MORAL VALUE OF

HUMAN ACTS
Topic

ETH 101
DLSMHSI
 UNDERSTANDING HUMAN ACTS

Human Acts vs. Acts of Man

 • Involuntary acts
ACTS OF MAN
• spontaneous biological and
sensual processes

HUMAN ACTS
performed by a person who has
full knowledge through free will
done with knowledge, freedom,
and voluntariness

All of these elements must be

present in order for an act to
be considered a human act.
 Elements of Human Act
1. KNOWLEDGE of the ACT Knowledge directs
one to be mindful of
• the person is conscious and aware of the
his or her actions.
(1) reason and the
(2) consequences of his/her actions.

Example:
If a woman receives a gift of a pearl necklace, not
knowing that it is stolen, she is not guilty of any
offence, but a victim of ignorance which excuses her
from guilt.
 2. FREEDOM in DOING the ACT
• The person acts by his/ her own choice and
initiative.
• A person was not influenced by another person
or any situation to perform his/her action.
VOLUNTARINESS OR FREE WILL in
DOING the ACT
The person:
1. consents or agrees to the act,

2. accepting it as his/her own, and

3. assumes accountability for the result
 Freedom and Responsibility
Every act directly
willed is IMPUTABLE
to its author.*

IMPUTABILITY
•The moral responsibility for one's human actions.
• A person’s accountability for his or her deliberate actions.
3. VOLUNTARINESS OR FREE WILL in DOING the ACT

The person:
1. consents or agrees to
the act,

2. accepting it as his/her
own, and
3. assumes accountability
for the result
 MORAL ACCOUNTABILITY AND
RESPONSIBILITY

Image retrieved from https://vivente.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Accountability-road-sign.png

When can you say that a person is

accountable or responsible for his action?
ACCOUNTABILITY
• the “deservingness' of blame or praise
• natural product of our rationality
 reason: distinguishes right and wrong action
 free will or freedom: enables one to choose which action to perform

RESPONSIBILITY
1. Causation: being the cause of something.
2. Duty
3. Obligation or having certain duties or obligations towards
other people
• prospective: directed to what will or may happen;
• retrospective: directed to what had happened already
 Moral vs Legal Accountability
• on deserving blame or praise:
• Moral standards (moral rules or principles)

• legal standards (laws/statutes)

• on sanction/ penalties for wrongdoers

• legal sanctions - criminal offenses - external -physical
punishments

• moral: internal - mental suffering like guilt/remorse, shame, self-

hatred, low self-esteem, etc.
 Conditions for Moral Accountability
can be classified into two sets:
1. Attribution conditions:
• for they determine whether moral accountability can be
attributed or assigned to a person for an action that
he/she has done. it could be
• incriminating conditions would make one morally
accountable for the action under consideration
• excusing condition would spare one from moral
accountability for the action under consideration.
• agency condition: a person is only accountable for
actions in which he/she is the cause.

• knowledge condition: a person knows or has the

capacity to know the moral quality (goodness or
badness) of his/her action

• intentionality condition: a person intends or freely

chooses to perform an action he/she is doing.
 Conditions for Moral Accountability
2. Degree conditions:
for they determine the degree of one's moral
accountability. It could be

• mitigating conditions - when they lessen the

degree of one's moral accountability

• aggravating condition when they increase the degree

of one's moral accountability
A PERSON IS ACCOUNTABLE FOR AN ACTION IF AND
ONLY HE/SHE :

• is the AGENT of the action;

• knows or has the capacity to know that
the action is good or bad; and
• intentionally performs the action.
• If one of them does not occur, then the person is
EXCUSED from moral accountability.
 Degree Conditions
circumstances surrounding the act that determine the degree
of one's moral accountability to an act.

1. degree of knowledge
the greater the moral
more knowledgeable
accountability
 2. degree of pressure
the difficulty in life that forces one to perform a wrongdoing

the greater the pressure lesser the moral

accountability
 3. degree of intensity
the seriousness of the injury caused by the wrongdoing.

the greater the intensity the greater the moral

of the injury accountability
4. degree of involvement
the participation in a group or collective act of wrongdoing

the greater the moral

accountability
MORAL DISTINCTIONS
 Moral Immoral
 actions that are in conformity or
agreement with the norms of
morality

 actions that are not in conformity

to or in disagreement with the
norms of morality
Amoral • actions that stand neutral or indifferent
with the norms of morality (neither
good nor bad actions)
• Action becomes good or bad depending
on its intention and/or circumstances.

EXAMPLE
• Watching TV is amoral but becomes bad when
you do not attend your class at that same time.

• Sitting in a deckchair of itself is an indifferent act. But

sitting on deckchair waiting for your contact to deliver
cocaine or shabu will determine the morality of your act.
 THE DETERMINANTS OF MORALITY
determine how an act is rendered good or bad, moral or
immoral in relation to the norms of morality

1. Object (Act itself)

2. Intention (Purpose) and

3. Circumstances
moral object of the act (WHAT WE DO)
Also known as “act-
in-itself”;
the action that the
person did.
the primary source for
the judgment on the
morality of the act.
 INTENTION
 refers to the GOAL which
the agent aims to achieve
 This is usually called the
subjective element of a
moral act because the
intention for doing the act
lies within us.
 PRINCIPLES TO
CONSIDER REGARDING
THE INTENTION
OF THE AGENT
1. an act which is good in itself and is done for a good end
becomes doubly good. (GA + GI = 2G)
 means an agent performs a good act for a good purpose, hence, one receives a merits for
good act and another for good intention.
Example: a rich person gives donation to the poor because of his love for them.

