GE 8 | Ethics

Actions which happen in the person

Midterm Lesson 1 (Chapter 2) “naturally”, even without his/her awareness of
The Morality of Human Acts and Moral himself/herself while doing them. These
Accountability actions are done without deliberation, reflection
and consent. They are performed just
instinctively.
HUMAN ACTS
Human Acts or actus humani are actions that
Are those that humans share with animals
proceed from insight into the nature and
whose actions and movements emanate from
purpose of one’s doing and from consent of free
purely sensual nature. The person here is
will. These actions are performed by man
neither morally responsible nor accountable for
knowingly, freely, and voluntarily.
these kinds of actions.
These are rational and willed actions that are
MAJOR DETERMINANTS OF THE MORALITY
proper only to man, which man does not share
OF HUMAN ACTS
with the brutes, actions that require man’s
rationality.
Determinants of morality refer to the sources
that define the rightness or wrongness of
BASIC ELEMENTS OF HUMAN ACTS
actions-done with knowledge, freedom and
consent.
1. The act must be deliberate (Knowledge).
- It must be performed by a conscious
1. The Act Itself
agent who is very much aware of
- Also known as object of the act
what he/she is doing and of its
- It is what person does
consequences- good or evil.
- A natural completion of an act which
- The action must originate from a
determines whether an act is intrinsically or
person having wisdom or
extrinsically good or evil.
knowledge.
- Every act has its intrinsic character or quality
2. The act must be performed in freedom
that defines its morality.
(Freedom).
- direct effect of the human action
- Freedom means you can choose
- the object is the matter about which
whether to do it or not.
something is done.
- The person who is performing the
action should be free from any force
Example:
beyond his/her control.
Eating- preservation of human life
3. The act must be done voluntarily
Cheating- getting a good grade which you do
(Voluntariness). It must be performed
not deserve
by an agent who decides willfully to
Lying- to deceive other person
perform the act.
- Voluntariness – the willingness to do
2. The Motive or Intention
it.
- Why the person does what he does?
- Motive is the reason behind our acting and
The absence of lack of any of these
becomes an important and integral part of
elements, the action considered now as
morality. Thus, a particular act can be modified
acts of man.
in its moral worth.
_ one performs an act as a means of achieving
ACTS OF MAN
a goal, different from the act itself.
Acts of man or actus hominis are actions
- determination of the will to bring a certain
performed without intervention of intellect and
effect.
free will.
Four Principles under Motive
It comprises all spontaneous biological and
a. An indifferent act can become morally
sensual processes, like nutrition, breathing,
good or morally evil depending upon the
sensual impressions.
intention of the person doing the act.

