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UNIVERSITY OF SAINT LOUIS

Tuguegarao City

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, ARTS and SCIENCES

First Semester
A.Y. 2023-2024

CORRESPONDENCE LEARNING MODULE

ETHC 1013-ETHICS

Prepared by:

NESTOR M. CABRIDO JR., MAED

ALAN ANTHONY BACCAY, MARS
SEVERO L. WASHINGTON, MARS
HAYDEN GONZALES
PRINCE WILSON MACARUBBO
WILSON J. TEMPORAL, MST

Reviewed by:

MR. BERNARDO E. GUILLERMO III, MPA

Department Head

Recommended by:

DR. HERBERT S. CORPUZ

Academic Dean

Approved by:

EMMANUEL JAMES PATTAGUAN, Ph.D.

Vice President for Academics

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This Week’s Time Table: (Week 3)

For this week, the following shall be your guide for the different lessons and tasks that you need to accomplish.
Be patient, read them carefully before proceeding to the tasks expected of you.
HAVE A FRUITFUL LEARNING EXPERIENCE!

Date Topics Activities or Tasks

Read Lessons
Week 3 Human Acts

Human Acts and Acts of Man

Constituents of Human Acts

Deliberate
Free
Voluntary

Freedom and Responsibility

Impediments to Human Acts

Ignorance
Concupiscence
Violence
Habit

Submission of learning tasks Accomplish the worksheet in the Activities

Portion of this module
Checking of outputs

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 CORRESPONDENCE LEARNING MODULE
ETHC 1013 (ETHICS)
AY 2023-2024

Lesson 3: Human Acts

Topic: The nature of human acts, comparison between human acts and acts of man,
constituents of human acts, freedom and responsibility, and impediments of human
acts.

Learning Outcomes: At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Assess what it means by human acts;

2. Compare humans acts and acts of man;
3. Explain the three constituents of human acts;
4. Describe freedom and responsibility; and
5. Determine the impediments to human acts.

LEARNING CONTENT

Introduction:

This lesson focuses on the nature of human acts. It distinguishes human acts from acts of man.
It enumerates the constituents of human acts that are very essential in determining the morality of an action. It
enumerates the three elements in determining the morality of an action. And it ends by identifying the
impediments to human acts.

Lesson Proper:

In studying ethics, it is necessary to consider its material object and its formal object (the goodness or badness
of an act). But what is it that we seek to study in ethics? For the material object of ethics, we seek to study the
nature of a human act. While for its formal object, we seek to study the goodness or badness of a human act.
But first let us examine the nature of a human act through its definition.

Human Acts

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 (Living
a Christian Moral Life, 2013).

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Human Acts and Acts of Man

Human Acts Acts of Man

Acts that we do with the use of free will and intellect. Acts that we do without free will and intellect; some are
They are done freely, deliberate, and voluntary. done by instinct.

These are actions that are proper to humans, thus the The actions are performed without conscious
crucial element of willful consent and knowledge of the deliberation or knowledge and with the absence of
action must be present (Living a Christian Moral Life, freewill. Acts of man constitute unconscious and
2013). involuntary actions.

Example: studying, working, eating healthy foods Example: breathing, digestion, circulation of air in the
body
These are natural processes within the body that
continue to function without the use of free will and
reason. They just happen naturally as automatic
responses to situations (Living a Christian Moral Life,
2013).

Determinants Human Act Act of Man

Knowledge/Use of Intellect Yes No

Presence of Free Will Yes No

Conscious Process/ Voluntariness Yes No

This clearly shows the differences between human act and act of man. As an object of morality, human act is
done with full knowledge of the action, performed with the use of free will and acted upon voluntarily. The
absence of these three crucial determinants renders the action as mere act of man (Living a Christian Moral
Life, 2013).

