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The Morality of Human Acts

Morality
morality (Latin mores: of manners or customs) Those principles governing whether an act is right or wrong, as understood through natural reason and in accordance with the teachings of Christ as they are revealed through Scripture and Tradition1

Human Acts
human acts acts that are done with intellect and will, knowledge and consent acts of humans acts that do not involve the intellect and will (e.g., breathing, sneezing)2 Human acts are either good or evil.

The Sources of Morality

The three sources of the morality of human acts are: the object the intention the circumstances

In order to evaluate whether an act is morally good or evil, all three elements must be considered.

Object
object the matter of a human act or the action itself3 The object is the matter of the human act, the what we do.4
1 Reverend Peter M.J. Stravinskas, Ph.D., S.T.D., Catholic Dictionary (Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, Inc., 2002), 518. 2 Rev. James Socias, ed., Our Moral Life in Christ: A Complete Course (Chicago: Midwest Theological Forum, 2003), 98. 3 Socias, 99. 4 Michael Francis Pennock, This Is Our Faith: A Catechism for Adults (Notre Dame: Indiana, Ave Maria Press, Inc., 1998), 248.

2 The object determines the morality of an act The human act receives its goodness or malice primarily from the morality of the act itself. For example, adultery is always evil by its object, independently of the purpose of the one who does it.5 There are some acts that, of their very nature, are intrinsically evil: Reason attests that there are objects of the human act which are by their nature incapable of being ordered to God, because they radically contradict the good of the person made in his image. These are the acts which, in the Churchs moral tradition, have been termed intrinsically evil (intrinsece malum): they are such always and per se, in other words, on account of their very object, and quite apart from the ulterior intentions of the one acting and the circumstances. Consequently, without in the least denying the influence on morality exercised by circumstances and especially by intentions, the Church teaches that there exist acts which per se and in themselves, independently of circumstances, are always seriously wrong by reason of their object.6 Gaudium et Spes, under the section Respect for the Human Person, cites many examples of human acts that are intrinsically evil due to the fact that its object is evil: The varieties of crime are numerous: all offenses against life itself, such as murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, and willful suicide; all violations of the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, physical and mental torture, undue psychological pressures; all offenses against human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children, degrading working conditions where men are treated as mere tools for profit rather than free and responsible persons: all these and the like are criminal: they poison civilization; and they debase the perpetrators more than the victims and militate against the honor of the creator.7 evil the opposite or absence of good8 Catholic teaching maintains that, There are concrete acts that it is always wrong to choose, because their choice entails a disorder of the will, i.e., a moral evil.9
Socias, 99. Veritatis Splendor, 80. 7 Gaudium et Spes, 27 3. 8 Catechism of the Catholic Church (Washington, D.C.: United States Catholic Conference, Inc., 1997), 878 (Glossary).
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3 To be stressed is that the human will is disordered whenever it chooses what is contrary to the will of God.10 Certain actions, like blasphemy, perjury, murder, and adultery, are always seriously wrong because they involve moral evil, a disorder of the will. Neither good motives for performing such actions nor circumstances surrounding them can ever justify them.11

Intention
intention the motive for which a person commits a good or evil act12 Rooted in an act of the will, the intention is ones purpose or motive for acting. It answers the question why one does a particular act. Ones intention can be involved in a series of actions or several motives can be involved in the same act. A key principle of Catholic morality centers on the role of intention: A good intention can never make an intrinsically evil action good. The end does not justify the means.13 If an act has both an evil object and an evil intention, then the malice of the act increases.14 On the other hand, a good intention can reduce the guilt of a morally bad act, but it cannot make an intrinsically evil act a good act.15

Circumstances
circumstances those factors that occur with the act and that contribute to the morality of the act16 Circumstances are secondary elements of a moral act the how, who, when, where of the act. They contribute to the goodness or the evil of an act Circumstances can also lessen or heighten a persons

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1761. Father John A. Hardon, S.J., Catechism on the Splendor of Truth (Bardstown, Kentucky: Inter Mirifica, 1996), 33. 11 Pennock, 248. 12 Socias, 99. 13 Pennock, 248-249. 14 Socias, 100. 15 Socias, 100. 16 Socias, 100.
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4 blameworthiness for a particular act. However, they cannot change an evil act into a good one.17 how the manner in which the act is done who the person acting when the timing of an act where the place where the act occurs18 The circumstances, including the consequences, are secondary elements of a moral act. They contribute to increasing or diminishing the moral goodness or evil of human acts (for example, the amount of a theft). They can also diminish or increase the agents responsibility (such as acting out of a fear of death). Circumstances of themselves cannot change the moral quality of acts themselves; they can make neither good nor right an action that is in itself evil.19

General Rules for Judging the Morality of an Act

In order for an act to be morally good, the object, intention, and circumstances must all be good. 1. An act is morally good if the object of the act itself, the intention, and the circumstances are good. 2. If an act itself is intrinsically evil (evil by its very nature), the act is never morally allowable regardless of intention or circumstances. 3. If the object of the act is itself morally good (or at least neutral), its morality will be judged by the purpose or the circumstances. 4. Circumstances may create, mitigate, or aggravate sin. 5. If all three moral elements (the object of the act itself, the intention, and the circumstances) are good, the act is good. If any one element is evil, the act is evil. If a reservoir is fed by three streams, and one of them is polluted, the reservoir is polluted. 20
Pennock, 249. Socias, 100-101. 19 Cathechism of the Catholic Church, 1754. 20 Rev. Edward J. Hayes, et al., Catholicism and Life: Commandments and Sacraments (Norwood, Massachusetts: C.R. Publications Inc., 1996), 25-26.
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