God Created all things, (world and the human persons).

They were in "paradise" which means,

there was harmony, justice, peace, and joy. Despite the very good conditions of life that they
were in, the rst human beings ("Adam" and "Eve") still committed sin.

Brief Historical Background of the Church

Sacrament: means channel, representative, visible sign of an invisible reality.
God
Jesus
Church

The Sacrament of God is Jesus and the Sacrament of Jesus is the Church (John 20:21, Acts
1:8) The Church started as a religious renewal "movement"/group in Jerusalem, Israel by no
other than Jesus Christ. Jesus grounded the Church on the foundation of the Apostles and it
spread from Jerusalem to the Roman Empire world until throughout all the earth. The rst
"name" of the Church was The Way (Acts 9:2), The members of the Church were called
Christians in Antioch (Acts 11: 26). The Church was persecuted by the Roman Empire (which
was still pagan) until the Conversion of the Emperor Constantine in 313 AD which paved the
way for Christians to in ltrate Rome until Christianity was declared as the o cial religion of the
Roman Empire in 380 AD by Emperor Theodosius.

Way back in 45 AD, the rst apostle who went to Rome and started the Church there
was no other than Peter. Later, re ecting on the mission of Jesus which He passed on
to the Church, the Church's of cial "name" or title evolved into: One (John 17:21), Holy
(Ephesians 1:4, 5:27, I Peter 2:9), Catholic (Matthew 28: 18-20, Acts 1:8, Gen 12: 3,
John 3: 16-17) and Apostolic (Ephesians 2:20). From the Church developed the
Hierarchy (Bishops, priests, and deacons - with the Pope as the overall head for the
sake of division of work and maintaining the unity of the Church while it spreads the
Kingdom of God on earth.
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 From the Church comes the different "kinds" of priests according to spirituality or
mission area. Diocesan is a term use for priests serving their local places;
Monks: started in the 3rd century AD in Egypt and in Syria with a life of simplicity or
asceticism. Monks who are composed of sisters (not priests) only came out later.
Example of few monks in Cagayan who are sisters are those at the St. Claire monastery
in Iguig.

c. Missionaries are group/community of priests who really want to go to

serve remote places not yet evangelize.

Examples of missionaries are the following:

c.1. The Dominicans who was founded by St. Dominic in Prouille, France in 1216.
(Dominic was a Spanish priest).

c.2. The Augustinians which started in 1244 in Italy (group or no

speci c founder).

c.3. The Jesuits or called Society of Jesus who was founded in 1540 by Ignatius of
Loyola, formerly a Spanish soldier who became priest.

c.4. The CICM and other missionary groups only came out later. The CICM was
founded by a diocesan priest Theophile Verbist in 1862 in Scheut, Anderlecht, Brussels,
Belgium.

So What is a CICM?

So what is a CICM? It is just one of the missionary groups which is

an arm of the Church for evangelization.

One of the many strategies for missionaries to evangelize people especially the youth to
prepare them to become also evangelizers in their own ways in the future is to establish
schools. With this, obviously, in the missionary schools and even schools established by
the local Church, the core of the curriculum is the Christian Faith Education of the young
(children to college); in a wider sense, the Christian formation of the Community who
are running the school. The CICM established schools for such purpose. Here at the
University of Saint Louis, our motto for us to always remember this is "Mission and
Excellence" and among the core values of our University's Vision -
Mission, the rst is Christian Living.

CICM Philippines School Network: Vision-Mission

At the initiative of the Father, Sent by the Son, Guided by the Spirit,
Inspired by Theophile Verbist our founder, Who heard the call of the Lord
And left his country
To proclaim the Good News in China,
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Enlightened by those who preceded us And who - like our founder-
Left their familiar surroundings To follow Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word By integrating
themselves into a foreign culture,
And by living in solidarity with another people,
Enriched by those we serve,
Especially the poor who reveals to us
The sin of the world And who help us discover the true meaning
Of God's plan of love,

CICM Philippines School Network: Vision-Mission

We CICM missionaries
of different races and cultures
Live and work together as brothers
In order to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ Wherever it is most needed.
We achieve our mission
When we facilitate
The encounter between Jesus Christ and the nations'.
Our mission includes
Enabling people
To experience the coming of the Kingdom -proclaimed by Jesus Christ-
In their own God-given context.

USL'S VISION, MISSION, AND CORE VALUES

VISION
USL is a global learning community recognized for science and technology across all
disciplines, strong research, and responsive community engagement grounded on the
CICM mission and identity for a distinctive student experience.

MISSION
USL sustains a Catholic academic community that nurtures persons for community,
church and society anchored on CICM's Missio et Excellentia.

EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND CORE VALUES

Christian Living. We are witnesses to the Gospel values as taught and lived by Christ
thus making God's love known and experienced by all.
Excellence. We seek and maintain uncompromising standard of quality in teaching,
learning, service, and stewardship of school resources.
Professional Responsibility. We are committed to ef ciently and responsibly apply the
learned principles, values and skills in the chosen eld of discipline, taking initiative and
command responsibility in one's professional advancement.
Social Awareness and Involvement. We engage ourselves with society by listening to
the prevailing issues and concerns in the society, thereby initiating and participating in
constructive and relevant social activities for the promotion of justice, peace and
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integrity of creation and for people's wellness and development consistent with the
CICM charism.
Innovation, Creativity and Agility. We keep ourselves relevant and responsive to the
changing needs of our stakeholders by being exible, solution oriented, and having
cutting-edge decisions and practices.

