Conscience definition
-generally seen as a moral faculty, sense or feeling which compels individuals to believe that particular activities are morally right or wrong
Aquinas Ratio
- to understand conscience you must understand ratio
- distinguishes humans from other animals
- divine gift from God
- progressive in a direction towards judgement
- morality is not following cultural opinions
- Pope Benedict XVI: “justice is trampled underfoot by weakness, cowardice and fear of the diktat of the ruling mindset.”
- ratio reaches beyond waht is socially acceptable to a higher morality
Aquinas Synderthesis
- directs us towards good and away from evil
- sensuality in us that leads us towards evil
- humans use ratio to cultivate the habits
Aquinas Conscientia
- an act within a person applied when the knowledge gained from the application of ratio to synderthesis is applied to something we do
- ‘conscience is reason making right decisions’
Aquinas Ignorance
-Going against reason is always wrong ‘everything that does not come from faith is sin’
St Paul: ‘what the law requires is written on the human heart’
Vincible ignorance: lack of knowledge for which a person can be held responsible as they could of gained the knowledge
Invincible ignorance: lack of knowledge for which a person is not responsible as they acted to the best of their knowledge
Id
-basic impulses; seeking immediate gratification; irrational and impulsive. Operates at unconscious level
Superego
-ideals and morals; striving ofr perfection; incorporated from parents; becoming a person’s conscience. Operates mostly at preconscious level
Ego
-Executive mediating between id impulses and superego inhibitions; testing reality; rational. Operates mainly at conscious level but also at pre conscious level.
horse analogy
ego manages and guides the id like a jockey would manage and guide a horse
