Evaluate Freud’s Psychological Approach to Conscience 11/11/18
Overall, Freud’s psychological approach to the conscience, despite some flaws in his methods
and conclusions, is useful to help us to understand the conscience and to ensure that we do
not rely on it too much as a source of moral guidance. Some scholars such as Newman and
Butler argue that the conscience is directly from God and therefore can never be mistaken and
should never be disobeyed. This view is alarmingly dangerous as we know from modern
psychology that people’s upbringing and development can lead them to be psychologically
disturbed which may lead to people causing harm to others. Aquinas held a different view, one
that involved our ability to reason what is right and wrong. Aquinas’ view is less useful than
Freud’s layered approach however because it fails to explain convincingly our irrational
thoughts such as unreasonable feelings of guilt. Freud’s explanation is useful because it argues
that we have different levels of consciousness which explains how we can be both rational and
irrational beings.
Freud saw the conscience as the irrational part of our unconscious mind – the punishing part of
what he called the superego. He believed that the human mind was made up of 3 parts: the id,
the ego, and the superego. The id is entirely unconscious and only seeks satisfaction, pleasure,
and sexual gratification. The superego is our internalised moral standards (our conscience)
which we acquire from our family and society which drives us to seek approval from our
environment for our actions. The ego is the mediation between the id and the superego which
seeks ways to achieve our desires in a socially acceptable way. Because he believed that the
conscience was acquired rather than being innate it means that our conscience is only as good
as our upbringing and a poor upbringing can lead to skewed morals, a flawed conscience
and/or misguided guilt. Some people are ruled by their superego causing them to be overly
judgemental, inflexible, irrational and having feelings of irrational guilt – this can be extremely
damaging to the wellbeing of the individual. This approach is useful because it allows the
conscience to be questioned and means that people can recognise the flaws in their upbringing
and use this knowledge to try to overcome the ‘voice of the punishing parent’ in their superego
that they know to be irrational and try to improve their mental wellbeing. Freud’s ideas about
the separation of different parts of the mind is also useful and has been accepted by modern
psychologists despite the fact that much of Freud’s thinking -especially that on psychosexual
development – has been rejected.
Later psychologists built on Freud’s psychological approach to the conscience – which shows
that some of Freud’s ideas have been valuable. Some have developed the idea of the mature
and the immature dimension of our conscience. The mature dimension is the healthy rational
part which is concerned with right and wrong and looks out into the world and the future. The
immature dimension is the irrational mass of guilty feelings that we acquire in our early years
which acts out of a desire to see approval from others. These ideas have clear links to that of
Freud’s. Other scholars also built on Freud’s ideas such as Piaget, who believed that the
conscience is acquired (meaning it can be unreliable) and we switch from a heteronomous to
an autonomous conscience around the age of 10; Kohlberg, who also believed that our
conscience is acquired and develops as we age from a pre-conventional (obedience driven),
conventional (social acceptance drive) and perhaps to a post-conventional conscience
(universal ethics principles); and Fromm, who developed the theory of a humanist conscience
which he believed was our use of examples, experience and teachings of others to give us
Overall, Freud’s psychological approach to the conscience, despite some flaws in his methods
and conclusions, is useful to help us to understand the conscience and to ensure that we do
not rely on it too much as a source of moral guidance. Some scholars such as Newman and
Butler argue that the conscience is directly from God and therefore can never be mistaken and
should never be disobeyed. This view is alarmingly dangerous as we know from modern
psychology that people’s upbringing and development can lead them to be psychologically
disturbed which may lead to people causing harm to others. Aquinas held a different view, one
that involved our ability to reason what is right and wrong. Aquinas’ view is less useful than
Freud’s layered approach however because it fails to explain convincingly our irrational
thoughts such as unreasonable feelings of guilt. Freud’s explanation is useful because it argues
that we have different levels of consciousness which explains how we can be both rational and
irrational beings.
Freud saw the conscience as the irrational part of our unconscious mind – the punishing part of
what he called the superego. He believed that the human mind was made up of 3 parts: the id,
the ego, and the superego. The id is entirely unconscious and only seeks satisfaction, pleasure,
and sexual gratification. The superego is our internalised moral standards (our conscience)
which we acquire from our family and society which drives us to seek approval from our
environment for our actions. The ego is the mediation between the id and the superego which
seeks ways to achieve our desires in a socially acceptable way. Because he believed that the
conscience was acquired rather than being innate it means that our conscience is only as good
as our upbringing and a poor upbringing can lead to skewed morals, a flawed conscience
and/or misguided guilt. Some people are ruled by their superego causing them to be overly
judgemental, inflexible, irrational and having feelings of irrational guilt – this can be extremely
damaging to the wellbeing of the individual. This approach is useful because it allows the
conscience to be questioned and means that people can recognise the flaws in their upbringing
and use this knowledge to try to overcome the ‘voice of the punishing parent’ in their superego
that they know to be irrational and try to improve their mental wellbeing. Freud’s ideas about
the separation of different parts of the mind is also useful and has been accepted by modern
psychologists despite the fact that much of Freud’s thinking -especially that on psychosexual
development – has been rejected.
Later psychologists built on Freud’s psychological approach to the conscience – which shows
that some of Freud’s ideas have been valuable. Some have developed the idea of the mature
and the immature dimension of our conscience. The mature dimension is the healthy rational
part which is concerned with right and wrong and looks out into the world and the future. The
immature dimension is the irrational mass of guilty feelings that we acquire in our early years
which acts out of a desire to see approval from others. These ideas have clear links to that of
Freud’s. Other scholars also built on Freud’s ideas such as Piaget, who believed that the
conscience is acquired (meaning it can be unreliable) and we switch from a heteronomous to
an autonomous conscience around the age of 10; Kohlberg, who also believed that our
conscience is acquired and develops as we age from a pre-conventional (obedience driven),
conventional (social acceptance drive) and perhaps to a post-conventional conscience
(universal ethics principles); and Fromm, who developed the theory of a humanist conscience
which he believed was our use of examples, experience and teachings of others to give us
