NURSING BIOETHICS

MIDTERM REVIEWER (2nd week)

VAPOR, JENIEF L.

HUMAN ACTS running into conditions and circumstances

Actus Humanus that rob him of liberty.
 Action that done freely
 Knowingly and voluntarily Actual choice or Voluntariness
 Voluntary acts
⤷ A person is not responsible for an act which
EXAMPLE: he does not will unless he will give up his
self-control.
Stealing
Dancing MAJOR DETERMINANTS OF THE MORALITY OF
HUMAN ACT
ACT OF MAN Human Acts
 Actions that happened in the person 1. Object (result) of the Human Act
“naturally”.  It is that which the action of its very nature
 involuntary acts tends to produce.
EXAMPLE:  Or in other words it refers to the effect
digestion which an action primarily and directly
beating of the heart causes. It is necessarily the result of the act
hearing without considering the circumstances
or the end.

HUMAN ACTS EXAMPLE:

⤷ The term human acts are applied to acts If someone lights a fire in a slum-dweller's
when they are proper to man as man. hut, the object of that act is the burning of the hut.
The intention (revenge) or the circumstances (why
⤷ it is an act (thought, word, deed, and or how the fire is started) are separate. What matters
omissions) performed by a human living when he is for the object is what the action directly causes
responsible. —in this case, burning.

⤷ An act perfectly human when it is done

with full knowledge and consent of the will, and
2. Circumstances contextualizing the
with full unhampered freedom of choice.
Human Act
⤷ Actions done consciously and freely by  They are such things as the person
the agent or by man. involved, the time, the place, the
occasion, which are distinct from the
ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OF CONSTITUENT object, but can change or at times
Elements of Human Acts even completely alter its moral tone.
1. Knowledge
2. Freedom EXAMPLES:
3. Voluntariness
Circumstances and Good Actions:
 Man takes responsibility for these actions.
⤷ Sometimes, the situation makes a
good action even better. For example, giving
Knowledge food to someone who's starving is a great act
⤷ A person is not responsible for an act because the person really needs help at that
done in ignorance unless the ignorance moment.
in the person’s own fault and is
therefore willed (vincible ignorance) in Circumstances and Neutral Actions:
which case he has knowledge that he is
⤷ Sometimes, an action that is
ignorance and ought to dispel it.
neither good nor bad on its own can
Freedom become good because of the circumstances.
For example, simply sitting with someone might
⤷ A person is not responsible for an act over seem neutral, but if the person is feeling lonely, it
which he has no control unless he becomes a kind and caring act.
deliberately surrenders such as control by
Circumstances and Bad Actions:
 ⤷ On the other hand, circumstances ⤷ excludes any voluntariness from
can make a bad action worse. For example, the forced action
stealing is bad, but stealing food from a beggar,
who has only one meal a day, is even more Relative Violence
harmful. ⤷ lessens the voluntariness from the
forced action.
3. The End or the Intention of the Agent in
performing the Human Act
5. Habits
 The end or intention of a human act
 Constant and easy way of doing
is
things acquired by the retention
the purpose that prompts one to
of the same.
perform such an act.

FOUR (4) TYPES OF CIRCUMSTANCES THAT

AFFECT THE MORALITY OF AN ACT Deliberately admitted habit
⤷ does not lessen voluntariness
Human Act
 Mitigating Circumstances Opposed Habit
⤷ diminish the moral good or evil ⤷ lessens voluntariness or precludes
in an act. it.

 Aggravating Circumstances

⤷ increase the degree of moral

good or evil act.
MODIFIERS OF HUMAN ACT
BIOETHICS
 Justifying Circumstances
⤷ how adequate reason for some 1. Ignorance
acts done.  Absence of knowledge

 Act done “out” of fear TYPES OF IGNORANCE

⤷ the person is acting because of
intense fear and panic, is doing Vincible
something in involuntary and without ⤷ this types of ignorance can be corrected
his consent; exempts, a person from
a moral and legal responsibility. Invincible
⤷ this type of ignorance is not correctable.

Specifying Circumstances 2. Concupiscence/ Passion Strong feeling /

emotion
 Give new and distinct of moral good or
evil CLASSIFICATION

Affected
SPECIFIC TYPES OF CIRCUMSTANCES THAT ⤷ pretending to be ignorant to escape
AFFECT THE MORALITY OF HUMAN ACTS blame.
Human Act
WHO doer Antecedent
WHERE setting of an action ⤷ weaken the willpower of a person
BY what means without completely obstructing his
WHY motive freedom, it will diminish the accountability
HOW manner of the act of the resultants act.
WHEN time of the active
TO WHOM receiver of the action
3. Fear
 The disturbance of the mind of a
4. Violence
person who is confronted by an
 Refers to any physical force
impending danger or harm to
exerted on a person by another
himself/loved ones.
free agent for the purpose of
compelling the said person to act
Act done “with fear” (voluntary)
against his will.
⤷ The person acting with fear is acting
despite his fear and still very much in
Absolute Violence
 control of his conduct, it doesn’t exempt a
person from moral and legal responsibility. TYPES OF ETHICAL THOUGHTS

