Exercises: These exercises are taken from the handout Three Theories of Conscience on www.philosophicalinvestigations.co.uk

Exercise 1: Distinguish between synderesis and conscientia in Aquinas’ view of conscience. If necessary use the Extract from Summa Theologica on this website.

Exercise 2: Outline Butler’s view of conscience, using the extract on the website.

Exercise 3: How would a Freudian psychologist explain Paul Gascoigne’s obsession with tidiness?

Exercise 4: Explain the similarities or differences between Newman’s view of conscience and the view of Pope Benedict XVI. As Cardinal Ratzinger he wrote an article on conscience available on this site.

Exercise 5: Read the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis. Fromm describes this as an archetype of the effects of an authoritarian conscience. Explain in your own words how Cain’s experience may be a reflection of the consequences of an authoritarian conscience.

Exercise 6: Thomas More’s conscience takes on the absolute authority of Henry VIII, in this YouTube clip of Robert Bolt’s ‘Man for All Seasons’. Watch the clip and explain how More is rejecting the authoritarian conscience.

Exercise 7: To what extent can Kafka’s The Trial be seen as the story of the two consciences described by Eric Fromm.