The Human Acts

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Objectives:
 Understand, know and define the
different concepts of Human Acts
as well as its essential attributes.

 Differentiate
Human Acts from
Acts of Human
 Man no doubt is creative because he
possesses tremendous bodily and
spiritual powers. Every minute of his
life, he acts, transforming himself and
the world around him. Action
constitutes a person, an individual in
control of himself and accountable to
himself. What aperson is and what
becomes of him depend largely on
the type of actions he performs during
his life-time.
Human Acts
 Distinction is made between human
acts and acts of man. The human
acts are those actions which man
performs knowingly, freely, and
voluntarily. These actions are the
result of conscious knowledge and
are subject to the control of the will.
We refer to these actions as
deliberate, intentional, or voluntary.
 The Acts of Man are those
actions which happen in man.
They are instinctive and are not
within the control of the will. Such
actions are the biological and
physiological movements in man
such as, metabolism, respiration,
fear, anger, love and jealousy.
Essential Attributes
1. It must be performed by a conscious
agent who is aware of what he is doing and
of its consequences. Children below the age
of reason, the insane, the senile- are
considered incapable of acting knowingly.

2. It must be performed by an agent who is

acting freely, that is, by his own volition an
powers. An action done under duress and
against one’s will is not entirely a free action.
3. It must be performed by an agent
who decides willfully to perform the act.
This willfulness is the resolve to
perform an act here and now, or in
some future time.

*Human acts must, therefore, be

knowing, free, and willful. The lack of
any of these attributes renders an act
defective and less voluntary.
Kinds of Human Acts

 Human acts are either elicited

acts or commanded acts. Elicited
acts are those performed by the
will and are not bodily
externalized. Paul Glenn
enumerates the following elicited
acts:

1.Wish is the tendency of will towards
something, whether this be realizable or not.
The object of wishing may include the
imposible, or, that which is remotely
possible, such as winning the sweepstakes.

 2. Intention is the tendency of the will

towards something attainable but without
necessarily committing oneself to attain it.
Such is our intention to study the lesson, to
attend the party, or to spend a vacation in
Baguio.
3. Consent is the acceptance of the will of
those means effective enough to carry out
the intention. Thus, a woman is said to
show consent when she consiously attracts
attention to herself.

4. Election is the selection of the will of

those means effective enough to carry out
the intention. A salesman shows election
when he opts to visit a client instead of just
writing him a letter.
5. Use is the command of the will to make use
of those means elected to carry out the
intention. It is this act of the will which moves
the salesman to dress up and take a ride to see
his client.

6. Fruition is the enjoyment of the will derived

from the attainment of the thing he had desired
earlier. The joy of the woman on being
complimented for her attractiveness, or, the
satisfaction of salesman in closing a deal with
his client− is fruition.
 Commnded acts are those done
either by man’s mental or bodily
powers under the command of the
will. Commanded acts are either
internal or external actions.

 -Internal actions like reasoning,
recalling something, encouraging
oneself, controlling aroused emotions
and others.
 -External actions like walking,
eating, dancing, laughing,
listening, reading and others.

 Some actions are combination of

internal and external movements
such as listening, studying, reading,
driving a car, writing a letter, or
playing a chess.
Moral Distinctions
 Dictates of Reason- refers to the shared
consciousness of prudent people about
the propriety of a certain action or manner
of behavior. It shows what is permissible in
a given situation, the best option as a
matter of fact.
 It stands for the norm of morality which is

the standard by which actions are judged

as to their merits or demerits.
Classification of Actions

1. Moral actions- are those actions

which are in the conformity with the
norm of morality. They are good actions
and are permissible. Working, studying,
paying a debt, telling the truth, loving a
friend- are moral actions.
2. Immoral actions- are those
actions which are not in conformity
with the norm of morality. They are
bad or evil and are not permissible.
Refusing to help the needy,
commiting murder, adultery,
stealing telling lies- are immoral
actions.
3. Amoral actions- are those
actions which stands neutral in
relation to the norm of morality.
They are neither good nor bad in
themselves. But certain amoral
actions may become good or bad
because of the circumstances
attendant to them.
Extrinsic and Intrinsic Evil
 Something is intrinsic to a thing when it is
integral to the nature of that thing.

