Acts of Man and

Human Acts

ACTS OF MAN
ACTUS 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,

HUMAN ACTS
ACTUS HUMANI
ACTS THAT PROCEED FROM
REASON AND FREE WILL
RIGHTLY CALLED
PERSONAL ACTS

Human Acts can be:

Ethical
Good, moral
Unethical
Bad, immoral, evil
Indifferent, amoral

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.

AMORAL
1. Not involving questions of right or
wrong; without moral quality; neither
moral nor immoral.

INDIFFERENT

NEUTRA
L

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. Wish
2. Intention
3. Consent
4. Choice / Election / Selection
5. Use
6. Fruition / Satisfaction

Elicited acts a simple WILLACT

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 wills act
of satisfaction in intention
fulfilled. (The actual attainment &
enjoyment of the desired good).

COMMANDED ACTS under orders from the will

1.

2.

3.

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}
EXTERNAL acts effected by bodily powers
under the command of the will. {Deliberate
walking, eating, writing, speaking}
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 selfdetermination,
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 / VOLUNTARINESS

EVERY VOLUNTARY ACT OF MAN INCLUDES A
NECESSSARY ELEMENT:
THE QUEST FOR GOOD
AND 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

PERFECTLY VOLUNTARY ACT

IS AN ACT WHICH IS PERFORMED WITH FULL
ATTENTION
AND FULL CONSENT OF THE WILL.

IMPERFECTLY VOLUNTARY
IS AN ACT IF ATTENTION OR CONSENT OF THE
WILL OR BOTH ARE IMPERFECT

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
NEIGHBORS 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.

PRINCIPLE OF DOUBLE EFFECT

THE MORAL OBJECTOR THE ACT

MAY NOT BE EVIL IN ITSELF

THE GOOD AND EVIL

EFFECT MUST PROCEED
AT LEAST
EQUALLY DIRECTLY
FROM THE ACT
THE INTENTION OF
THE AGENT MUST BE
GOOD
THE 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.

THERE MUST BE A PROPORTIONATELY GRAVE

REASON IN ORDER
TO PERMIT THE EVIL EFFECT.

Principle of indirectly willed act

1.

2.

3.

The agent must foresee the

evil effect of his act.
He must be free to refrain
from doing the act which is
the cause of the evil effect;
and
He must be morally obliged
to stop doing the act which is
the cause of the evil effect.

Cases:
1.

2.

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?
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 effect

1.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.

Cases:

1.

2.

A patient is dying. Medical relief there is none.

Can a doctor give the patient drugs and
medicines killing her instantly, thus ending
the patients agony or sufferings?
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
generals 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