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Human Act Lecture

This document discusses the morality of human acts. It defines human acts as actions that proceed from deliberate free will. It distinguishes human acts from acts of animals and involuntary actions. The key elements that define human acts are knowledge, freedom, and voluntariness. It classifies human acts based on their cause and relationship to reason. Finally, it examines the different degrees and types of voluntariness in human acts and the conditions for when one can perform an act with both good and evil effects.

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Raphael Deiniel Pineda y Yumul
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563 views4 pages

Human Act Lecture

This document discusses the morality of human acts. It defines human acts as actions that proceed from deliberate free will. It distinguishes human acts from acts of animals and involuntary actions. The key elements that define human acts are knowledge, freedom, and voluntariness. It classifies human acts based on their cause and relationship to reason. Finally, it examines the different degrees and types of voluntariness in human acts and the conditions for when one can perform an act with both good and evil effects.

Uploaded by

Raphael Deiniel Pineda y Yumul
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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COSH 32: Ethics – Morality of Human Act

Human acts

 acts that are proper to man as man


 acts that proceeds from the deliberate free will of man
 are actions done intentionally, free, and deliberate of a person.  
 actions that a man properly master for he does them with full
knowledge and of his own will.

Acts of Man

 acts that are proper to animal bu being shared by man


 acts that are instinctive, such as physiological in nature.  
 acts that are performed by men without being master of them through
his intellect and will, therefore acts of man are involuntary actions.

Constitutive Elements of Human Acts

Knowledge - is supplied by the intellect and it directs the will to want the
object it proposes. It is the awareness of something

1. Conceptual Knowledge
 Knowledge by the head
 Theoretical knowledge
 Knowledge acquired through the senses

2. Evaluative Knowledge (Moral Knowledge)


 Knowledge through experiences
 Knowledge acquired through practice
Freedom - An act is done when the doer acts by his own initiative
It is expressed in 2 ways

1. By making choice
2. By Making decision ( Moral freedom)

Voluntariness – A willed Act. An act is done willfully when the doer


consents to the acts, accepting it as his own, and
assumes accountability for its consequences

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Note

1. All human acts are subject to responsibility

A man is fully responsible with the consequences of his acts.  


Involves and man’s responsibility and accountability of the results of
his/her actions while

2. Only Human act are subject to Morality

Classification of Human Acts

1. Classification of Human acts according to their adequate Cause


a. Elicited Acts – acts that begun and completed in the will. It volutary
uses understanding and will. Example: Wish, Intention, Consent,
Election, Use, Fruition

Wish - tendency of will towards something, whether realizable


or not.

Intention- tendency of will towards something attainabale but


without necessarily committing oneself to attain it.

Consent- Acceptance of the will of those needed to carry out


the intention.

Election- selection of the will of those means effective enough


to carry out the intention.

Use- command of the will to make use of those means elected


to carry out the intention.

Fruition- enjoyment of the will derived from the attainment of


the thing he had desired earlier.

b. Commanded Acts – acts that are perfected by the action of mental


and bodilly power under the cotrol of the wiil, or so to spread under

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orders from the will. It starts in the will but perfected by other bodily
faculty. They can be internal (mental) and external body power.

2. Classification of Human acts acording to its relation to reason


a. Good – when acts are in harmony with the dictates of right
reason
b. Evil – when acts are in opposition to these dictates of right
reason
c. Indifferent – when they stand in no positive relation to the
dictates of reason. This is only exist in theory but not as a
matter of practical experience

The Voluntariness of Human Acts VOLUNTARINIES OF HUMAN ACTS

Kinds or Degrees of Voluntariness

a. Perfect voluntariness - the act form with complete knowledge and


full consent.
b. Imperfect voluntariness - It is present where there is some defect
in the agents knowledge, intention or both.
c. Simple voluntariness - present in the human act performed,
whether the agent likes or dislikes doing it..
d. Conditional voluntariness - agent's wish to do something other
than that which he is actually doing, but doing with repugnance or
dislike.

e. Positive Voluntariness – present in a human act of performing,


doing.
f. Negative Voluntariness – present in a human act of omitting,
refraining from doing

g. Direct Voluntariness– present in a human act willed in itself


h. Indirect Voluntariness – present in the human act which is the
foreseen result of another act directly willed

Indirect Voluntariness vs. Responsibility

 When is the agent responsible for the evil effect of a cause directly
willed?

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 When may one perform an act, not evil in itself, which has two
effects, one good, one evil?

When is the agent responsible for the evil effect of a


cause directly willed?

When may one perform an act, not evil in itself,


which has two effects, one good, one evil?

One may perform an act, not evil in itself, from which flow 2 effects, one
good,one evil when three conditions are fulfilled:
a. The evil effect must not preceed the good effect
b. There must be a reason sufficiently grave calling for the act in its
good effect
c. The intention of the agent must be honest

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