Comparing Aquinas and Freud

• What do Aquinas and Freud say about guilt?

  Aquinas:

  • Guilt is the sense that an action is not good
  • Guilt helps restore a relationship with God
  • God’s grace expels guilt from someone

  Freud:

  • Guilt is the result of mental conflict
  • It can cause someone to do bad things
• What does Nietzsche say about conscience?


  “Conscience is not the ‘voice of God’, it is the instinct of cruelty, which turns inwards once it cannot discharge itself outwardly.”
• What did Aquinas and Freud say about the presence of God?

  Aquinas:

  • God made humans with ratio and synderesis. Conscientia is based on God’s laws

  Freud:

  • No reference to God, conscience is linked to social authority
• What do Aquinas and Freud say about the process of moral decision making?

  Aquinas:

  • Moral decision-making involves the application of ratio to synderesis

  Freud:

  • No divine connection, moral decisions come from the id, ego and superego
• What part of the brain may be involved in conscience?

  Orbitofrontal cortex