Aquinas's theological approach to the conscience

• Ratio 


  God-given ability to reason

  • it is a unique ability which separates us from other animals
  • we are made in the image of God - imago dei - Genesis 1:27
  • reason is needed to understand the conscience
  • ratio is progressive - it moves our thinking from one thing to another - helps us work things out
  • morality is not what is is accepted by the majority, culturally, socially or politically - it is beyond this
  • ratio allows us to move/ connect to the eternal realm and the divine - a higher morality
• Synderesis 


  a principle within everyone which encourages us to do good and avoid evil

  • there is a sensuality in humans tempting them towards evil - shown in the Fall
  • Aquinas' view of humans was positive - despite the sensuality we also have synderesis within us - internal conflict - we lean towards good and away from the selfish - links to Romans 7 - "For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out" - this is more pessimistic than Aquinas' view
  • humans can use ratio to cultivate the habit of synderesis - if we try to do good our reason will help us
• Conscientia 


  the process where a person's reason makes moral judgements

  traditional Christian view: spark of moral wisdom

  Aquinas:

  • conscience is an act within a human person arising when the knowledge gained from the application of ratio to synderesis is applied to something we do
  • it is not an independent special faculty/ power capable of telling people what is right and wrong
  • it is an aspect of reason
  • it is binding because it is wrong to go against reason
  • it is the ratio used to understand and apply God's natural law
• Conscientia 


  Summa Theologica - Aquinas

  conscience 'is reason making the right decisions' - active process

  conscience is said to witness, to bind, or incite and also to accuse, torment, or rebuke'

  3 features of conscience:

  1. witness - know what we have or haven't done
  2. bind and incite - through our conscience we judge whether we should do something or not
  3. accuse, torment and rebuke - by our conscience we judge that something is done well or not
• Conscientia 


  • conscientia is the process where the primary precepts are applied to situations

  primary precepts:

  1. worship God
  2. live in an orderly society
  3. reproduce
  4. educate
  5. preserve human life and defend the innocent

  • these articulate our nature towards good (synderesis) within us

  secondary precepts are the judgements we make after we apply the primary precepts to situations
• Ignorance 


  • humans can make mistakes because using reason involves knowledge which can be incomplete or wrong

  vincible ignorance - a person can be held responsible for their wrong actions based on a lack of knowledge that they could have otherwise done something about - they could have informed themselves better but instead acted in ignorance

  invincible ignorance - a person cannot be blamed for their wrong doing because they didn't know better - they acted in good faith, following their conscience but they get things wrong because of ignorance of facts they couldn't have known
• Ignorance 


  Romans 14:23 - 'everything that does no come from faith is sin'

  • Aquinas: using conscientia and applying reason to make good decisions
  • humans must do what their own ratio tells them is the right thing to do

  Cardinal John Henry Newman - 'to the conscience first, and to the Pope afterwards' - belief over teachings of the Catholic Church - we are all responsible for our own individual actions - we can't escape moral responsibility by following someone's orders
• Ignorance 


  Aquinas: God will not condemn invincible ignorance - if they fear God and live according to their conscience, God with his infinite mercy will give them salvation despite their wrong-doing

  Aquinas' example:

  if a man mistakes another woman for his wife and this woman also wants to sleep with him (consent) then his will is free from fault

  • this ludicrous example shows that someone is not blameworthy for invincible ignorance, for making a genuine mistake
  • even though he has broken the commandment against adultery which he knows is an act punishable by death he is blameless
• Eval - Aquinas 


  Strengths

  • realises that there are thought processes when deciding right or wrong
  • epistemological humility - we have limited knowledge as humans - invincible ignorance
  • positive view of humans inclination to good - synderesis
  • considers God - his mercy - invincible ignorance
  • goes beyond the conscience just being a gut feeling - process - active - practical
  • still acknowledges our individual moral responsibility - against herd mentality
• conscienceeval Aquinas

  Weakness

  • reductionist - ignores external factors affecting moral decision making - social economic, political, environmental - our upbringing and society influence our moral reasoning - our conscinec could be the values of society or our parents that we have learnt
• eval Aquinas 


  Weakness

  • reductionist - ignores external factors affecting moral decision making - our upbringing and society influences our moral reasoning - our conscience could be the values of society/ parents we have learnt
  • conscience could come directly from God - Augustine, Butler and Cardinal Newman
  • If the conscience can be lead astray, what does this say about God's gift of reason? - God has given us a faulted gift - is God as flawed as we are?
  • Some Christians would also say that this rationalistic approach does not allow for revelation coming directly from God.