Ethics: Role of Conscience in Making Moral Decisions / Moral Guide

Approaches to conscience in making moral decisions / moral guide

- Society-linked Approaches

- Reason-based Approaches

- "Voice of God" Approaches

- Psychological Approaches

- Situationist Approaches

Telling lies & Breaking promises: Society-Linked Approach

- Threatens the stability & flourishing of society

- Fear of punishment in an authoritarian environment might be the motive behind keeping promises & not telling lies

Telling lies & Breaking promises: Reason-Based Approach

- Conflicts with Aquinas' synderesis rule & primary precept of living in an ordered society, but an evasive truth is acceptable in exceptional circumstances

- Other theories might adopt a more proportionalist approach, e.g. Butler's reflective principle making lying the right thing in some circumstances

Telling lies & Breaking promises: "Voice of God" Approach

- Would normally be in line with Ten Commandments

- For modern thinkers, in exceptional situations its guidance may go against all accepted ethical rules

Telling lies & Breaking promises: Psychological Approach

- Lying & promise breaking not seen as moral issues

- Would be concern only if raised emotional issues of guilt, etc.

Telling lies & Breaking promises: Situationist Approach

- There is no absolute right/wrong

- For Flecther, it all depends on agaepic calculus' assessment of the situation

Adultery: Society-linked Approach

- In Western society, changed views on nature of marriage have made it more socially acceptable

- Other societies see it as a threat to the stability of society

Adultery: Reason-based Approach

- Also contradicts Aquinas' synderesis rule & primary precept of living in an ordered society

- Contrary to divine law's teachings on marriage & adultery

- Aquinas' example of marrying a widow, not knowing her husband was still alive, would not be blameworthy

- Butler's intuitive conscience would reject adultery as against the Bible

Adultery: "Voice of God" Approach

- Would normally be in line with Ten Commandments

- For modern thinkers, in very exceptional situations, its guidance might go against all accepted ethical rules

Adultery: Psychological Approach

- Adultery would not be seen as a moral issue

- For Freud, a guilty conscience arises out of accepting social restrictions intended to control expression of the id and the resultant sexual frustration

Adultery: Situationist Approach

- Once again, there is no absolute right/wrong

- All depends on agapeic calculus' assessment of the situation

Value of conscience as moral guide: Society-linked approach

- Collective conscience could unite society

- But this would have no value if the morality of that society was corrupt

Value of conscience as moral guide: Reason-based Approach

- Encourages objective approach to right/wrong

- However, conscience is NOT infallible: Emotions & social conditioning can also influence/distort it

- Many people do not have the capacity for the reasoned thinking demanded by, for example, Aquinas & Kohlberg

Value of conscience as moral guide: "Voice of God" Approach

- Can be subjective/unreliable

- Can we be sure it is truly God speaking to us & not our unconscious desires/prejudices?

Value of conscience as moral guide: Psychological Approach

- Feeling guilty can act as a warning/corrective

- May be both subjective & unreliable; many people experience feeling guilty without good reason

Value of conscience as moral guide: Situationist Approach

- Fletcher's view of conscience simply as a process of decision-making means it has no real significance

- It is just another word for application of the agaepic calculus