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GE ETH 1
Week 2: The Morality of Human Acts

Learning Outcomes: At the end of this topic, the students will be

able to:
1. Define the concept of human acts.
2. Identify the elements and classifications of human act.

Concept Digest

Definition of Human Acts

Human acts (Actus Humani) refer to “an act which proceed from the
deliberate free will of man”. Specifically, human acts are those
actions done by a person in a certain situations which are
essentially the result of his/her conscious knowledge, freedom
and voluntariness or consent. Hence these actions are performed
by man knowingly, freely, and voluntarily.

Three elements of human acts for an act to be considered as human

acts: knowledge, freedom, voluntariness or consent. These actions
are what make a human being “truly human”, an earthly creature
different and distinct from all others.

Acts of Man

These acts are simply actions which happen in the person

“naturally” even without his/her awareness of himself/herself
while doing them. These actions are done without deliberate,
reflection and concept. Examples of acts of man: beating of the
heart, breathing, respiration, digestion and the like. Other
examples include spontaneous feelings pf fear, rage and anger,
sleeping, dreaming, seeing, eating and walking among others.

Basic Elements of Human Acts

For an act to be called essentially human, the following elements

must be present: knowledge, freedom and voluntariness.

3. Knowledge. An act must be performed by a conscious agent who

is very much aware of what he/she is doing and of its
consequences— good or evil. Thus children below the age of
reason, the insane, the senile lunatics, people who are under
the heavy influence of drugs and alcohol— are said to be
incapable of acting knowingly and with sufficient knowledge.
4. Freedom. An act must be voluntary, it must be done by an agent
who is acting freely, with his/her own volition and powers.
5. Voluntariness. An act must be performed by an agent who
decides willfully to perform the act.

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Classification of Human Acts

Human acts can be generally classified based on

a. where do they stem up from (source or adequate cause)
b. their accordance to reason (moral worth or value)

Adequate Cause

According to its adequate cause, a human act can be classified

either as elicited or commanded.

Elicited Acts are simply will acts- acts begun and completed in
the will. An example of this is intention. Intention is a human
act in so far as it is deliberate, free and voluntary.

A student for example, has the intention of graduating summa cum laude and he know what it means and what it
takes to realize this intention (knowledge). He has the option of realizing it or to (freedom) and has the power to
will himself to realize his intention (voluntariness).

In order to carry it out, actions of the mind and the body must
be ordered by the will. These actions are so-called commanded
acts. So, after having the intention of graduating summa cum
laude, the all commands the body and the intellect to work
together in the act of diligently and responsibly studying one’s
lessons.

The sub-classifications of human acts according to the adequate

cause:

6. Elicited Acts
a. Wish—- The first step of a human act. It is defined as “the
first tendency of the will towards a thing”.
b. Intention— “Purposive tendency”. This purposive tendency is
born out of the fact that thing desired is realizable
regardless of whether it will actually be attained to not.
c. Consent— It is the will’s acceptance of the means needed for
the realization of an intention.
d. Election— It means choice or selection. Election is the will’s
act of choosing from among the different means necessary in
realizing the intention.
e. Use— It pertains to the will’s employment of the mental and/or
physical faculties in the performance of the means selected in
view or realizing a particular intention.
f. Fruition— Is the will’s act of satisfaction or enjoyment after
the thing intended is realized.

2. Commanded Acts
a. Internal Acts— Are acts done by the mind through the command
of the will. Example: thinking, recollection, analysis, effort
to control emotions, visualizing and the like.

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b. External Acts— Are acts done by the body through the command
of the will. Example: walking to the library, opening of book,
writing of correct answer on the test sheet.
c. Mixed Acts— Are acts done by both the mind and body. Example:
Studying lessons or taking up an examination, require both the
bodily (sensation) and mental (reason) faculties.

Moral Worth or Value

As defined, human acts can be generally classified based on their

accordance to reason (moral worth or value). The moral worth or
value can be either a.) moral, or b.) immoral or c.) amoral.

d. Moral— Morally good acts are acts that are in accordance to

the dictates of right reason.
e. Immoral — Immoral acts are acts that are not in accordance to
the dictates of right reason or that which fail to measure up
to the norm of morality.
f. Amoral — Amoral acts are acts that are neither good or evil.
However, as human acts, these acts exist only in theory since
al human acts are either good or evil by nature of the motive
or purpose of the agent.

References:
Fernandez, Ambong, Grumo, Emmanuel and Reambonanzjo, Eric. 2012.
Ethics Basic Concepts, Theories & Cases. Davao City: MS LOPEZ
Printing & Publishing.

Atacador, Rey, et, al. 2015. Intoduction to ETHICS with Social

Philosophy and Values Information. Malabon City. Mute Publishing
House, Inc.

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