Human actions are qualified as good or right (moral), bad or wrong (immoral) or indifferent (nonmoral). The
quality and standard of a human act depends on the relationship of the act with the norms of morality (Law:
Eternal law; Natural law; and Positive law (divine or human)). Both Divine and human positive laws are
specific application of the Eternal Law or the Natural Law. If a Positive Law does not adhere or respect the
Natural Law, then it ruins or damages the development of the human person.

If it agrees to right
reason
GOOD

If it neither agrees NORMS OF MORALITY

HUMAN ACT or disagrees LAW AND CONSCIENCE
Indifference

If it disagrees
BAD
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An act is good when it agrees with the dictates of right reason. (Living a Christian Moral Life, 2013).

An act is bad when it disagrees with the dictates of right reason.(Living a Christian Moral Life, 2013).

An act is indifferent when it stands no relation to the dictates of the right reason (Living a Christian Moral Life,
2013) (acts or actions that are neither good nor bad).

Please take note that we do not moralize the acts of man, but the human acts.

Constituents of Human Acts

1. Human acts must be 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 fulfill an action or not (Living a Christian Moral Life, 2013). It asks
the questions: Do you know exactly what you are doing? or Do you do the act intentionally? He/she must have
full knowledge and consent of his/her action.

2. Human acts must be free.

An individual as the moral agent is free from any external factors as well as internal pressure to do an act.
He/she is neither forced nor intimidated to do or not to do something (Living a Christian Moral Life, 2013).
There is obvious absence of constraint from within and outside of the individual. He/she is free to do the
act without the influence of an outside factor and personal pressure from within. He/she does the act so
independently and not because of shame, request or control from someone else nor from emotional disturbance.
3. Human acts are voluntary.
The action proceeds from the willingness of an individual to perform action with a perceived knowledge of
the end. (Living a Christian Moral Life, 2013). It asks the questions: Are you willing to do the act? and do
you know what you are doing and where your action is leading into? He/she wills to perform the act with
the understanding that he/she knows consciously where his/her actions are leading into.

Freedom and Responsibility

Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980)

Man is condemned to be free, because there is no God, according to Sartre.
“Isinumpa ang tao na maging malaya.” Whether he likes it or not, man is doomed
to freedom, as he himself is freedom. “Ang tao mismo ay kalayaan.” This follows
from Sartre’s perception that man is the only being whose existence precedes
his essence. There is no such thing as God-given essence or nature of man,
insofar as man alone has to create himself and develop his own essence through
his freedom (Timbreza, F., 2005).

Sartre is telling us that man is condemned to be free, because once thrown into the world, he is
responsible for everything he does. It is up to you to give (life) a meaning. Sartre believes that existence
precedes essence (Ramos, C.C. 2010). Meaning, Sartre believes that “existence precedes essence.”
Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself (Nabor-Nery, M.I., 2007).

There is no such thing as God-given essence or nature of man, insofar as man alone has to create himself
and develop his own essence through his freedom (Timbreza, F., 2005). Sartre, as an atheist, tells us that
the human person becomes responsible for the projection of one’s life. Since you are a free being, it is up
to you on how you use your freedom to make your life meaningful. Remember that, for Sartre, the
essence of man is freedom. So, freedom should make or create your life.

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Martin Heidegger (1889-1976)
Heidegger contends that this emphasis on freedom enables us to
understand philosophy as a “going-after-the-whole” that is at the same time a
“going-to-our-roots.” In other words, we must search for the essence of
human freedom in the constant presence of being-in-the-world that precedes
and grounds philosophical thinking (Heidegger, M., 2005).

This is manifested in Martin Heidegger’s idea on “Dasein” (Da-means there, Sein-means being).
Heidegger challenges us to understand the meaning of Dasein (of what it means to be there.). He
claimed that man is Dasein (being-there) but Dasein does not necessarily mean man. This means
that being-there has to be made. “Ginagawa ang pagiging tao.” We have to create our being as
persons. Our mere existence does not presuppose that we are living as a person already. Like
Sartre, we are responsible in projecting our lives. So, we must see to it that we are the gardener of
our own lives. This is what makes Heidegger “very interested in the problem of being rather than
merely in the problem of human existence” (Ramos, C.C. 2010).

