Aquinas' Theological Approach

What is the protestant view of the conscience?

The voice of God, innate knowledge/intuition

What is syndersis (according to Augustine)?

Innate disposition implanted by God in our hearts to perceive holy law (God's will); "voice of God"; knowledge of good and evil

What did Augustine say happened to synderisis/the conscience?

Corrupted by original sin -> we are unable to do the good

What do we need to do in order to follow our conscience (due to the damage of original sin)?

We need God's grace + revelation to direct our will to follow our conscience

What are some problems with the protestant view of the conscience?

- Issues with the Bible

- Individual/subjective consciences

What is the catholic view of the conscience?

Conscience as a faculty of reason

What is conscience according to Aquinas?

Reason used to understand + apply God's natural law

How did Aquinas describe the conscience?

"The mind of man making moral judgements"

What do the classic features of conscience follow from?

The application of our knowledge of natural law to our moral actions

How do we use our conscience?

- Witness –> by knowing whether we have done or not done something

- Bind & incite –> “through the conscience we judge that something should be done or not done”

- Accuse, torment & rebuke –> “by conscience we judge that something done is well done or ill done”

How is guilt caused?

-Our conscience accuses, torments + rebukes us -> guilt

-Reminder for self reflection

What are the 2 parts of the conscience (according to Aquinas)?

- Synderesis (innate)

- Conscientia (right reason)

What is placed within every person as a result of creation by God?

Ratio

What does ratio mean (according to Aquinas)?

Reason

What is recta ratio?

Right reason (of basic moral principles)

What did God plant within us as part of our ratio?

Synderesis

What is synderesis (according to Aquinas)?

A natural, infallible awareness that natural law/moral principles exist (oriented towards goodness); knowledge/understanding of moral principles; "natural inclination to our proper act + end"

What is conscientia (according to Aquinas)?

"Reason making right decisions"; the process of applying the primary precepts; the actual ethical decisions (secondary precepts) a person makes

What did Aquinas argue about informed conscience?

- Conscientia is fallible (not perfect) because reason is fallible (synderesis isn't)

- Avoid mistakes + apparent goods -> seek real goods

- Inform our conscience -> follow natural + divine law (revelation)

- Acting according to conscience isn't guarantee of right action but moral blamelessness

Why do immoral actions/apparent goods occur (according to Aquinas)?

Poor reasoning -> to ignore reason is "same as dismissing the command of God"

Why else do we fail to do good despite being oriented towards it?

- Original sin

- Mistakes in conscientia

- Lacking virtue

- Corrupt culture

What is prudence (Aristotelian "phronesis")

An intellectual virtue which governs practical behaviour + helps get out unruly passions/instincts under control of reason; practical reason

What is invincible ignorance?

Lack of knowledge that a person isn't responsible for (e.g long-term consequences) + when the action was done with good intention; knowledge we cannot reasonably expect to have

What did the Catechism say about invincible ignorance?

"The evil committed by the person cannot be imputed to him"

What is vincible ignorance?

Lack of knowledge which could have been removed by reasonable diligence in the particular situation; is morally responsible

What is reasonable diligence?

Diligence that a conscientious person would display in seeking the correct answer to a question given the gravity of the question + his particular resources

Where does vincible ignorance stem from?

- Making little/no effort to find out the facts/penalty attached to a particular crime

- Intentional refusal to gain relevant knowledge + apply teaching of the church/Bible

What is an example of vincible ignorance?

Knowing a priest was a child-abuser but ignoring likelihood of re-offence when moving him to another parish

What did Pope Pius IX say about punishment of invincible ignorance?

"His supreme kindness...do not permit anyone at all who is not guilty of deliberate sin to suffer eternal punishments"

What are the strengths of Aquinas' theological approach?

- Everyone has the capacity for reason + explains why this is sometimes wrong (apparent goods)

- Influential view supported by Catholic church

- Clear authority/guidance

- Evidence in daily life -> experience guilt when we ignore our moral sense + try to make informed decisions

What are the weaknesses of Aquinas' theological approach?

- Unreliable guide -> subjectivity

- Hobbes says life is ‘nasty, brutish and short’ so assumes we're oriented towards goodness (too optimistic)-> evidence against this + o.g sin

- No empirical evidence

- Fallible reason + assumes good/evil are the same for everyone

- Not morally blameless -> may still break the law + entitle punishment

- Problem of being non-Christian

- Descriptive moral relativism -> Fletcher (evidence against natural law -> would be more moral agreement) BUT core similarities (e.g treating others the way you'd like to be treated)

- Freud -> society conditions moral views

e.g. of real goods vs apparent goods

• real goods are goods based in the primary precepts but apparent goods are goods that appear to be so

• e.g. a Roman Catholic advocating for the right to die would be an apparent god as a real good would be protecting God’s will to begin and end our lives