MODULE 6

UNDERSTANDING
Understanding
THE
The ACT
Act
 Learning
Objectives
 Distinguish human acts from acts
if man;
 Articulate the essential
components of human acts;
 Make sense of the morality of
human acts; and
 Identify scenarios or situations
where modifiers of human acts
may be present.
 Presentation
Contents
I HUMAN ACTS VS. ACTS OF MAN

CONSTITUENTS OR ESSENTIAL
II COMPONENTS OF HUMAN ACTS:

II THREE SOURCES OR ‘FONTS’ OF

MORALITY

IV THE MODIFIERS OF HUMAN ACT

 Agapay (1991) believes that in every
minute of man’s life, he acts and
transforms himself and the world
around him. Action constitutes a person,
Understanding
an individual is in control of himself and
accountable to himself. What a person is
The Act
and what becomes of him depends
largely upon the type of actions he
performs during his lifetime.
I
HUMAN ACTS VS.
ACTS OF MAN
Human acts are actions that proceed from the
deliberate free will of person. These are actions are
therefore done with knowledge and consent
willfully carried out by the person.

Acts of man refers to certain types of

actions that are naturally exhibited by
man and such as morally indifferent
because we cannot judge them to be
either ethical or unethical.
Co, et al. (2014) assert that there are many
kinds of acts, but only acts have ethical
values. Human acts in accord with
Understanding
goodness are moral like love and justice
while moral acts done by man wrong
The Act
conduct. Acts which are neither like
sleeping and taking a bath. Amoral acts
are not human acts rather they are not
conduct but activity.
  
II CONSTITUENTS OR ESSENTIAL
COMPONENTS OF HUMAN FACTS
Knowledge
Babor (2008) affirms that a human act is an act done with
knowledge.

Free will
Dupre (2013) – Concept of free will

Voluntariness
Babor (2008) asserts that voluntariness requires the presence of knowledge and
freedom in the agent because for the agent to will, the agent must have knowledge of
what the act is and must also have the freedom to perform the act. Thus, a voluntary
act is a willful act in itself.
III THREE SOURCES OR ‘FONTS’ OF Each font is
evaluated as
MORALITY to its
morality
based on the
1) Intention two great
commandme
nts: to love
God above
2) Moral Object all else, and
to love your
neighbor as
yourself. 
3) Circumstances …
Catechism of the Catholic Church:
“The morality of human acts depends
on: the object chosen; the end in view
Understanding
or the intention; the circumstances of
the action. The object, the intention,
The Act
and the circumstances make up the
‘sources,’ or constitutive elements, of
the morality of human acts.” (CCC, n.
1750)
USCCB Catechism: “Every moral act consists of three
elements: the objective act (what we do), the subjective
goal or intention (why we do the act), and the concrete
situation or circumstances in which we perform the
act…. 

 The intention is of the subject, the human person

who acts. 
 The moral object is of the act itself, the objective act
chosen by the human person. 
Pope John Paul II: “These are the acts which, in the Church’s
moral tradition, have been termed ‘intrinsically evil’ (intrinsece
malum): they are such always and per se, in other words, on
account of their very [2] object, and quite apart from the ulterior
[1] intentions of the one acting and the [3] circumstances. 

 The circumstances follow from the intention and

the act.
 BELMONTE’S ARTICLE
 Who
 What
 Where In moral theology, an act is the
 With what means
knowing choice of a human person.
There are no morally-neutral acts.
 Why Every knowingly chosen act is either
good or evil, either morally licit (at
 How least permissible without sin) or
morally illicit (a venial or mortal sin).
 When
IV THE MODIFIERS OF HUMAN
ACT
1) Ignorancewhich
Absence of knowledge modifier
a person ought
to possess.
Vincible ignorance is doing wrong when one
ought to have known better.
Invincible ignorance is doing something
wrong when one could not have known
better.
 
THE MODIFIERS OF HUMAN
ACT
2) Passions/ Concupiscence Modifiers
 Are either tendencies towards desirable
objects or tendencies away from
undesirable or harmful things.

Type of Passions
 Antecedent passion
 Consequent passion
THE MODIFIERS OF HUMAN
ACT
3) Fear Modifier
 Fear is the disturbance of the mind of a person
who is confronted by an impending danger or
harm to oneself or loved ones. It is an instinct or
self-preservation

Type of Passions
 Grave Fear
 Slight Gear
THE MODIFIERS OF HUMAN
ACT
4) Violence
 Refers to any physical force exerted on a person
by another free agent for the purpose of
compelling is said person to act against his will.

4 types of violence:
 Perfect
 Physically Perfect
 Morally Perfect
 Imperfect
THE MODIFIERS OF HUMAN
ACT
Habits
5)
 is a lasting readiness
and facility, born of
frequently repeated
acts, for ating in a
certain manner.
 Every ethical situation
To be moral is to be calls for a decision
human. To be truly that a person cannot
human is to be moral. ignore. Ethical or
Being what we are and moral person must
acting we should as decide and must
members of the human choose to decide and
race is what morality all act responsibly.
about.

End