BASIC ASSUMPTIONS ON CHRISTIAN MORALITY

What is Morality?

The Descriptive title of our course is Christian Morality in

Our Times. First, we have to ask what is Morality? Basically, Morality is connected with
norms. So, the next step is to ask if what is a norm?

Norm is a fundamental concept in social sciences. It is commonly de ned as rules or

standards that are socially brainstorming won standards enforced. In the ancient times,
when there were no formal social structures such as government and the Church; or
when the different religions were not yet as organized as they are now, norms often
come in the forms of customs, rituals, and traditions. This was so since people would
easily follow these standards if it becomes part of their life-styles until it becomes part of
their way of living. In the Philippine context, respecting one's parents would be taught by
saying "po" or "opo" to them, or by the practice of "pagmamano".

Norms would only come in the forms of rules, regulations, or technically called law
when society became more socially organized in their government systems. When
different
societies mature or develop, their moral standards would also become more organized,
more so when they realized how important is the laying out of the rules to govern
human actions for the sustenance of the peace and order in society which will pave the
way for more social progress and further developments. So, what is "Morality" in a
more technical de nition?

Morality is a science that deals with the "quality" (goodness or badness) of human acts/
actions. "science" generally means a eld of study. So, Morality will judge whether a
certain act or action is good or bad. How does morality judge human acts/actions?
Morality needs basis/bases which are the rules or standards or technically called Law.
In general, these rules or standards or laws are
called Norms.

Our next question is, how did morality arrive with these norms? If the human person
came up with these norms or found these norms by thinking deeply/ re ecting or so,
called philosophizing, then the process or the science is called Moral Philosophy. In
other situations, if the norms or rules were given or revealed by God or the Divine being,
the science is called Moral Theology.

What is the difference between the two?

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Moral Philosophy found out the norms or rules by using purely human reasoning or
called philosophizing, while in Moral Theology, these rules or norms were given or
revealed by God. An example of norms in Moral Theology is the Ten Commandments.
So Moral Philosophy relies on pure reasoning/deeply thinking while Moral Theology
would depend on God's revelation and faith. Aside from Philosophizing and God's
revelation, let us try to nd out how others come up with norms for the human person

Sources of Norms:

Three Bases in coming up with a good/right norm for human act/ human life: Knowing
the Origin, Nature and the End/Destiny of the human person.

The concepts of the Origin, Nature, and the Destiny of the Human Person and their
serious implications in coming up with moral norms.

1. The Concept of the Origin of the Human Person and all things that surround
him/her.
Origin: • God (man is a creature of God)
* Apes (man came from apes)

Most if not all religions would strongly believe that all creation and the human person
came from a creator which we call "God" whether you call that God YHWH, Allah,
Brahman Bathala, Kabuniyan or what so ever term which would indicate being all-
powerful and other traits expected of a supreme being.

Outside the realm of beliefs, some would strongly propose other theories for the origin
of the human person such as the theories that the human person evolved from other
creatures or animals or even product of purely natural happenings.

Serious Implications to Morality:

If you believe that the human person originated from a supreme being called
"God", then it follows that your moral norms/laws will depend on the characteristics of
that "God"; or that "God" will be the one to command or give norms to the human
person. An example of this is the 10 Commandments in the case of Judaism or
Christianity. The moral laws will greatly respect the dignity of that "God" and the human
person whom He also created. There is what you call "fear of the Lord" as pat of your
moral norms.

For the second concept of the origin of the human person which suggests that We
evolved from other animals or just product of purely natural events, its moral norms will
just depend on the nature of the human person which will just be purely animal. With
this, there will be no higher dignity for the person to be respected and there will also be
no fear or respect for a higher being or higher authority which is called "God". So, you
can just do whatever you want such as easily manipulating others even to the point of
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earth.

2. Human Nature / Natural law (since man is part of the whole nature or Creation)

The same with the concept of the origin of the human person, one's concept/view of the
nature of the human person will also dictate what set of moral norms is being set to be
followed or lived by us humans.

Serious Implications to Morality:

As being explained above in the concept of the origin of all things, if you believe that we
are both bodily and spiritual beings since we are creations of God, then our moral
norms will ow from such concept, and if you just believe that we are purely animals,
then our moral norms will also ow from such view like treating us as purely animals.

3. Destiny / End / or the Ultimate Goal of human life

Different religions commonly believe that as we were created by a higher being or called
supreme being, we also have a good destiny prepared for us. We commonly believe
that there is a life after the death of our physical aspect. This is called "heaven" in
Christianity, and other religions have also their own terms for such a destiny for the
human person.

On the other way around, other people who do not believe in beings that are higher than
the human person will just say that there is no such thing as life after death. Death is the
ultimate end of the human persons.

