The Human Person and

Human Acts:

Human Act (actus

humanus)

any thought, word,

deed, desire, or
omission which comes
from a person acting
with full knowledge,
who is free to act,
and gives full assent
to the will to act

Act of Man (actus

hominis)

indeliberate,
involuntary, not free,
not under ones
control, and beyond
the mind and will
Spontaneous
biological/sensual
processes
Without use of reason
First reactions
Forced acts

The Human Person and

Human Acts:
What makes up
a Human Act?

1.
2.

3.

There are 3 constituent

principles for an act to be
human and therefore
subject to moral judgment

Knowledge conscious of the act

Freedom consent of the free will from
any external/internal compulsion
Voluntariness when an act is both
the object and effect of the will
(voluntary)
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The Human Person and

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
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The Human Person and

Human Acts:

FREEDOM - The ability

to act without
restraint.

In the context of
internal control,
freedom is also known
as self-determination,
individual sovereignty,
or autonomy.

The Human Person and

Human Acts:
KINDS OF VOLUNTARY ACTS:

1. PERFECTLY VOLUNTARY ACT PERFORMED WITH FULL ATTENTION

AND FULL CONSENT OF THE WILL.

2. IMPERFECTLY VOLUNTARY - AN ACT

IF ATTENTION OR CONSENT OF THE
WILL OR BOTH TOGETHER ARE
IMPERFECT

3. DIRECTLY VOLUNTARY - THE ACT IS

INTENDED AS AN END IN ITSELF OR
INTENDED AS A MEANS FOR
ANOTHER END

4. INDIRECTLY VOLUNTARY - AN ACT IS

NOT INTENDED BUT MERELY
PERMITTED AS THE INEVITABLE
RESULT OF AN OBJECT DIRECTLY
WILLED.

(PRINCIPLE OF DOUBLE EFFECT)

The Human Person and

Human Acts:
KINDS OF VOLUNTARY ACTS:

5. POSITIVELY VOLUNTARY ACT - THE

WILL EFFECTS SOMETHING
POSITIVELY BY EXERCISING ACTIVE
INFLUENCE ON THE CAUSATION OF
AN OBJECT

Ex. INJURING A NEIGHBOR BY

SETTING HIS HOUSE ON FIRE

6. 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

Ex. NOT TO SET THE HOUSE ON FIRE6

Determinants of Morality
of human acts:
OBJECT of the

Human Act:

the effect which an action

primarily and directly
causes (finis operis)

Always and necessarily the

result of the act, independent
of any circumstances or of
agents intention

Primary source for the

judgment on the morality
of an act
Either morally good, evil
or indifferent

While an act can be

indifferent in its object,
consideration of
circumstances and
intention modifies the
morality of the entire act

Principle: no
purpose/intention of the
agent (be it ever so
good) can permit a
morally evil object

Determinants of Morality
of human acts:
CIRCUMSTANCES

of the Human Act:

Circumstance of Person

conditions outside the act

that add/lessen the
voluntariness/freedom of act

Person (Who?), Place (Where?),

Time (When?), Manner (How?),
Condition of Agent (Why?),
The thing itself (What), Means
(By what means?)

Doer and/or receiver of

the act
A good act can become
better, or a bad act can
become worse by the
reason of the doer of the
act
A good act can become
better, or a bad act can
become worse by the
reason of the person to
whom the act is done

Circumstance of Place

Particular space or
locality where the act is
done or performed
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Determinants of Morality
of human acts:

Circumstance of Time

Exact or definite
moment or hour when
the act is performed

Circumstance of
Manner

The way the agent

manages to do his/her
act (How did the agent
do the act?)

Circumstance of the
thing itself

Special quality of the

object

The Means

By what means?
and By whose help?

Condition of the Agent

In what condition was

the agent when he/she
performed the act?

Determinants of Morality
of human acts:
INTENTION

of the Human Act:

The goal which the agent

aims to achieve through
his/her act

the reason/purpose why the

agent does the act (movement
of the will towards the act)

1. An act which is good in

itself and is done for a good
end becomes doubly
good
An agent who performs a
good act for a good
purpose receives merits for
the good act another set of
merits for his good
purpose/intention

2. An act which is bad in

itself and is done for a bad
end becomes doubly bad

An agent who performs a

bad act because he/she
wants to achieve a bad
end, or has bad intention is
liable/responsible on two
counts.
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Determinants of Morality
of human acts:

3. An act which is good

in itself and is done with
a bad intention becomes
bad

The act is already good in

itself but due to bad
purpose, it becomes bad

However, while an agent

cannot change the bad
act into something good,
it can free the agent
from his responsibility or
at least lessen the
agents culpability.

