Module 5 Flashcards
What are the two main classifications of human acts?
(1) In relation to the will and (2) In relation to reason.
Actions started, performed, and completed by the will, either by the will alone or through other faculties under its control.
Human Acts
What is the significance of human acts in relation to reason?
They refer to actions that are either in agreement or disagreement with reason.
What are the two kinds of human acts in relation to the will?
Elicited acts and commanded acts.
Acts that are started, performed, and completed by the will as the sole agent.
Elicited Acts
Acts that are begun in the will, performed by the will, but completed through another medium under the control of the will.
Commanded Acts
List the seven elements involved in the completion of elicited acts. (WICCCCF)
Wish, intention, counsel, consent, choice, command, and fruition.
The primordial desire, liking, or inclination of the will towards something conceived as good and known by the intellect.
Wish
The purposive tendency of the will towards a thing regarded as realizable.
Intention
The series of thoughts and judgments concerning the most suitable means towards the attainment of the desired good or end.
Counsel
A definite decision regarding what means should be used to achieve a desired good.
Consent
The active commitment of the agent to follow the means that the intellect has determined as the “right pick.”
Choice
The actual attainment of the desired good, leading to satisfaction from what has been willed.
Fruition
What are the three kinds of commanded acts?
Internal acts, external acts, and mixed acts.
Actions performed through internal mental powers under the command of the will, such as remembering or reasoning
internal acts.
Actions affected by bodily powers under the command of the will, like writing or walking.
External Acts
Actions that involve both bodily and mental powers, such as painting or studying.
Mixed Acts
What are the three kinds of human acts in relation to reason? (GEI)
Good acts, evil acts, and indifferent acts.
Actions performed in harmony with the dictates of right reason.
Good Acts
Actions that contradict the dictates of right reason.
Evil Acts
Actions that are neither good nor evil and bear no positive relation to the dictates of reason; they exist only in theory.
Indifferent Acts
Why do indifferent acts not exist in practice?
In concrete situations, actions are only either good or bad; indifferent acts are theoretical and do not apply to actual circumstances.
What is a key factor in determining whether actions are good or bad?
The context of the circumstances that affect the performance of an act.
An act that proceeds from an intrinsic principle with knowledge of the end.
Voluntary Act
What two conditions are required for a voluntary act?
Knowledge and freedom.
How many degrees of voluntariness are there?
Thirteen kinds or degrees.
The act performed with complete knowledge and full consent of the agent.
Perfect Voluntariness
Present when there is some defect in the agent’s knowledge, intention, or both.
Imperfect Voluntariness
Present in a human act performed, regardless of the agent’s like or dislike.
Simple Voluntariness
Present when the agent wishes to do something else but does it with repugnance or dislike.
Conditional Voluntariness
Present here and now before the mind while performing an action.
Actual Voluntariness
Voluntariness made at some former time that still influences the current act.
Virtual Voluntariness
Intention in the unconscious mind from a former intention that has not been retracted.
Habitual Voluntariness.
Results from interpreting the intention of someone not present or who cannot make a decision.
Interpretative Voluntariness
When consent is manifested externally by words or signs, rather than tacitly.
Explicit Voluntariness
What are the four conditions under which a human act resulting in both good and evil effects is morally permissible?
1) The action must be morally good or indifferent;
2) The good effect must precede the evil effect;
3) There must be a grave reason for the act;
4) The evil effect should not outweigh the good effect.
What are the essential elements of human acts affected by modifiers?
Knowledge, freedom, and voluntariness.
How do modifiers of human acts affect an agent’s responsibility?
Greater knowledge, freedom, and voluntariness lead to greater responsibility; lesser knowledge, freedom, and voluntariness lead to lesser responsibility.
What are the five modifiers of human acts? (ICFVH)
Ignorance, concupiscence, fear, violence, and habit.
The absence of knowledge in a person who is required to know what he does not know.
Ignorance
How is ignorance different from innocence?
Innocence is the absence of knowledge in a person who is not required to know, while ignorance applies to someone who should know.
the absence of knowledge in a person who is not required to know
Innocence
The specific thing of which a person may be ignorant, such as law, fact, or penalty.
ignorance from the standpoint of the object
A conquerable ignorance for which the person is culpable if they do not make efforts to dispel it.
Vincible Ignorance
What are the three degrees of vincible ignorance?
Crass or supine, simple, and affected.
Ignorance that results from a total lack of effort to dispel it.
Crass Vincible Ignorance
Ignorance where a person wants to remain ignorant to plead innocence.
Affected Vincible Ignorance
Ignorance that follows upon an act of the will, where the agent is aware of their ignorance.
Consequent Ignorance
What are the four principles of ignorance’s relation to culpability?
a. Invincible ignorance makes an act involuntary.
b. Vincible ignorance does not destroy voluntariness.
c. Simple vincible ignorance lessens voluntariness.
d. Crass and affected vincible ignorance increase voluntariness.
It refers to man’s sensory appetites, specifically emotions and feelings related to actions.
Concupiscence
What are the two broad categories of passions?
Concupiscible and irascible passions.
Name five concupiscible passions. (LDHJB)
Love, desire, joy, hope, and bravery.
Name six irascible passions. (HHSDFA)
Hatred, horror, sorrow, despair, fear, and anger.
When do concupiscence and passions become morally relevant?
When ordered by the rational will towards virtue or morally good actions.
What is the difference between antecedent and consequent passions?
Antecedent passions arise without the will’s stimulation, while consequent passions are fostered by the will.
Antecedent concupiscence lessens the voluntariness of an act.
first principle of concupiscence
How does fear influence actions?
Fear can induce actions and can either accompany voluntary acts or compel actions against one’s will.
What is the difference between acts done with fear and acts done from fear?
Acts done with fear are voluntary but unpleasant, while acts done from fear may be involuntary in certain instances.
How does violence affect voluntariness?
Actions resulting from violence are involuntary since the agent does not will them.
A constant and easy way of doing things acquired through the repetition of the same act.
Habit
What distinguishes entitative habits from operative habits?
Entitative habits refer to qualities of being, while operative habits refer to tendencies developed from repeated acts.
How do habits relate to voluntariness and responsibility?
Habits do not destroy voluntariness, and actions performed by habit are imputable unless the habit was acquired involuntarily and without knowledge.
What happens if an evil habit is acquired voluntarily but the agent is actively trying to counteract it?
The acts that proceed from the habit are not imputed to the agent.