Serious Implications to Morality:

The same with the case of the concept of the origin of all, the view for the end/destiny of
the human person will also dictate what set of moral norms is being laid for us. If you
strongly believe in the life after death and going there at the end of life requires good
moral life, then we have to do good in our lives to be able to attained such destiny. On
the other hand, if there is no noble end/destiny for the human person, then there are no
such thing as moral norms.

There will be norms but they will greatly depend on the concept of the people who can
manipulate the others.

With the presentation of the different sources of moral norms, I hope it now clear to us
why there are norms or laws which we nd not compatible what we believe especially
with our views on the origin and the destiny for the human person. There are also
norms/laws which we nd not compatible with our basic nature as human persons.
These norms which we strongly believe as not good for us are what we call
misconceptions on morality. So, coming up with "wrong" norms is a product of one's
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misconceptions of morality. The misconceptions on morality are just product of the
"wrong" concept of the origin, nature, and the destiny for the human person.
Summarizing what is being discussed above, morality is centered on norms use to
judge human acts/actions or other practices of society whether they are good or bad.
The nearest and best basis to come up with moral norms is the nature of the human
person and his/her surroundings/environment since for some people, the origin and
destiny for the human person is still unclear or for them others' belief on those matters is
unacceptable.

As stated in the beginning of this discussion, for us Christians, the two basic ways on
how we arrived with our moral norms are Philosophy (Moral Philosophy) and Theology
(Moral Theology). Formally de ning the two will be as follows:

Moral Philosophy studies the goodness and badness of human actions in the light of the
highest principles based on human reason alone while Moral Theology studies the
goodness and badness of human actions in the light of revelation (in the light of
Christian faith to attain his nal goal).

Our course, Christian Morality is based on both Moral Philosophy and Moral
Theology. Christian Norms are product of these two elds of science.

HUMAN NATURE/THE HUMAN PERSON

Week 3

Introduction

* In our discussion last week, we mentioned the three bases on how morality came up
with the norms for the human person which are: the origin of all things, nature, and the
destiny of all. Among these three bases, the closes or nearest from which morality
derived norms for the human person is Nature. Nature in its totality refers to our
environment as a whole, and since we are living on earth or speci cally since we
have a body (physical part which is connected to mother nature/earth, we are
essentially part of nature. With this, we will discuss rst the characteristics of the
nature of the human person based on nature, after which is his/ her traits in a
theological view and the last part will present some views about his her ultimate end
destiny.

Human Nature The Human Person

Who or what is the Human person based on Nature?

Since the actions of the human person ows from what he/she is, we need to discuss
his her nature by enumerating its essential characteristics.

1. Rational being - The human person has intellect/mind/reason. She/he discovers

things by reason, and she he is the only animal who knows that she/he knows.
He/she thinks, rationalize, re ect and other activities of the intellect.
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 2. Has Free-will. The human person is free has freedom which means he/she has two
or more options or choices and also has will which is the power to act or not to act on
his/her choices. Will is the power to do or not to do or to act or not to act.

3. Has Conscience. - is the practical judgment of the intellect on what is good or what
is bad, and is prompting the person to always do/follow what is good.

4. Loving being - Aside from the love between opposite sex which is designed for the
continuity of the human species, generally, loving means desiring the good of others.

5. Body - Person - We have a esh (physical part), which connects us to the material
world. Our bodies (physical part) is dependent on nature/earth. Our bodies use the
elements of the earth. The death of mother earth will also be the death of our bodies.

6. Sexual - refers to being male Or female which is intended for companionship and
pro-creation.

7. Unique Though Social: - We are individuals and need independence but we are
also social being: live with others. These two are inseparable. We are individuals and
need independence but we also need the presence of others to complete ourselves.

8. Historical: We have a continuity with the past.

9. Transcendental: We always aim higher, to surpass our achievements, since we are

longing for Completeness or total satisfaction contentment. This also means that the
human person has Metaphysical (meta = beyond) aspects such as intellect,
emotion, conscience and others.

What is the Implication of the Human Nature to Morality?

Going direct to the point, what does your nature has to say to your actions? As we have
stated above, our actions ow from our nature.

Example, if you are historical beings, then you must learn from your past experiences; if
you are a loving being, you must always desire what is good for others; if you are a
rational being, then think before you act; if you are transcendental, then you are not
satis ed with your present achievements, or it will lead us to ask and re ect that if we
are transcendental, are we heading to a certain destiny?; if we are body persons, do we
need to take care of mother earth? and the likes. Among these traits of the nature of the
human person, which should regulate the others and his/her human actions/decisions?

Among the nine traits stated above, the one which should always regulate the others or
human actions which proceed from the other traits is Conscience. This is because using
the other traits like intellect or freewill alone without the intervention of Conscience can
lead to misuse, or abuse of human actions. Example is thinking, if you are problematic,





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 you can think of some bad actions as a solution to your problems which in the end is not
the case, but it will just add or complicate your problem.

Since we are Christians who strongly believe in the existence of a Creator (Theos or
God) as the origin of all and the proper destiny which this Creator prepared for us, we
also need to look at the other traits of the human person based on this perspective.

