Comparing Aquinas & Freud
Religious Studies: OCR A Level, topic 2.8.3
Comparing Aquinas and Freud
Thomas Aquinas and Sigmund Freud offered influential but differing views on conscience.
Aquinas and Freud
- Aquinas emphasised reason and divine guidance in moral decision-making.
- Freud focused on psychological processes, considering conscience linked to the unconscious mind.
- This comparison reveals varied perspectives on guilt, God's role, and the nature of conscience.
Guilt and decision-making
- Aquinas saw guilt as a result of violating divine law, informed by reason and synderesis.
- Freud attributed guilt to the conflict between the id and the super-ego's internalised ideals.
- Aquinas emphasised the role of divine guidance in ethical decisions.
- Freud interpreted moral decision-making as a negotiation between desire and social expectation.
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The presence or absence of God
- Aquinas argued that God imbued humans with reason, guiding conscience in moral actions.
- Aquinas considered conscience a God-given ability to discern good and evil.
- Freud rejected God's presence in conscience, focusing instead on unconscious influences.
- Freud viewed the super-ego as a product of cultural norms and parental influence, not divine.
Reason and the unconscious mind
- Aquinas believed conscience is intimately linked to reason, an expression of divine law.
- Aquinas focused on conscience as conscious reflection and moral judgement.
- Freud emphasised unconscious processes, with the super-ego influencing conscience indirectly.
- Freud suggested conscience arises from internal conflicts between psychological structures.
Conscience as a distinct entity or external
- Aquinas argued that conscience uniquely guides individuals, rooted in divine law.
- Freud proposed conscience as a result of various factors, such as culture and upbringing.
- Some modern scholars view conscience as a construct influenced by multiple factors.
- The debate highlights varying opinions on whether conscience is innate or externally shaped.
Example of Aquinas and Freud's views on conscience
- Imagine someone faced with stealing.
- Aquinas would argue conscience and divine law warn against it.
- For Freud, the super-ego elicits guilt based on learned social and parental norms.
- Aquinas supports reason and faith guiding action; Freud notes unconscious fear of punishment influencing choice.
- This scenario reveals how Aquinas and Freud's theories manifest in moral decisions.
Test yourself on Comparing Aquinas & Freud
According to Aquinas, what guides an individual's conscience in moral decision-making?
How do Aquinas and Freud view the role of God in conscience?