2. an act which is bad in itself and is done for a bad end

becomes doubly bad. (BA + BI = 2B)
 means an agent performs a bad act with bad intention, hence, one is
liable for the bad act and another for bad intention.
Example:
a man rapes the girl out of vengeance.
3. an act which is good in itself and is done with bad
intention becomes bad. (GA + BI = B)
 this principle demonstrates the strong influence of the agent upon the morality of the
act. Example:
a manager of business firm increased the salary of his secretary from 7,000 Php
to 14,000 Php. He does this so that his secretary can’t turn him down.

4. an act which is bad in itself and is done for a good end

does not become good (BA + GI = B)
 means no good end can change the bad act for a reason that end cannot justify the
means. However, though, good end can’t change a bad act, it can lessen/decrease
the agent’s culpability.

Example:
a father steals money to buy gift for his son’s birthday;
a woman kills the man who wants to rape her out of self-defense.
5. an indifferent act which is done for a good end
becomes good. (IA + GI = G)
 this principle agrees with the statement that an indifferent act becomes good
according to the end of the agent.
Example:
act of writing is indifferent. If one writes to explain an issue or doctrine so that
people will be informed and enlightened. His purpose is good.

6. an indifferent act which is done for a bad end becomes

bad. (IA + BI = B)
 means a statement which is indifferent act with end becomes bad in itself.
Example:
talking is neither good nor bad,
but if its done to destroy the reputation of another, the act becomes bad.
CIRCUMSTANCES
CIRCUMSTANCES
• are conditions outside the act that influence or
affect that act by increasing or lessening its
voluntariness or freedom, and, thus, affecting
the morality of the act.

Circumstances are :
•the person, the place, the time, the manner, the
condition of the agent, the thing itself, the means.
 The Modifiers of Human Acts

What factors can make affect the morality of a human act?

The impediments to human acts
Impediments
• refer to factors that influence the person to perform a moral action.

• This is when the actions are done under

the circumstances where ignorance,
passion, fear, violence, and habit are
present.
• These are the factors that diminish
one's responsibility and impair the
element of voluntariness of human act.
 Impediments to full Knowledge
Knowledge of a moral
situation is impaired by:

 Ignorance,

 Error, and by

 Inattention.
1. Ignorance

• the lack or
absence of
knowledge
needed by a
person in doing
an act.
 Invincible ignorance
• the person is not aware, and which
• he/she is unable to overcome by him/herself unless
someone will tell him/her about the truth.
A market stallholder has bought branded
goods which he thought were genuine. Example
In fact, his wholesale supplier has sold
him fakes at the price for the genuine
goods.
The fraud is only discovered when DTI
came round to investigate customer
complaints.

Example
A woman receives a gift of a pearl
necklace, not knowing that it is
stolen.
 Vincible ignorance
• The person has the chance to know the norm/truth BUT did not avail
the opportunities offered, to correct his/her lack of knowledge.
 example

A heart surgeon's patients keep

dying because he has not
properly mastered new
techniques.
• It is his professional duty to
keep up-to-date, and not to
risk procedures which he is
not sure of.
2. Error
• Error about
moral truths is
very widespread
in mass-media
culture - the
"fraud of the
masses".
3. Inattention • may be the result of
drunkenness, of violent
emotion, sleepiness or
absent-mindedness.
– To drive for 6 hours
non-stop on the
motorway and cause
an accident implies
culpability, because
the driver should have
known to stop for a
rest.
Impediments to full FREEDOM AND CONSENT

• Full consent to a
particular moral act is
impaired by passion, by
fear, by force or by
ingrained habit.
• These may lessen
responsibility for an evil
or a good action.
 1. Passion or Concupiscence
• is an intense emotion which
urges ones feeling, enthusiasm,
or desire for something.
• They are either tendencies
towards desirable objects which
refer to positive emotions like
hope, love, bravery, and delight
or tendencies away from
undesirable objects which point
to negative emotions such as
anger, fear, sadness, and hatred.
2. Fear

• Fear is the shrinking back of

the person from an
impending evil.

• fear is the ability to recognize

danger by either confronting
it or withdrawing from it
(also known as the fight or
flight response).
 3. Social pressure / Peer pressure

• Social pressure is a very pervasive form of fear, operating through

the instinct for acceptance, esteem, safety, competitiveness.
 4. Force
Force is where violence is employed to constrain a person to
act in a certain way.
The presence of force prevents a
person to think clearly according to
reason.
Example:
• rape and robbery both use force
and the persons involved from
these acts are liable.
 5. Habit
• a firm routine of behavior that is done regularly.
• Anything you do automatically without consciously thinking about
it, or without specifically deciding to do it, is a HABIT.
• Here we see why education in good habits is so important.
• The child who learns to resist sin from an early age will have
a much greater degree of freedom as an adult, and be able
to channel her energies far more constructively.