Other Factors which Affect the Morality of Human Acts

My dear children, if you have noticed, observed, or experienced, while norms or laws are general, most
often, in their implementation, there are many factors to consider especially in judging the action committed in
relation to the law. Example: If two people committed the same crime, how come that their punishments are
not the same? Even in the school setting, sometimes a student would complain that how come that my
classmate was allowed to enter or do such things while I am not?
Aside from the purpose and circumstance that affects the judgment of a certain act, there are other
factors to consider. Other authors would call these Impediments to Human Acts. (Impediment means
hindrance).

Impediments to Human Acts

Human actions, though naturally a product of will and reason, are sometimes influenced by certain factors, which
are called impediments to human actions. These factors intervene and bar one’s actions from being human or
contribute to the reduction of the quality of a certain action. The impediments affect the quality of human acts.

1. Ignorance pertains to the lack of pertinent information, as to the nature, circumstances and
effect of a certain action. Ignorance takes place when an individual consciously
proceeds to act on a certain matter without due consideration of the relevant or
necessary information related to it.

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 Ignorance is classified into:
a. Invincible Ignorance There is invincible ignorance when one is totally ignorant
of the things surrounding his/her action and there is no
way to remove/dispel it. In situations like this, the
culpability of the individual is negated. A good example of
this kind is a person who is illiterate -- one who does not
know how to read and write, who is caught jaywalking.
b. Vincible Ignorance There is lack of required knowledge to determine the
goodness or badness of a certain action, but this can be
dispelled or learned through ordinary efforts,
conscientiousness and proper diligence.
Mistakes or wrong actions out of vincible ignorance
lessens one’s culpability. An example would be committing
mistake without totally knowing that what you are doing is
really wrong.

There are two forms of vincible ignorance:

i. Affected vincible One is pretending to be ignorant since he/she just wants
ignorance to gain the approval of the other for his/her wrong action.
(In your ordinary language children, you call this
“agpalusot”.) Naturally, any action, performed under
affected or pretended ignorance, does not excuse a
person from his/her action. In fact, it actually increases
his/her culpability. An example would be a student who
pretends not to know the school’s policy on proper haircut
to excuse him/her when confronted by the guards.
ii. Supine or crass It happens when a person exerts little effort to know
ignorance something. Giving a wrong medicine to a sick person may
result in the sickness of the person getting worse.
2. Concupiscence A situation where one’s inordinate passion hinders one to exercise correct reasoning,
thus also affects his/her action.
Passions means our emotional elements like anger, pride, envy, love, joy, etc. Not
all passions are bad. Some are innately bad, but some becomes bad only when they are
excessive or called inordinate. Example is pride and anger, these two becomes bad only
when they become excessive that they already control one’s mind and even push
him/her to do a certain action. Still on pride, you must be proud of your parents; you
need pride or else you will be contented with your grades even if they are all line of
seven or even all 75%.
The morality of actions done out of concupiscence depends on how the passions
affected the action of the doer. The culpability may increase or decrease or can be
negated.
Antecedent concupiscence A spontaneous/sudden inordinate passion influences an
action before it has been controlled by the will. Example:
Juan was already running late for his class. When he
entered the school campus, the guard confiscated his ID
for no apparent reasons. Out of his anger, he
unconsciously cursed the guard. (In ibanag, you call this
“gavva lang”, like gavva kang nanampal dahil sa gulat,
etc.)
The culpability of bad actions done out of
Antecedent Concupiscence can be lessen or even
negated depending on how it happened.

