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Conscience In Thomas Aquinas: A Philosophical Reflection
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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 quandaryâ€[2].
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