THY 1 | UNIT 2: Called to Happiness

“Virtus in medio stat.” - Virtues lie in the middle. (Aristotle)

Ex. Cowardice, Courage, Rashness

– Alter Christus (Another Christ) - evey Christian

Acts of Man vs. Human Acts

Acts of Man (Actus Hominism)

Nature:
– involuntary
– doer is not the master of it
– 5 senses, sensation, automatic
– hindi pinag-isipan

Kinds:
1. natural acts of vegetative and sense faculties
2. acts of person who lack the use of reason (mental disability, children)
3. acts of people who are asleep or under the influence of hypnosis/drug
4. quick, nearly automatic reactins called primo-primi acts

Human Acts (Actus Homunus)

Nature:
– you are responsible
– your will
– voluntary

Constituents:
1. Knowledge:
2. Freedom: Can/May I do it? If yes, you have freedom.
3. Voluntariness: Are you forced to do it?

– No human act is possible without knowledge. The will itself is a blind faculty that
cannot act unless enlightened by the intellect.
– It is the job of the intellect to propose the good to the will and the latter tends toward
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it. It illuminates the will.

– A human act proceeds from the deliberate will. (Not necessarily slow or thorough but is
though of, pwede split second)
– Deliberation: knowledge (knowing act)

Freedom: “Can I/May I?”

– essential element
– A human act is an act determined (elecited or commanded) by the human will and by
nothing else.

Voluntariness: it is your decision to do it while having the knowledge of its end

– In human acts all three are present.

○ Perfect Voluntariness: agent fully knows and intends the act (alam ang situation)
○ Imperfect Voluntariness: there is some defect in the agent’s knowkedge, intention, or
both
○ Direct Voluntariness: human act willed in itself (hawak mo yung gusto mo)
○ Indirect Voluntariness: which js the seen result (that could and should gave been
foreseen) of another act directly willed
○ Positive Voluntariness: doing or performing the human act
○ Negative Voluntariness: refraining from doing (may positive sana kaso di mo ginawa
kaya negative, preventing)
○ Simple Voluntariness: act is performed whether the agent likes or dislikes doing it
○ Conditional Voluntariness: something is influencing you to like the act (hindi completely
gusto)

Determinants of Morality
– What can make a human action good or bad?
◆ The Object of the Act (Finis Operis): objective of your act, pipiliin kung ano yung
mabuti
◆ Intention (Finis Operants): resides in the acting subject, essential element in the
moral evaluation

Circumstances
– The circumstances, including the consequences, are secondary elements of a moral
act.
– They contribute to increasing or diminshing the moral goodness
◆ Who, What, Where, When, Why, By what means, How (may affect your decision-
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making)

REMEMBER:
– For a human act to be morally good, all the circumstances, intention, and object are
known to you and are good together.
– There are acts which, in and of themselves, independently of circumstances and
intentions, are always gravely illicit by reason of their object; such as blasphemy and
perjury, murder, and adultery.
– One may not do evil so that good may result from it. Such acts are called intristically
evil and can never be done nor justified for any reason whatsover. It is never licit to do
evil that good may come of it. (Romans 3:8)

The Principle of Double-Effect

Concept:
– The act itself must be good or morally neutral
– The good effect muct come first before the bad effect or simultaneously
– The good effect must be equal or greater than the bad effect
– The intention must be good from the start (Between you and God, guilt)
Ex. Ectopic Pregnancy (abortion but it intends to save the mother)

Modifiers of Human Acts

– These are circumstances which lessen the moral characterbof the human act and
diminish the responsibility of the agent.
◆ Ignorance (hindi alam)
◆ Concupiscence (inclination to do something bc of bodily appetites or tendencies
called passion)
◆ Fear
◆ Violence
◆ Habit
◆ Virtues