INTRO
Human Act - Those actions which are
 Ethics is from the Greek word “Ethos”
which means custom or manner of
acting and behaving. Mores is the root
word of morality that means custom or
practice.
 Ethics is focused on the general
principles, rules and theories on
determining what is right or wrong.
While morality is the praxis, the
application of those principles
(Fernandez, 2012).
 Morality is a system of beliefs about
what is right behavior or wrong
behavior (Rubin, 2015).
Two Divisions of Ethics:
1. General Ethics – deals with morality of
the human act that mainly focuses on the
basic concepts.
2. Applied or Special Ethics – refers to the
application of the moral principles,
standards and norms in various specific
areas of human life and activity.
Moral Principles must have the following
characteristics:
1. Prescriptivity
2. Impartiality
3. Overridingness
4. Autonomous from Arbitrary Authority
5. Publicity
6. Practicability
Two Acts:
1. Act of Man – refers to those acts of which
man has no control. Therefore, it is
involuntary act. Like emotions, circulation of
the blood, the pumping of the heart,
grinding of the stomach and breathing.
2.
within the control of man like walking,
talking, thinking, eating and biting are
examples. It is deliberate, hence, voluntary
act.
Essential Elements of Act of Man and
Human Act:
1. Knowledge – where the doer is aware of
what he/she is doing
2. Freedom – in which the act is not done by
force; no freedom, no responsibility
3. Will – the doer is given its consent to do
the act; consent is the approval of its action
*The absence of either one or two of the
elements will lessen the accountability of
the doer or no accountability at all.
Voluntariness is very much a kin to consent.
From the Latin word “voluntas”, voluntariness
refers to the act of the will.
These are the four kinds of voluntariness:
1. Perfect voluntariness – where all the
elements of human act are present
2. Imperfect voluntariness – where knowledge
is absent
3. Simple voluntariness – doing or not doing the
act since one cannot do anything about it, it is
either positive or negative
4. Conditional voluntariness – when the person
is forced to do an act in which in normal
condition, it should not be done
Morality of an act can be either moral, immoral
or amoral. Moral, of course if it’s a good act.
Immoral if it is bad. If it is indifferent or neither
good nor bad, then it is amoral.
How do we know the morality of the act then?
The following are the determinants of morality:
1. The Object or Act itself – refers to the deed
done by the doer of the action; it is either good
or bad
2. Motive or Intent- refers to the purpose or
reason of doing the act
3. Circumstances – involves the situation that
surrounds the commission of the act; basically
the practical answers to particular questions
a. Who – refers to the persons involved
in the act committed; the doer and the
receiver/ recipient of the act
b. Why – the reason or the motive of
doing the act
c. By What Means – though the
intention is good but obtaining the end is
unlawful or illicit, then the act is still immoral;
the end does not justify the means
d. Where – refers to the setting of the
action
e. When – refers to the time of the
commission of the act
f. How – (the manner or audience in
committing the act)
Generally, circumstances could be aggravating,
justifying, mitigating or exempting.
Man is an organism that does not act in a
vacuum. He responds and reacts to stimulus.
Thus, the accountability of the commission of
an act can be modified. The liability can be
greater, great, less, lesser or none at all. The
following are the modifiers:
1. Ignorance is the absence of knowledge.
Kinds of ignorance:
A. Vincible – where the lack of knowledge can
easily be ratified; can easily be corrected
B. Invincible – difficult to ratify; there is no way
of knowing
2. Concupiscence or passion refers to emotions
whether negative or positive desire. They are
neither moral nor immoral.
Passion can either be:
a. Antecedent – tend to weaken the will power
of the person and so interfere with the freedom
of the will; man tends to become irrational
b. Consequent – the doer willfully plays with his
emotions
3. Fear is the disturbance of the mind when a
person is confronted by danger or harm to
oneself of loved ones.
4. Violence happens when physical force is
exerted to a person by another for the purpose
of compelling or forcing the person against his
will.
5. Habits are frequently repeated acts. It may be
bad or good.
Norm is used to measure whether an act done
is good or bad, right or wrong, moral or
immoral. It is a rule or standard engaging the
goodness or badness of an act.
The first norm is the eternal divine law which is
objective and is the ultimate and absolute norm
of morality.
*The difference between moral law and human
law is that the former covers both the internal
and external actions of man while the latter
cover only the external actions of man.
Human reason is the second norm of morality.
This is related to a person’s conscience which is
proximate norm of morality telling a person
internally what to do and should not do. This
norm is subjective.
According to the harmony or disharmony with
the objective truth, conscience can be either be
correct or true, or erroneous or false. Having a
correct conscience must be always obeyed, *Norms are formal or material as derived from
whatever it commands or forbids. An erroneous natural law.
conscience can be:
Formal norms – refers to what we ought to be
a. Invincibly erroneous conscience – meaning a like we should be sensitive, giving, and obedient
kind of judgement where mistake cannot be
Material norms – what ought to be done
avoided regardless of the effort or attempt
exerted to correct such *Whenever there is a conflict between divine
law and civil law, the person has to obey God
b. Vincibly erroneous conscience – the person is
rather than men as based from the Word of
morally accountable since the error could have
God
been avoided with ordinary diligence on his/her
part

c. Perplexed conscience – kind of judgment

happens when a person has two alternative
options but fears that sin is present in both
choices that either way he/she feels doomed,
the person must postpone any action in making
the choice

d. Pharisaical conscience – the person magnifies

small offences as grave and serious sins as lethal

As to firmness in its judgement of the morality

of the act, conscience is either:

a. Certain conscience – means the judgement is

sure that the action is good or bad

b. Doubtful conscience – the person hesitates in

making a particular judgement since he/she is
not certain or unsure whether something is bad
or good or moral or immoral

c. Scrupulous conscience – described as a very

cautious or extremely fearful that the person
involve does not want to make any action in a
given situation, as a result the person tends to
judge something as right or wrong when in fact
there is none

d. Lax conscience – the person takes simple act

very lightly and considers it as good and okay, it
always takes things for grated when it comes to
grave moral importance; the person in most
cases is insensitive, lazy, and negligent