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Ethics Topic Human Act

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Stanley Kun 秒
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32 views12 pages

Ethics Topic Human Act

Uploaded by

Stanley Kun 秒
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Human Act

ETHICS: THE SCIENCE OF HUMAN


CONDUCT

CHRIST THE KING COLLEGE DE MARANDING


Maranding, Lala, Lanao del Norte
Office of the Campus Ministry
A. Definition of the Human Act

A human act is an ACT WHICH PROCEEDS FROM THE


DELIBERATE FREE WILL OF MAN.

Ethics employs the term in a stricter sense, and calls


HUMAN only those acts that are proper to man as man.

Man is more than animal: he is rational, i.e., he has


understanding and free will.
A. Definition of the Human Act
Man’s animal acts of sensation ( use of the senses ) and appetition (bodily
tendencies) , as well as acts performs indeliberately or without advertence and the
exercise of free choice are called ACT OF MAN

Acts of man maybe sometimes become a human acts by the advertence and consent
of the human agent (agent is meant the one who does or performs an act).

If I hear words of blasphemy as I walk along the street, my act of hearing is an act of
man; but the act becomes a human act if I deliberately pay attention and listen.
A. Definition of the Human Act
Ethics is not concerned with acts of man, but only with human acts.

Human acts are…


1. Moral act
2. Responsible – worthy of praise or blame; reward or punishment
3. Forms a habit (repeating again and again)
4. Character (perfection of habit)
B. Classification of Human Acts
Human acts may be classified under the
following:
1. THEIR COMPLETE OR ADEQUATE
CAUSE;
2. THEIR RELATION TO THE DICTATES OF
REASON
B. 1. Adequate Cause of Human
Act
Human acts have their source in man’s free rational nature, there are some act that BEGIN AND ARE
PERFECTED in the will itself, and the rest BEGIN IN THE WILL AND ARE PERFECTED BY OTHER FACULTIES
under control of the will.

1. Elicited acts – some human acts find their adequate cause in the will alone.
2. Commanded acts – do not find their adequate cause in the simple will-act, but are perfected by the
action of or bodily powers under the control of the will (under orders from the will).
B. 1. 1. Elicited Acts
1. Wish – the simple love of anything; the first tendency of the will towards a thing, whether this
things be realizable or not.
2. Intention – the purposive tendency of the will towards a thing regarded as realizable, whether
the thing is actually done or not.
3. Consent – the acceptance by the will of the means necessary to carry out intention. It is a
further intention of doing what is necessary to realize the first or main purpose.
4. Election – the selection by the will of the precise means to be employed in carrying out an
intention.
5. Use – the employment by the will of powers (body, mind or both) to carry out its intention by
the means elected.
6. Fruition – the enjoyment of a thing willed and done; the will’s act of satisfaction in intention
fulfilled.
B. 1. 2. Commanded Acts
1. Internal – acts done by the internal mental powers under command of the will. (effort to
remember; effort to control anger)

2. External – acts effected by bodily powers under command of the will. (deliberate walking,
eating, writing)

3. Mixed – acts that involve the employment of bodily powers and mental powers. (Study – use
of intellect (internal) and use of eyes in reading the lesson (external))
B. 2. The Relation of Human Acts
to Reason

Human acts are either IN AGREEMENT or IN


DISAGREEMENT with the dictates of reason, and
this relation with reason constitutes their
MORALITY.
B. 2. The Relation of Human Acts
to Reason

Human acts are …


1. Good – when they are in harmony with the dictates
of right reason
2. Evil – when they are in opposition to the dictates
3. Indifferent – when they stand in no positive relation
to the dictates of reason.
C. Constituents of the Human
Acts
In order that an act be HUMAN it must
posses three essential qualities: it must
be KNOWING, FREE AND VOLUNTARY.
C. Constituents of the Human
Acts
1. Knowledge – A human act proceeds from the deliberate will; it requires
deliberation (advertence or knowledge in the intellect of what one is about
and what this means)
2. Freedom – A human act is an act determined (elicited or commanded) by the
will and by nothing else (under control of the will or free act: every human
act must be free)
3. Voluntariness – came from the Latin word VOLUNTAS or will. Human act
must have voluntariness or will-act. There must be knowledge and freedom
in the agent.

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