MAN AS THE FOUNDATION OF

GOODNESS
The discussion on the different ethical principles given by the different
moral philosophers can be seen as pointing only to one thing: that the
foundation of morality is the human person .
 Because man is a rational being, he is, therefore, the moral subject of
his own activity.
 Man’s rationality makes him responsible for his activity because his
action is his own.
 The moral quality of any human activity depends on what the moral
subject makes of it.
 Man’s rationality has led him to be oriented towards the true and
good. It is this orientation towards the true and the good that man
becomes a person with intellect and will and, therefore, a being who is
responsible for himself and for the world.

You are responsible for yourself as well as to

other person
 Man’s orientation towards the true and the good binds him towards
the affirmation of the spiritual freedom and dignity of the other person
and thereby makes him responsible for the welfare and dignity of the
other persons as well. This relationship with other rational beings lead
the person to the important consideration of the human conscience.
 Human has the capacity to know what is wrong and repair the wrong
that has been done

 St. Thomas believed that it is the conscience that constitutes the

human person as a moral subject.
 It is in his conscience that man discovers the moral law.
 Conscience refers to the totality of the human person. It is the
absolute structure of the person. It is the universal structure of the
person in the concrete sense.
 Since the human person is the moral subject, he has the capacity to
realize that which is morally wrong . Eventually, he has the capacity
to repair the wrong that has been done.
 Man’s desire for reparation makes the human person responsible
being. This responsibility is an essential element of the conscience.
 Deep within this conscience, a man discovers the law which he has
not laid upon himself but which he must obey
 The dignity of man lies in observing the law. Because of this, it can
also be said that the norm of morality is the personal nature and
dignity of human person.
 Only a highly-dignified and responsible man can make a good moral
decisions.
 THE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF
HUMAN BEHAVIOR

 Human act – action that is done with knowledge and full consent of
the will.
 This is the action that make a man fully responsible for what he does.
 A rational being cannot will without knowing what object he is
concerned with and without being aware of act he is to perform in
order to realize the goal such action.
 THE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF
HUMAN BEHAVIOR

 Consequently, an action can be determined only as good or bad if it is

known.
 A human act also includes a necessary element, the quest for good,
which an individual desires to achieve in doing an action.
 An action, which includes the free choice of the concrete object in
which the good is sought , is a voluntary act.
 THE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF
HUMAN BEHAVIOR

 If a man, for some reason , 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 be considered free and consequently, such an action is
not be considered a human act.
 THE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF
HUMAN BEHAVIOR

Voluntariness: Its importance to ethics

Ethics deals with the study of human acts (voluntary acts of man)
It is the amount or degree of voluntariness present in an act which
determines the amount or degree of responsibility and this in turn will
determine the amount of punishment, if any, to be meted out.

Pagtaas ng voluntariness, pagtaas din ng responsibility at

punishment
 THE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF
HUMAN BEHAVIOR

 Henri Peschke held that human act can be distinguished in different

ways. It can be:
1. Fully voluntary
• If it follows upon clear reflection and full consent of the will.
• Acts done with full knowledge and consent
 THE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF
HUMAN BEHAVIOR

2. Imperfectly voluntary
• Either reflection or consent is partially lacking.
• There is no perfect knowledge or consent
a. Directly voluntary
• When it is intended immediately and for itself.
• when the act is intended for its own sake, either as a means or as an
end
 THE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF
HUMAN BEHAVIOR

EXAMPLE:
He who intends to go to a party in order to drink with friends wills both
the going to the party and the drinking with friends. Both acts, therefore,
are directly voluntary.
 THE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF
HUMAN BEHAVIOR

b. Indirectly voluntary
• When one foresees it without intending as a side effect of what is
directly voluntary.
• an act which is not intended for its own sake but with merely follows
as a regrettable consequence of an action directly willed.
 THE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF
HUMAN BEHAVIOR

• Refers to an act which is desired not as an end in itself but as a

foreseen effect or consequences of an act.
• Refers to an act which is the foreseen consequence of another act
directly intended.
 THE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF
HUMAN BEHAVIOR

EXAMPLE:
Throwing precious cargoes from a sinking boat to save lives of
passengers. Here the throwing and losing of the cargoes is not desired or
intended. It comes as a consequence of saving lives of passengers.
 THE NATURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF
HUMAN BEHAVIOR

