Conscience (Aquinas + Freud)
Mini Summary: Aquinas’s view of the consequence (theological)
Aquinas believes we have a natural inclination towards good (synderesis) and
we can use our reason (ratio) to achieve this
This good = to fulfil our telos
To fulfil our telos, we must fulfil all the primary precepts – ‘to preserve life’ ‘to
worship God’ ‘to educate’
And use our reason to work out the secondary precepts
Aquinas believes though, that God is involved, we have a natural inclination to
worship God
If we reason excellently, we can reach eudomonia which is the highest good
where we achieve afterlife
The correct way to act is called conscientia – we must use our ratio (reason) to
make the right decisions and synderesis will help us to do this
The reason why our conscience makes mistakes is because of real and
apparent goods – when you believe something to be good when it is actually
not
Another reason is due to vincible (morally blamed) and invincible ignorance
(not morally blamed – ignorant of the real truth)
However, prudence is an ethical wisdom (a wisdom concerning humans) that
will help you towards the right actions – these wisdoms are taught – we have a
natural inclination towards good, but we might not internalize these teachings if
not taught.
In order to behave morally, our prudence must be basically breaking bad habits
and getting used to behaving in the right way
Conscience
Def: Process of reasoning to understand right and wrong ‘mind of man making moral
judgements’.
Divided into 2 parts - synderesis and conscientia.
The errors of conscience = due to our ignorance.
NOTE - It is not God directly speaking to us (this is Newman) rather God gives us the
tools to work out what we ought to do.
Synderesis
Def: To follow the good and avoid the evil
For Aquinas, the conscience is the ‘mind of man making moral judgments’ - it
comes in two parts synderesis + conscientia
Synderesis is our natural inclination that we seek to do good and avoid evil
It involves our awareness of what the rules are
“Synderesis is not a power, but a natural habitat” - synderesis is not a one off
act but a habit of reasoning that we develop with practice so that we will come to
understand and be able to apply the moral rules
EXAMPLE:
, One way of imagining this is to think of synderesis as a safe that we possess and
developing our reasoning is acquiring the key
It is possible that we become confused as to what the good is and we seek an
apparent good rather than a real good - this means we have a responsibility
to:
1. Educate our conscience and become better at reasoning and thinking through
the moral rules
2. Develop our conscience through the repeated use of ‘right reason’
Conscientia
Def: a person’s reason making moral judgements
Conscientia is the practical working out of synderesis
It is the intellectual process of making actual moral judgements and applying
them to the situations we face
Telos
Def: end goal/purpose
We are all aiming towards our telos (which are the 5 primary precepts) and
Aquinas believes that goodness = fulfilling our telos
Ratio
Def: “the right reasoning in acting”
The conscience making errors
Vincible ignorance
Def: A lack of knowledge for which a person is responsible.
A person knows the rules yet they pursue an apparent good e.g an if a man sleeps
with someone other than his wife because he is unaware of the moral rules about
adultery or thinks that it does not apply in this case - the error is his responsibility.
E.g. Euthanasia - if you help someone euthanise whilst knowing that the UK law is
against it.
Invincible ignorance
Def: A lack of knowledge for which a person is NOT responsible
No wrongdoing, it is a genuine if unlikely mistake. E.g a man thought he was sleeping
with his wife but later on he realised it was someone else.
EXAMPLES (of vincible and invincible ignorance)
Vincible ignorance: As with Paul, Aquinas said that a person's conscience could
error (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.
Mini Summary: Aquinas’s view of the consequence (theological)
Aquinas believes we have a natural inclination towards good (synderesis) and
we can use our reason (ratio) to achieve this
This good = to fulfil our telos
To fulfil our telos, we must fulfil all the primary precepts – ‘to preserve life’ ‘to
worship God’ ‘to educate’
And use our reason to work out the secondary precepts
Aquinas believes though, that God is involved, we have a natural inclination to
worship God
If we reason excellently, we can reach eudomonia which is the highest good
where we achieve afterlife
The correct way to act is called conscientia – we must use our ratio (reason) to
make the right decisions and synderesis will help us to do this
The reason why our conscience makes mistakes is because of real and
apparent goods – when you believe something to be good when it is actually
not
Another reason is due to vincible (morally blamed) and invincible ignorance
(not morally blamed – ignorant of the real truth)
However, prudence is an ethical wisdom (a wisdom concerning humans) that
will help you towards the right actions – these wisdoms are taught – we have a
natural inclination towards good, but we might not internalize these teachings if
not taught.
In order to behave morally, our prudence must be basically breaking bad habits
and getting used to behaving in the right way
Conscience
Def: Process of reasoning to understand right and wrong ‘mind of man making moral
judgements’.
Divided into 2 parts - synderesis and conscientia.
The errors of conscience = due to our ignorance.
NOTE - It is not God directly speaking to us (this is Newman) rather God gives us the
tools to work out what we ought to do.
Synderesis
Def: To follow the good and avoid the evil
For Aquinas, the conscience is the ‘mind of man making moral judgments’ - it
comes in two parts synderesis + conscientia
Synderesis is our natural inclination that we seek to do good and avoid evil
It involves our awareness of what the rules are
“Synderesis is not a power, but a natural habitat” - synderesis is not a one off
act but a habit of reasoning that we develop with practice so that we will come to
understand and be able to apply the moral rules
EXAMPLE:
, One way of imagining this is to think of synderesis as a safe that we possess and
developing our reasoning is acquiring the key
It is possible that we become confused as to what the good is and we seek an
apparent good rather than a real good - this means we have a responsibility
to:
1. Educate our conscience and become better at reasoning and thinking through
the moral rules
2. Develop our conscience through the repeated use of ‘right reason’
Conscientia
Def: a person’s reason making moral judgements
Conscientia is the practical working out of synderesis
It is the intellectual process of making actual moral judgements and applying
them to the situations we face
Telos
Def: end goal/purpose
We are all aiming towards our telos (which are the 5 primary precepts) and
Aquinas believes that goodness = fulfilling our telos
Ratio
Def: “the right reasoning in acting”
The conscience making errors
Vincible ignorance
Def: A lack of knowledge for which a person is responsible.
A person knows the rules yet they pursue an apparent good e.g an if a man sleeps
with someone other than his wife because he is unaware of the moral rules about
adultery or thinks that it does not apply in this case - the error is his responsibility.
E.g. Euthanasia - if you help someone euthanise whilst knowing that the UK law is
against it.
Invincible ignorance
Def: A lack of knowledge for which a person is NOT responsible
No wrongdoing, it is a genuine if unlikely mistake. E.g a man thought he was sleeping
with his wife but later on he realised it was someone else.
EXAMPLES (of vincible and invincible ignorance)
Vincible ignorance: As with Paul, Aquinas said that a person's conscience could
error (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.