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 Consequent concupiscence This happens when one is aware of the inordinate passion
and the will chooses to arouse the said passion to perform
the bad action. The passion has already passed through
the intellect and controlled by the will, but still, the
individual performs the human act. In other words, you
know that you are very angry at that person, but you still
push through with the bad action like punching or kicking
or slapping him/her. You did not do anything to calm down
or to cool your anger.
Since the passion is deliberately and voluntarily acted
upon, the culpability of the action increases. Gluttony is a
very good example. Pedro is obese. During a town fiesta,
he had visited the houses of his four friends, eating to his
satisfaction. On his way back home, he decided to drop by
a fast food restaurant for more food, and later on, he
vomited. Clearly, it is within his control to limit his food
intake; however, despite being full from the feast, he
deliberately decided to eat more on his way home. His
moral responsibility increases since it is within his will,
reason and disposal to decide to stop, but failed to do so.

3. Fear affects the performance of a human act since the individual is threatened by the
impending dangers (ginawa or nagawa mo yung isang bagay kasi tinakot ka) The
presence of danger and intimidation affects his/her thought-processes in determining the
goodness or badness of his/her actions.
A human act done with fear is considered as voluntary, therefore it will be culpable
if it is a bad act. The act is still culpable because one can still choose not to act despite
the fear or danger. Example: They forced a woman to remove her clothes with a gun
pointing at her, the woman can still choose not to do the act.
However, the culpability of a bad act done out of fear can be lessen, increase or
even negated depending on the gravity of the threat and the circumstance surrounding
the action especially in a situation where one just follows his/her instinct to survive.
While walking on a dark alley, Pedro was accosted by a robber pointing at his head
a gun. Trapped and in danger of being killed, Pedro has no alternative but to fight back.
As a result, the robber was terribly hurt. In this case, Pedro does not have moral
responsibility for hurting the robber because he had performed self-defense to protect
himself from a very clear and present danger. Acts done from fear or through fear, in
certain cases are involuntary because the agent is obligated to choose to avoid the
greater evil. This kind of situation lessens voluntariness and thus, decreases moral
responsibility.

3.1 Light Fear: The threat/imminent danger confronting a person is not so serious or
grave to influence or force one to do a certain act.
- So, a seriously bad act done under light fear is culpable.

3.2. Grave Fear: The threat is so serious or grave that it can really influence or force one
to do a certain act.
- Example of this are the cases of hold ups wherein people are forced to give their
money or belonging to another just out of fear; and other similar circumstances.
- The culpability of a bad act done under grave fear can be lessen or negated.

4. Violence - I will not discuss this in detail since it is very much related to the cases of fear.
- The direct message of this is, you must exert all the efforts needed to defend yourself

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 in extreme cases where your life or your dignity is at stake. Again, this is in the cases of
rape or hold ups wherein the hold uppers even want to kill their victims.
- The morality here is that, one is culpable if he/she will not exert all the necessary efforts
to defend herself/ himself from the aggressor if needed, if his life or dignity is at stake.
Although, the culpability can be lessen depending on the circumstance.

In another angle, if a woman is defending herself from a rapist and accidentally,

the head of the rapist hits a wall or stone or hard object and died. In this case, the
woman’s action is not culpable since she was just defending herself and there was no
intention to kill the aggressor.

Self-defense is a classic example in the face of aggression wherein one has to protect
himself/herself from the attacker.

Conditions for Self-defense:

1. The aggression must be unjust.
2. The aggression must be actual.
3. Use minimum violence/it must be proportional

Problems comes when people just kill someone without being attack physically. There
was no actual aggression done. Example is, one is just looking at you intently then
suddenly you spank or even kill him with a gun or any other hard objects. Remember in
self-defense, there is no intention to kill but only to defend oneself or run away from the
trouble. Example, you have a gun and one is running after you with a knife. Which part of
the aggressor’s body should you hit with your gun? The head? Stomach? Neck?
Chest? None of the above my dear children. It should be the F…… oot or feet.

