CONSCIENCE IN THOMAS AQUINAS: A PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTION
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 Introduction
The modern world is characterized by violence, riots, wars, terrorism, and abortion, which constitute threats to the peaceful co-existence of men. Analysts have strived to bring out solution to the problem in their various capacities. Both the advocates of peace and terror, theists and atheists explicitly or implicitly speak and write about conscience and its place in the pursuit of particular causes. Hence the notion of conscience is a point of interest to all.
The term conscience appears in the constitutions of many nations today as well as in the official documents of the church. Civil rights activists have often used the terms “white conscience”, “public conscience” Christian conscience” and so on, as weapons of remedy against various ills and excesses of ideologies. Scholastic philosophers are themselves neither unanimous nor constant in their use of the word conscience.
This overview is nevertheless sufficient to show that conscience embodies various meanings and covers situations ranging from view of life to personal conviction, social values and objective standard of conduct for different peoples. The nature of conscience has, as a result, been variously interpreted as an interior voice, a faculty, an act of judgement, a habit, etc. The lack or absence of unanimity in the usage and interpretations of conscience by both secular and ecclesiastical writers often blur and make ambiguous its true meaning. Thus, the ordinary man is all the more perplexed with regard to its function as a norm of morality. In this light, it is an onerous task to arrive at an understanding of the nature of conscience and its obligation.
Authority irks modern man. For him, freedom is the absence of restraint. In many democratic countries, for instance, freedom becomes equated with irresponsibility. Often the basis of dissent is sought in conscience, which serves as an arsenal of defense against the demands of authority. In moral matters, the emphasis is on personal autonomy that refuses to look beyond self, for moral values and guidance. However, appeals to conscience in cases like these often result in an inability to resolve moral problems. The consequence is chaotic existence, which has become the mark of our times.
This long essay is an attempt to clarify some of the uncertainty that surrounds the word conscience using the philosophical framework of St. Thomas Aquinas.
1.1 Background of the Study
Conscience is man’s nearest guide with regard to his moral decisions on actions. Man makes a rational judgement over the actions performed or about to be performed in order to know how good or bad they are. He does this because of the natural inclination to attain happiness and satisfaction. Hence, conscience is of interest to all. Teachers make lesson on it, leaders consider it, parents address their children on it, Christians respect it; lawyers act on it; while philosophers examine it critically.
Aquinas’ attention was drawn to the issue of “conscience” as a result of the hot debate on the relationship of conscience and synderesis as well as its nature in the Middle Ages. He looked into the matter to see if there were any distinguishing features of conscience, its operation in the intellect with regard to the actions of man. He came out with the conclusion that conscience incites or binds. There is no doubt that his stand on the issue alleviated the problem to a certain extent. However, it is still subject to critical examination, because his view appears to be very subjective.
Thomas Aquinas {c. 1225-74} was born into an aristocratic family at Roccasecca in the south of Italy. He studied philosophy and theology at Cologne with and under Albert the Great. Aquinas’ best-known work is his Summa Theologia and others like Scriptum Super Sententiarum, Quaestiones Disputatae De Veritate, Summa Contra Gentiles, which he wrote around 1254 to 1273. He died on March 7, 1274 in the Cistercian abbey at Fossanova.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
A historical survey of philosophers and thinkers who delved into the problem of conscience shows that conscience and synderesis are inevitable in making moral decisions on actions. However, man cannot appreciate and appropriate this function of the human intellect without an epistemological cleansing in order to see the relationship between synderesis and conscience. Aquinas’ doctrine established that conscience has a binding force whether true or erroneous[1].
This means that one who yields to erroneous conscience is not free from a bad act.
- Does it imply that one with erroneous conscience must act wrongly?
- What measure could be employed to correct the error and how?
The problem of a doubtful conscience entails a feeling of uncertainty about something as to the lawfulness or obligation of an action. Aquinas’ reply seems naïve: of course, “a man needs only to put aside his error for he is really not in a quandary”[2].
1.3 Purpose of The Study
The main objective of this work is to expose and make a philosophical reflection on Aquinas’ doctrine on conscience, his understanding of conscience and synderesis.
An attempt will be made to see the relationship between Aquinas idea of conscience and man as a moral being in quest of ultimate end. I shall attempt also to contribute to resolving the problem of error and doubtful conscience, in addition to what Aquinas has said about the problem.
