Chapter 4

Human Acts in Relation to Reason

GOOD ACTS are those done by man in

harmony with the dictates of right reason.
EVIL ACTS are those action done by man
in contradiction to the dictates of right
reason.
 INDIFFERENT ACTS are those acts that
are neither good nor evil.
Voluntariness of the
Human Acts
The concept of voluntariness is
important in ethics because only
voluntary acts have moral bearing.
Categories of Voluntary Actions

Perfect Voluntariness – action

performed with full knowledge and with
full consent.
Imperfect Voluntariness – action
that occur when there is no perfect
knowledge or consent, or when either or
both of the knowledge or consent is
partial.
 Direct Voluntary – action that are
intended for its own sake, either as a
means or as an end.
 Indirect Voluntary – actions that
are not intended for its own sake but
which merely follows as a regrettable
consequence of an action.
The Moral Principle Involved
in Action Having Two Effects
(The Indirect Voluntary Act)

A difficult question sometimes arises as

to whether it would be morally right to
do certain actions from which good as
well as bad effects follow; meaning is it
morally right to do an act which entails
good as well as bad consequences?
The Action must be morally good in
itself, or at least morally indifferent.
The good effect of the act must
precede the evil effect. The evil effect
is morally allowed to happen as a
regrettable consequence.
There must be a grave or sufficient reason in
doing the act.
THANK YOU :}
The evil effect should not outweigh the good
effect or, at least. The good effect should be
equivalent in importance to the evil effect.

THE END 