What is conscience, and is it the voice of God, of reason, or of upbringing?
Conscience: Aquinas' rational conscience (synderesis and conscientia), Freud's psychological conscience (the super-ego), and the implications for moral decision-making.
A WJEC A-Level Religious Studies study of conscience: Aquinas' rational account (synderesis and conscientia, conscience as reason making right decisions), Freud's psychological account (conscience as the super-ego formed by authority), and what each means for moral decision-making.
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What this dot point is asking
This WJEC theme asks you to explain and evaluate accounts of conscience: the rational account of Aquinas (synderesis and conscientia) and the psychological account of Freud (the super-ego), and what each means for moral decision-making. The question at issue is whether conscience is the voice of God, of reason, or merely of upbringing. AO1 wants accurate exposition; AO2 wants a reasoned judgement on the nature and authority of conscience.
The answer
Aquinas: conscience as reason
- Synderesis. The innate, God-given disposition of practical reason to pursue good and avoid evil, the first principle of the moral life. It cannot itself be mistaken.
- Conscientia. The act of applying moral knowledge to a particular situation: reason judging that this act, here and now, is right or wrong.
Because conscience is reason in operation, it can err if reason is mistaken about the facts or the moral law (an "erring conscience", as with someone wrongly persuaded that a wrong act is right). Aquinas holds that a person should nonetheless follow their conscience, since to act against it is to act against their best moral judgement, though they are responsible for forming it well. Conscience is therefore directed towards truth and the good, not merely towards feeling.
Freud: conscience as the super-ego
Freud's account explains why people feel guilt, why consciences differ between cultures and individuals, and why guilt can be irrational or excessive. It is a debunking account: the authority conscience seems to carry is really the internalised authority of one's parents.
Implications for moral decision-making
On Aquinas' view, conscience is reason seeking the truth, so it has genuine authority and should be followed and educated (formed by good moral reasoning and, for the believer, by God's law). On Freud's view, conscience is conditioning, so its promptings have no special authority and may need to be examined or overridden. A religious account adds a third option, conscience as in some sense the voice of God (Newman spoke of conscience as God's law written on the heart), giving it the highest authority.
Examples in context
Model paragraph (can conscience be reduced to upbringing?). The decisive question is whether Freud's super-ego is the whole story about conscience or only part of it. There is strong evidence that upbringing shapes conscience: what people feel guilty about varies enormously across cultures and families, children plainly absorb the prohibitions of their parents, and the timing and content of guilt fit the developmental story Freud tells. Yet two features of conscience resist a purely social reduction. First, conscience is self-critical: people can come to judge that the values they were raised with are wrong and feel a duty to act against their upbringing, which is hard to explain if conscience is simply the internalised voice of authority, since that voice is exactly what is being criticised. Second, on Aquinas' account conscience is not a feeling at all but reasoning about what is genuinely good, and reasoning aims at truth rather than merely echoing conditioning. A strong evaluation therefore concedes that Freud rightly identifies the powerful influence of upbringing on the content of conscience while arguing that the rational and self-critical character of conscience points beyond conditioning, leaving open the believer's further claim that it is ultimately rooted in God-given reason.
Try this
Q1. What is the difference between synderesis and conscientia? [2 marks]
- Cue. Synderesis is the innate disposition to do good and avoid evil; conscientia is the act of applying it to a particular decision.
Q2. What does Freud mean by the super-ego? [2 marks]
- Cue. The part of the mind formed in childhood by internalising parental and social rules, which produces guilt.
Q3. Evaluate the view that conscience is the voice of God. [20 marks]
- What the marker wants. A balanced argument weighing the religious and rational accounts (Aquinas, Newman) against Freud's super-ego and the influence of upbringing, with a reasoned judgement.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of WJEC exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
WJEC sample20 marksExamine Aquinas' and Freud's understandings of conscience.Show worked answer →
An AO1 question rewarding accurate knowledge of two contrasting accounts.
Aquinas (rational): conscience is not a voice or a feeling but the mind making moral judgements by reason. "Synderesis" is the innate disposition to do good and avoid evil; "conscientia" is the act of applying this to particular decisions. Conscience can err if reason is mistaken (an "erring conscience"), but should still be followed.
Freud (psychological): conscience is the "super-ego", part of the mind formed in childhood by internalising the rules and prohibitions of parents and society; the guilt it produces is psychological, not the voice of God.
Show the contrast: Aquinas' conscience is God-given reason directed to truth; Freud's is a product of upbringing with no claim to truth.
Use the technical vocabulary (synderesis, conscientia, super-ego) accurately.
WJEC sample20 marks"Conscience is nothing more than the voice of our upbringing." Evaluate this view."Show worked answer →
An AO2 question testing a balanced argument and a supported judgement.
For (upbringing): Freud's super-ego, and the obvious influence of culture and parents on what people feel guilty about, suggest conscience is learned, not innate or divine; consciences differ across cultures, which fits a social origin.
Against: Aquinas and others argue conscience is reason directed to real moral truth, not mere conditioning; the capacity to criticise one's own upbringing suggests conscience is more than its product; and a religious view sees it as God-given.
A judgement might hold that upbringing clearly shapes conscience but that the rational, self-critical and moral character of conscience resists reduction to conditioning alone.
Top answers weigh the psychological and rational accounts and conclude with reasons.
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Sources & how we know this
- WJEC GCE AS/A level Religious Studies specification — WJEC (2016)