. Aquinas doesn’t believe that God will condemn humans for invincible ignorance. If they fear God and live according to their conscience, God, in his infinite mercy, will give them salvation.
Explain Aquinas’ example for ignorance
- -Aquinas uses an example where a man mistakes his use of reason and commits adultery. This is clearly an evil act based on ignorance of the divine law, the commandment prohibiting adultery, which he should already know. But, if the misjudgement comes about by thinking the woman really is his own wife, and if she wants him, then his will is free from fault. Aquinas uses this unlikely scenario to make the point that human beings must do what their ratio tells them is right. He is deliberately trying to emphasise that a person isn’t blameworthy for invincible ignorance, for making a mistake, even when the mistake involves breaking the commandment against adultery, an act that the Bible suggest should be punishable by death (Deuteronomy 22:22).
- -Following conscience is the priority in making a moral action. Although it seems unlikely that anyone would believe a man who said he thinks the woman he slept with was his wife when she wasn’t, the point that is being made is that we make moral decisions when they have imperfect information. This because we are finite creatures and can never have all the facts about a situation available.
What is conscientia in operation?
–Aquinas believes if we practice good habits and work towards the good (Synderesis), your reason (ratio) will help you to act well. And if you try to gather knowledge to inform your decisions then your actions can’t be blameworthy (invincible ignorance) even if there are things you do not know. This is conscientia in operation.
What does Aquinas acknowledge pragmatically?
–Aquinas’s acknowledges, pragmatically, that we make mistakes, but argues that a person shouldn’t be blamed for a genuine mistake arising from invincible ignorance.His basic positive view of human inclination towards the good is tempted by an awareness of the sensual temptations that draw us away from synderesis.
Why can Aquinas’ approach to conscience be criticised?
–His approach to conscience can be criticised for failing to take into account the social, political, environmental and economic pressures that affect a person’s moral decision-making. Shame and guilt, regrets about past actions and a misplaced sense of duty are just some of the factors that affect our conscience and heavily influence our moral decision-making.
Explain Freud’s psychological approach to conscience
o In his book, ‘An outline of psychoanalysis’ and ‘The ego and the id’, Sigmund Freud argued conscience isn’t based on rational decision-making, it’s a product of psychological factors that influence us in ways that may or may not be healthy.
o Freud developed the theory of psychosexual development. He argued that psychological development takes place in a series of fixed stages, and each stage is linked with the libido (sexual desires).
o The libido is a source of pleasure, frustration or both.
According to Freud, what are the psychosexual stages of development?
- Oral (0-1 years): concerned with withholding and swallowing.
- Anal (1-3 years): concerned with withholding and expelling.
- Phallic (3-6 years): concerned with masturbation.
- Latency (6 to puberty): concerned with the absence of sexual motivation.
- Genital (puberty to adulthood): concerned with sexual intercourse.
Why are Freud’s theories about genital controversial?
o Freud’s theories about genitals are controversial. He thought frustrated women envy penises, and boys suffer from a fear of castration (Snip-snip down there) and have deep desires to replace their father to have exclusive possession of their mother (this known as Oedipus complex).
o While most of his thinking has now been challenged or rejected, his most famous discovery was the idea that there is an inner unconscious that interacts with our conscious awareness of our actions.
What does Freud believe our mind is made from?
- -Unconscious mind
- -Preconscious mind
- -Conscious mind
What is unconscious mind?
Unconscious mind: the repressed thoughts and feelings, including primitive desires, wish fulfilment, pleasure and dreams of gratification.
What is preconscious mind?
Preconscious mind: the memories not readily available but accessible.
What is conscious mind?
Conscious mind: the thoughts a person currently has, which the unconscious mind can’t access.
What are the 3 aspects of the human personality?
o The three aspects of the human personality (the id, the ego and the super-ego) operate at different levels of the mind.
What is the Id?
- -The id is an unconscious aspect of personality that’s present from birth. It’s driven by the pleasure principle; it seeks immediate pleasure. If the striving for immediate pleasure fails to satisfy all wants, needs and desires, then anxiety and tension result.
- -For instance, the desire for food or drink to satisfy hunger or thirst is really strong and drives infants to cry when they want food or drinks.
- -Libido is central to our personality, sexual pleasure and sexuality begins in early childhood. Children show an early interest in their genitals and form sexual interests in other people.
- -For Freud, the libido drives the id to desire sexual pleasure, and we feel frustrated if that desire isn’t satisfied.
