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ACTS OF MANACTUS HOMINIS
ACTIONS WHICH ARE PERFORMED WITHOUT THE INTERVENTION
OF THE INTELLECT AND THE FREE WILL
THEY COMPRISE ALL SPONTANEOUS BIOLOGICAL AND SENSUAL PROCESSES
ACTS OF MAN:
INVOLUNTARY actions Actions which merely happen in
the body or through the body without the awareness of the mind or the control of the will.
Nutritive processes of the body, circulation, respiration, growth, chemical reaction.
They comprise all spontaneous, biological, & sensual processes without the use of reason.
Ethical – correct, acceptable Unethical – incorrect, unacceptable Moral – specific sense: good MORAL – one who correctly judges
between right & wrong, and consequently act on what is virtuous.
general sense: deals with the question of good or bad.
Immoral – wrong, bad, evil, sinful - one who does not act in conformity with the principles of right and wrong.
AMORAL1. Not involving questions of right or
wrong; without moral quality; neither moral nor immoral.
INDIFFERENT NEUTRAL
2. When a person is blind to some moral values.
2.A--- Unaware of what is right or wrong--- Do not possess ethical notions at all as a result of an unusual upbringing or inborn.
2.B-- Lacking moral sensibility; one
who is not concerned with any moral standards at all;
--not caring about right and wrong; --having no moral standards,
restraints or principles; --with callous conscience.
IMPUTABLE - To impute – to charge/accuse a person with fault, an offense or a crime.
CULPABLE – guilty, blameworthy, (Latin) “mea culpa” – my
fault.
ACCOUNTABLE – answerable or responsible
LIABLE - legally responsible.
Human Acts – voluntary, deliberate, intentional acts. [knowledge, freedom, Will/ consent/
voluntariness]: ELICITED COMMANDED
KINDS OF ELICITED HUMAN ACTS 1. Wish2. Intention3. Consent4. Choice / Election / Selection5. Use6. Fruition / Satisfaction
Elicited acts – a simple WILL-ACT
WISH – the first tendency of the will towards a thing, whether this thing be realizable or not. It is the simple love of a thing. (Desire)
INTENTION – the purposive tendency of the will towards a thing regarded as realizable, whether the thing is actually done or not. (Active Desire; will to obtain it).
CONSENT – the acceptance by the will of the means necessary to carry out the intention. (A definite decision).
ELECTION – the selection by the will of the precise means to be employed in carrying out the intention.
USE – the employment by the will of powers to carry out its intention by the means elected.
FRUITION – the enjoyment of the thing willed & done; the will’s act of satisfaction in intention fulfilled. (The actual attainment & enjoyment of the desired good).
COMMANDED ACTS – under orders from the will
1. INTERNAL – acts done by internal mental powers under command of the will. {Effort to remember, conscious reasoning, effort to control anger, deliberate use of the imagination in visualizing a scene}
2. EXTERNAL – acts effected by bodily powers under the command of the will. {Deliberate walking, eating, writing, speaking}
3. MIXED – acts that involve the employment of bodily & mental powers. {Study which involves the use of intellect and the use of eyes in reading…}
CONSTITUENTS OF HUMAN ACTS
KNOWLEDGE
The faculty of thought. The intellect discerns in a given object both perfection and
imperfection, both good and evil, and therefore presents it to the will as desirable in one
respect and undesirable in another
FREEDOM
the ability to act without restraint.
In the context of internal control,
freedom is also known as self-
determination, individual sovereignty,
or autonomy.
when an object is proposed, the will, on account of its unlimited scope,
may love or hate, embrace or reject it.
Whenever there is deliberation in the understanding,
there is freedom in the will, and the consequent act is
free; vice versa, whenever an act
proceeds from the will without deliberation,
it is not free, but necessary.
