HEALTHCARE ETHICS (BIOETHICS)

THE HUMAN PERSON

COURSE PACKET 2
MIDTERM PERIOD

OUTLINE himself/herself. In simple terms, the agent (in doing a free act) is not
A. INTRODUCTION forced to do or not do a particular action. Therefore, a human act is an
I. HUMAN DIGNITY/ HUMAN PERSONHOOD act which is determined solely by the will.
II. HUMAN ACTS/ ACTS OF HUMAN
III. KNOWLEDGE VOLUNTARINESS
IV. FREEDOM Voluntariness requires the presence of knowledge and freedom in
V. VOLUNTARINESS the agent because for the agent to will (in doing the act) the act he/she
VI. CONSCIENCE must have knowledge of what the act is and he/she must also have
freedom to perform or not to perform the act. Thus, a voluntary act is a
INTRODUCTION willful act.

HUMAN DIGNITY/ HUMAN PERSONHOOD CONSCIENCE

Conscience is derived from the Latin phrase cum alia scientia
As God’s own image, humans are considered by Christians as which means the individual man’s application of knowledge or “acting
God’s highest achievement. with knowledge.”
Personhood, therefore, is inherent in every human being. As God’s It is the conviction of moral philosophers that conscience is the
own image, humans reap the worth, the dignity, and the intrinsic value connecting link between the law and individual acts.
as human persons.
In this case, the personhood of man is the foundation of morality,
philosophy, art, science, law, and the like. This why to many scholars,
the question of personhood of humans is the central issue in biomedical
ethics since the nature of humanity is the central issue in biomedical
ethics since the nature of humanity touches the issues on reproductive
technologies, human stem cell research, cloning, genetic engineering,
genomics, assisted suicide, euthanasia, abortion, contraception,
allocation of resources, among others.
Beyond any speck of doubt, the definition of human personhood is
a very controversial and highly complicated topic to deal with. The new
medical and genetic techniques only further complicate the issue of
identifying personhood. Embryonic stem cell research, cloning, and sex
changes, [and similar concerns] are occurring today.

HUMAN ACTS/ ACTS OF MAN

Human acts are actions that proceed from the deliberate free will of
man. In a broader perspective, the term human acts refer to any activity
performed by man. This activity could either be physical, spiritual,
internal, or external. In moral philosophy, human acts are treated not in
its broader but in its stricter sense. In this regard, moral philosophy takes
human acts as those actions that are proper only to human persons.
The way humans act is so remote compared to the manner through
which things and animals “acts.” Only humans are responsible for their
actions.
Acts of man are actions executed by human persons which they
share with the brute. These are the acts of perception (sensation), the
beating of the heart, blood circulation in the body, digestion of food in the
stomach, and the like. All the of these activities do not need the man’s
freedom and will. This is why actions that happen within the body are not
human acts because they occur without the control of the will and the
consciousness of the human mind.

KNOWLEDGE
A human act is an act done with knowledge. Doing an act with
knowledge makes the act deliberate. This means that the agent (the one
who performs the act) has intellectual knowledge of the act. Further, in
performing an act with knowledge, the agent has the awareness about
the means to employ as he/she performs an act and the agent has also
the awareness of the end to achieve in his/her actions.

FREEDOM
A human act is an act done with freedom. An act done with freedom
means that the agent does an act under the control of his/her will. This
suggests that when the agent performs an act with freedom, his/her will
is not affected or influenced by any constraint either within or outside
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