Synderesis
Synderesis
Synderesis, or more correctly synteresis, is a term used by the Scholastic theologians to signify the habitual knowledge of the universal practical principles of moral action. The reasoning process in the field of speculative science presupposes certain fundamental axioms on which all science rests. Such are the principle of contradiction, “a thing cannot be and not be at the same time,” and self-evident truths like “the whole is greater than its part”. These are the first principles of the speculative intellect. In the field of moral conduct there are similar first principles of action, such as: “evil must be avoided, good done”; “Do not to others what you would not wish to be done to yourself”; “Parents should be honoured”; “We should live temperately and act justly”. Such as these are self-evident truths in the field of moral conduct which any sane person will admit if he understands them. According to the Scholastics, the readiness with which such moral truths are apprehended by the practical intellect is due to the natural habit impressed on the cognitive faculty which they call synderesis. While conscience is a dictate of the practical reason deciding that any particular action is right or wrong, synderesis is a dictate of the same practical reason which has for its object the first general principles of moral action.
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ST. THOMAS, Summa, I, Q. lxxix, a. 12 (Parma, 1852); PATUZZI, De ratione humana in MIGNE, Theologiae Cursus completus, XI (Paris, 1841).
T. SLATER Transcribed by John D. Beetham
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIVCopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Synderesis
(Late Gr. synteresis, spark of conscience, may be connected with syneidesis, conscience) In Scholastic philosophythe habitus, or permanent, inborn disposition of the mind to think of general and broad rules of moral conduct which become the principles from which a man may reason in directing his own moral activities. First used, apparently, by St. Jerome (In Ezekiel., I, 4-15) as equivalent to the scintilla conscientiae (spark of conscience), the term became very common and received various interpretations in the 13th century. Franciscan thinkers (St. Bonaventure) tended to regard synderesis as a quality of the human will, inclining it to embrace the good-in-general. St. Thomas thought synderesis a habitus of the intellect, enabling it to know first principles of practical reasoning; he distinguished clearly between synderesis and conscience, the latter being the action of the practical intellect deciding whether a particular, proposed operation is good or bad, here and now. Duns Scotus also considered synderesis a quality belonging to intellect rather than will. — V.J.B.