INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS

II. Object
Ethics is the practical science of the morality of human conduct Material object – human acts
“ethos” – a characteristic way of acting Formal object – rectitude of human acts
Ethics employs the marvelous faculty of human reason upon the supremely important question of what an upright life is and must be. It
furnishes the norm by which relations must be, and indicates the reasons that require them to be so.
I. General ethics – present truths about human acts, and from these truths deduces the general principles of morality
II. Special ethics – applied ethics in different departments (Individual & social ethics)
CHAPTER 1: HUMAN ACTS
A human act is an act which proceeds from the deliberate free will of man while acts of man are acts that man performs indeliberately
or without advertence and the existence of free choice.
I. CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN ACTS – A) adequate cause of human acts B) their relation to the dictates of reason
A. The Adequate Cause of Human Acts a) Elicited acts b) Commanded acts
a) Elicited acts – simple acts that begun and completed in the will (wish, intention, consent, election, use and fruition)
Of the Elicited Acts listed, three appertain to the objective thing willed, and the three to the means of accomplishing it
b) Commanded acts -actions that are carried out by the mental and bodily powers under the orders of the will
(internal – mind external – body mixed – both)
B. The Relation of Human Acts to Reason Human acts are either in agreement or in disagreement with the dictate of reason, and the
relation with the reason constitute their morality. Human acts are classified according to their moral worth/value (good, evil, indifferent)
 CONSTITUENTS OF HUMAN ACT - i. Knowledge ii. Freedom iii. Voluntariness
II. THE VOLUNTARINESS OF HUMAN ACTS - a) Kinds or Degrees of Voluntariness b) Indirect Voluntariness
a) Kinds of Degrees of Voluntariness
i. Perfect and Imperfect – present in the person who fully knows and intends an act while other is without realizing or fully
intending
ii. Conditional and Simple – forced while other is willfully acting
iii. Direct and Indirect – primarily intended by the doer while other is accompanies an act which is the mere result of directly
willed act
iv. Actual, Virtual, Habitual and Interpretative – willed here and now, former time influences the act now, former that hasn’t
been retracted, intention would be present if proper knowledge and freedom were available to him in whom it is presumed
 THE PRINCIPLES OF INDIRECT VOLUNTARINESS – A person is considered accountable for indirectly voluntary results when:
a) The doer is able to foresee the evil results or effect, at least, in a general way
b) The doer is free to refrain from doing that which would produce the foreseen evil
c) The doer knows that he is morally bound not to do that which is the evil effect
 THE PRINCIPLE OF TWOFOLD EFFECT – A person may lawfully perform an act which has two effects when these are met:
a) When the evil effect does not come before the good effect as to be a means to it
b) When there exists a reason, proportionately weighty, which calls for the good effect
c) When the agent B (doer) intends the good effect exclusively, and merely permits the evil effect as regrettable
III. THE MODIFIERS OF HUMAN ACTS -things that may affect human act in the essential qualities that makes people less perfectly human
A. Ignorance B. Concupiscence C. Fear D. Violence E. Habit
CHAPTER 2: THE END OF HUMAN ACTS
I. Ends in general – termination and a goal. It is that which completes a task
 Natural Laws – laws that happen without a will, a phenomena of unchanging moral principles regarded as a basis for all
human conduct
Appetency is a fixed and strong desire of something – a) Natural b) Sensual c) Rational
The end is that which is apprehended as good, desirable and which attracts humans to perform acts
 Agent – efficient cause NO HUMAN ACT CAN EXIST WITHOUT A FINAL CAUSE
Evil is done only when it assumes the aspect of good. Evil is done when one wants instant satisfaction. In this sense, good is that which
answers tendency or desire THE END OF HUMAN ACT IS THE FINAL CAUSE