 The ideal is for man to act deliberately, that is, with

perfect voluntariness.
 This is not always possible though. Oftentimes, a
certain degree of doubt or reluctance accompanies an
act.
 At other times, emotions hold sway, propelling action
with the swiftness of an impulse.
 Factors that influence man’s inner disposition towards
certain actions are called “modifiers” of human acts.
 They affect the mental or emotional state of a person
to the extend that the voluntariness involved in an act
is either increased or decreased.
 We cite this principle: the greater the knowledge and
the freedom, the greater the voluntariness and the
moral responsibility.
 Authors point to the following as modifiers of human
acts:
 Ignorance
 Passions
 Fear
 Violence
 Habit
IGNORANCE
 “Ignorance of the law excuses no one”. This implies
that one should not act in the state of ignorance and
that one who has dome a wrong may not claim
ignorance as defense.
 Ignorance is the absence of knowledge which a person
ought to possess. A lawyer is expected to know his
law... the doctor, his medicine
 Ignorance is either vincible or invincible.

 Vincible ignorance is the kind of ignorance that can

easily be reminded through ordinary diligence and
reasonable efforts.

 The ignorance of a visitor regarding a particular

address in a certain place is vincible since he can easily
ask for information from a policeman pedestrian.
 Invincible ignorance is the type which a person possesses
without being aware of it or having awareness of it, lacks the
means to rectify it.

 The ignorance regarding missing objects and persons is often

invincible . Sometimes, too, a person acts without realizing
certain facts. Thus, a cook might be unaware that the food he is
serving is contaminated.

 Affected ignorance, is the type by which a person keeps by

positive efforts in order to escape responsibility or blame.
PRINCIPLES

 1. Invincible ignorance renders an act involuntary. A

person cannot be held morally liable if he is not aware
of his state of ignorance.
 A waiter who is not aware that the food he is serving
has been poisoned cannot be held for murder.
 Vincible ignorance does not destroy, but lessens the
voluntariness and the corresponding accountability
over the act.
 A person who becomes aware of the state of ignorance
he is in has the moral obligation to rectify it by
exercising reasonable diligence in seeking the needed
information.

 To act with vincible ignorance is to act imprudently.

 Affected ignorance, though it decreases voluntariness,
increases the accountability over the resultant act.
Insofar as affected ignorance interferes with the
intellect, it decreases voluntariness. But in so far, that
it is willed to persist, it increases accountability.
 Certainly, refusing to rectify ignorance implies malice.
And the malice is greater when ignorance is used as an
excuse for not doing the right thing.
PASSIONS
 Passions or concupiscence are either tendencies
towards desirable object or tendencies away from
undesirable or harmful things.
 The former are called positive emotions; the latter,
negative emotions.
 The positive emotions include love, desire, delight,
hope and bravery.

 The negative emotions include hatred, horror,

sadness, despair and fear and anger.
 Passions are psychic responses.

 As such, they are neither moral or immoral.

 However, man is bound to regulate his emotions and

submit them to the control of reason.
 Passions are either antecedent or consequent.
 Antecedent are those that precede an act. It may
happen that a person is emotionally aroused to
perform an act. Antecedent passions predispose a
person to act.
PRINCIPLES

 Antecedent passions do not always destroy

voluntariness, but they diminish accountability for the
resultant act.

 Antecedent passions weaken the will power of a person

without, however, completely obstructing his freedom.

 Thus the so called, “crimes of passions are voluntary.

But insofar as passions interfere with the freedom of
the will, one’s accountability is diminished.
 Consequent passions are those that are intentionally
aroused and kept.
 Consequent passions, therefore are said to be
voluntary in cause, the result of the will playing the
strings of emotions.
 Thus a young man may deliberately arouse himself
sexually by reading pornographic magazines.
 Or a victim of injustice may intentionally nurse his
resentment towards his tormentor.
 PRINCIPLE: Consequent passions do not lessen
voluntariness, but may even increase accountability.

 This is because consequent passions are the direct

results of the will which fully consents to them instead
of subordinating them to its control.

 FEAR
 Fear is the disturbance of the mind of a person who is
confronted by am impending danger or harm to
himself or loved ones.
 Distinctions is made however between an act done
with fear and an act done out or because of fear.
 Certain actions which by nature are dangerous or risky
are done with varying degree of fear. Climbing a cliff,
flying an airplane through a storm, diving for pearls, or
arresting a notorious killer- are examples of act
performed with fear.
 In these cases, fear is a normal response to danger.
Such actions are voluntary, because the doer is in full
control of his faculties and acts inspite of fear.
 But acts done out of fear are entirely different. The
child reads his book out of fear of the mother; the
employee volunteers to work overtime out of fear
being fired by the boss. ; a friend stops smoking out of
fear of contracting cancer.
PRINCIPLES

 Acts done with fear are voluntary. A person acting

with fear is acting freely inspite of his fear and is in
full control of himself.
 Acts done out of fear, however, great, is simply
voluntary although it is also conditionally voluntary. It
is simply voluntary because the person remains in
control of his faculties, including that of moderating
fear. It is also “conditionally involuntary” because if it
were not for the presence of something feared, the
person would not act or act in another way.
 Acts done because of intense fear or panic are
involuntary. Panic completely obscures the mind. In
this mental state, a person is not expected to think
sensibly.
VIOLENCE
 Violence refers to any physical force exerted on a
person by another free agent for the purpose of
compelling said person to act against his will.

 Bodily torture, maltreatment, isolation and mutilation

– are examples of violence against persons.
 PRINCIPLES
 External actions are commanded actions, performed
by a person subjected to violence, to which reasonable
resistance has been offered are involuntary and are not
accountable.
 Elicited acts or those done by the will alone are not
subject to violence and are therefore voluntary. The
will insofar as it is a spiritual faculty is not within the
reach of violence.
HABITS
 Habit as defined by Glenn, “is lasting readiness
and facility, born of frequently repeated acts, for acting
in a certain manner.”
 Habits are acquired inclinations towards something to
be done. They assume the role of a second a second
nature, moving one has them to perform certain acts
with relative ease.
 PRINCIPLE
 Actions done by force of habit are voluntary in
cause, unless a reasonable effort is made to counteract
the habitual inclination.
 Habits are either good or bad. We speak here of
bad habits which lead to immoral actions.
 Habits are voluntary in cause, because they are
the result of previously willed acts done repeatedly as a
matter of act.