EXAMPLE:
Surrendering and giving your money and valuables to a holdupper who
gravely threatened to kill you if you don’t
 IMPEDIMENTS IN PERFORMING HUMAN
ACTIVITY

Some obstacles impair the coming about of a human act in roots by

diminishing or preventing the consent of the free will. Impediments to
human activity are those factors that eliminate or diminish the person’s
freedom in action.
St. Thomas Aquinas listed four classical impediments to human
activity. These are:
 IMPEDIMENTS IN PERFORMING HUMAN
ACTIVITY

1. Force is the external violence, which compels a man to do something

to which he is opposed internally.
2. Fear arises from the threat of an impending future evil. If the fear is
so great that it deprives a person of the capacity to think clearly and
make a free decision, then he is not responsible for what happens.
 IMPEDIMENTS IN PERFORMING HUMAN
ACTIVITY

3. Passion or concupiscence is a movement of the sensitive appetite,

which is produced by good or evil as apprehended by the imagination.
Technically speaking passion that is common to human beings and other
animals.
Passion is said to be a human act if it is under the control of reason
and free will.
 IMPEDIMENTS IN PERFORMING HUMAN
ACTIVITY

Passion can become destructive and evil only if their force is not
controlled by reason. In this case, man has a duty to control and check
his sensitive appetites. If it is not controlled by reason, passion is often
referred to as intense feeling or emotion.
 IMPEDIMENTS IN PERFORMING HUMAN
ACTIVITY

4. Ignorance, in the technical sense, is a lack ok knowledge, which a

person should have. It may be invincible or vincible. Ignorance is
invincible if a person is not be able to dispel by such reasonable
diligence. In this case it is considered involuntary. However, ignorance
is vincible if it can be removed by reasonable diligence.
 IMPEDIMENTS IN PERFORMING HUMAN
ACTIVITY

In the case of ignorance, the following principles have to applied.

1. Invincible ignorance prevents the human act from being voluntary in
regard to that which is not known.
 IMPEDIMENTS IN PERFORMING HUMAN
ACTIVITY

2. Vincible ignorance does not take away the voluntariness of what is

affected by a human act or its omission, but it diminishes voluntariness,
as long as the ignorance is not affected. However, if the neglect is great,
the guilt will nevertheless become greater
 IMPEDIMENTS IN PERFORMING HUMAN
ACTIVITY

However, although the moral law may recognize these principles

concerning ignorance, the civil law generally does not regard ignorance
of the law or of the penalty as an excusing cause, but as a reason for a
milder penalty.

“Ignorantia legis neminem excusat”

Ignorance of the law excuses noone
 IMPEDIMENTS IN PERFORMING HUMAN
ACTIVITY

Ignorance is a privation of knowledge and true insight, inattention is an

actual, momentary privation of knowledge. So far as inattention or
inadvertence extends only to certain aspects of an action, the same
principle apply to it as those drawn up ignorance. From the moral
standpoint, inadvertence or lack of attention is equivalent to ignorance.
 IMPEDIMENTS IN PERFORMING HUMAN
ACTIVITY

Factors that Influence responsibility.

1. Personality is the totality of the behavioral and emotional
characteristics of a man. This is the product of one’s upbringing and
therefore, may affect man’s total outlook on life and his moral decisions.
 IMPEDIMENTS IN PERFORMING HUMAN
ACTIVITY

2. Habits are acquired by the frequent repetition of certain acts. Habits

are natural dispositions, which incline a person to a certain action or
conduct and which have their roots in his character and inherited
inclinations.
Education by one’s family and environment play an equally
important role in the formation of attitudes and customs, which
influence an individual strongly and which he cannot easily overcome.
 IMPEDIMENTS IN PERFORMING HUMAN
ACTIVITY

3. Prejudice is a preconceived judgement or opinion. It leads one judge

or act without just grounds or sufficient knowledge. Prejudice reduces
moral responsibility but a prejudiced person is not really free from
moral responsibility is as much as a person is always required to have a
thorough reflection first before making any moral decision.
 IMPEDIMENTS IN PERFORMING HUMAN
ACTIVITY

4. Degree of mental health also affects moral decision of a person.

Neurotic and psychotic states, obsessions, and feelings of guilt impairs
one’s mental health. Insofar as these factors limit awareness and
freedom, the limit truly human activity and their moral responsibility.