FREE WILL / VOLUNTARINESSEVERY VOLUNTARY ACT OF MAN INCLUDES A
NECESSSARY ELEMENT:THE QUEST FOR GOODAND A FREE ELEMENT:
THE CHOICE OF THE CONCRETE OBJECT IN WHICH THE GOOD IS SOUGHT
IF A MAN IS NOT FREE TO CHOOSE WHAT HE WOULD LIKE ACCORDING TO HIS INSIGHT AND WILL BUT HAS TO ACT AGAINST
HIS WILL,HIS ACTION IS NOT FREE AND
CONSEQUENTLY NOT A HUMAN ACT
DIVISIONS OF VOLUNTARY ACTS / EFFECTS
1.Perfect and Imperfect voluntariness
2.Simple and conditional voluntariness
3.Actual, virtual, habitual and interpretative voluntariness
4.Positive and negative voluntariness
5.Direct and indirect voluntariness
PERFECTLY VOLUNTARY ACT
IS AN ACT WHICH IS PERFORMED WITH FULL ATTENTION
AND FULL CONSENT OF THE WILL.
POSITIVELY VOLUNTARY ACT
THE WILL EFFECTS SOMETHING POSITIVELY BY EXERCISING ACTIVE
INFLUENCE ON THE CAUSATION OF AN
OBJECT FOR EXAMPLE, INJURING A NEIGHBOR BY SETTING
HIS HOUSE ON FIRE
NEGATIVELY VOLUNTARY ACT
THE WILL EFFECTS SOMETHING NEGATIVELY
BY VOLUNTARY OMISSION OF AN ACT WHICH COULD HAVE AVERTED AN EVIL
TO ANOTHER PERSON OR HELPED HIM TO SECURE A GOOD FOR EXAMPLE, NOT
TO EXTINGUISH A FIRE ALREADY STARTING IN A
NEIGHBOR’S HOUSE
DIRECTLY VOLUNTARY
IF THE ACT IS INTENDED AS AN END IN ITSELF OR
IF IT IS INTENDED AS A MEANS FOR ANOTHER END
INDIRECLTY VOLUNTARY
IF AN ACT IS NOT INTENDED BUT MERELY PERMITTED
AS THE INEVITABLE RESULT OF AN OBJECT DIRECTLY
WILLED.
THE GOOD AND EVIL EFFECT MUST PROCEED
AT LEAST EQUALLY DIRECTLY
FROM THE ACT
THE INTENTION OF THE AGENT MUST BE
GOODTHE AGENT MAY NOT INTEND OR APPROVE OF THE EVIL EFFECT
BRIEFLY
UNDERTAKING AN ACTION FROM WHICH A GOOD AND EVIL EFFECT ARE
FORESEEN IS PERMISSIBLE :IF THE ACTION IN ITSELF IS NOT EVIL, IF THE BAD EFFECT IS NOT INTENDED
IF THERE IS SUFFICIENTLY GRAVE REASON TO PERMIT THE EVIL.
Principle of indirectly willed act
1. The agent must foresee the evil effect of his act.
2. He must be free to refrain from doing the act which is the cause of the evil effect; and
3. He must be morally obliged to stop doing the act which is the cause of the evil effect.
Cases:
1. Your classmate put a time bomb in your bag while you were out for a break. The bomb exploded while the class was on going killing you and the professor and other classmates. Is your classmate responsible for the death of your professor and other classmates though its not the motive of his act?
2. At gunpoint,, a man fires a gun inside the crowded movie house making all the people inside panic and resulting in the injury of many and to the death of one or two movie goers. Is the agent responsible of the evil effect of his act?
Principle of double effect1.The act must be good in itself or at
least indifferent.2.The evil effect must not precede the
good effect.3.There must be a sufficient reason for
doing the act. A sufficient reason exist when:
a.) the good effect is more important or at least equally important than the bad effect;
b.) the act is the only means of achieving the good effect.
4.The intention of the agent must be honest.
Cases:
1. A patient is dying. Medical relief there is none. Can a doctor give the patient drugs and medicines killing her instantly, thus ending the patient’s agony or sufferings?
2. In order to free the city of Manila from the Japanese and put an end to the war in the Philippines, Gen. Mc. Arthur ordered the bombing of Intramuros , thus killing many civilians and non-combatants. Was the general’s act allowable?
Cases:
3. A pregnant and gravely sick woman is advised by the doctor to take certain medicines and drugs. She knows that these medicines will cause the death of the fetus. Will she follow the advice of the doctor?
4. Both mother and child are in danger of death during a delivery. In order to save the life of the mother, the doctor crushes the head of the fetus directly killing him. Is it permissible?
5. An engineer builds a school in a distant barrio in order to get the votes of the people for an unworthy and corrupt candidate. Is the action of the engineer moral?