Example: Speaking
Speak to destroy someone’s reputation
is morally evil.
Speak to let the truth be known is
morally good.
b. An objectively good act becomes morally
evil due to wrong or bad motive.
Example:
The act of helping others is objectively good act
but when it is performed to grab public
attention, it turns into immoral.
A person gives alms to a poor girl with the
intention of seducing or raping her.
c. An intrinsically (objectively) morally
good act can receive added goodness, if
done with an equally noble intention or
motive.
Example:
Praying is a good act in itself but if you pray
out of pure gratitude to God, then you will
receive more goodness (blessings).
He taught street children how to read so they
can do better in school.
d. An intrinsically evil act can never
become morally good even if it is done
with a good motive or intention.
Example:
Cheating is wrong in itself (intrinsically evil). A
student decided to cheat during an exam to
pass the subject. To aim to pass the subject is
a good intention, however it is still morally
wrong because it is done with an evil act.
He stole money so he can send his children to
school
The end (intention) does not justify the means
(act itself). (Non-consequentialist)
The end justifies the means. (Consequentialist)
A desired result or goal is good if even the
motive is a morally bad one to achieve it.
3. The Circumstances
The moral rightness or wrongness of an act is
not only determined by the act itself and
motive, but also the circumstances.
- It refers to the various conditions outside of
the act. Circumstances are conditions that
influence, to a lesser or greater degree, the
moral quality of the human act.
- In short, it affects the degree of responsibility.
FOUR TYPES OF CIRCUMSTANCES THAT
AFFECT THE MORALITY OF THE ACT
1. Mitigating or Extenuating
Circumstances
- Diminish the degree of moral good
or evil in an act
Example:
Suppose a person commits murder but
unplanned and later admits his/her guilt, then
the circumstances lessen the severity of the
act.
2. Aggravating Circumstances
- Increase the degree of moral good or evil in an
-act without adding a new and distinct species
of moral good or evil.
Example: Murder can be made worse especially
acted by a criminal repeatedly with the use of
superior arms.
3. Justifying Circumstances
- Show adequate reason for some acts done.
Example:
A person charged with murder can vindicate
himself/herself if he/she can prove that he/she
killed a person to defense his/her own life.
4. Specifying Circumstances
- give a new and distinct species of moral good
or evil of the act.
SEVEN SPECIFIC KINDS OF CIRCUMSTANCES
that affects the morality of human action
1. WHO – the person/subject who does or
receives the action.
2. WHERE – the place/setting of an action.
3. WHAT – the object/effect of an act.
4. WHY – the intention/motive that moves the
person to an act.
5. WHEN – the time of the action performed
6. HOW – the different conditions/modalities
such as consent, violence, fear, ignorance or
voluntariness.
7. BY WHAT MEANS – the
ways/methods/process of an act.
MODIFIERS OF HUMAN ACTS
These modifiers affect human acts in the
essential qualities of knowledge, freedom, and
voluntariness.
1. Ignorance
- Absence of knowledge in a person who is
required to know, to know what he does not
know.
a. Invincible Ignorance
– it renders an act involuntary.
- which an individual may have without having
knowledge or without being aware of it.
Example: A waiter in a restaurant might be
totally unaware that the food he is serving to
the customers contains harmful bacteria.
b. Vincible Ignorance
- lessens the voluntariness and the
corresponding accountability over the act.
- a person becomes aware and conscious of
his/her state of ignorance and has moral
obligation to correct it.
Example: A student-nurse who is unsure
whether the reading that he did on a patient’s
BP is accurate or not, and has failed to double
check.
2. Innocence
- the absence of knowledge in a person who is
not required to know what he does not know.
3. Passion or Concupiscence
- Passion is an instinctual drive and tendencies
as experienced and expressed in such feelings
as fear, love, hatred, despair, horror, sadness,
anger, grief and the like.
- They refer to the emotions and feelings of man
in relation to his actions.
- appetites towards the possession of good and
avoidance.
Passion may be called bad when used by the
rational will to accomplish morally evil actions.
Antecedent Passions – lessens freedom and
diminish the responsibility of human actions.
Consequent Passions – do not lessen the
voluntariness of an act but may increase it,
because these kind of passions are deliberately
excited and they are voluntary in themselves.
4. Fear
- It is the shrinking of the mind on account of
an anticipated evil or threat. It is the emotion
that catch impending or anticipated evil and
manifest itself to avoid, or escape from an
impending threat.
Acts done with fear are voluntarily
- The person concerned remains morally
responsible of his/her action, whether good or
bad, right or wrong.
Example: A person climbs a dangerous
mountain at night.
Acts done because of intense fear are simply
involuntary.
- A person when acting out of extreme fear is
