Chapter 2 (Prt. 1)

Question 1

Human acts or

Answer 1

Actus Humanis

Question 2

refer to “actions that proceed from
insight into the nature and purpose of one’s doing and from consent of free will

Answer 2

Human acts

Question 3

Specifically,/_______/ are those actions done by a person in certain situations which are essentially the result of his/her conscious knowledge, freedom and voluntariness or consent. Hence, these actions are performed by man knowingly, freely, and voluntarily

Answer 3

human acts

Question 4

________defines human acts/as “an act which proceeds from the deliberate free willof man”

It is that which a person does or performs in a given situation when he/sh& decides and thinks for himself/herself.

Answer 4

Paul Glenn

Question 5

is also that which is classified as good or bad, right or wrong, and thus, subject to morality and its norms

Answer 5

human act

Question 6

three important elements or constituents are obviously present for an act to be strictly considered a human act:

Answer 6

Knowledge
Freedom
voluntariness or consent

Question 7

lare the free and conscious acts of a human person which are proper to humans alone. These actions are what make a human being “Truly human”, an earthly creature different and distinct from all others.

Answer 7

human acts

Question 8

actions which happen in the person
“naturally” even without his/her awareness of himself/herself while doing them.

These actions are done without deliberation, reflection and consent.

They are performed just instinctively.

Answer 8

Acts of man

Question 9

T or F| all human acts are acts of man, but not all acts of man are human acts.

Answer 9

True

Question 10

beating of the heart, breathing, respiration, digestion, and the like.

Answer 10

Acts or of man

Question 11

instant and spontaneous feelings of fear, rage and anger, sleeping, dreaming, seeing, eating, and walking, among others.

Answer 11

Acts of man

Question 12

humans share with animals whose actions and movements emanate from purely sensual nature.

These things are performed without deliberation and free will.

The person here is neither morally responsible nor accountable for these kinds of actions.

Answer 12

Acts of man

Question 13

Basic Elements of Human Acts (characteristics for an act to be considered a human act)

The act must be..:

Answer 13

Deliberate
Performed in Freedom
Done Voluntarily

Question 14

. It must be performed by a conscious agent who is very much_aware of what he/she is doing and of its consequences- good or evil.

Answer 14

The act must be deliberate

Question 15

children who are below the age of reason, the insane, the senile, lunatics, people who are under the heavy influence of drugs and alcohol (of course, the act of taking these may be with consciousness and knowledge, hence a different matter altogether) are said to be incapable of acting knowingly and with sufficient knowledge.

Answer 15

The act must be deliberate

Question 16

. If must be done by an agent who is acting freely, with his/her own volition and powers.

Answer 16

The act must be performed in freedom

Question 17

An action performed under duress and against one’s own free wil cannot be strictly considered a free and voluntary action. The person who is performing the action should be free from any force beyond his/her control, or from any powerful influence from outside.
Otherwise, we can say that the act is not truly and entirely his/her
own.

Answer 17

The act must be performed in freedom

Question 18

/ It must be performed by an agent who decides willfully to perform the act.

Answer 18

The act must be done voluntarily.

Question 19

The act, to be truly a voluntary one, must come from the core of a person’s being. This wilflulness is the resolve to do an act here and now, or in some other time in the future.

Answer 19

The act must be done voluntarily.

Question 20

as the human act is done knowingly, freely, and voluntarily, the person concerned becomes morally_______ of such an act.

Answer 20

accountable

Question 21

The absence or lack of any of these essential elements of human acts renders an entire act defective and less voluntary, which, in turn also affects its_____ quality.

Answer 21

moral

Question 22

Major Determinants of the Morality of Human Acts

Answer 22

The Act Itself or the Object of the Act

The Motiv or the Intention

The Circumstances

Question 23

refers to the action that is done or performed by an agent, or simply, WHAT the person does.

Answer 23

The act itself or the object of the act

Question 24

ft is “the natural termination or completion of an act…[which] determines whether an act is intrinsically or extrinsically good or evil”

Answer 24

The act itself or the object of the act

Question 25

is “that act effect which an action primarily and directly causes. It is always and necessarily the result of the act, independent of any circumstances or of the intention of the agent”

Answer 25

the object of the act

Question 26

is the purpose or intention that for the sake of which something is done.

It is the reason behind our acting.

It answers the question “WHY the person does what he does?”

Answer 26

The motive

Question 27

One normally performs an act as a means to achieve an end or goal, different from the act itself.

practically present in all human acts, it then becomes an important and integral part of morality.

Answer 27

The Motive or the Intention

Question 28

four principles to be considered in motive or intention

Answer 28

2.1 An indifferent act can become morally good or morally evil depending upon the intention of the person doing the act.

2.2 An objectively good act becomes morally evil due to a wrong or bad motive.

2.3 An intrinsically (objectively) morally good act can receive added goodness, if done with an equally noble intention or motive.

2.4 An intrinsically evil act can never become morally good even if it is done with a good motive or intention.

Question 29

The moral goodness, or badness of an act is determined not only by the object or act itself, plus the motive or intention of the moral agent, but also on the_______ or situation surrounding the performance of the action.

