CONSCIENCE ESSAY PLANNING DOCUMENT
Possible titles:
Critically compare Aquinas and Freuds view of the conscience
Are the workings of g-d present in the conscience
Freud makes more sense of the concept of guilt then Aquinas- dicuss
Does a theological approach to conscience work better than a psychological approach
Critically compare Aquinas and Freuds views on the process of moral decision-making
Does conscience exist at all or is it an umbrella term for culture, environment, genetics and
education
Is conscience merely an umbrella term for the psychological factors involved in moral decision
making
Critically asses Freuds psychosexual approach
g
, COMPARISON QUESTION
INTRO:
What is the conscience= feelings of guilt over things that we should not have done or having a sense that we
should act in a certain way in a situation- ‘inner sense of right and wrong’
Freuds view on the conscience = “the emotional imprint formed from early childhood development”
- He focuses on guilt as opposed to Aquinas theological approach which looks at the reason-making process
- When as seeing freuds approach it is important to compare it to religious approach’s such as Aquinas who
believe that the conscience is g-d given
- Newman and Augustine believe that the conscience is the voice of g-d
My line of argument: although Freuds work on conscience has been criticised for being unscientific, his views on
guilt and the fact that our conscience is a result of societal instincts makes his approach the most helpful to a large
extent- easier for us to understand
PARA 3: WRONG MORAL DECISIONS
Against:
- Aquinas and Newman put forward a more helpful approach- they do not focus moral making on
the libido but on the voice of g-d
- Evidence for their approach can be seen in the act of William Wilberforce who states that the
conscience (g-d) led him to deduce that slavery was wrong and to fight for equality
But- issues
- Newman and Augustine’s approach are arguably less helpful as they fail to answer why we make
wrong moral decisions if our conscience is the voice of g-d
- Such as the count of Toulouse in 1551- when the Catholics butchered the residents because their
conscience told them to- after the residents conscience had told them to rebel
Freud- better
- Freud provides a better explanation on why we make wrong moral decisions as these are
reflections of deep-rooted child hood trauma
- Or the lack of power that the super ego has over our id
But- issues
- Could be argues that freud is overly reliant on the libideo as he stated that the psychosexual
stages of development are at the forefront of our moral decision making
But:
- Freuds psychological approach is still the most helpful to a large extent especially in comparison to
the theocentric arguments from Newman and Augustine as he explains why wrong decision
making may occur
, PARA 2: GUILT
Against: Aquinas
- Aquinas argues that it is always wrong to disobey your conscience- as he believed this was going
against your natural g-d given ability to reason
- Paul in his letter to the romans warns his readers about those with “weak” conscience and those with
“strong” conscience
- Conscienitia is the exercise of reason and moral judgement and ought not to be ignored
- Guilt is the gnawing sense that an action is not good- it is in accordance with divine law and helps to
restore a proper relationship with g-d
But- this is still not fully convincing-
- He fails to take into account the social and environmental factors that seem to affect peoples moral
views
So- better
- I would argue that Freuds view on the conscience is better
- He gives a logical plausible explanation of how guilt arises
- He argued that our super ego- which develops around the age of 5 is the morality principle which
punishes the Id (pleasure seeking principle) and the ego (feeling of guilt)
- Based of the case study evidence of Little Hans or Anna O
- This is is helpful when understanding how guilt arises with regard to understanding the conscience
But: popper criticisms
- Challenge to freud- he arguably claims his work is of scientific status and has strong empirical base in
terms of explaining why we make moral decisions
- Popper- his work is falsification- only based off a small sample of viennese women- was also accursed
of making his findings fit his hypothesis
So
- Despite poppers criticism for Freuds lack of empiricism his findings are plausible in the sense that they
can be of help when understanding why we feel guilt from doing something we are not meant to-
most helpful to a large extent
Possible titles:
Critically compare Aquinas and Freuds view of the conscience
Are the workings of g-d present in the conscience
Freud makes more sense of the concept of guilt then Aquinas- dicuss
Does a theological approach to conscience work better than a psychological approach
Critically compare Aquinas and Freuds views on the process of moral decision-making
Does conscience exist at all or is it an umbrella term for culture, environment, genetics and
education
Is conscience merely an umbrella term for the psychological factors involved in moral decision
making
Critically asses Freuds psychosexual approach
g
, COMPARISON QUESTION
INTRO:
What is the conscience= feelings of guilt over things that we should not have done or having a sense that we
should act in a certain way in a situation- ‘inner sense of right and wrong’
Freuds view on the conscience = “the emotional imprint formed from early childhood development”
- He focuses on guilt as opposed to Aquinas theological approach which looks at the reason-making process
- When as seeing freuds approach it is important to compare it to religious approach’s such as Aquinas who
believe that the conscience is g-d given
- Newman and Augustine believe that the conscience is the voice of g-d
My line of argument: although Freuds work on conscience has been criticised for being unscientific, his views on
guilt and the fact that our conscience is a result of societal instincts makes his approach the most helpful to a large
extent- easier for us to understand
PARA 3: WRONG MORAL DECISIONS
Against:
- Aquinas and Newman put forward a more helpful approach- they do not focus moral making on
the libido but on the voice of g-d
- Evidence for their approach can be seen in the act of William Wilberforce who states that the
conscience (g-d) led him to deduce that slavery was wrong and to fight for equality
But- issues
- Newman and Augustine’s approach are arguably less helpful as they fail to answer why we make
wrong moral decisions if our conscience is the voice of g-d
- Such as the count of Toulouse in 1551- when the Catholics butchered the residents because their
conscience told them to- after the residents conscience had told them to rebel
Freud- better
- Freud provides a better explanation on why we make wrong moral decisions as these are
reflections of deep-rooted child hood trauma
- Or the lack of power that the super ego has over our id
But- issues
- Could be argues that freud is overly reliant on the libideo as he stated that the psychosexual
stages of development are at the forefront of our moral decision making
But:
- Freuds psychological approach is still the most helpful to a large extent especially in comparison to
the theocentric arguments from Newman and Augustine as he explains why wrong decision
making may occur
, PARA 2: GUILT
Against: Aquinas
- Aquinas argues that it is always wrong to disobey your conscience- as he believed this was going
against your natural g-d given ability to reason
- Paul in his letter to the romans warns his readers about those with “weak” conscience and those with
“strong” conscience
- Conscienitia is the exercise of reason and moral judgement and ought not to be ignored
- Guilt is the gnawing sense that an action is not good- it is in accordance with divine law and helps to
restore a proper relationship with g-d
But- this is still not fully convincing-
- He fails to take into account the social and environmental factors that seem to affect peoples moral
views
So- better
- I would argue that Freuds view on the conscience is better
- He gives a logical plausible explanation of how guilt arises
- He argued that our super ego- which develops around the age of 5 is the morality principle which
punishes the Id (pleasure seeking principle) and the ego (feeling of guilt)
- Based of the case study evidence of Little Hans or Anna O
- This is is helpful when understanding how guilt arises with regard to understanding the conscience
But: popper criticisms
- Challenge to freud- he arguably claims his work is of scientific status and has strong empirical base in
terms of explaining why we make moral decisions
- Popper- his work is falsification- only based off a small sample of viennese women- was also accursed
of making his findings fit his hypothesis
So
- Despite poppers criticism for Freuds lack of empiricism his findings are plausible in the sense that they
can be of help when understanding why we feel guilt from doing something we are not meant to-
most helpful to a large extent
