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Assess the View That Conscience Should Be Obeyed

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Assess the view that conscience should be obeyed

Conscience is an incredibly powerful thing that many people do not understand. It has the ability to shape the way we behave and control how we feel over certain situations which includes feeling guilty. Understanding what conscience is and how it is developed is an important thing as it could shape the way we behave and effectively change how society is.

Aquinas linked the conscience to God, it isn’t God telling us what to do but it is a faculty of God given reason. Aquinas described the conscience as “the mind of man making moral judgement”. Aquinas saw the conscience as the natural ability of a rational human being to understand the difference between right and wrong, and to apply the most basic moral principles to particular situations. Aquinas believed that the conscience contains two essential parts: Synderesis and Conscienta. Synderesis refers to the rational principles on which moral decisions are based; it is ‘right reason’ which stems from our natural tendency to do good and shy away from evil. The other essential part of the conscience is conscienta which refers to the moral judgement that a person makes based on those principles. Aquinas points out that your conscience should always be followed even if it leads them to do the wrong thing; the conscience can go wrong however by following your conscience, it makes a person morally blameless. Despite a person being morally blameless if they follow their conscience, a person can be held responsible if they are culpably ignorant; your conscience needs educating however fi you do not educate your conscience properly then that is your own fault and you are morally responsible for your actions. Aquinas is saying that you should always follow your conscience despite it’s not always right however you it educate it properly in order to do the right thing.

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