MORAL

ACCOUNTABILITY
 HUMAN ACT (ACTUS
HUMANI)
“actions that proceed from insight into the
nature and purpose of one’s doing and from
consent of free will”
- Peschke 1985
human acts are those actions done by a person
in 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.
-Agapay 2008
“an act which proceeds from the deliberate free will of
man”
-PAUL GLENN (1965: 3 )

A human act is also that which is classified as good or

bad, right or wrong, and thus, subject to morality and
its norms.
-(Baldemeca et al. 1984: 92)
3 IMPORTANT ELEMENTS OF HUMAN
ACT
1. KNOWLEDGE
2. FREEDOM
3. VOLUNTARINESS

These actions are what make a human being “truly human”,

an earthly creature different and distinct from all others.
 HUMAN ACT VS. ACT OF MAN
HUMAN ACT
• proceed from one’s conscious
knowledge as well as freedom and
voluntariness, the same cannot be
said for acts of man.
ADDITIONAL:
All human acts are acts of man,
but not all acts of man are human acts.
ACT OF MAN
• are simply actions which happen
in the person “naturally”, even
without his/her awareness of
himself/herself while doing them.
• are done without deliberation,
reflection and consent. They are
performed just instinctively.
 BASIC ELEMENT OF HUMAN ACT
1.) The act must be deliberate.
- It 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.
2.) The act must be performed in freedom.
- It must be done by an agent who is acting freely, with his/her own volition
and powers.
3.) The act must be done voluntarily.
- It must be performed by an agent who decides willfully to perform the act.
 MAJOR DETERMINANTS OF THE
MORALITY OF HUMAN ACTS
determinants of morality refer to the sources that define
the goodness/rightness or badness/wrongness of actions-
done with knowledge, freedom and consent. These are:
1. The Act Itself or the Object of the Act.
2. The Motive or the Intention
3. The Circumstances.
 1. THE ACT ITSELF OR THE OBJECT
OF THE ACT
• refers to the action that is done or performed by an agent, or
simply, WHAT the person does.
• From the standpoint of its object, morality can be objective and
intrinsic. This means that objectively, there are actions by
themselves (taken as they are, as “mere acts”), as good and bad,
right and wrong, moral or immoral.
• Every act, therefore, in the practical sense, done in the concrete,
has its intrinsic character or quality that defines its morality.
 2. THE MOTIVE OR THE INTENTION
• The motive is the purpose or intention that for the sake of which something is done. It is
the reason behind our acting. It answers the question “WHY the person does what he
does?” One normally performs an act as a means to achieve an end or goal, different from
the act itself.
• FOUR PRINCIPLES UNDER MOTIVE OR INTENTION :
2.1 An indifferent act can become morally good or morally evil depending upon the
intention of the person doing the act.
2.2 An objectively good act becomes morally evil due to a wrong or bad motive.
2.3An intrinsically (objectively) morally good act can receive added goodness, if done with
an equally noble intention or motive.
2.4 intrinsically evil act can never become morally good even if it is done with a good
motive or intention.
 3. THE CIRCUMSTANCES
• The moral goodness or badness of an act is determined not only by the
object or act itself, plus the motive or intention of the moral agent, but also
on the circumstances or situation surrounding the performance of the
action.
• Circumstances refer to the various conditions outside of the act.
• They either “affect the act by increasing or lessening its voluntariness or
freedom, and thus, affecting the morality of the act” (Salibay 2008: 33).
 Four Types of Circumstances that Affect
The Morality of the Act
• Mitigating or extenuating circumstances diminish the degree of moral
good or evil in an act.
• 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.
• Justifying circumstances show adequate reason for some acts done.
• Specifying circumstances give a new and distinct species of moral good or
evil of the act.
 7 specific kinds of circumstances which
affect the morality of human action
1. WHO is the subject or the person who does or receives the action. Every
act has a doer and a receiver. The one who performs it and the one to
whom the action is done.
2. WHERE is the setting of an action. Every act is done in a particular
place. The place where the act is committed by someone affects to a
considerable degree its morality.
3. BY WHAT MEANS – Although one’s intention may be morally good, if
the means of attaining the end are illicit or unlawful, one’s acts are
immoral. “The end does not justify the means.”
 7 specific kinds of circumstances which
affect the morality of human action
4. WHY is the intention or the motive that moves the agent to an action.
5. HOW-answers the question as to the way or manner the act was carried
or performed.
6. WHEN is the time of the action performed. Every act is done at a
particular and specific time.
7. TO WHOM refers to the recipient of the action, or the person to whom
the act is done.
 Principles Governing Circumstances
1. Circumstances may either increase or decrease the wrongfulness of an
evil act.
2. Circumstances may either increase or decrease the merits of a good act.
3. Circumstances may exempt temporarily someone from doing a Required
act.
4. Circumstances do not prove the guilt of a person. The presence of a
person when a crime is committed does not prove he is the criminal
when a crime is committed.
 MODIFIERS OF HUMAN ACT
• Factors and conditions that affect to a considerable extent man’s inner
disposition towards certain actions.
• they influence specifically the mental and/or emotional state of a person
concerned to the point that the voluntariness involved in an act is either
increased or diminished.
• “affect human acts in the essential qualities of knowledge, freedom,
voluntariness, and so make them less perfectly human’ (Glenn 1965: 25).
 MODIFIERS OF HUMAN ACTS
1. Ignorance
- is the absence of necessary knowledge which a person in a given situation, who is
performing a certain act, ought to have. Ignorance therefore is a negative thing for it is a
negation of knowledge.
- Ignorance is either vincible or invincible.
• Vincible ignorance - conquerable since it is correctible. (does not destroy)
• Invincible ignorance - unconquerable, and thus not correctible. (an act involuntary)
• affected ignorance - when a person really wants and chooses to be ignorant so that he/she
can escape in wrongfulness of his/her action.
 MODIFIERS OF HUMAN ACTS
2. Passion or Concupiscence
- is here understood as a strong or powerful feeling or emotion.
- also known by other names such as sentiments, affections, desires, etc.
- It includes both positive and negative emotions.
• Principle governing Antecedent Passion - do not always destroy
voluntariness, but they diminish accountability for the resultant act.
• Principle governing Consequent Passion - do not lessen voluntariness, but
may even increase accountability.
 MODIFIERS OF HUMAN ACTS
3. Fear
- Is defined as “the disturbance of the mind of a person who is confronted by an impending
danger or harm to himself or loved ones” (agapay,2008)
- “Fear may be considered a passion which arises as an impulsive movement of avoidance of
a threatening evil, ordinarily accompanied by bodily disturbances” (Panizo,1964)
- “modifies the freedom of the doer, inducing him to act in a certain predetermined manner,
often without his full consent” (Agapay 1991)
• Acts done “with” fear are voluntary.
• Acts done “because of” intense fear or panic are involuntary
 MODIFIERS OF HUMAN ACTS
4. Violence - refers to “any physical force exerted on a person by another free agent for the
purpose of compelling [the] said person to act against his will” (Agapay 1991). Any act
where great and brutal force is inflicted to a person constitutes violence. This includes acts
such as torture, mutilation and the like.
• Any action resulting from violence is simply involuntary. However, the person whose physical
external conduct emanates from and controlled by violence should always be in defiance in
terms of one’s will. When a person experiences so much fear in the face of an unjust aggressor
who is armed and extremely dangerous, he or she is not held morally responsible of his or her
action.
• “Absolute violence excludes any voluntariness from the forced action. The reason is that lack
of consent precludes a human act and consequently imputability” (Peschke 1985)
 MODIFIERS OF HUMAN ACTS

