1 Objection 1: It would seem that conscience is a power; for Origen says that conscience is a correcting and guiding spirit accompanying the soul, by which it is led away from evil and made to cling to good. But in the soul, spirit designates a power, either the mind itself, according to the text Eph. 4, 13), Be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind, or the imagination, whence imaginary vision is called spiritual, as Augustine says Gen. ad lit. xii, 7, 24). Therefore conscience is a power.
1 Ad tertiumdecimum sic proceditur. Videtur quod conscientia sit quaedam potentia. Dicit enim Origenes quod conscientia est spiritus corrector et paedagogus animae sociatus, quo separatur a malis et adhaeret bonis. Sed spiritus in anima nominat potentiam aliquam, vel ipsam mentem, secundum illud Ephes. IV, renovamini spiritu mentis vestrae; vel ipsam imaginationem; unde et imaginaria visio spiritualis vocatur, ut patet per Augustinum, XII super Gen. ad Litt. Est ergo conscientia quaedam potentia.
2 Objection 2: Further, nothing is a subject of sin, except a power of the soul. But conscience is a subject of sin; for it is said of some that their mind and conscience are defiled Titus 1, 15). Therefore it seems that conscience is a power.
2 Praeterea, nihil est peccati subiectum nisi potentia animae. Sed conscientia est subiectum peccati, dicitur enim ad Tit. I, de quibusdam, quod inquinatae sunt eorum mens et conscientia. Ergo videtur quod conscientia sit potentia.
3 Objection 3: Further, conscience must of necessity be either an act, a habit, or a power. But it is not an act; for thus it would not always exist in man. Nor is it a habit; for conscience is not one thing but many, since we are directed in our actions by many habits of knowledge. Therefore conscience is a power.
3 Praeterea, necesse est quod conscientia sit vel actus, vel habitus, vel potentia. Sed non est actus, quia non semper maneret in homine. Nec est habitus, non enim esset unum quid conscientia, sed multa; per multos enim habitus cognoscitivos dirigimur in agendis. Ergo conscientia est potentia.
4 On the contrary, Conscience can be laid aside. But a power cannot be laid aside. Therefore conscience is not a power.
4 Sed contra, conscientia deponi potest, non autem potentia. Ergo conscientia non est potentia.
5 I answer that, Properly speaking, conscience is not a power, but an act. This is evident both from the very name and from those things which in the common way of speaking are attributed to conscience. For conscience, according to the very nature of the word, implies the relation of knowledge to something: for conscience may be resolved into cum alio scientia, that is, knowledge applied to an individual case. But the application of knowledge to something is done by some act.
Wherefore from this explanation of the name it is clear that conscience is an act. The same is manifest from those things which are attributed to conscience. For conscience is said to witness, to bind, or incite, and also to accuse, torment, or rebuke. And all these follow the application of knowledge or science to what we do: which application is made in three ways. One way in so far as we recognize that we have done or not done something; Thy conscience knoweth that thou hast often spoken evil of others Eccles.
7, 23), and according to this, conscience is said to witness. In another way, so far as through the conscience we judge that something should be done or not done; and in this sense, conscience is said to incite or to bind. In the third way, so far as by conscience we judge that something done is well done or ill done, and in this sense conscience is said to excuse, accuse, or torment. Now, it is clear that all these things follow the actual application of knowledge to what we do.
Wherefore, properly speaking, conscience denominates an act. But since habit is a principle of act, sometimes the name conscience is given to the first natural habit, namely, synderesis': thus Jerome calls synderesis' conscience Gloss. Ezech. 1, 6); Basil, the natural power of judgment, and Damascene says that it is the law of our intellect. For it is customary for causes and effects to be called after one another.
5 Respondeo dicendum quod conscientia, proprie loquendo, non est potentia, sed actus. Et hoc patet tum ex ratione nominis, tum etiam ex his quae secundum communem usum loquendi, conscientiae attribuuntur. Conscientia enim, secundum proprietatem vocabuli, importat ordinem scientiae ad aliquid, nam conscientia dicitur cum alio scientia. Applicatio autem scientiae ad aliquid fit per aliquem actum. Unde ex ista ratione nominis patet quod conscientia sit actus. Idem autem apparet ex his quae conscientiae attribuuntur. Dicitur enim conscientia testificari, ligare vel instigare, et etiam accusare vel remordere sive reprehendere.
Et haec omnia consequuntur applicationem alicuius nostrae cognitionis vel scientiae ad ea quae agimus. Quae quidem applicatio fit tripliciter. Uno modo, secundum quod recognoscimus aliquid nos fecisse vel non fecisse, secundum illud Eccle. VII, scit conscientia tua te crebro maledixisse aliis, et secundum hoc, conscientia dicitur testificari. Alio modo applicatur secundum quod per nostram conscientiam iudicamus aliquid esse faciendum vel non faciendum, et secundum hoc, dicitur conscientia instigare vel ligare. Tertio modo applicatur secundum quod per conscientiam iudicamus quod aliquid quod est factum, sit bene factum vel non bene factum, et secundum hoc, conscientia dicitur excusare vel accusare, seu remordere.
Patet autem quod omnia haec consequuntur actualem applicationem scientiae ad ea quae agimus. Unde proprie loquendo, conscientia nominat actum. Quia tamen habitus est principium actus, quandoque nomen conscientiae attribuitur primo habitui naturali, scilicet synderesi, sicut Hieronymus, in Glossa Ezech. I, synderesim conscientiam nominat; et Basilius naturale iudicatorium; et Damascenus dicit quod est lex intellectus nostri. Consuetum enim est quod causae et effectus per invicem nominentur.
6 Reply to Objection 1: Conscience is called a spirit, so far as spirit is the same as mind; because conscience is a certain pronouncement of the mind.
6 Ad primum ergo dicendum quod conscientia dicitur spiritus, secundum quod spiritus pro mente ponitur, quia est quoddam mentis dictamen.
7 Reply to Objection 2: The conscience is said to be defiled, not as a subject, but as the thing known is in knowledge; so far as someone knows he is defiled.
7 Ad secundum dicendum quod inquinatio dicitur esse in conscientia, non sicut in subiecto, sed sicut cognitum in cognitione, inquantum scilicet aliquis scit se esse inquinatum.
8 Reply to Objection 3: Although an act does not always remain in itself, yet it always remains in its cause, which is power and habit. Now all the habits by which conscience is formed, although many, nevertheless have their efficacy from one first habit, the habit of first principles, which is called synderesis. And for this special reason, this habit is sometimes called conscience, as we have said above.
8 Ad tertium dicendum quod actus, etsi non semper maneat in se, semper tamen manet in sua causa, quae est potentia et habitus. Habitus autem ex quibus conscientia informatur, etsi multi sint, omnes tamen efficaciam habent ab uno primo, scilicet ab habitu primorum principiorum, qui dicitur synderesis. Unde specialiter hic habitus interdum conscientia nominatur, ut supra dictum est.