“We live in the best of possible worlds”

-Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

ARTICLE 1. The Human Act in Itself

A. Definition of the Human Act

- a human act is an act which proceeds from the deliberate free will of man.
- Ethics, however, employs the term in a stricter sense, and calls human only those acts
that are proper to man as man.
- Man is an animal. (We do some things like them, like getting hungry and find food.)
- Man is rational. (We have consciousness.)
- Man is a Rational Animal. (Someone who thinks and who reason out.)
- Man is knowing and free willing,
- Man’s animal acts of sensation (use of senses) and appetition (bodily tendencies), as
well as acts that man performs indeliberately or without advertence and the exercise of
free choice are called acts of man.
- Acts of Man -> Human Acts
- ex. (Nadunggan nimo imong silingan. – Acts of man)
- (Imong gipili na magpadayon og paminaw – Human Acts.)
- Ethics is not concerned with the acts of man, but only with human acts.
- In human acts, man is responsible, and they are imputed (attributed or ascribe) to him
as worthy of praise or blame, of reward or punishment.
- Human acts tend to repeat themselves and to form habits. Habits coalesce (to unite so
as to form one mass) into what we call a man’s character.
- “A man is what his human acts make him/her.”

B. Classification of Human Acts

I. The Adequate Cause of Human Acts
- While all human acts have their source in man’s free rational nature, there are some
acts 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.
A. Elicited Acts
a. Wish- the simple love of anything; the first tendency of the will towards a thing,
whether this thing be realizable or not.
b. Intention- the purposive tendency of the will towards a thing regarded as
realizable, whether the thing is actually done or not.
c. Consent- the acceptance by the will of the mean necessary to carry out the
intention. Consent is further intention of doing what is necessary to realize the
first or main intention.
d. Election- the selection by the will of the precise means to be employed
(consent to) in carrying out an intention.
e. Use- the employment by the will of powers (of body, mind, or both) to carry out
its intentions by means elected.
f. Fruition- the enjoyment of a thing willed and done; the will’s act of satisfaction
in intention fulfilled.
 -Other human acts do not find their adequate cause in the simple will-act, but are
perfected by the action of mental of bodily powers under the control of the will, or, so
to speak, under orders from the will: and these acts are called: Commanded Acts.

B. Commanded Acts
a. Internal- acts done by internal mental powers under command of the will.
Such as: effort to remember; conscious reasoning; effort to control anger;
etc.
b. External- acts affected by bodily powers under command of the will. Such
as: deliberate walking, eating writing, etc.
c. Mixed- acts that involve the employment of bodily powers and mental
powers.

II. The Relation of Human Acts to Reason

- Human acts are either in agreement or in disagreement with the dictate of reason,
and this relation (agreement or disagreement) with reason constitutes their morality.
- Morality – is basically the good, evil and the indifferent.
a. Good- when they are in harmony with the dictates of right reason.
b. Evil- when they are in opposition to these dictates.
c. Indifferent- when they stand in no positive relation to the dictates of reason. A
human act that Is indifferent in itself becomes good or evil according to the
circumstances which affect its performance, especially the end in view (or motive or
purpose) of the agent.

III. Constituents of the Human Act

Knowledge- a human act proceeds from the deliberate will; it requires deliberation. No
human act is possible without knowledge.
Freedom- the act is under the control of the will, an act that the will can do or leave
undone, such an act is called a free act.
Voluntariness-
- voluntas which means will
- the human act must be voluntary or simply to say it must be a will-act.

KINDS OR DEGREES OF VOLUNTARINESS

PERFECT-
Willfully knows and willfully intent of doing the act
perfect voluntariness is present in the human act when the agent is fully knows and
fully intends the acts.
kumpleto and his knowledge full

IMPERFECT-
The person doesn’t know the full knowledge of what he is doing
 Is present when there are defects in the agent’s knowledge, intention or both.
Exaggerating the story

SIMPLE- Is present in a human act performed, whether the agent likes or dislike doing it.
Ganahan ka or dili ganahan

CONDITIONAL-is present in the agent’s wish to do something other than that he is

actually
doing, but doing with repugnant or dislike.
Dili ka ganahan maong nangita kag option pero dili possible sa situation so kailangan
nalang ka mubuhat

DIRECT- is present in the human act willed in itself.

A father wishes to cook for dinner. So he cooked the rabbit.
Your means really achieve your ends

INDIRECT-is present in a human act which is the foreseen result of another act directly
willed.
there is an event pertaining to your actual intention
Father cooked for dinner pero ang rabbit kay favorite pet sa children. Dayon na sad.
Wala natuyo.
The sadness is indirectly caused of their father

2 important questions of indirect voluntariness:

a) When is the agent responsible for the evil effect of a cause directly willed?
When ta mahimo ug responsible sa atong action
According to glenn, there are 3 common reasons wherein the person is held
accountable his actions
1. Knowledge: The agent must be able to foresee the evil effect, atleast in a
general way
Ex: is you are drunk and makabalo ka na pwede ka madisgrasya or maka disgrasya

2. Freedom: The agent must be free to refrain from doing that which is the cause
of the evil effect
Ex: You should also be aware that there are choices na dili ka pwede maka disgrasya
if mahubog. Pwede ka matulog, mupahuway or matulog
.
3. You are bound morally to perform: The agent must be morally bound not to do
that which is the cause of the evil effect.
Ex: No one is forcing the person to choose that option
Ex: It must be your own option to be relax of your own education

At the end of the day, you arer responsible of your own actions.
 b) When may one perform an act, not evil in itself which has two effects, one good,
one evil?
.
When it talks about human life,
There are reasons na mahimong justifiable ang actions

1.The evil effect must not precede the good effect.

Dapat mas dako ang good effect.
Good first before evil

2.There must be a reason sufficiently grave calling for the act in its good effect.
Naay pinaka serious reason para sa good effect

3. The intention of the agent must be honest

Example: kay ilang mama naa sa hospital (kamatyunon na) so the doctor met the family
of the patient

POSITIVE- is present in a human act of doing, performing.

NEGATIVE- is present in a human act of omitting, refraining from doing.
moral obligation pero wala ka niadto kay gikapoy ka

ACTUAL-(actual intention) is present in a human act willed here and now.

Virtual intention- is present in a human act done as a result of a formerly elicited actual
intention be here and now forgotten.
Habitual intention- is present in the human act done in harmony with but not as a result
of, a formerly unrevoked actual intention.

INTERPRETATIVE- is the voluntariness which in the judgment of prudence and common

sense, would be actually present if opportunity or ability for it were given.