5. Habits
- is a “constant and easy way of doing things acquired by the repetition of the same act”
(Panizo 1964)
- “[h]abit is the readiness, born of frequently repeated acts, for acting in a certain manner”
(Agapay 2008).
• “Actions done by force of habit are voluntary in cause, unless a reasonable effort is
made to counteract the habitual inclination” (Agapay 2008).
• “A deliberately admitted habit does not lessen voluntariness and actions resulting
therefrom are voluntary at least in their cause” (Peschke 1985)
 MODIFIERS OF HUMAN ACTS

5. Habits
• “Habits are voluntary in cause, because they are the result of previously willed acts done
repeatedly as a matter of fact. Thus, every action emanating from habit is said partake of the
voluntariness of those previous acts. Therefore, for as long as the habit is not corrected, evil
actions done by force of that habit are voluntary and [thus, the person concerned is still very
much morally] accountable” (Agapay 2008)
• “An opposed habit lessens voluntariness and sometimes precludes it completely. The reason is
that a habit weakens [both the] intellect and will in the concrete situation in a similar way as
passion does” (Peschke 1985)
THE
END
GROUP 3
MEMBERS
GYWENETH MARIE AMORIO
THANK
YOU 
ALLYSANDREA CHUA
WENDY FLOR
ROBNALIE MACAHILAS
ANNA MAE PENALES