Answer 29

circumstances

Question 30

refer to the various conditions outside of the act.
They are not, strictly speaking, part and parcel of the act itself.

Answer 30

Circumstances

Question 31

“are conditions that influence, to a lesser or greater degree, the moral quality of the human act.

They either “affect the act by increasing or lessening its voluntariness or freedom, and thus, affecting the morality of the act”

Answer 31

Circumstances

Question 32

Four Types of Circumstances that Affect the Morality of the Act

Answer 32

1. Mitigating or extenuating circumstances
2. Aggravating circumstances
3. Justifying circumstances
4. Specifying circumstances

Question 33

diminish the degree of moral good or evil in an act.

To kill an innocent person is murder. However, suppose a person commits murder for the first time or without any premeditation and later admits his/her guilt, then these circumstances lessen the severity of the act and its punishment.

Answer 33

Mitigating or extenuating circumstances

Question 34

increase the degree of moral good or evil in an act without adding a new and distinct species of moral good or evil.

The same act of murder can be made worse if it is carried out at night and with the use of superior arms by a known recidivist.

Answer 34

Aggravating circumstances

Question 35

show adequate reason for some acts. done.
A person charged with murder can vindicate himself/herself if he/she can prove that he/she killed a superior aggressor and that he/she did so in defense of his/her own life.

Answer 35

Justifying circumstances

Question 36

/give a new and distinct species of moral good or evil of the act.

The moral quality of the act of murder changes if the murderer is wife of the victim, or if the murderer and the victim are one and the same.

Evidently, therefore, not only the nature of the act itself, but also the circumstances which served as a reason for it, render it worthy of approval or condemnation.

Answer 36

Specifying circumstances

Question 37

7 specific kinds of circumstances that provide practical answers to particular questions action.

Answer 37

WHO
WHERE
BY WHAT MEANS
WHY
TO WHOM
HOW
WHEN of the act

Question 38

• is the subject or the person who does or receives the action.
  Every act has a doer and a receiver. The one who performs it and the one to whom the action is done.

Answer 38

WHO

Question 39

It would matter what is the particular status or level (age, education, position, etc.) of the person who performs or receives the act.
Is the person a priest, a minor, a widow, government official, a professional, illiterate, lunatic, disabled, hired killer, military officer, senile, etc?

Answer 39

WHO

Question 40

/ is the setting of an action.

Every act is done in a particular place. The place where the act is committed by someone affects to a considerable degree its morality. But place here is not only confined to a particular geographical location where the act happened but also includes the nature of the place.

Answer 40

WHERE

Question 41

Here we can ask the question: “Is the act done inside the church or a place of worship, in a public place, inside the privacy of one’s room, in the presence of children, in the classroom, in the boarding house or dormitory, in the hospital or clinic, etc.?”

Answer 41

WHERE

Question 42

• Although one’s intention may be morally good, if the means of attaining the end are illicit or unlawful, one’s acts are immoral. “The end does not justify the means.”

Answer 42

BY WHAT MEANS

Question 43

Are the means of carrying the act through the use of force, compulsion, threats, coercion, intimidation, embarrassing words, lewd remarks, vulgar statements, insensitive comments?
Are the ways
employed in achieving one’s end or goal through the use of deception, lies, half-truths, etc.?

Answer 43

BY WHAT MEANS

Question 44

is the intention or the motive that moves the agent to an action.
(This one, as a matter of systematic presentation, was already dealt with above, as the second major determinant of morality.)

Answer 44

WHY

Question 45

• answers the question as to the way or manner the act was carried or performed. This circumstance also involves different conditions or modalities such as voluntariness, consent, violence, fear, ignorance.
  It can also include the particular
  weapon/equipment/tools/gadgets/etc. that the person used or employed in the performance of the act.

Answer 45

HOW

Question 46

Was the action performed in “cold blood,” “in a painful manner.” “in a very brutal way (as in torture),” “maliciously,”
“ etc.? Or
was it done gracefully/kindly/calmly/peacefully, privately/etc.? Was it done by the use of a kitchen knife or a gun? Was the act done through the employment of minors, illiterate and the innocent, etc.?

Answer 46

HOW

Question 47

• is the time of the action performed. Every act is done at a particular and specific time. The element of time is also important and even vital as to the moral assessment and judgment of the human act.

Answer 47

WHEN

Question 48

Was the act performed in broad daylight or was it done during nighttime? Was it committed when the victim (recipient of the act) was in the act of praying or while asleep and unaware? Was the action done during the celebration of the Holy Mass or done during the Lenten season (Good Friday)? Was the act performed at a holy time such as the observance of a sacred feast such as during Ramadan?

Answer 48

WHEN

Question 49

refers to the recipient of the action, or the person to whom the act is done,

Answer 49

TO WHOM

Question 50

Principles Governing Circumstances

Answer 50

1. Circumstances may either increase or decrease the wrongfulness of an evil act.
2. Circumstances may either increase or decrease the merits of a good act.
3. Circumstances may exempt temporarily someone from doing a required act.
4. Circumstances do not prove the guilt of a person, The presence of a person when a crime is committed does not prove he is the criminal when a crime is committed.