Ethics Conscience

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Aquinas

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- God given ability to reason

- Conscience is not given by God, as we must follow our reason to be in the image of God

- Aquinas thought that practical reason, through reflection on human nature, can determine primary moral principles (which he called the 'Primary Precepts'). Our 'conscience' then derives secondary principles ('Secondary Precepts') which are applied. As we practice balancing our needs against the needs of others, we develop Prudence.

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Aquinas - conscience goes wrong

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- Aquinas said that a person's conscience could err (go wrong), either 'invincibly', through no fault of their own, or 'vincibly' - through our own fault. For example, if I give money to a man who is begging on the streets, I have good intentions, but my actions are actually unhelpful. If I had considered my actions carefully, I would have seen that I wasn't helping him to improve his situation - if anything, my actions would keep him on the streets longer. I erred 'vincibly', as I would have done differently if I'd thought about it.

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Butler

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He believed, as Aquinas did, that we have a God-given ability to reason. Butler would say that we must listen to our conscience because it allows us to act as a moral judge. It is not an intuitive feeling about what is right - instead, it is an ability to use reason to weigh up factors in a moral decision.

- Butler says we have a number of influences, but the conscience should not be seen as merely one among many drives or passions. The conscience should have ultimate authority over all of our instincts.

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Newman

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- Unlike Butler and Aquinas, Newman believed that the conscience was innate and God given

- Newman described conscience as a 'law of the mind', but he did not see it as giving us commandments to follow. The conscience is not a set of rules, a feeling of guilt or something that we obey in order to gain a reward from God. It is a clear indication of what is right:

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Freud

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- Freud's theory of the conscience is entirely at odds with all of the positions above. He saw the conscience as part of the unconscious mind, and believed that it arose as a result of bad experiences early in life, as well as disapproval from parents and society. This negative aspect of the human psyche, part of and sometimes equated with the 'superego', is not usually in control of our actions, or not in those with healthy minds. Freud taught that 'ego', our conscious personality, usually balanced the pull of the 'id' (our desires) and the 'superego' (our guilt).To be ruled by your superego would make you overly judgmental, inflexible and irrational. Freud would argue against allowing the conscience to have control over our decisions about how to act.

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Piaget

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-He believed that by studying human behaviour, you could see how conscience develops over time. It certainly isn't something that humans are born with. He highlighted four developmental stages:

-0-2 years. During this stage, babies would learn about the world around them through their senses and by moving about. They become able to differentiate themselves from the world around them and learn about the permanence of objects.

-2-7 years. During this stage, children develop language, although they find it hard to see the world from a viewpoint other than their own. They classify things by single shared features. - 8-11 years. They are able to think logically to develop explanations about the world around them.

- 11-15 year. They can reason using abstract concepts. They begin to think about the future, the hypothetical and ideological issues.According to this model, a person doesn't have a fully functioning conscience before the age of 11.