Determinants of Morality In Human Action

“Human acts, that is, acts that are freely chosen in consequence of a judgment
of conscience, can be morally evaluated. They are either good or evil”

“Acting is morally good when the choices of freedom are in conformity with
man’s true good and thus express the voluntary ordering of the person towards
our ultimate end: God himself.”
There are three parts to every action that should be examined to decide
whether the action concurs with human nature or not. These are as follows;
Object of a Human Action –
The object of any action is its essence which makes an action – what it is. That
object can be something good, bad or indifferent. Lying and telling the truth are
examples of two actions that are distinguished from each other according to
moral criteria. The following principles apply to the object of every action.

o An action whose object is bad – It will remain bad and nothing

can improve it, neither circumstances, nor purpose, nor
intention. A lie, remains a lie despite the purpose or
circumstance involved.
o An action that is good – It may become bad because of
circumstances or purpose. For example, telling the truth is a
good act but to destroy another person’s good name or
character makes it a morally bad act because of the speaker’s
purpose or intention.
o An action that is indifferent – It may become good or bad
because of circumstances or purpose. Walking may be an
indifferent act but walking into a store to steal becomes a
morally evil action because of the purpose.

Circumstances of a Human Action –

Circumstances refers to such things, as the act being done at a particular time,
in a particular place, by a particular agent, in a particular manner. Moral
circumstances are the criteria for assessing the goodness or badness of a
human action. Moral circumstances may increase the goodness or badness of
a human action. To strike another person in self-defense is one thing and to strike
another without any provocation or justification is another matter.
 o Aggravating moral circumstances – It increases the goodness
or badness of an action. For example, stealing from a homeless
person is an aggravating circumstance that increases the
badness of an already bad act (stealing).
o Extenuating moral circumstances – It decreases the amount of
badness of an action. For example, stealing from a rich person
is not as bad as stealing from a homeless person, but it is still an
evil act.
o Specifying moral circumstances – It makes an indifferent act
become good or bad. For example, withdrawing money from
ATM is an indifferent act – If the money belongs to the
withdrawer, the act is all right but if the money belongs to
another person, it is an evil act.

End or Purpose of a Human Action –

It refers to the purpose the person had in mind while doing the act. Certain
principles can be deduced based on the purpose in mind when performing the
act.

o An action that is indifferent because of its object may become

good or bad because of the purpose. For example, jogging in
itself is an indifferent act. When done to maintain good health,
it becomes a good act but when done to arrive at a place
where the person commits theft, it becomes an immoral action.
o An action that is good because of its object may become
better or less good or even bad because of the purpose. For
example, to give a donation to a homeless person is a good
action but being given just to get rid of the person, is still a
good action but not as good as in the first case. If donation
intends to lure the homeless person into doing something
immoral for you, the donation becomes an immoral act.
o An action that is evil by its object may become more wrong or
perhaps less wrong but never good by its purpose . For instance,
telling a lie is morally wrong but telling a lie to defame another
person is more wrong. Similarly, telling a lie “to get out of
 trouble” is still lying and still wrong, but less wrong because of
the purpose (e.g. spies caught by foreign agency).

Analyzing the morality of the human act is a complex task since it is affected by
so many conditions which are within and without. Most of the moralists agree
that to judge the goodness or badness of any particular human act, these three
elements must be weighed from which every act derives its morality. According
to the moralists, a human act is said to be morally good when it is good in its
object, circumstances and also in the intention. If even one of these
determinants is contrary to each other, the action will be bad, at least in part.

Questions:

• “Human Acts are those of which man is a master”…Explain ( 2 points)

• Why is it said that Circumstances contribute to increasing and diminishing the moral
goodness or evil of human act as well as the doer’s accountability? ( 2 points)
• In reference to the above question, give a specific example ( 2 points)
• Which of the three determinants is concerned with the goal of an act? Why did you say
so? ( 2 points)
• Cite an action that is indifferent but can be bad and good because of intention.
(2 points)