4. An act which is bad

in itself and is done with
a good end does not
become good

No good end can change a

bad act into something
good for the simple
reason that the end
cannot justify the means

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Determinants of Morality
of human acts:

5. An indifferent act
which is done for a
good end becomes
good
6. An indifferent act
which is done for a bad
end becomes bad

An act which, by nature,

is neither good/evil
becomes good/bad
according to the
intention of the agent

From the 3 determinants

of morality of human acts
(object, circumstances and
intention), five principles
should be considered for
moral judgment:

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

An act is morally good if the act itself,

the purpose and the circumstance are
substantially good
If an act itself is intrinsically evil, the act
is not morally allowable regardless of
the intention or circumstances
If an act itself is morally good or at least
indifferent, its morality will be judged by
the purpose or circumstances
Circumstances may create, mitigate or
aggravate sin
If all the three determinants are good,
the act is good. If any one element is 12
evil, the act is evil.

Principle of Double Effect:

This is also known as voluntary
indirect principle

Preliminaries:

Human act is characterized by its complexity

A person always acts for a purpose

Purpose or intention of the agent (finis operantis)

Purpose of the action (finis operis)

They may or may not be the same

It may also happen that other than what the other person
intends to achieve, there are other consequences that
may come from his action
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Principle of Double Effect:

This is also known as voluntary
indirect principle

These consequences, as based from

experience, can either be:

Unintended but foreseen consequences

Aware of the ensuing consequence but not deliberately

planned
Ex. Act of smoking despite his knowledge of its hazard
and danger brought to health

Unintended and unforeseen consequences

Unaware of the particular effect caused by the act

Ex. In switching on the light, it sets the house on fire
because of faulty wiring or a short circuit

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Principle of Double Effect:

This is also known as voluntary
indirect principle

In terms of the unforeseen and unintended

consequences, there is NO moral responsibility
But as to the foreseen but unintended, it remains
vague and unclear.

It all depends! as we often answer when asked about

whether such action can be morally justified or not.
Traditionally, there are four (4) conditions that should
be present to validly apply the principle of double
effect.
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Principle of Double Effect:

The FOUR conditions:

1. The action itself must be morally good or at

least indifferent

Even if an individual intends to accomplish something good, he/she

cannot morally justify the use of evil means.
the action must be morally good or neutral in itself. Providing medicine
to a sick patient meets this requirement.

2. The good effect must precede the evil effect

or at least be simultaneous with it.

Concerned with the precedence of causality, not with the time

sequence of good and bad effects.
the bad results cannot be the means for achieving the good results. In
this case, negative side effects don't cause the medicine to work more
effectively.
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Principle of Double Effect:

On craniotomy

Craniotomy had been practiced for hundreds, perhaps even thousands,

of years. This unhappy procedure involved the destruction (by
instruments such as the crotchet) of the fetal skull and the piecemeal
extraction of the entire fetus from the vagina. Although this was a
gruesome operation, it entailed far lower risk to the mother than
attempts to remove the fetus through an abdominal incision.

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The FOUR conditions:

Principle of Double Effect:

3. The intention of the agent should be directed

towards the good effect, never to the evil effect.

An evil effect can never be intended, even indirectly. The most that is
morally allowed for such an effect is regretfully permitted as an
unavoidable circumstance.
the motivation for carrying out the action must be solely to achieve the
good results. Doctors prescribe medicine to help their patients, not to
expose them to side effects.

4. Proportionality: the good effect must be more

important than or at least equal to the bad effect.

The good effect must be sufficiently desirable to compensate for the

allowing of the bad effect.
he good result must be at least as significant as the bad. So prescribing
medication with side-effects is acceptable if the health benefits to the
patient will be at least as significant as the harm from the side-effects.
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Principle of Double Effect:

A NOTE ON Proportionality

Just as all moral actions are geared towards

the achievement of a good or value, setting up
a hierarchy of values is therefore necessary.

Certain things are more valuable than the others.

Thus, every person is expected to have developed a
hierarchy of values that is based on
human/Christian principles.

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Principle of Double Effect:

Deliberate targeting of
civilians to demoralise
the enemy.
The bombing of
munitions plants of the
enemies.
The administration of a
high dosage of
painkillers for the relief
of pain in cases of
terminal illness even
when this will cause
death as a side effect.
Deliberate euthanasia
for the relief of pain.

UNJUSTIFIED

JUSTIFIED
JUSTIFIED
Figure these out!

UNJUSTIFIED
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