1.4 Scope of The Study
I am concerned in this research work with Aquinas’ teaching on antecedent conscience not consequent conscience, since only the former is a norm of morality. I am bent on finding out exactly the ‘quid’ of his antecedent moral conscience with its attendant obligation.
1.5 Method of Research
The method of research is expository and analytical since our objective is to know and understand Aquinas’ thought and it’s relevance to man as a moral being that acts for an ultimate end. The word “conscience” throughout the work is to be taken as antecedent moral conscience unless noted otherwise.
1.6 Division of Work
The work is divided into four chapters. The first chapter is the preliminary consideration of the research. The second chapter takes a look at the idea of conscience before Aquinas. The third chapter exposes Aquinas doctrine on conscience. In the fourth chapter I shall reflect on the relevance of his doctrine to man as a being with ultimate end. After that we shall conclude the essay.
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
The review of relevant literature is the main topic of this chapter. A literature review covers theoretical and methodological contributions to a certain issue in addition to the state of knowledge at the time of writing. It provides information about the state of the art in relation to the subject you are writing about. It examines the body of work on the chosen subject. The literature evaluation in this study comprises the …
Procedure for Downloading the PDF (Docx) Material
Conscience In Thomas Aquinas: A Philosophical Reflection can be downloaded by requesting the full set of materials at the project or seminar cost. The document will be sent via Microsoft Word (MS-Word) format via WhatsApp (e-mail) following payment confirmation.
| Seminar Material Cost ₦3,000 | Project Material Cost ₦5,000 |
Request Complete Material
 | Click here to request the Complete Material via WhatsApp including;
|
Disclaimer for Complete Material Utilization
The displayed research work titled "Conscience In Thomas Aquinas: A Philosophical Reflection" is stated as a research guideline towards accomplishing your assigned project / seminar research work. All the research materials on this website are ONLY for research purposes and should be used as a guideline in developing your research work. For no reason should you copy word for word as projectlist.com.ng will not be liable for any who copied the material. By ordering the complete research guideline, it signifies that you've accepted our terms of service.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Is the topic “Consumerism in Nigeria (The Role of NAFDAC and APOCN)” recommended for Business Administration and Management (BAM) Project?
Yes it is highly recommended — The impact of debt management of profitability of the banking sector partially zenith bank. The dept management function of bank not only extended with credit function of meet the credit of individual, organization and communities in area of its operation. But also that it tries to earn return that will increase their wealth of its stakeholder by advancing credit to it customer. This study shall take into the impact of debit management on the banking profitability. The study is an application of questionnaires to capture variable of the impact to the study. The questionnaire is further breakdown into primary source of data collection and secondary source of data collection. Method of data analysis, the data collection will analyze by sampling …
Can the material for “Students’ and Teachers’ Perception of Counseling Needs of Secondary School Students” be used as a guide for Education Project?
Yes it can be used — Counselling needs are needs of a student that are required to resolve his/her problems which he/she confronts in day to day life situations and also to enrich his personal development. The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers’ and students’ perception of counselling needs of secondary school students in Ijebu North Local Government Area of Ogun State. Therefore, related literature which dealt with the teachers’ and students’ perception of counselling needs of secondary school students, was also reviewed as part of this study. The study employed a descriptive survey. Two research instruments were used in this study, teachers’ perception questionnaire (TPQ) and students’ perception questionnaire (SPQ) were used as the instrument for data collection; Using simple random sampling techniques, two …
Can this topic “The Impact of Unemployment on Youth Development and Nation Building in Some Selected L G a in Ebonyi State” be used for Business Administration and Management (BAM) Project?
Yes it can be utilized for research — This research work made effort to examine empirically the impact of unemployment on youth development and nation building, using Afikpo, Ivo and Ikwo Local Government area as a case study. One of the many pressing challenges facing Nigeria today is youth unemployment with the ripple effect of their resort to violent crimes. The concern of many educationists and the public in general is to encourage youths to engage in useful livelihood. Youths are very important stakeholder in any society. They are not only the future of Nigeria, but also a major stakeholder and useful resource in nation building. However, available data show that youth unemployment is very prevalent in Nigeria with far reaching implications for stability of the economy. Unemployment …
Can the material for “Management of Employee Grievance” be used as a guide for Public Administration (PA) Project?
