Liability Modifiers and Moral Norms

Liability Modifiers

• Ignorance refers to the absence of knowledge
• Vincible ignorance is when the lack of knowledge can be easily rectified; this is affected ignorance
• Invincible ignorance is difficult to rectify, and there is no way of knowing; this is pretended ignorance
• Concupiscence/passion refers to emotions, neither moral nor immoral, but must be controlled by reason
• Irrationality can result in "crimes of passion"
• Fear is the disturbance of the mind when confronted by danger or harm
• Actions can be done with fear or out of fear
• Violence happens when physical force is used to make someone act against their will
• Habits are frequently repeated acts that can become involuntary over time

Moral Norms

• Moral Norm is used to measure whether act is good/bad, right/wrong, and/or moral/immoral
• Eternal divine law is the objective, ultimate, and absolute norm of morality, made known as natural law
• Moral law is the ordinance of reason, given by authority for the promotion of the common good
• Human laws are laws enacted by men, covering external actions
• Once thought translates to action, human law applies, violating this law implies corporal punishment

Human Reason

• Human reason is the second norm of morality, related to a person's conscience
• The norm is subjective, requiring formation and education for a true conscience
• Conscience can be correct/true or erroneous/false; a correct conscience must be obeyed
• Invincibly erroneous conscience is a kind of judgement where mistakes cannot be avoided
• Vincibly erroneous conscience has moral accountability, as the error could have been avoided with diligence
• Perplexed conscience is when a person has two alternative options, but fears that bad consequences are present in both choices
• Pharisaical conscience is when a person magnifies small offenses as grave and serious ones
• Certain conscience is when the judgement is sure that the action is morally good or bad;
• Doubtful conscience is when a person hesitates in making a particular judgement since he/she is not certain or unsure whether something is good or bad, moral or immoral
• Scrupulous conscience is a type of judgement that is very cautious and extremely fearful that the person involved do not want to make any action in a given situation
• Lax conscience is very different from the scrupulous conscience since the person takes serious bad act at very lightly and considers as morally acceptable
• Formal norms derived from natural law refers to what we ought to be

The Act Itself

• The act itself is of paramount angle of consideration; it pertains to human action alone
• Action of Nature has no moral bearing
• Action of Man is a human act
• Action under circumstances involves intention

Two Nature of Act Itself

• Sharing with poor is intrinsically morally good
• Killing is intrinsically morally bad
• Refusing bribery is intrinsically good
• Cheating is intrinsically bad
• Intrinsically good action can become extrinsically bad actions, like politicians giving money to solicit votes, making the action tainted with ill intention/facade, with "hidden strings attached"
• Intrinsically morally bad action can become an extrinsically good action, in case of self-defense and "white lies"
• The “evil” effect is not directly intended but allowed to happen, as the action is the last recourse to deter impending "evil" to prevail.

The Intention

• A major element constituting the weight of moral gravity of a specific human action
• Premediated motivation must be present in the mind of the agent
• The doer knows the end target
• Prior intention is not present in an indirect act, which is just a consequence of an unplanned action
• Indirect acts otherwise known as concomitant/incidental consequences or collateral effect

Evaluation of Intention

• Prior intention to injure or kill need not be present
• Intention may be physically invisible until manifested in action
• Revenge, vengeance, and retribution are obvious manifestations of intention, easily judged
• Actions that are extrinsically good need to be evaluated on what the underlying hidden intention is
• "Outside" good action can be deceptive, and true bad "color" will appear - those who are already "hooked", will end up as a hapless victim
• People with bad inner intentions can appear to have good pure motives

Circumstances

• Circumstances are the prevailing/prompting condition or situation behind the doing of the act
• There are four types of moral circumstances: aggravating, mitigating, justifying, and excepting
• Aggravating circumstances occur when an added factor contributes to the initial action
• Mitigating circumstances lessen or diminish the moral gravity of the crime
• Justifying circumstances mean "as if no moral offense is committed"

Justifying Moral Circumstances

• Self-defense occurs when all other remedies have been exhausted to terminate aggressor when evil is imminent
• Euthanasia/Mercy Killing is morally justified under the grounds of a written request/waiver, patient being terminally ill, and psychological pain outweighing physical pain
• Euthanasia is only practiced in progressive countries like Switzerland/Netherlands, still not in the Philippines
• Saving a mother's life can justify laparoscopic surgery and removing a fetus from the ovarian tube
• The action should satisfy the four requisites in the moral principle of double effect: a morally good reason, evil effect not directly intended but morally allowed, evil effect does not outweigh the good effect, and no other viable way beside terminating one for the other