5. Habit is a firm and stable behavior pattern of acting. An individual naturally and consciously
performs an action, as a result of its repetitive performance through time. One acts
based on his/her repeated responses on situations.

Good moral habits are called virtues while bad habits are vices.
People are expected to exert utmost effort to free themselves from vicious habits.

Some examples of your bad habits children are: speaking bad words when you are mad,
always coming late, not attending mass, copying during quizzes and exams, etc.

How do we moralize vices or bad habits?

Vices or bad habits are culpable. The culpability is lessened only when one is exerting
effort to correct or stop his/her vices.

*** END of LESSON 3***

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REFERENCES

Textbooks

1. Ignacio, Norlito A. (1985). Man and His Actions. Manila: Rex Bookstore.
2. Maniwang, M.N., Parallag, C.R., Washington, S.L. (2013). Living a Christian Moral Life. CICM Publishing
House: CICM Philippines.
3. Nabor-Nery, Maria Imelda, (2007) Philosophy of Man. Mandaluyong City: National Bookstore.
4. Ramos, Christine Carmela R. (2010). Introduction to Philosophy, Second Edition. Manila: Rex Bookstore.
5. Timbreza, Florentino T. (2005). Quest for Meaning: Philosophy Made Easy for Filipinos. Philippines: New
Day Publishers.

Online Reference

Heidegger, Martin. (2005). The Essence of Human Freedom : An Introduction to Philosophy. Translated by
Ted Sadler. London, New York: Continuum. Retrieved on September 4, 2020 from
https://thegreatthinkers.org/heidegger/other-works/the-essence-of-human-freedom/

Learning Materials
Worksheets (teacher-made)

Picture Reference:

1. Daily Mail Online: Photos capture acts of kindness from around the world. Retrieved on August 30, 2020
from https://images.app.goo.gl/KEDByQzLvwJdwvZbA

2. Hypnosis Downloads. Fear of Violence. Retrieve on September 4, 2020 from

https://www.hypnosisdownloads.com/fears-phobias/fear-violence

3. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Martin Heidegger. Retrieved on September 4, 2020 from

https://www.iep.utm.edu/wp-content/media/Heidegger3.jpg

4. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Martin Heidegger. Retrieved on September 4, 2020 from

https://iep.utm.edu/sartre-ex/

5. Sargent, Lynne (2018). Moral Contexts vs. Immoral Contexts. Retrieved on September 4, 2020 from
https://moralguillotines.wordpress.com/2018/07/24/moral-contexts-vs-immoral-contexts/

6. Kumar, Sudhir. Train of Thought. Retrieved on September 5, 2020 from

https://in.pinterest.com/pin/555702041491369048/

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 ACTIVITY WORKSHEET FOR MODULAR

Name: Score:
Course / Year / Code: Date:

Learning Task 2

Direction: Read the situation and answer the following questions briefly.

The Revise Penal Code of the Philippines, Art. 274 states that any legally married person who having
surprised his spouse in the act of committing sexual intercourse with another person, shall kill any of them or
both of them in the act or immediately thereafter is not considered murder, hence the perpetrator shall only
suffer destierro (banishment or only a prohibition from residing within the radius of 25 kilometers from the
actual residence of the accused for a specified length of time). According to Art. 247 of the RPC such death is
under exceptional circumstance.

Question:

Do you agree or disagree with this provision of the RPC? Apply the concepts of Human Acts, Constituents of
Human Acts and Impediments to Human Acts in your arguments. Simplify your answer with a minimum of 10
sentences.

Rubric Content-15 points:

5 points - CONTENT: The presence of ideas developed through facts, examples, opinions, reasoning and
application of concepts. At least 3 concepts are used to back up your claim.

5 points - STYLE and ORGANIZATION: The use of transitional devices including introduction and conclusion.
The choice, use and arrangement of words and sentence structures.

5 points – CONVENTIONS: Grammar, mechanics, spelling, usage and sentence formation.

Answer:
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