not morally accountable of his/her action or
conduct.
Example: A cashier who hands the money to a
robber who is poking a gun on his head.
5. Violence or Compulsion
- the actual application of force to a person by
another for the purpose of compelling him to do
something against his will.
Human act resulting from violence are
involuntary by themselves. But, we are morally
responsible for all acts of the will itself even
when the body is suffering violence.
Example: The body of a woman can be violated
(rape), but her will or internal consent may
remain inviolate or she may internally consent.
6. Habit
- Is a constant and easy way of doing things
(established action) acquired by the repetition
of the act.
- synonymous to obsession, addiction, fixation.
 Habits do not destroy voluntariness,
and actions performed by the force of
habits are imputable to man.
  Actions done by force of habit are
voluntary in cause.
 If habit has been contracted absolutely
involuntary and unintentionally, it will
lack voluntariness and responsibility as
long as the person concerned remains
ignorance of the existence of such habit.
Example: A habit of foul language during
childhood.
 If an evil/bad habits has been
contracted voluntarily, but a positive
and constant effort is being made to
resist it, the acts inadvertently
proceeding from the habit are
considered involuntary and not
imputable to man.
Midterm Lesson 2 (Chapter 5)
Ethics of Utilitarianism
UTILITARIANISM
Utilitarianism is labeled as a theory of
consequentialist morality when it puts primary
consideration and emphasis on the effects or
results that an act or conduct brings rather
than the motive of the agent.
Consequentialist looks into the outcome of the
act and regardless of the act itself, if it
produces good result, therefore, morally
justified. The end (motive) justify the means
(act itself). Moreover, no action in itself can be
considered good or bad, right or wrong, apart
from its outcome.
ETHICAL HEDONISM
Another significant characteristic of
utilitarianism as an ethical theory is its
emphasis on the pleasure and
happiness/contentment that one can get from
doing an act.
Utilitarianism is similar to an old theory of
Ethical Hedonism. It holds that the primary
reason of living is to seek for pleasure,
specifically in the pursuit of bodily pleasures.
THE PRINCIPLE OF UTILITY
Utilitarianism was founded by Jeremy
Bentham and was developed and popularized
by John Stuart Mill.
Utilitarianism is founded under the principle of
utility to denote that the determinant whether
an act can be good or right is its utility (value)-
to bring about desirable results (pleasure).
Man is governed with two sovereign clusters:
pain and pleasure.
For Utilitarianism, if an act produces pleasure
it is morally right; if it results to pain, it is
morally wrong. The pleasure or happiness is
regarded as the only objective moral standard.
Example: Robin Hood steals properties from
wealthy people and give them to the poor.
The standpoint of utilitarianism, Robinhood’s
act is morally good because it produces
maximum benefits (greatest happiness) to the
majority of the people.
QUANTITATIVE MODEL OF UTILITARIANISM
Jeremy Bentham, founder of utilitarianism, has
formulated a quantitative model of
utilitarianism. Bentham devised a scientific
method as a definite basis in determining
morality by measuring the exact amount of
pleasure and pain. It is called the Felicific or
Hedonic Calculus which measures the degree
of pleasure that a specific action may produce.
It has seven metrics which are:
1. Intensity – the more intense the pleasure,
the better.
2. Duration – the longer the pleasure lasts, the
better.
3. Certainty – the more certain or probable the
pleasure, the better.
4. Propinquity/Remoteness – the soonest the
expected pleasure will occur, the better.
5. Fecundity – the greater the possibility that
the pleasure that one can derive from an act
will be followed by more pleasures, the better.
6. Purity – the purer the pleasure, the better.
7. Extent – the greater the number of people
who can experience pleasure, the better.
In the hedonic calculus, the amount of
pleasure is deducted from the amount of pain
to arrive at the balance.

QUALITATIVE MODEL OF UTILITARIANISM

John Stuart Mill develops his own model of

Utilitarianism. He argues that we cannot
calculate the amount of pleasure and pain that
an act produces. He claim that

An act is morally right if it produces greatest

happiness to the greatest happiness to the
greatest number of people. It is morally wrong
if it produces more pain to the greatest number
of people concerned.

The basis of morality is the majority of people

that attains happiness.

He said that the pleasures of the mind or the

spirit are higher than pleasures of the flesh and
of the body. Hence, he emphasize that persons
should seek higher pleasures than the lower
kind.

Higher pleasures include acquiring love,

securing freedom, having knowledge,
knowingGod, and being morally good.

Lower pleasures include sensual and bodily

needs.

“It is better to be a human being dissatisfied

than a big dissatisfied.”- J.S. Mill
- Certain qualitatively superior pleasures add
more to our happiness rather than a simply
base pleasure.