Who/What is the human person in a Theological Perspective/View?

1. Masterpiece of God (God's

Image and likeness: If we are the image and likeness of God, means we re ect some of
the important characteristics of God such as goodness, loving, just, compassionate and
many others. So, if God is good, then basically we are also good; if God is just, we are
also basically just, and others.

2. Fundamentally/ innately good or moral being:

No human person is bad or evil, only our wrong actions are bad or evil and not the
human person.

3. God's partner / "co-creators" of God. God created the world and us as

"incomplete" or imperfect so our mission is to develop or bring ourselves and our world
to perfection. This is why we are called stewards of God's creation. Part of our being
"co-creators" of God is our being sexual (male or female) which is design for pro-
creation.

4. Rational being - has intellect or reasoning or mind.

5. free - will - has freedom and will which he she can use to act or not to act.

6. Brother's keeper (social, and communal): we need to take care of others aside
from ourselves.

7. Weak / has fallen nature/ "brokenness":

This is called original sin in Theology. In other terms we may call this being
"incomplete", or "un nished". From this being incomplete comes your mission which is
to nish or complete yourselves. Point for re ection: What if God created us as perfect
beings, what will you do?

8. Graced: this means we are aided/ being assisted by God in our journey of bringing
ourselves to perfection. In the Catholic Church, God's grace will come to us through the
Seven Sacraments and our other ways of connecting with our Creator.

9. Transcendental: this pushes us to look for the ultimate meaning of life and ultimately
to our God.




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 10. Children/family of God. We belong to the family of God, formally through Baptism.

11. Destined for the Kingdom. We have our destiny which we commonly call
"heaven" or "paradise" or in Jesus' words called the Kingdom of God.

Basically, most of these traits of the human person in this Theological respective are the
same with those traits based on Nature since these are parts of the basic nature of the
human person. There are just other traits which are rooted in our connectedness with
our Creator. So, for its relevance to Morality, we have to ask the same question, what do
these traits of the human person in the Theological view say on how he she
should act or live?

The same answer, that these traits of the human person should strongly in uence how
he/she acts or live his/ her life. In the formulation of speci c norms for the human
person, these traits should be strongly considered since these are the ones which
will help direct the human person to perfection completeness or to his her proper
destiny which we call the Kingdom of God.

The same clari cation also that why do we need to formulate norms/rules/laws for
the human person if his/her nature should in uence his/her actions? Well, there are
many people who abuse their other faculties like mind/intellect, freedom and
others, and they also ignore the very basic and immediate norm which is
Conscience. This is why there are many norms or set of norms laid for the good of the
human person and one of the very basic set of norms is the Ten Commandments.

With this, we hope that the sources of the norms of Morality is now very clear to us. For
a kind of widening of horizon, let us look on the other views on the destiny for the
human person since we also said earlier that the concept of the destiny is also one of
the sources of the norms of morality.

Some views on the Ultimate End/Destiny of the Human Person

Most if not all of these other views or concept of the destiny for the human person are
just product of philosophizing (Philosophy).

a. Hedonism
For this Philosophy, the ultimate goal for the human person is Happiness, and this
happiness is found in pleasure ("sarap)". So, "kung saan ang masarap' dun ang
kasiyahan". This pleasure is sensual.

Therefore, for this certain philosophy, the norm for human action is to look for pleasure/
pleasurable things.

b. Marxism:


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 A philosophy by Karl Marx which looks at the human person as purely material being or
from mater and there are no such things as metaphysical aspects such as soul and also
God.

This view just focused on the way of governance since it was more of a reaction to the
abuses of the democratic and other forms of governing people.
For Marxism, the ultimate goal o people is to have a Classless Society (no rich, no
poor). This was achieved in a communistic form of government. Development or
progress must always be for the common good / not individualistic.

Norm: Do everything for the common good. Never mind individual goals or individual
progress, set aside yourselves. "all for one, one for all".

c. Nihilism:
For this philosophy, the human person and his/ her life has no ultimate meaning, no
ultimate value.

If the human person and life is meaningless or no value at all, what is your norm for life
and for your action?

Aside from having no de nite norm, you re ect on the danger of this kind of philosophy.

d. Christian view:

For Christianity, the ultimate goal destiny for the human person is to enter the Kingdom
or to have eternal union/happiness with God.

Norm: Follow the teachings of God such as the Ten Commandments and others.

As you may have noticed in our discussion, the view of the nature of the human person
and his /her ultimate destiny plays a very crucial role in laying out norms for human
actions or for his/her way of living.

As we have said in our past discussions, "wrong" concept of the nature and the destiny
for the human person cause a lot of misconceptions about morality. and produces a lot
of wrong principles or norms.

Examples of these wrong principles/ norms of morality are the following:

a. Morality is a matter of opinion. This means that moral norms are subjective;
depends on the person.

b. All opinions about morality are equal and correct. Therefore, all opinions should
be followed.

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 c. Morality is outside the world of practical people. Whatever impractical is not
good.

d. Morality develops guilt and moral obligation which makes life unhappy. So, we
need to set aside moral norms.

