MORALITY OF THE

HUMAN ACTS
Human Acts (Actus Humani)

 Actions that are done

freely, knowingly and
voluntarily. They are
voluntary actions.
These are the 3 ETHICAL
PARAMETERS OF LIABILITY
1.Knowledge
2.Voluntarism
3.Free will to choose among
various options
Acts of Man

Actions that happen in

the person “naturally”;
They are involuntary acts.
Example: digestion,
beating of the heart,
hearing
Basic Element of Human Acts
1. Deliberate - knowingly
2. Performed in freedom - freely
3. Done willfully - voluntarily
Types of Voluntariness
1.Perfect- present in a person who fully knows and
intended the act
2.Imperfect- present in a person who acts without
fully realizing what he means to do or without
fully intending
3.Conditional- present in a person who is forced by
circumstances beyond his control to perform an
act which he would not do under normal
conditions
4.Simple- present in a person doing an act willfully
regardless of whether he likes to do it or not
Major Determinants of the Morality of Human
Acts

1. Object of the Act - the act itself

What the person does
2. Intention/Motive
Why the person does what he does
3. Circumstances
Various conditions outside the act
EXAMPLES
1.When you slap someone for fun.
(OBJECT OF THE ACTION)
1.When you shoot someone while
defending your country. (INTENTION/
MOTIVE)
2.When someone steals as he/she has no
other option. (CIRCUMSTANCE)
 Four types of Circumstances that Affects the
Morality of the Human Acts
1. Mitigating circumstances- Diminish the moral good or
evil in an act
2. Aggravating circumstances- Increase the degree of
moral good or evil act
3. Justifying circumstances – Show adequate reason for
some acts done
4. Specifying circumstance-give new and distinct species
of moral good or evil
 Specific Types of Circumstances that Affects the
Morality of Human Acts

1. Who - doer
2. Where - setting of an action
3. What – by what means
4. Why - motive
5. How - manner of the act
6. When - time of the action
7. To whom - receiver of the action
Modifiers of the Human Acts
1. Ignorance -Absence of knowledge

Types of Ignorance
a. Vincible-this type of ignorance can be
corrected
Affected (classification)
Pretending to be ignorant in order to escape
the
blame
2. Passion- is a strong feeling or emotion
Classification of passion:
a. Antecedent-weaken the will power of the
person
without completely obstructing his freedom:
it
will diminish the accountability of the
resultant’s
acts.
b. Consequent-the person who willfully acts
following his passion and allows himself to
3. Fear – is a special kind of
passion. It is the disturbance of
the mind of a person who is
confronted by an impending
danger of harm to himself or loved
ones.
Act done with fear is
(voluntary)
the person acting with fear is
acting in spite of his fear and
still very much control of his
conduct, it doesn’t exempt a
person from moral and legal
4. Mental instability
5. Sleepwalking
6. Habits
THANK YOU!!!