- -It’s not always possible to satisfy all of the id’s desires. For example, food may not be available, and hunger may go unsatisfied. Freud thought in situations where satisfaction was not possible, the id would imagine being satisfied. E.g. when we’re hungry, we would imagine having food to please our gratification.
What is ego?
- -It’s not socially acceptable to seek immediate gratification for all of our desires, i.e. to act on all of the impulses of the id. If we did we would be lustful, greedy and angry.
- -When we are young we are taught by our parents and by wider society what is, and isn’t, socially acceptable and we develop tactics to satisfy our desires in ways that don’t disrupt society’s rules.
- -This negotiation between the id and social norms is governed by the ego. The ego is driven by the reality principle.
- -Freud used the analogy of a horse and its rider to explain the relationship between the id and the ego. The rider (the ego) manages and guides the horse (the id).
- -Delayed gratification is a strategy used by the ego to manage the tensions caused when the id’s desires aren’t immediately satisfied. The pleasurable activity is put off until a time and place when it will not be viewed as inappropriate.
- -A good conscious can, therefore, be seen as the effective operation of the ego over the id, where desires are achieved in such a way as to avoid punishment from social authorities.
- -Meaning the ego moderate our behaviour so that it’s socially acceptable. In this way, our ego acts as our conscious.
- -E.g. when we are hungry in school, we don’t eatin lesson as it’s looked down upon. This activity is delayed until we go to a suitable place to eat (the dining hall).
What is super ego?
- -This part of the human psyche is developed around the age of five. The super-ego is the source of inner moral standards of right and wrong that children acquire from their family and society.
- -Fulfilling society’s rules leads to a sense of pride and accomplishment, approval and recognition. Failing to live up to these rules leads to criticism, punishment and guilt.
- -The super-ego dominating over the ego means a person would avoid actions that might result in them breaking the rules.
- -If we act on our desires, we will feel guilty. This can interrupt the balance between the id and the ego and make it difficult for the ego to manage the id.
Explain the sense of Freud’s psychological approach to conscience
- -Barbara Engler and Bernado Carducci, using Freud’s teaching, say the id, ego and super-ego aren’t separate but rather they represent a variety of different processes, functions and dynamics within the person.
- -Later psychologists developed Freud’s theory with specific reference to conscience. They argued that conscience has a mature and an immature dimension.
- -The mature dimension is healthy and is identified with the ego’s search for truth. It’s concerned with what’s right and wrong. The mature conscience looks outwards to the world and the future, developing new insights into situations.
- -The immature conscience deals with our guilty feelings and acts out a desire to seek approval from others.
- -Conflicts between the mature and immature dimensions of conscience emerges when we make moral decisions. On the one hand, I feelguilty about something as I was brought up to think it was wrong. On the other hand, I no longer believe it’s wrong. The immature conscience urges us to conform to the will of the majority in order to live in harmony with others in society, while the mature conscience encourages us to persue individual self-fulfilment.
Comparison of Aquinas and Freud on guilt
One way of thinking about guilt is that it’s the conscious telling a person they have done wrong.
According to Aquinas, guilt is the sense that an action isn’t good or accordance with divine law. Synderesis indicates that things aren’t right, and guilt is the result. For Aquinas,guilt helps God to restore a proper relationship with a person. The consequences of sin are damaging as they disrupt a person’s relationship with God. To reunite, guilt must end and good relations must be re-established.
Freud’s approach is that guilt is a result of internal; conflict in the mind; the struggle between what you desire and what you feel you should or shouldn’t do. ‘The tension between the demands of conscience and the actual demands of the ego is experienced as a sense of guilt’ (Freud, ‘The Ego and the Id’).
Both shame and guilt seem to be present in the story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis, a story that informed Aquinas’ thinking about guilt. In Genesis 3:6-10- after eating from the fruit of knowledge, Adam and Eve realise they are naked and cover themselves with fig leaves. When they hear God coming nearby, they quickly hide due to the shame that God will see them naked.
Both Freud and Aquinas see the links between guilt and desire. For Freud it was sexual, while for Aquinas it embraced all sensual desires.
For Aquinas, they gave into sensual pleasures when they were tempted by the fruit of knowledge. Thus, they experienced guilt when they realised they were naked and had done wrong.
In a Freudian perspective, the story illustrates the tension between desire for the fruit of knowledge encouraged by the id and then the sense of guilt at having done something that God forbade as a manifestation of the super-ego.
