Unit 4 - Conscience

• What is the role of the conscience?


  -used to decide what should be done before making a moral decision

  -inform moral agents whether their actions were right/wrong > e.g. causes guilt
• What did St Augustine believe conscience to be?


  • he believed conscience to be the innate voice of God
  • conscience has been placed in the human mind by God
  • our conscience tells us what is right and wrong >>> we must listen to God
• Strengths of St Augustine's idea of conscience

  • Consistent with scripture >>> St Paul 'Conscience is a witness to the requirements of law'
  • supported by later theologians e.g. F Schleiermacher - 'voice of God within'
• Criticisms of St Augustine's idea of conscience

  • Depends on belief in God
  • Amount of moral evil suggests not everybody hears the voice of God within them
  • Different people have different ideas of 'good'
  • Does this compromise free will?
• What did St Thomas Aquinas believe conscience to be?


  • he believed conscience was a God given faculty of reason
  • Synderesis principle - 'good should be done and evil should be avoided'
  • 'synderesis is in the rational part of a human agent. It is a natural disposition of the human mind'
  • Argues what is innate for humans is not the voice of God yet the ability to reason which was given to us by God
  • Aquinas believes conscience is fallible(make mistakes). However we should still follow it because its the best moral guide we have.
• Strengths of Aquinas' idea of conscience

  • realistic as it considers conscience is fallible
  • emphasis on reason safeguards human free will
• Criticisms of Aquinas' idea of conscience

  • Depends of belief In God
  • Aquinas assumes we all act accordingly to the synderesis principle
  • many people act irrationally >>> was not everyone given the ability to reason?
• What did Joseph Butler believe conscience to be?


  • conscience is a reflective principle placed within us by God to act as a guide and governor
  • 'proper governor' - it is our duty to follow it
  • allows to reflect morally on what we have done and what we are to do in the future
  • based on two governing principles - prudence and benevolence
  • balance of the two is needed for the individual to function morally
  • "principle of reflection" "natural to man"
• Strengths of Joseph Butlers idea of conscience

  • makes us morally responsible for our actions - we must be held accountable
• Criticisms of Joesph Butlers idea of conscience

  • some people do not have balance between prudence and benevolence - misunderstood human nature?
  • moral evil suggests that not everybody has this inner reflective principle
• What did Joseph Fletcher believe conscience to be?


  • sees conscience as a verb
  • doesn't see conscience as a 'thing' that we have but instead something we do
  • rejects conscience is an innate faculty - "merely a word for our attempts to make decisions"
  • conscience is something we do when we are deciding how love is best served in a situation
  • "traditional error lies in thinking about conscience as a noun instead of a verb"
• Strengths of Joseph Fletchers idea of conscience

  • resolves problem of conscience not being a physical feature of the brain
  • shows how conscience function as a 'verb' in the development of his situation ethics
  • shows why different people make different moral decisions
• Criticisms of Joseph Fletchers idea of conscience

  • depends of belief in God
  • depends in using situation ethics - based on applying love
  • contradicts traditional Christian understanding of conscience as a faculty/thing we have been given by God
• What did Sigmund Freud believe conscience to be?


  • conscience is the internalised voice of authority figures experienced as feelings of guilt
  • aspect of the super ego - functional part
  • rules/regulations given to us by authority figures when we are younger are internalised in us
  • conscience is therefore the repository of our parents commands to us during childhood
• Strengths of Sigmund Freuds idea of conscience

  • gives us an insight into the origin of guilt
  • takes into account social influences on our conscience
  • provides an explanation for conscience that doesn't depend on God