1. Kantan – Emmanuel Kant

ACTS OF MAN  Moral and Ethical theory

⤷ Actions beyond one’s consciousness; Immanuel Kant’s Biography

not dependent on the intellectual and the will. Born: April 22, 1724
Where: Kaliningrad, Russia
Essential Qualities of Acts of Man
In 1974: Kant entered the University of Konigsberg.
1. Done without Knowledge
2. Without Consent In 1755: He published science papers including
3. Involuntary “General Natural History and Theory of the
Heavens in 1755”.
 Acts of man become human acts when he  He spent 15 years as a metaphysics
employs his intellect and the will in lecturer.
performing the act.

ACTS not normally accountable Kant’s Theory

Acts of persons asleep/under hypnosis ⤷ Represent deontological ethics
Reflex actions where the will has no ⤷ For him a right action consists solely in an
time to intervene.
⤷ It was the rational and autonomous
action that is ruled/ principle.
Acts of performed under serious
physical violence
conformity of one’s will to see the right – the
A hostage obliqued to do an evil
action universal moral law.
Since the will is constrained then it is ⤷ Foundations of Metaphysics of Morals,
not moral act which could be explains the philosophical foundations…
evaluated.
KANT’S CONCEPT MORALITY
EXERCISE The Notion of Duty, Nature of Imperatives,
Human Act or Act of Man Good Will= Morality
1. Looking Act of Man
2. Seeing Human Act Morality
3. Dreaming Act of Man
⤷ from the Latin word “Moralitas” or
4. Daydreaming Act of Man
“manner,
5. Hearing Act of Man
6. Listening Human Act character, proper behavior” , it is the conduct or
7. Walking Human Act rules that a person or community adheres to
8. Sleepwalking Act of Man believing these things to be in some series,
obligatory.
TYPES OF VOLUNTARINESS
Present Good Will
⤷ present in a person who fully knows and ⤷ Only thing that is good without
intended an act. qualifications.
⤷ other goods like intelligence and health can
Imperfect be qualified.
⤷ present in a person who acts without ⤷ God Will is good by virtue, because it is
fully realizing what he wants to do, or the will to follow the Moral Law.
what fully intending the act.
The Notion of Duty
Conditional ⤷ Distinction between “I want” and
⤷ present in a person who is forced by “I ought”.
circumstances beyond his control to Example:
perform an act which he would not do under If I see someone in need for help, maybe
normal conditions. inclined to look the other way, but I will recognize
that my duty is to help.
Simple
⤷ present in a person doing an act willfully The Nature of Imperatives
regardless of whether he likes to do it or ⤷ The nature of imperatives are
not “commands”
Hypothetical Imperatives
⤷ if you want you ought. The ought or the
duty is conditioned by your desire, wants, and goals.
 Our goals are grounded in “SELF-
INTEREST”
  Rawl’s theory of justice as fairness is based
Categorical Imperative the idea that people in a society should make
 The general for of D.O decisions about how to distribute
(Unconditioned) resources and opportunities from
 For Kart, there is only one behind a “well of ignorance”.
Imperative command, and it is the
“Moral Law” Rawl’s Ethics
 Divided into two formulations. ⤷ John Rawl is an American Philosopher
First Formulation Second Formulation who made significant contributions to the
 Act as if the  Act so that you treat field/political philosophy.
maxim of your humanity, ether in
action were to your own person or  His work focused on the concept of justice
secure through that of another,
and how it relates to issues such as
your will, a always as an end
universal law and never as a inequality, human rights, and
of nature. mean. democracy.

How to follow these Formulations

Example:

 Duties Toward Oneself

⤷ to ensure self-preservation which
are prefect (suicide), & for self-
cultivation which are imperfect
(promise-breaking).
 Duties Toward Others
⤷ Strict and Obligation which are
prefect (schoolwork) & beneficence
which are imperfect.

3. Intrinsic Goodness
⤷ Kant thinks that the only thing that is
intrinsically good is goodwill.
⤷ Right action consists solely in the
conformity of an action to a justified rule/principle.

Free will
⤷ We act morally, and for this to be the
case we must be free.
 God and life after death, otherwise morality
would make no sense.

Moral Worth
⤷ A person’s actions determine her moral
worth.
 Considering these aspect’s:
 Background
 Motivation
 Basic...
 Consequences
 Interpretation

Respect
⤷ Kant brought the notion of respect to
the center of moral philosophy for the
first time.
 The proper object if respect is
the will.
⤷ Respecting a person involves issues related
to will, knowledge, and freedom.

Theory of Justice as Fairness

By Rawl