Point for re ection: What are the possible or even probable things that will happen to
people and to society if all these wrong principles about morality are correct?

After discussing all the sources of norms for the human person and their serious
implications if there are misconceptions, our next question is, what should we really
judge as good or bad? Is it the human person or his /her qualities or traits or his her
actions? Re ect on this for our discussion next meeting.

BASIC CONCEPTS IN MORALITY

What is Morality?

Morality is an encompassing concept that serves as the underlying force for every
action of an individual and of a society. Morality takes the crucial role of formulating,
establishing and setting ethical norms of conduct that govern behaviors and actions of
an individual or group of individuals in order to achieve harmony, unity, and order within
a society.

Purposes of Morality:

Why do we need to follow certain standards or set of norms? In our past discussions,
we answered this by saying that we need norms since some of the faculties of the
human person like freedom and is/her passions can be exercised in an abusive manner
or even destructive to the person himself/herself and to others. Going deeper, why do
we need to use our faculties in a wise or good way? Will it lead us to a higher end? This
will tell us that there are noble reasons why we need to follow set of norms which are
the following below:

A. For the Fullness of Freedom - for the human person to be totally free

God created the human person as a rational being, conferring him/her the dignity of an
individual who can initiate and control his/her actions. God willed that man/woman
should be left in the hand of his/her own counsel so that she/he will, of his/her own
accord, seek his/her Creator and freely attain his/her full blessed perfection. Man/
Woman is "rational and, therefore, like God. He/She is created with free will and is
master over his/her acts." So, norms are not prohibitions or imprisonment for the human
person but are guide for him/her to be totally free.

To clarify this, what will happen to you if you do whatever you want? This is the youngs'
perception of freedom. If I will do whatever I want, like I will just steal others' property or


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 even kill someone, what will happen to me? It is either I will end up in the prison cell or I
will go hiding. Doing whatever I want will make me unfree. So, freedom does not mean I
will do whatever I want, but I will always do
anything so long as it is good for me and for others.
Freedom is aimed at the perfection of the human person.

B. A guide to the Fullness of Human Development Moral development is part of

human development.

Moral development is the process through which children develop proper attitudes and
behaviors toward other people in society, based on social and cultural norms, rules, and
laws.

Moral development is a concern for every parent. Teaching a child to distinguish right
from wrong and to behave accordingly is a goal of parenting.

So, developments whether scienti c, social, economic and others should always follow
norms of morality or else, they are aimed for destruction of
many things as mentioned above.

C. A Guide towards Reality (truth of things, life)

Morality is a guide for the human person to discover reality or the truth of things, and of
life.

This will lead the human person to discover the hierarchy of values until the ultimate
value of life and of all things. So, this will help the human person to set his/her priorities
in life until her/his attainment of the ultimate goal which is the eternal union and
happiness with his/her Creator.

E. The Entrance of Eternal Life into the Life of the Human Person

After following the moral norms, discovering the truth and real value of all things, and
bringing himself/herself to perfection, the human person will be able to reach his/her
nal destiny which is to enter the kingdom of God. Morality reveals and leads the human
person to his/her ultimate end/destiny.

After nding out the Purposes of Morality, let us go back to the causes why there is
morality. Although, these were implied in the discussions above, we will enumerate and
brie y explain them for clari cation purpose.

MORALITY PRESUPPOSES the following:

1. The existence of God

Morality points us to the existence of the Creator of all things who is totally good and
perfect and whom we call "God".
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 Since this Creator is totally good or perfect, He/She also gave us a guide to attain total
goodness or perfection.
2. Intellect and Free Will
Intellect, freedom, will, and passions needs moral norms so for them not to be abuse,
misuse or overuse.

3. Ultimate Destiny
As discussed above, moral norms are guides for the human person to attain his/her
ultimate destiny which is the Kingdom of God or eternal happiness with God.

4. Accountability to an Ultimate value

Morality tells us that there are ultimate values or ends that we will be accountable
(responsible) or we will face the consequence later if we do not follow the norms. This
ultimate value is our nal destiny which is the Kingdom of God.

Object of Morality

We have been talking about norms, rules, standards or laws of which is being use by
morality to judge our actions. To clarify this, what does morality judge as good or bad?
Is it the human person or his actions? It is the action of the human person. To be very
speci c, what kind of action needs to be judge as good or bad? There are two kinds of
acts which are the so-called human acts and acts of man. Which of these two should be
moralized? While human acts and acts of man both pertain to the actions or behaviors
of an individual or group of individuals, they must be clearly delineated in order to
discern which brings moral responsibility.

Human Acts are actions that are proper to humans, thus the crucial element of willful
consent and knowledge of the action must be present. One must freely use his/her
intellect and freewill when acting. Human acts reveal the value of responsibility or
accountability. Eating healthy foods, reading notes in preparation for an exam, and
saying no to drugs are just few examples.

Acts of Man are the actions that do not re ect the person as a rational being. The
actions are performed without conscious deliberation or knowledge and with the
absence of freewill. Acts of man constitute unconscious and involuntary actions.
Examples are one's way of sleeping, suddenly catching a falling object, one's way of
walking, reacting instinctively when touching a very hot surface, and the likes. These
are done without the use of freewill and reason. Some of these just happen naturally as
automatic responses to the situations.