Yes it can be used — This research project intends to explore the management of employee grievances (A case study of selected government establishment in Enugu State). I deemed it necessary since this research topic is unique to management of employee grievance a handling of grievance in the management of employee in a selected government establishment in Enugu state a practical research was carried out on Nigeria Railway Corporation, which was used to generalize the project objectives. This research work cannot be said to be exhaustive due to the management of employee grievance, which the management is trying to see a way it can be reduced in the establishment for a better tomorrow. …
Is the topic “The Impact of Tourism in Alleviating Poverty in Nigeria” recommended for Sociology Project?
Yes it is highly recommended — Tourism is one the largest and fastest growing industries in the world. It is an increasingly important source of income, employment and wealth in many countries. Its rapid expansion has, however, had detrimental environmental (and Scio- cultural) impacts on many regions. In this research I examine the main economic benefits and environmental impacts of tourism and review the development of the international sustainable tourism agenda. While much of international tourism activity takes place with the developed world, this research work will focus on the (economic) development of the industry in developing countries like Nigeria (Owerri Imo State) to be précised, I conclude that new approaches to sustainable tourism development in these countries should not only set to minimize local environmental impact, …
Can this topic “Working Capital Management in a Management Firm” be used for Banking and Finance (BF) Project?
Yes it can be utilized for research — This term paper goes into the analysis of the external reserves position in Nigeria it embodies the previous problems, current problems and future recommendation. It is of a great importance to the students of financial and business studies and those in economics. It is also a very important to business consultants and investors. To say the truth it is very important to Nigerian government and to the entire Nigerian cannot be over emphasized, as a result, the effective management of Nigeria external reserves stands the chance of ascertaining the Nigerian economy and compare into to that of other countries. In addition the management of Nigerian external reserve attracts a lot of public interests. This is so because unexpected cheques in the welfare …
Can the material for “Awareness and Acceptance of Immunization Programs by Mothers of Children Within the Ages of 0 to 5 Years” be used as a guide for Midwifery Project?
Yes it can be used — The study was carried out to examine the Awareness and Acceptance of Immunization Programs by Mothers of Children within the Ages of 0 to 5 Years using Okada Community in Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State as a case study. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out to examine the knowledge and attitude of mothers towards immunization against childhood killer diseases and determine whether the mother’s educational level influences the practice and acceptance of immunization against childhood killer diseases. The research design used in this report is descriptive design, utilizing questionnaire method to obtain information from the respondents for this project. Primary data were collected from the primary source which questionnaire was used …
Can the material for “The Impact of Government’s Poverty Reduction Programmes in Niger State” be used as a guide for Political Science Project?
Yes it can be used — This study examined the Impact of Government’s Poverty Reduction Programmes in Suleja Local Government Area, Niger State; A case study of Suleja Local Government area, between 2006 and 2008. The strategy has been to render assistance to the people, thereby alleviating some difficult situations of their lives and at the same time putting similes and adding new hopes to their lives, as against their poor living conditions. The aim of the study is to examine the impact of Government’s Poverty Reduction Programmes in Suleja Local Government Area, Niger State. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives of this study were set out to investigate the programme on poverty reduction in Suleja Local Government area of Niger State reduced poverty …
Can the material for “Design and Implementation of Web Test Tool Application Design and Measure Performance” be used as a guide for Computer Science (CS) Project?
Yes it can be used — In software engineering, performance testing is testing that is performed, to determine how fast some aspect of a system performs under a particular workload. It can also serve to validate and verify other quality attributes of the system, such as scalability, reliability and resource usage. Performance testing is a subset of Performance engineering, an emerging computer science practice which strives to build performance into the design and architecture of a system, prior to the onset of actual coding effort In recent years, Web applications have grown so quickly that they have already become crucial to the success of businesses. However, since they are built on Internet and open standard technologies, Web applications bring new challenges to researchers, such as dynamic behaviors, …
Is the topic “Economic Analysis of Soil Conservation Practices Among Crop Farmers” recommended for Agricultural Economics and Extension Project?
Yes it is highly recommended — Soil conservation refers to the use of measures to protect the soil, the aim of maintaining or improving its natural fertility. The study was carried out to analyze the Soil Conservation Practices among Crop Farmers. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out to identify the methods/technologies used in combating soil degradation and estimate the costs and benefits of selected methods of conserving the soil in the area under study. Investigation revealed that one of the most serious problems of land-management is soil erosion. Soil erosion constitutes one of the greatest environmental and productivity problems, causing an estimated 30 million tonnes of soil loss annually. The research design used in this report is descriptive design, utilizing questionnaire …