Philosophy of Human Action: Operare Sequitur Esse

Human Act as an Acting Subject

• Human act proceeds from a deliberate will of a human being, performed with knowledge of the intellect and free decision of the human will.
• It is done with freedom, knowledge, and voluntariness.

Human Person as an Acting Subject

• Human persons are considered as acting subjects, performing various actions that express their subjectivity.
• There are two kinds of human activities: conscious actions (accompanied by one's consciousness) and non-conscious actions (not accompanied by consciousness).

Conscious Action

• When people do a conscious act, they experience themselves as the agent of the action.
• They determine their actions, resulting in self-determination.

Modifiers of Human Acts

• Human acts are deliberate, free, and voluntary, whereas acts of man are indeliberate, not free, and not voluntary.
• Not all human acts are done by human actions, which require awareness, knowledge, voluntariness, desire, or compassion, and freedom.

Scenarios to Reflect On

• Examples of human acts and acts of man: eating, drinking, loving, sleeping in class, holding an ice cream and licking it.
• Questions to consider: Are these actions free, voluntary, and human acts or acts of man?

Modifiers of Human Act

• Modifiers make partial or minor changes to actions to improve or make them less extreme.
• The nature of human act involves knowledge, will, and freedom, with degrees of each affecting responsibility for the consequences of the act.

Modifiers of Human Act: Ignorance

• Ignorance is the absence of knowledge in a person who is required to know what they do not know.
• Ignorance reduces the responsibility of the agent for the consequences of the act.