HUMAN ACTS
Deliberate
Free
Voluntary
Conscious
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 Willful
Known
Aware

ACTS OF MAN
Indeliberate
Not free
Involuntary
"Unconscious"
Unwillful
"Unknown"
"Unaware"

Constituents of Human Acts

1. Human acts are known and deliberate. An individual, as the moral agent, has full
knowledge in doing a certain action. There is a prior knowledge and a deliberate
evaluation whether to do an action or not.

2. Human acts are free. An individual as the moral agent is free from any external
factors as well as internal pressure to do the act. He/She is neither forced nor
intimidated to do or not to do something.

3. Human acts are voluntary. The action proceeds from the willingness of an individual
to perform action with a perceived knowledge of the end.

With the given distinction above, it is now very clear that we cannot moralize acts of
man but the Human Acts Morality therefore covers human acts and not acts of man.

KINDS OF VOLUNTARY ACTS

IMPEDIMENTS OF HUMAN ACTS
PRINCIPLE OF DOUBLE EFFECT
STOP PRINCIPLE

Introduction:

Last week, we made it clear that what we moralize or judge as good or bad is the
human act and not the acts of man nor the person who is the doer of the action. In the
ancient time when there were no formulated norms yet which we now call law/s, what
were their bases or norms to judge people's actions or practices? Let us rst look at the
etymology of the word morality or moral. The word "moral" originated from the Latin
word "mores" which means manner or custom/s which are widely used within a
particular society or culture. So, the norms for people at that time were the established
practices called customs. Example in the
Philippine context, people do not state the rule such as "honor your parents/elders" but
they teach us the custom: on how to do such like saying "po or opo" or "pagmamano"


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and others.

Even in ways of dressing, our elders had their customs on how to do it to be respectful
and others. So, it is now clear to us that the customs set by our elders before were the
norms for people to live a good life and to have a good relationship with one another.
From its etymology, moral means good, if you put a pre x "im", immoral means bad.
There are actions which are generally not judge as good nor bad, this is called amoral
or indifferent act. Amoral or indifferent acts are the same with the acts of man.
Therefore, if you follow the norms of society which in the ancient time were customs,
traditions, and other practices, then your action is good, if not then what you are doing is
bad.

What is lacking on the norms set by our elders during their time? They are just
general guidelines on how people should live a good life and how to sustain good
relationship with each other. There is no criteria on how are we going to moralize or
judge very speci c human actions to see if they are really good or bad. Even most of
our laws today are still too general as bases to moralize human actions. They cannot
give an exact judgment or exact amount or degree of reward or penalty which
corresponds to the action committed. With this, we need speci c criteria.

Elements in Determining the Morality of Human Acts

There are three determinants of morality for us to assess the quality of human actions.

1. The Act (The Object): There are actions that the act itself will reveal if it is good
or bad. There is no need for norms or rules to base on to see their quality.
Examples: Killing, stealing, cheating.; these acts are clearly or obviously bad.
Praying, attending the Holy Mass; these actions are obviously good.
2. Purpose or Intention (The End of the act) - WHY? A lot of our action is done with
an intention or purpose - the reason behind the act. Although generally we do things
with a good intention, there are also instances where some will really do an action
with a bad intention.
3. Circumstance (involves: place, time, person, manner) - It plays an important role
in affecting the morality of an action because human acts are performed at a de nite
time and place, in a particular manner, for a certain reason, etc. All of which, in one
way or another, increase or diminish the responsibility of the action. Circumstance
can make a good action evil, as when a guard on duty goes to sleep.

Principles for Judging the Morality of Human Acts (application of the three
criteria above)

1. An act is morally good if the 3 (Act, Purpose and Circumstance) are

substantially good.
Examples: Helping, Studying, working, etc.
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 2. If one of the three is evil, the act is evil.
Helping one to steal, studying how to easily kill someone (what is evil here is the
intention)
3. Circumstance may create, mitigate or aggravate sin/ culpability
Circumstance can create, lessen or increase or even remove one's culpability (guilt,
penalty)
Example: walking on a newly cemented area is bad since alam na this, how about if the
one who walked on that area is a two years old girl? Will you moralize her action? Of
course not.

4. For amoral act or indifferent act, its morality will be judge by its purpose and
circumstance. ex: throwing a stone, walking, etc. how about if one intentionally
stepped on the newly cemented area?
Obviously, such action is bad.

5. An act which is intrinsically evil is not morally allowed regardless of any

circumstances.
ex: killing, suicide, adultery, rape, and the likes.

a. A good act done for a bad end becomes bad.

