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The Fundamental Principles of Ethics

This document discusses the fundamental principles of ethics, including: 1. Human acts are voluntary actions that proceed from free will and are characterized as conscious actions for which people are responsible. 2. Acts can be good if in harmony with reason, evil if contradicting reason, or indifferent if neither good nor evil. 3. Determinants of an act's morality include the end/purpose of the action, the end/intention of the actor, and circumstances surrounding the act. Circumstances can increase or decrease responsibility but not change an act's intrinsic nature.

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102 views2 pages

The Fundamental Principles of Ethics

This document discusses the fundamental principles of ethics, including: 1. Human acts are voluntary actions that proceed from free will and are characterized as conscious actions for which people are responsible. 2. Acts can be good if in harmony with reason, evil if contradicting reason, or indifferent if neither good nor evil. 3. Determinants of an act's morality include the end/purpose of the action, the end/intention of the actor, and circumstances surrounding the act. Circumstances can increase or decrease responsibility but not change an act's intrinsic nature.

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Princess Benito
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Christine Joy V.

De Jesus BSBA-MM

THE FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF ETHICS

A. Nature of Human Act

Human acts- are actions that proceed from the deliberate free will of a man.

Human acts are characterized as: The free and voluntary acts of man; Acts done with knowledge and
consent; Acts which are proper to man as a rational being since man has been gifted with rationality and
freedom of will; and Acts which are conscious and under our control and for which we are responsible.

Human Acts in Relation to Reason Good acts are those done by man in harmony with the dictates of
right of reason Evil acts are those actions done by man in contradiction to the dictates of right reason
Indifferent acts are those acts that are neither good nor evil

The Moral Principle Involved in Actions Having Two Effects (The Indirect Voluntary Act)

1. Natural involuntary actions

- These are actions of man that are performed intuitively or involuntarily, e.g., blinking of the eyes,
metabolism, perspiration, beating of the heart.

Good acts are those done by man in harmony with the dictates of right reason.

Evil acts are those actions done by man in contradiction to the dictates of right reason.

Indifferent acts are those acts that are neither good nor evil.

The Moral Principle Involved in Actions having Two Effects (The Indirect Voluntary Act) A difficult
question sometimes arises as to whether it would be morally right to do certain actions from which
good as well as bad effects follow; meaning is it morally right to do an act which entails good as well as
bad consequences? Yes. The action must be morally good in itself, or at least morally indifferent. The
good effect of the act must precede the evil effect. The evil effect is morally allowed to happen as a
regrettable consequence.

The Determinants of Morality

The factors that link the human acts with their norms are called the determinants or morality. As the
link, the determinants of morality serve as the measure of the goodness and the badness of the human
act. There are three determinants of morality - the end of the action, the end of the agent, and the
circumstances of the act.

The End of the Action - this refers to the natural purpose of the act or that in which the act in its very
nature terminates or results, thus, the end of the action of studying is learning. (The end of the act is the
primary determinant of morality.
The End of the Actor – this refers to the intention of the motive of the doer of the act. This is to be
distinguished from the end of the action. The motive of the agent varies with different individuals, while
the end of the act is always the same.

Circumstance of the Act – refer to the conditions that affect the human act by increasing or decreasing
the responsibility of the actor. These circumstances of the act are not considered part of the action itself
which means acts per se can exist even without the circumstances.

An indifferent act can become good or evil through circumstances (Eating meat is indifferent. However,
eating meat on Good Friday intentionally is evil.) A good act can become evil through circumstances
(Giving money to poor people is a good action. However, giving money to the same poor people to buy
votes during elections is evil.)

An intrinsically good act can become better or an intrinsically evil act can become worse through
circumstances (Visiting a sick person to comfort him is a good action. However, not visiting a mother
who is sick in the hospital out of hatred is worse. 4. An evil act can never become good through
circumstances. (Stealing money to buy food cannot make the action of stealing good). A good act done
with the evil means destroys the entire objective of goodness of the act (Giving food to the hungry is a
good action. However, giving money to the hungry through robbery is evil.

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