Modifiers of Human Acts

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Modifiers of Human Acts
1. Ignorance
2. Fear
3. Passion or Concupiscence
4. Violence
5. Habit

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1. IGNORANCE

The absence of
knowledge.

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1. IGNORANCE

Lack of
knowledge
about a thing
in a being
capable of
knowing
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Ignorance of the Law

 Absence or lack of knowledge of the existence of a

certain law.

 Example:
In rushing up to the
university, a college professor
does not know that there is a
“one way” traffic law along
the path that he is traversing.

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Ignorance of the Fact

 Absence or lack of knowledge of the

violation of a certain law.
 The agent knows that there is an existing
law, however, he is not aware that he is
already violating it.

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Privative Ignorance

 “Absence of knowledge that ought to be present”

 Example:
A mathematics professor is
asked about truncated prism. He
provides no answer for he does not
know it.

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Invincible Ignorance

 That ignorance which

a man is not able to
dispel by such
reasonable diligence

 This completely takes

away the
voluntariness of the
malice and hence its
responsibility too.
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Invincible Ignorance

 The agent may not know that he does

not know. He is ignorant that he is
ignorant.

The agent may know that he

does not know and exerts a
reasonably sufficient effort to
get rid of his ignorance, but is
unable to acquire knowledge
and remains ignorant.

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Vincible Ignorance

 Ignorance that can be dispelled

 This does not take away culpability
 As it is voluntary in cause
 Or is provoked by conscious negligence
or even bad will

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Vincible Ignorance

 Ignorance which can be

dispelled because it is
within the capacity of the
agent to do so.
 Knowledge is obtainable if
sufficient and diligent
efforts are exerted.

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Three Kinds of Vincible Ignorance

1. Simple Vincible Ignorance

2. Crass or Supine Ignorance
3. Affected Vincible Ignorance

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Ignorance: Principles

1. Invincible ignorance
eliminates responsibility or
culpability.
2. Vincible ignorance does not
eliminate moral
responsibility but lessens it.
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2. FEAR

Fear is mental
agitation of
disturbance
brought about by
the apprehension
of some present
or imminent
danger.
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Types of Fear

1. Grave Fear
2. Slight Fear

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Grave Fear
 GraveFear is the type which is
aroused by the presence of a
danger
 that is regarded by most people
a serious
 that is judged to be serious by
the one concerned.

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Slight Fear
 Slight
Fear is the type which is
aroused by
a danger that is not serious
 a grave danger that is not very
probable.

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 One acts because of fear if it is the
fear that induces him to act so.
 Actions that are performed because
of fear, however great the fear maybe,
are voluntary (at least conditionally)
and, so, are imputable.

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Fear: Principles

1. Fear does not destroy the voluntariness of an

action; it usually lessens its guilt as well as its
merit.
2. Fear does not excuse an evil act which
springs from it.
3. If fear is so great as to make the agent
momentarily insane = the act is involuntary =
act of man.
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3. PASSION or CONCUPISCENCE

 A movement of the
sensitive appetite
which is moved by the
good or evil
apprehended by the
imagination
 Movement of the
sensitive appetite that
precedes the free
decision of the will

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Passions
 Refers to the affections or the
feelings.

 Emotions & feelings can be taken up

by the virtues or perverted by the
vices.

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Passions

Emotions are acts of man. But

insofar as they engage reason &
will, there is moral good or evil.

--CCC

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Passions
Love, Joy, Desire, Delight
Hate, Aversion, Sadness, Grief
Hope, Despair, Courage
Daring, Fear, Anger,

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Two Types of Concupiscence/Passions

1. Antecedent Passion
2. Consequent Passion

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Principles: Passion/Concupiscence
1. Antecedent concupiscence diminishes the voluntary
nature of an act.
2. Consequent concupiscence does not diminish the
voluntary nature of an act.

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4. VIOLENCE

Violence is an
external force
applied by someone
on another in order
to compel him to
perform an action
against his will.
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Types of Violence

1. Perfect Violence
2. Imperfect Violence

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Principles: Violence

1. If one resist the violence as much as possible, such as in

the case of perfect violence, the evil act to which one is
forced is in no wise culpable.
2. If one does not resist the violence as fully as possible,
such as in the case of imperfect violence, the culpability
of the evil act is lessened but not taken away.
3. If one sees that any resistance would be wholly
ineffective, there is no obligation to resist. The reason is
that one is not oblige to do what is useless.

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5. HABITS

 Facilityand
readiness of
acting in a
certain
manner
 Acquired by
repeated acts
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 Habit does not destroy the
voluntariness of an act;
 Acts from habit are always
voluntary, at least in
cause, as long as the habit
is allowed to endure.

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 Opposed habits
lessen
voluntariness
 And sometimes
preclude it
completely
 The reason is that
habit weakens
intellect and will
 In a concrete
situation in a
similar way.

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Principles: Habit

1. Evil habits do not lessen the imputability of evil actions

performed by force of habit if the habit has been
recognized as evil and is freely permitted to continue.
2. Evil habits lessen the imputability of evil actions
performed by force of habit if one is sincerely trying to
correct the habit.

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