Example: Politicians who gave relief goods to people who were greatly affected by the
mass ooding taking advantage of the situation to campaign for the election.

b. A bad act done for a good end does not become good
Example: When a father put the justice into his hands and kills the murderer of his
daughter to take revenge for her death.

c. The end does not justify the means. (The end or purpose does not justify the
means or manner) This is almost the same with letter b. No matter how good the
purpose is if the manner or way or act is bad then it is not morally allowed.
Example: A student cheats during examination to pass and obtain scholarship in a
university. Recall also the Robinhood story.

d. An indifferent act may become morally good or bad. (depending on the purpose/
intention)
Example: To study law is in itself an indifferent action. It becomes good when inspired
by the thought of alleviating human sufferings or making a decent living. It becomes bad
if it is intended to perform illegal or immoral actions.
An elder brother who puts hot sauce on a cake before giving it to a begging younger
brother, so that the younger brother will not ask for more, and the elder can have the
cake all to himself.

e. Choose the lesser evil (if no other options or it is the last resort)
This is only allowed if there are no other options and the situation is a matter of life and
death where you need to decide at that very moment.


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 Other Moral Principles Based on the Three Criteria of Morality

Why not give the same punishment for the same crimes?
Aside from the purpose and circumstance which can lessen or increase the culpability
of a bad action, there are also other factors which affect the manner or the reason why
a person committed such an act. Not all acts are done perfectly by the doer / agent.
There are the so-called kinds of human act or speci cally called kinds of voluntary act

HUMAN ACTS- WILLFUL, KNOWN

KINDS OF VOLUNTARY ACT

1. Perfect Voluntary act - the is act done with full knowledge and full consent.
2. Imperfect V.A. - the act is done with some defect in the knowledge or consent.
3. Simple V.A. - the act is done by the agent because he/she simply likes doing it.
4. Conditional V.A - the act is done with a condition. "if*
5. Direct V.A - the act is intended by the agent.
6. Indirect V.A - the act is not intended by the agent but an effect or result of the act
which is directly intended.
Example: I intentionally threw a stone to the window but it bounced back and hit my
playmates.
7. Actual V.A - the act is spontaneous; an act is a result of an intention done here and
now.
8. Virtual V.A - an act done is a result of a previous intention (which may have been
forgotten) - it is like the act is planned.
9. Habitual V.A - the act done is a result of habit.
10. Interpretative V.A. - an act in uenced by an intention which is presumed
(interpreted) to be present in an agent who lacks the ability to express his actual
intention. Example: A mute person is asking you something through sign language, and
you are the one who will interpret what he/she is asking and you did or gave it.

These kinds of voluntary act are great factors which will affect the judgement of a
certain action.

Point for Re ection: Which of these kinds of

Voluntary Act is the most culpable if the act committed is bad?

IMPEDIMENTS TO HUMAN ACTS

Princible of Double Effect
STOP Principle

IMPEDIMENTS TO HUMAN ACTS

Human actions, though naturally a product of will and reason, are
sometimes in uenced by many factors. These factors can intervene and bar one's
actions from being human or contribute to the reduction of the quality of a certain action.






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Since they can bar one's faculties like the mind in performing a human act, these are
called impediments to human acts. These impediments reduce the quality
of human acts and so affects the judgement or morality of human acts.

1. Ignorance

Ignorance - pertains to the lack of pertinent information as to the nature, circumstances

and effect of a certain action. Either in commission or omission, the willful lack of
initiative to properly understand the whole picture of the circumstance affects the moral
quality of an action.

Ignorance takes place when an individual consciously proceeds to act on a certain

matter without due consideration of the relevant o necessary information related to it.

Usually, this takes place when someone unconsciously violates certain rules and
regulations. When asked to be made responsible for the action committed, one asserts
that he/she must not be held accountable since he/she was unaware that such was a
violation. This example is a clear manifestation on how ignorance.

Ignorance is classi ed into:

a. Invincible Ignorance - This refers to a total ignorance of the person about the
circumstance and other factors surrounding the action that she/he committed. This
total ignorance is unintentional.

b. Vincible Ignorance - This is an ignorance that can be dispelled/removed or learned

through ordinary efforts, conscientiousness and proper diligence. There are two forms of
vincible ignorance:
• Crass Ignorance (lack of effort) - happens when a person exerts little effort to dispel
his ignorance.
• Affected Ignorance - is a willful act of asserting one's ignorance in order to plead
innocence to a charge of guilt in doing or not doing an act. The act is pretended. An
example is a student who pretends not to know the school's policy on proper haircut
when confronted by the guards.

Morality of Actions done under Ignorance:

• Wrong actions done under Invincible ignorance is not culpable; because of one's
unintentional total ignorance.

Example: A person who does not know how to read and write caught for jaywalking.
You cannot penalize him/her since he/she is totally ignorant about the norm.
Wrong action done under Crass Ignorance is culpable but the culpability can be
lessened. This is so, since the person exerted little effort to dispel his /her ignorance
despite the opportunities to do so.
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 Bad action done under Affected Ignorance is totally culpable. In fact, the culpability
could increase since the person just pretended his/her ignorance.

2. Concupiscence: Happens when inordinate passion hinders one to

exercise correct reasoning. Passions are the emotional elements such as pride, anger,
love, joy, and the likes. Concupiscence happens when these passions push the person
in doing a certain act without the intervention of reasoning or mind.

Examples: Suddenly punching someone out of wrath, destroying someone's image out
of envy, having pre-Marital sex with someone due to being in loved, etc.

