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perfect voluntariness. y This is not always possible though. Oftentimes, a certain degree of doubt or reluctance accompanies an act. y At other times, emotions hold sway, propelling action with the swiftness of an impulse.
certain actions are called modifiers of human acts. y 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. y We cite this principle: the greater the knowledge and the freedom, the greater the voluntariness and the moral responsibility.
IGNORANCE
y 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. y Ignorance is the absence of knowledge which a person ought to possess. A lawyer is expected to know his law... the doctor, his medicine
y Ignorance is either vincible or invincible. y Vincible ignorance is the kind of ignorance that can
address in a certain place is vincible since he can easily ask for information from a policeman pedestrian.
without being aware of it or having awareness of it, lacks the means to rectify it. invincible . Sometimes, too, a person acts without realizing certain facts. Thus, a cook might be unaware that the food he is serving is contaminated.
PRINCIPLES
person cannot be held morally liable if he is not aware of his state of ignorance. y A waiter who is not aware that the food he is serving has been poisoned cannot be held for murder.
voluntariness and the corresponding accountability over the act. y 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.
y To act with vincible ignorance is to act imprudently.
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. y 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. y The former are called positive emotions; the latter, negative emotions.
y
y Passions are psychic responses. y As such, they are neither moral or immoral. y However, man is bound to regulate his emotions and
y Passions are either antecedent or consequent. y 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
y Antecedent passions do not always destroy
But insofar as passions interfere with the freedom of the will, one s accountability is diminished.
aroused and kept. y Consequent passions, therefore are said to be voluntary in cause, the result of the will playing the strings of emotions. y Thus a young man may deliberately arouse himself sexually by reading pornographic magazines. y Or a victim of injustice may intentionally nurse his resentment towards his tormentor.
results of the will which fully consents to them instead of subordinating them to its control.
y
confronted by am impending danger or harm to himself or loved ones. y Distinctions is made however between an act done with fear and an act done out or because of fear.
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. y 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.
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
y 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. y 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.
involuntary. Panic completely obscures the mind. In this mental state, a person is not expected to think sensibly.
VIOLENCE
y
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.
by a person subjected to violence, to which reasonable resistance has been offered are involuntary and are not accountable. y 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. y 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.
y
y PRINCIPLE
Actions done by force of habit are voluntary in cause, unless a reasonable effort is made to counteract the habitual inclination. y Habits are either good or bad. We speak here of bad habits which lead to immoral actions. y Habits are voluntary in cause, because they are the result of previously willed acts done repeatedly as a matter of act.
y