THE SOURCES OF

MORALITY
THE SOURCES OF MORALITY

The agreement or disagreement of the human acts to the norms of

morality must be known concretely, i.e. in particular cases. For
this reason we must analyze the human act not from the point of
view of the internal or psychological process but to the
objectiveness of the act itself and circumstances surrounding it,
including the motive of the moral agent
THE SOURCES OF MORALITY

Human reason evaluates the goodness and badness (morality) of

a human act by taking into consideration the O B J E C T , the
E N D , and the C I R C U M S TA N C E S of the act. These are
the three elements composing the morality of the particular
action performed by a free agent.
THE OBJECT

• The first quality describing the human act is the object. It is

like the basic factor of morality, the substance of the moral
act.

• According to Saint Thomas, the primary and specific

goodness or badness of an act is derived from the object
which the act naturally and directly tends as to its term or
name.
THE OBJECT

The teachings of St. Thomas on the essence of morality center

on the object as proved by this summary:

1. A good or moral action is perfect action

because it has the fullness of being.
2. An action has the fullness of being when it is
in accordance with its species, i.e. nature or
essence.
THE OBJECT

3. The nature or essence of an action is given by the

object about which the action is. The fundamental
goodness or badness of an action depends on the
object.
4. An object is good when it is in conformity with its
nature or the purpose for which it was made.
Otherwise an object is bad or evil.
THE OBJECT

5. In the moral order, an object is good when it is in

conformity with reason, when it is suitable to reason.
Otherwise, it is evil. Consequently, an action is good
or moral when it is in conformity with reason which
is the proximate norm of morality. Any action not in
conformity with reason is a bad action.
THE OBJECT
SOME EXAMPLES

 The purpose immediately accomplished by eating is

life preservation.
 The immediate object of theft is stealing other’s
property
 The natural purpose of lying is to deceive other
persons
 The immediate result of almsgiving is to relieve the
poverty of the poor.
THE OBJECT
From the standpoint of the object,
human acts are classified into GOOD,
EVIL, or INDIFFERENT by their very
nature, independent of any command,
regulation, or law.
THE OBJECT

Goo
d
Acts
THE OBJECT

Bad
Acts
THE OBJECT

Indifferent
Acts
THE OBJECT
The morality concerning the object is named
material or substantial morality to distinguish it
from the subjective or formal morality which
depends on the knowledge and freedom of the
agent. It may happen that a certain action
contains a material morality while the formal
morality is absent.
THE MOTIVE
The motive or intention is that for the sake of
which something is done. It is the reason behind
our acting. Man usually puts an act as a means to
accomplish an end, different from the act itself.
Because the end or intention is ordinarily present
in all human acts, it becomes an integral part of
morality.
THE MOTIVE
The end or intention can modify human actions in
four ways:

1. An indifferent act may become

morally good or evil.
THE MOTIVE

2. An objectively good act may

become morally evil.
THE MOTIVE

3. An objectively good act may

receive more goodness.
THE MOTIVE

4. An objective evil act can never

become good in spite of the good
motive.
THE CIRCUMSTANCES
CIRCUMSTANCES are conditions
modifying human actions, either by
increasing of by diminishing the
responsibility attending them.
THE CIRCUMSTANCES
The Circumstances affecting
morality of our actions are seven:
who, where, what, by what means,
why, how, when.
THE CIRCUMSTANCES
WHO – is the subject or the person who does or receives
the action. Persons are different in many ways: superiors,
rulers and subjects, priests, laymen, parents and children,
rich and poor, married and single, educated, illiterate.
There are also physical persons or individuals, and moral
persons such as corporations, companies, dioceses,
institutions, business firms, etc.
THE CIRCUMSTANCES
WHERE – is the setting or place of an action. A crime
committed in a church is more serious than a crime
perpetrated in a secluded spot because of a flagrant
disregard of religion. An immoral act committed in a
public place involves scandal.
THE CIRCUMSTANCES
WHAT – is the object intended as explained in number
one of this lesson

BY WHAT MEANS – Although man’s intention may be

normally good, if the means of attaining the end are illicit
or unlawful, his acts are immoral. “The end does not
justify the means.”
THE CIRCUMSTANCES
WHY – is the intention or the motive that moves the
agent to an action.
HOW– This circumstance involves different conditions
or modalities such as voluntariness, consent, violence,
fear, ignorance.
WHEN – the time the action was performed.
THE CIRCUMSTANCES
How circumstances affect morality

First Principle: Circumstances may increase or

diminish the goodness or badness of an action

Second Principle: Circumstances may change a good or

indifferent act.
THE CIRCUMSTANCES
To summarize:

A human act, in order to be morally good, must be

perfect according to the three elements: object, end, and
circumstances. Any deficiency will make a human act
morally evil.
THE CIRCUMSTANCES
To summarize:

“Bonum ex integra causa; malum

ex qoumque defectu.”
The good results from whole perfection;
The evil from any defect.
THE MORALITY OF THE
INDIFFERENT ACTS
Several times we have classified human acts under the
point of view of morality as good, evil, and indifferent
acts. But are there really human indifferent acts,
deliberately performed by man without any relation to
morality?
THE MORALITY OF THE
INDIFFERENT ACTS
In this respect, St. Thomas made a classical distinction:
Acts considered in the abstract, as they are classified in the
mind, can be morally indifferent; but considering them
correctly, accompanied by circumstances and performed
by a definite individual with a definite intention, they
cannot be indifferent. They are either good or evil.
THE MORALITY OF THE
EXTERNAL ACT
What about the morality of the external acts, the acts
commanded by the will and executed by different external
senses and powers of the body properly called external or
material actions, as for example, the material action of
killing or saving a person?
THE ETHICS OF SITUATION

This doctrine rejects the objective and intrinsic moral

order. While in our Ethics, circumstances play a secondary
role in the moral evaluation of our actions, in Situation
Ethics, circumstances become the root, the origin and the
only criterion of morality. Man alone and his
circumstances are the arbiters of morality. And because all
men are different, morality is also different and relative to
each individual.