Two kinds of Concupiscence

(ante = before, consequent = after)

a. Antecedent Concupiscence - A spontaneous inordinate passion in uences an

action before it is controlled by the will. The act abruptly or suddenly happens. This
is called "gavva lang" in Ibanag. For example, Juan was allegedly running late for
his class. When he entered the school campus, the guard con scated his ID for no
apparent reason. Out of anger, he cursed the guard.
b. Consequent Concupiscence - happens when the intellect is aware of the
inordinate passion and the will still choses to arouse the said passion and proceed
with the act. So, it is pre- meditated. Example: you got angry with your classmates
and after many hours or even a day, you did not calm your anger and still wanted to
punch your classmates and you did it.

Morality of Actions done under Concupiscence

Bad actions done under Antecedent Concupiscence are still culpable but the culpability
can be lessened or can even be negated. This is so since the action was abrupt and so
not intentional.

Bad actions done under Consequent Concupiscence are totally culpable.

3. Fear
Fear - happens when the individual is threatened by impending danger. The existence
of danger or threats can limit one's ability to use the will and reason and merely acts
base on the instinct to survive or overcome the situation. There are two kinds of Fear.

Two Kinds of Fear

a. Light Fear: The impending danger or threat is light or somewhat like remote.
Example is, your classmate tells you that he will slap you if you will not give in to his
demand.

b. Grave Fear: The impending danger or threat is so serious like a matter of life and
death choices. Example is when your classmate demands something from you with his
gun pointed at your head.

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Morality of Actions done under Fear:
Bad action done with light or grave fear are both culpable. This is because, despite the
presence of the threat, one can still choose to do what he/she prefers to do, although
the consequence can really affect the decision.

Point to ponder: Which is more culpable? Bad action done under light fear or under
grave fear? Which culpability can be lessened?
Bad action done under light fear or under grave fear?

4. Violence- (physical attack) is the application of physical force upon a resisting person
to compel him/her to do or not to do an act like protecting oneself and others. There are
two persons involve here, the one who attacks and the one who defends her/himself.
What we judge here is the reaction of the one being attacked since the act of the one
who attacks is understood as bad.

Self-defense is a classic example for violence. With the presence of fear, one has to
protect himself/herself against his/her perpetrator. Self-defense means, there is no
intention to kill one's perpetrator but only to defend oneself.

Morality of actions done under violence

If you are on the act of defending yourself against your perpetrator like a rapist or killer
or kidnapper and unintentionally, you killed him/her, are you culpable? Of course not,
but if you intended to kill your perpetrator while defending yourself, then you are
culpable although your culpability can be lessened.

5. Habit - Firm and stable behavior pattern of acting. An individual naturally and
consciously, although most often unconsciously performs an action, as a result of its
repetitive performance through time. With the presence of
habit, an habit, an individual act based on his/her repeated
responses to situations.

Good habits are called virtues while bad habits are vices. Obviously, we only moralize
bad habits and not the good ones. Examples of your habits is speaking bad words as a
reaction to situations, like "ko diablo" or "diablo ka ko" or "pesti", or always causing
trouble in a party when drunk, etc.

Morality of actions done under bad habit

Bad actions done because of habit are culpable. The culpability is lessened only when
the person exerts utmost effort to free himself/herself from a vicious habit.

The S-T-O-P Principle

There is one good practice which is very helpful in dealing with passions and
dilemmas or problems in life. This is called the STOP principle.
 S - Search for the fact/s. Study what is the issue behind one's problems or dilemmas
and other related situations.

T - Think for alternatives. This is necessary if your proposed action is not clear or not
sure.

O - Others are to be considered for advice. Ask others' advice or suggestions if you are
hard up.

P - Pray for guidance and wisdom. Pray to God for enlightenment about the issue or
problem.

*One should apply STOP if one is douhting, confused, emotionally disturbed, things are
unclear etc.

General Moral Princible:

One should not act nor decide if one is doubting, confused, emotionally disturbed,
problematic, things are unclear and other same circumstances.

Point to Ponder:
What will happen or what could be the probable result if one acts immediately when he/
she is still confused, problematic or controlled by passions? What is the worst thing that
one can do if he will act under these circumstances?

DOUBLE EFFECT
What is Double Effect?
There are actions which have two effects (good and bad).
Question:
When are you allowed to proceed with an action with these two effects?

DOUBLE EFFECT
Principles of Double Effect
One is allowed to do an act with two effects (good and bad) under the following
conditions.
1. The act must be good or at least morally indifferent.
2. The evil effect must not precede the good effect or at least they should happen
simultaneously. So, the good effect must come rst before the bad one if ever.
3. There must be a suf cient reason to do the act.
Suf cient to do the act means like helping one to escape death or escape danger and
the likes.
4. The intention of the agent is honest. There should be no other intention than to do
good like the ones mentioned as suf cient reasons above.

Example: An example of this is a physician/doctor operating a pregnant woman with the

expected effects if ever like the mother might die in the process or the baby in her womb
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might die or even the two might die. Point to ponder: What should be the intention of the
physician in proceeding with the operation? Should he/she intend to save only the
mother, or the baby, or both, or kill both or what?