Human Acts

versus
Acts of Man
 OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able
to:
✤ Point out the differences of human acts and acts of
man.
✤ Articulate on the constituents of human acts.
✤ Identify scenarios or situations where modifiers of
human acts may be present.
✤ Analyze human acts based on 7 factors.
Why human acts?
✤ Human acts are acts that are proper for man as man.
They proceed from rational nature of man.

✤ Human beings are capable of morality because our

actions have ethical values.

✤ Acts that proceed from man’s vegetative nature like

growth and nutrition or from his sentient nature such
as perception and locomotion are in themselves not
human acts but rather, mere acts of man.
Classifications of Human Acts

✤ Moral acts are acts done by human beings in

accordance to goodness. These moral acts
include among others: telling the truth,
helping others, returning a lost item, taking
care of other, self-control (non-action).

✤ Moral acts done by man are right conduct.

✤ Immoral acts are acts done by human beings in
accordance with evil. Examples are: lying, killing,
stealing. Immoral acts done by man are wrong
conduct.

✤ Amoral acts are acts that are neither good or bad.

Examples are eating, sleeping, walking.

✤ Amoral acts are not human acts, rather, they are

acts of man. They are not conduct, but only
activity.
The classification of acts as human
act or acts of man is not an absolute
one. It depends on particular
circumstances, the intent of the
moral agent, and the manner of
doing the said action.
Source: Co et al. Logic and Ethics, Libro Filipino, 2015
 CONCEPT CORNERS
HUMAN ACTS ACTS OF MAN

Requirements:
5 synonyms
5 situations
5 places/locations
3 Characters
Constituents of Human Acts

(1) Knowledge: this modifier refers to the rational

awareness by the person of his own acts.

(2) Freewill refers to the absence in a person of

determination in the performance of his acts.

✤ To be free means, the person is the one who chooses

whether to do the act in whatever manner he can or
not do it at all. He claims ownership of the act.
✤ (3) Voluntariness is the consenting by the
person to do an act out of his own
deliberations.

✤ It is also a legal and philosophical concept

referring to a choice being made of a
person’s freewill, as opposed to being
made as a result of coercion or duress.
Factors Affecting the Constituents of
Human Acts

✤ Absence of any of these three constituents/

elements shall render an act not a human
act at all.

✤ These factors diminish one’s culpability to

his actions.
(1) Ignorance: lack or absence of knowledge in
a person capab;e of knowing a certain thing or
things.

Causes of invincible ignorance:

✤ No way of suspecting that he is ignorant

(non disclosure of a fact)

✤ Morally impossible to obtain the knowledge.

(2) Fear: a mental agitation of disturbance
brought about by the apprehension of some
present or imminent danger. The danger may be
real or imaginary.

Types of Fear:
✤ Grave Fear: aroused by the presence of a
danger
✤ Slight Fear: aroused by a danger
(3) Concupiscence/Passion: a movement of the
sensitive appetite which is produced by good or
evil as apprehended by the mind.

✤ Passion is good when ordered by the will to

help man practice the virtue. Example: fear of
being caught cheating.

✤ Passion is bad or evil when ordered by the will

to accomplish evil acts. Example: courage to
steal.
✤ (4) Violence: an external force applied by
someone on another in order to compel him to
perform an action against his will.

✤ If one resist the violence, the evil act to which

one is forced is not culpable. Example: a
snatcher to weaken his victim uses force and
violence but the victim, unknown to the
snatcher, knows some self-defense techniques.
Something to think about…

✤ According to Aristotle, knowledge is not enough

for I may know something good and yet would
not do it; or I may know something bad yet do it.
There is always an inner struggle between reason
and will.

✤ Only voluntary act can be held accountable

because it consists of both knowledge and
approval of the moral agent.
 Analysis of Human Acts

Ethical analysis of human acts involve the

act itself and the end of the act. The act
involves the following questions:
✤ What was the act?
✤ Who committed the act?—the moral
agent or the person who does the act
✤ To whom the act is intended?—the recipient
of the act; the one who benefited from the
action.

✤ Where was the act done?—the place where

the act is committed.

✤ When?— the time the act was committed, and

✤ How?—the manner of performing the act.

✤ End?— the objective/purpose of the act.

 Example of Analysis of Human Act

✤ Raul has been in government service for 25 years. It

was his first job. He was immediately admitted as
clerk in the Provincial Capitol right after his
graduation from college. Young and talented, he easily
rose from the ranks. He is now the head of the
Purchasing Division. All transactions related to
supplies have to pass his office for his signature. He
also supervises the bidding of suppliers for items
amounting to P5M and above.
✤ One day a visit from on old friend surprised him. Marco
told him that he was joining the bidding for 15 pieces of
sophisticated hospital equipment amounting to P30M,
the highest bidding procedure he ever supervised.
During their short talk, Marco expressed his ardent desire
to win. That night, to Raul’s surprise, a brand new car
was parked at his gate. The car representative handed
him a card bearing this note, “to my best pal, a gift for
our long lasting friendship…Marco.” Raul did not have a
second thought on what to do with the gift. He folded the
card, returned it to the car representative and then told
him, “Kindly tell the buyer I am grateful and delighted
for his gift of friendship, but I am resolved to the idea
that me and my old car are best buddies ever”…
Analysis of the human act:
Identify the following:
✤ Act - ___________________________
✤ Agent - _________________________
✤ Recipient - _________________________
✤ Place - ___________________________
✤ Time - ___________________________
✤ Manner - _________________________
✤ End - ___________________________
Thank you
This presentation is made by:
Dr. Madeleine M. Co
CHED GET UE-ETHICS