 Some actions are intrinsically evil because

their nature is defective either by excess
or by lack of certain attributes. Such, for
example, is the nature of stealing which,
by nature, manifests lack of respect for the
property of another.
 Some other actions are extrinsically evil
because certain factors attached to them by way
of circumstances render them opposed to the
norm of morality. Drinking liquor is extrinsically
evil when done in excess.

 Actions that are intrinsically evil are prohibited at

all times and under any circumstance. Actions
that are extrinsically evil may be tolerated
provided the circumstance rendering it to be
wrong is first removed.
Imputability of Human
Acts
 This means that the person
performing the act is liable for such
act. It involves the notion of guilt or
innocence. Thus actions are either
praiseworthy or blameworthy. Actions
are attributed to the doer as their
principal cause. (Paul Glenn: pp. 121-
123)
 Sanctions and Penalties
 The penal laws of our country provide for a system of
punishment for crimes, ranging from simple fines to
imprisonment. The capital punishment, that is, death
penalty, is reserved for “heinous crimes”.

 Unless also prohibited by the laws of the State,

immoralities are not given corresponding legal
punishments such as fines or imprisonment. The
Bible, however, speaks of death as the punishment
for “sins”. Though the Old Testament interpret this as
death by execution, it refers more to spiritual death or
suffering.
 A form of spiritual death is the loss of peace of
mind, the only genuine happiness possible in
life. Medical science and psychiatry also show
that many diseases, both mental and physical,
are caused by spiritual disorientation. Indeed,
many of the human suffering we see and
experience are the direct result of immoral
situations.

 On the other hand, the world looks up to a man

of integrity. Peace, contentment, and honor are
but some of the rewards coming to an upright
person.
 Voluntariness
 Comes from the Latin word
“voluntas”, referring to the Will.
Voluntariness is essential to an act.
Without it, an act is a mere act of
man. We distinguish between perfect
and imperfect, and conditional and
simple voluntariness.
1. Perfect Voluntariness- is present in a person
who fully knows and fully intends an act. A man
who, wanting to get even, takes a gun and shoots
his enemy is said to be acting with perfect
voluntariness.

2. Imperfect voluntariness- is present in a person

who acts without fully realizing what he means to
do, or without fully intending the act. A drunken man
might act irrationally without fully realizing what he
is doing; or, a woman, in terror, might jump out of a
window without fully intending to kill herself.
3. Conditional voluntariness- is present in a person
who is forced by circumstances beyond his control to
perform an act which he would not do under normal
conditions. A child who is intimidated by his mother to
study the lesson is acting with conditional voluntariness.

4. Simple Voluntariness- is present in a person doing

an act willfully, regardless of whether he likes to do it or
not. It is either positive or negative. It is positive when
the act requires the performance of an activity, such as
polishing the floor, paying rent, or playing tennis. It is
negative when an act requires the omission of activity,
such as not taking prohibited drugs, remaining quiet, or
not listening to the radio. (Paul Glenn)
 Types of Voluntariness
1. Direct voluntariness-
accompanies an act which is primarily
intended by the doer, either as an end
in itself or as a means to achieve
something else.

2. indirect voluntariness- accompanies

an act or situation which is the mere
result of a directly willed act.
 Indirectly Voluntary

A person is accountable for his

actions and their consequences.
But is he also accountable for
results not directly intended?
 Paul Glenn considers a person

accountable for indirectly

voluntary results of his acts
when:
1. The doer is able to foresee the evil
result or effect, at least, in a general
way;
2. The doer is free to refrain from doing
from doing that which would produce
the foreseen evil;
3. The doer has moral obligation not do
that which produces an evil effect
(ibid. 18-19).
 Principles Cited by
Alfredo Panizo
1. A person is held morally responsible for any evil
effect which flows from the action itself directly and
necessarily as a natural consequence, though the
evil effects is not directly willed or intended.

2. A human act from which two effects may result, one

good and one evil, is morally permissible under four
conditions. If any of these conditions is violated,
then the action is not justifiable and should not be
done.
These Four Conditions are:
1. The action which produces double
effects must be good in itself, or at least
morally indifferent.
2. The good effect must not come from the
evil effect. To do evil in order to achieve
something good is not justified.
3. The motive of the doer must be towards
the attainment of the good. . The evil effect
is permitted only as an incidental result.
 4.
The good effect must outweigh the
evil result in its importance.

 This principles and conditions find

application in the so-called
“therapeutic abortion” where the
direct intention is the saving of the
mother’s life with the incidental result
of aborting the fetus.
Thank
You! :)