The Act

The Human Act

• WHAT IS HUMAN ACT?
– It is an act of which a man is master, to do or not to do: It is an act of
free will and intellect. An expression of self. It is a man's own act, not of other
agents about him.

• SIGNIFICANCE OF HUMAN ACT

– Since human acts comes from intellect and will, they express the
thoughts and desires of a person, revealing his moral character.
 Human acts can be classified either as
ELICITED or COMMANDED
 Elicited Acts
– simply will-acts - acts begun and completed in the will. example of
this is INTENTION.

 Commanded Acts
– actions that are carried out by the mind and body that are ordered
by the will.
 The Meaning of Human Act
• An act that is performed only by a human being and thus is proper to man.

Principles of Human Act

1. Internal
a. Intellect
– principle of all intellectual acts of knowing

b. Will and sense appetites

Will – a power directed to some object under the aspect of universal good
Sense – a desire for a universal good and particular good

c. Habits (virtue and vice)

– disposing of power to act in a determinate way

2. External
a. Law
Civil law – concerns external acts of human beings
Natural law – “unwritten law” / naturally made judgment
Eternal law – government of things exist in the mind of God

b. Grace
– infused directly in the human soul itself
 Constituents of Human Act
• It refers to inner causes or the constituting elements which generates a
person to undertake a certain act.

1. The Intellectual Element

a. Knowledge as a Distinguishing Human Quality
b. The Role of Intellect in Voluntary Action
c. Moral Evaluation Based on Knowledge
2. The Volitive Element
Voluntariness / free will
– the will can freely make a choice of the concrete object in which the
good is sought

A person is morally responsible for his/her action if it was done freely,

knowing, and willingly.
Situation:

Imagine a teenager who knows that stealing is wrong and

understands the consequences. However, they feel compelled to shoplift
because their friends pressure them into doing it.

Question:
Does the action done by the teenager voluntary?

NO because it is not driven by free will.

So an act to be a free act and consequently a human act, it is to

be done without any internal or external compulsion.
 Willed vs. Voluntary: The same or not?

Scenario 1:
Someone is desiring to set a house on fire but only glares at the house.

Scenario 2:
Someone is desiring to set a house on fire and left a lighted cigarette in
the porch.

S1 : WILLED – intention
S2 : VOLUNTARY – intention + action
 Accountability of Moral Act

When I perform a free act -- one which I am able to do or not to do, as I

choose -- the act is evidently imputable to me: if the thing is blameworthy,
the blame belongs to me; if it is praiseworthy, I am entitled to the praise.
Every human act, therefore, since it is a free act, is imputable to him who
performs it.
- Rev. Charles Coppens, S.J.
 THREE BASES OF MORAL ACCOUNTABILITY

1. KNOWLEDGE
•A human act must be done knowingly.

2. FREEDOM
•A human must be done freely.

3. VOLUNTARINESS
•A human act must be done voluntarily (intentional or negligent)
MODIFIERS OF HUMAN ACT
Modifiers of human acts either increase or decrease accountability.

FOUR MODIFIERS OF HUMAN ACT

1. IGNORANCE
•is the "absence of knowledge".
•Traditional ethics classifies them as vincible, invincible, affected, and supine or
gross ignorance.

2. PASSIONS
•refers to positive emotions like love, desire, delight, hope, and bravery and
negative emotions like hatred, horror, sadness, despair, fear and anger.
•Antecedent passions those that precede the act, do not always destroy
voluntariness, but they diminish accountability for the resultant act.
3. FEAR
•is the disturbance of the mind of a person due to an impending
danger or harm to himself or loved ones.
•Acts done with fear is voluntarily, but acts done because of intense or
uncontrollable fear or panic are involuntarily.

4. VIOLENCE
•refers to any physical force exerted on a person by another free agent
for the purpose of compelling said person to act against his will.
•Actions performed by person subjected to violence or irresistible
force are involuntarily and not accountable.
MORAL ACCOUNTABILITY FOR WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN

It is termed as sin of omission. Whatever one fails to do but which

should have been done is also imputable to him. This refer to failure to
act despite knowledge of being free, therefore different from negligence
or lack of foresight. It is intentionally not doing same thing when one
should have done it. It is failing to act as a Good Samaritan when one
should have acted as such.
 THE END
Presented by:
Aurit, June Kristine
Lofranco, Judy Ann
Cequina, Claire Angela
Reyes, Divine Grace
Evardone, Pearlyn Joy
Uybobolante, Cherie Mae