Morality of Human Acts

Geraldine S. Canete, RN, MAN

Adapted from the lecture of:
Ms. Maria Teresita B. Dalusong, PTRP, MHPEd
 Objectives:
• Explain the nature of man & its dignity.
• Explain the concept of freedom of man and of
its human action
• Differentiate human acts & acts of man
• Explain the morality of Human Acts
• Determine the moral determinants of human
acts
 Nature of Man & its Dignity
Intellect Thinking/ knowing
Soul
the TRUTH

Will Choosing the

Body GOOD

• To “will” something, one has “to know” beforehand.

• Man cannot choose or act unless he knows which is a
“better” good.
• When a person chooses to act according to what he
knows is right – He acts freely
• Only man is capable of acting free – HUMAN ACTS
• But the intellect does not always determine the will.
 When is MAN FREE in his actions?
Thinking/ knowing
Soul Intellect
the TRUTH

Choosing the
Will GOOD
Body
When is an act freely done?
1. Under the control of the WILL - It is the power tending
toward, choosing, adhering to & taking pleasure in a
GOOD KNOWN BY THE INTELLECT - voluntary
2. We do things because we want to, we own the
decision or the action
3. We face the consequence of our actions/decisions –
we face it with full responsibility
 Nature of Freedom
• Proceeds from the intellect and will
• Based on reason which the will followed
• When man makes decisions, he is free.
• Man is accountable for what he is doing because he
is CONSCIOUS of what he is doing, why he is doing it
& how he is doing it.
Results in
DECISION ACTION CONSEQUENCES
Faced with

Sense of
Leo Lopez
responsibility
 “You shall know the truth…”

TRUTH = BEING = GOOD

LAW
Intellect Will
FREEDOM
“...and the truth shall make you free.”

Leo Lopez
 Human Acts versus Act of Man
• Human acts
• Actions done Consciously and freely by the
agent/or by man
• ESSENTIAL QUALITIES/ Constituent Elements of
Human Acts
1. Knowledge of the act
2. Freedom
3. Voluntariness
• Man takes into responsibility of these actions
 Human Acts versus Act of Man
• Acts of Man
• Actions beyond one’s consciousness; not
dependent on the intellect & the will
• ESSENTIAL QUALITIES of Acts of Man
– Done with out knowledge
– Without consent
– Involuntary
• Ex: unconscious, involuntary, semi-deliberate,
spontaneous actions
• Acts of man can become human acts when he
employs his intellect & will in performing the act.
 ACTS not morally accountable

• Acts of persons asleep or under hypnosis.

• Reflex actions where the will has no time to

intervene.

• Acts of performed under serious physical

violence
• e.g. a hostage obliged to do an evil action.
• Since the will is constrained, then it is not a
moral act which could be evaluated.
 EXERCISE: Human Act or Act of Man?
• Looking
• Seeing
• Dreaming
• Day dreaming
• Hearing
• Listening
• Walking
• Sleepwalking
Morality of Human Acts
 What is Morality?
• From the Greek word MORES - behavior
• Refers to the sense of rightness or wrongness
of an act.
• Quality of the human act that is either good or
bad, right or wrong based on some norms that
are either inherent in the act or are observed
due to some individual or social conventional
acceptance
• --- Manlangit
 A moral act depends on
whether or not there is
consent by the will.

HUMAN ACTS
They include…

1) Thought
2) Speech
3) Action
 What is the basis of Morality?
• Morality is based in part upon the
fundamental conviction that:
1. There is an objective moral law which can be
known by the intellect – NATURAL MORAL
LAW
2. Some actions are intrinsically evil – not
justifiable regardless of the circumstance
Basic Inclination of Man based on
Natural Law

1. Seek food including the highest

good which is God.
2. Preserve himself in existence
3. To preserve the species
4. Live in community with other men
5. To use his intellect & will – to know
the truth & make his own decisions
prepared by: Ms. Teresita Dalusong, PTRP,
MHPHEd
Which Action is subjected to morality?

Human Acts? Acts of Man?

• All Human act are subjected to morality.

