Human Act vs Acts of Man Quiz

Freedom and Moral Life

• Freedom is the power to choose between two or more courses of action without being forced to take one or the other by anything except our own will.
• The good use of freedom guarantees man the affirmation of his better self and the achievement of the purpose of life.
• The abuse of freedom is the origin of man’s guilty conduct.

Constituents of Human Acts

• A human act is a voluntary act that proceeds from an intrinsic principle with knowledge of the end.
• A voluntary act is defined as the act which proceeds from the will and depends upon the will.
• Not all actions are considered human acts, only those that involve the intellect and free will.

Acts of Man (actus hominis)

• Acts of man are actions performed without intervention of intellect and free will.
• Examples include spontaneous biological and sensual processes, acts performed by those who have not the use of reason, and actions that merely happen in the body or through the body without the awareness of the mind or the control of the will.

Constituents of Human Acts

• A human act must be a knowing and deliberate act, involving deliberation and knowledge of what one is about to do and its implications.
• A human act must be free, determined by the will and under its control, not forced by facticity.

Good and Bad Acts

• A good act with a bad intention is a bad act.
• An objectively evil act can never become good in spite of the good intention or motive.
• An indifferent or neutral act may become morally good or bad depending on the intention or motive.

Circumstances

• Circumstances are conditions modifying human actions, increasing or diminishing moral responsibility.
• The seven circumstances that affect the morality of our actions are:
  • Who: the person or subject who does or receives the action.
  • Where: the place or setting of an action.
  • What: the object or effect of an act.
  • Why: the intention or motive that moves the person to an act.
  • When: the time of the action performed.
  • How: the different conditions or modalities such as consent, violence, fear, ignorance, or voluntariness.
  • By What Means: the ways or methods or process of an act.