• Human acts are different from animal act
because man by nature acts towards an end.
His life has a purpose.
Morality and Human Acts
• Human acts are those that are freely
chosen in consequence of a judgment
of conscience.
• They are either good or evil.
• Their morality depends on: the object
chosen, the intention and the
circumstances.
 Moral Determinants of Human Acts
• HUMAN ACTS are neutral in themselves but
they acquire morality when we speak of:
1. OBJECT OF THE ACT
2. CIRCUMSTANCE
3. INTENTION
 Moral Determinants of Human Acts
1. OBJECT OF THE ACT
- Substance/nature of the action
- Good which the will deliberately directs itself
- OBJECT specifies the “act of the will”
- Nature of what was done to its distinct species
- “What was performed by the moral agent?”
- “An object if the act is Good when it is in conformity
with reason or when it fulfills or fits the demand of
reason. Otherwise, the object of the act is evil.
 Moral Determinants of Human Acts
2. INTENTION/END IN VIEW
- Motive of the agent – factor which the agent acts; either
be morally good or evil
- Purpose for which a human agent performs the act
- Concerned with the goal of the activity
- It aims at the good anticipated from the action
undertaken
- “What specifically does the agent want to accomplish?”
• Good intention doesn’t make an intrinsically
disordered act right
• The end does not justify the means.
 Moral Determinants of Human Acts
3. CIRCUMSTANCE
- Refers to the events, occasions or conditions that
make the act concrete
- Modify acts either by increasing or diminishing of the
moral goodness or evilness of an act/ responsibility
of the agent
- Lighten or aggravate the weight of moral
accountability of the performer
* The circumstance do not change the specific
nature of the human act.
 Moral Determinants of Human Acts
• HUMAN ACTS are neutral in themselves but
they acquire morality when we speak of:
1. OBJECT OF THE ACT
2. CIRCUMSTANCE
3. INTENTION
 What makes a morally act good or bad?
1. Goodness of object, end or intention &
circumstance all together as well as consequence
2. Evil end or intention corrupts the action even if
the object is good
3. Avoid concrete acts that are always wrong to
choose – object of the act
4. The acts which in & of themselves independent of
circumstance & intention are always gravely illicit
by reason of their object.
Error: to judge only the intention & circumstance
JUDGING THE MORALITY OF HUMAN ACTS

The moral object can either be

good (e.g. praying)
bad (e.g. stealing)
indifferent (e.g. eating)

The intention can be either good or bad.

JUDGING THE MORALITY OF HUMAN ACTS

• There are some actions that are evil by

their very nature.
(e.g. murder, adultery).

• These are never morally allowable, even

if the intention and the circumstances are
good.
 Moral Determinants of Human Acts
• HUMAN ACTS are neutral in themselves but
they acquire morality when we speak of:
• OBJECT
• CIRCUMSTANCE
• INTENTION
• CONSEQUENCES
 Objectives:
• Explain the nature of man & its dignity.
• Explain the concept of freedom of man and of
its human action
• Differentiate human acts & acts of man
• Explain the morality of Human Acts
• Determine the moral determinants of human
acts
 Human Act as Freely Chosen
• Human Acts are not merely physical events
that come & go, like the falling of rain or the
turning of the leaves, nor do they as Karol
Wojtyla emphasized in THE ACTING PERSON,
“happen” to a person.
 Human Act as Freely Chosen
• They are, rather, the outward expression if a
person’s choices for at the core of a human act
is free, self determining choice, an act of the
will, which as such is something spiritual that
abides within the person, giving him his
identity as a moral being.
 Human Act as Freely Chosen
• Although many human acts have physical,
observable components, they are morally
significant because they embody and carry out
free human choices.
• We are free to choose what we are to do and,
by so choosing, to make ourselves the kind of
person we are.
 Human Act as Freely Chosen
• But we are not free to make what we choose
to do to be good or evil, right or wrong.

• We know this from our own sad experience,

for at time we have freely chosen to do things
that we knew, at the very moment we choose
to do them, were morally wrong. We can, in
short, choose badly or well.