Ethics

Ethics is the practical science

of the morality of human
conduct
Ethics as a science

 Science is a relatively complete and

systematically arranged body of
connected data together with the causes
or reasons by which these data are
known to be true.
Is Ethics a science?

 Ethics is a science because it is a

complete and systematically arranged
body of data which relate to the morality
of human conduct.

 It presents the reasons which show

these data to be true.
Ethics is the science of human
conduct

 By human conduct we mean only such

human activity as deliberate and free
 A deliberate and free act, an act
performed with advertence and motive
is called:

 HUMAN ACT
 Acts performed by human beings
without advertence, or without the
exercise of free choice, are called:

 ACTS OF MAN
Ethics is the science of the morality
of human conduct

 Morality is the agreement or the

disagreement of a human act with the
dictates of reason

 Dictates of reason refers to laws, precepts,

conscience & good customs and traditions
 If a human act conforms or is in
agreement with the dictates of reason,
the act is MORAL.

 If a human act does not conform or is

not in agreement with the dictates of
reason, the act is IMMORAL.
Strictly speaking… however

 Though the “science of morality” is

Ethics, ethical acts differ from moral acts
 Ethical acts are those which are in
conformity with good customs and
traditions of a certain society.

 Moral acts are those which are in

conformity with the dictates of reason or
norms such as LAWS and CONSCIENCE.
 “Ethics” is derived from the Greek,
“ethos” or Characteristic way of acting

 “Moral” is derived from the Latin word,

“mos” or “mor” which also means,
Characteristic way of acting.
Objects of Ethics

 Material object: HUMAN ACTS

 Formal object: To know what human

acts are, and to find out if they agree or
disagree with the dictates of reason.
Importance of Ethics

 Ethics employs the marvelous faculty of

human reason upon the supremely
important question of what an upright
life is and must be.
 Ethics furnishes the norm by which relations
among men (juridical, political, professional,
social) are regulated.

 Ethics is fundamental to the sciences of Law,

Medicine, Political Economy, Sociology, etc.
 Faulty ethical theories, as well as the lack of
definite principles, have been and are still the cause
of great disorders in the political and social worlds.

 This fact is apparent in such things as Bolshevism,

Nihilism, Socialism, Birth Control, Eugenics,
Utilitarianism and Machiavellianism.

 Sound Ethics supplies the scientific knowledge

which evidences the unworthiness and unreason of
such things.
Classification of Ethics

 General Ethics presents truths about human

acts, and from these truths deduces the
general principles of morality.

 Special Ethics is applied ethics. It applies the

principles of General Ethics in different
departments of human activity, individual
and social.
The HUMAN ACT
 A Human Act is an act which proceeds
from the deliberate freewill of a person.
 it is only the act that proceeds from the
knowing and willing human being.

 those acts that proceed from a deliberate

and freely willing human being.

 advertent and knowing

Acts of man

 acts that man performs indeliberately or

without advertence and the exercise of
free choice, are acts of man.
Acts of man

 Man’s acts of sensation or acts of the senses.

 acts performed in sleep, delirium, in the state
of unconsciousness
 acts done abstractedly or with complete
inadvertence.
 acts performed in infancy.
 acts due to infirmity of mind or the weakness
of senility.
 Acts of man may transform into human
acts…

 if applied with knowledge, freedom and voluntariness

 Ethics is not concerned with acts of man
because it cannot be imputable to the
doer and the doer cannot be held
responsible for it, hence, cannot be
worthy of praise or blame; reward or
punishment.
 Human act presupposes
responsibility, and only such act
can be imputable to the doer as
worthy of praise or blame, of reward or
punishment.
 ”A man is known for what his human
acts make him.”
Classification of Human Acts

I. The Complete and Adequate Cause of

Human Acts.

II. The Relation of Human Acts to Dictates

of Reason.
I. The Complete and Adequate Cause of
Human Acts.
A. ELICITED ACTS
 Acts that begin and are perfected in
the will itself

B. COMMANDED ACTS

 Acts that begin in the will and are

perfected by the other faculties
under the control of the will
 A. Elicited Acts
1. Wish – the simple love of something
2. Intention – the purposive tendency of the will towards a
thing regardless as realizable, whether the thing is
actually done or not.

3. Consent – the acceptance by the will of the means

necessary to carry out intention.

4. Election – the selection by the will of the precise means

to be employed (consented to) in carrying out an intention.

5. Use – the employment by the will of powers (body, mind

or both) to carry out its intention by the means elected.

6. Fruition – the enjoyment of a thing presumed to be done;

the will’s act of satisfaction in intention fulfilled.
 I wish ………………………… to become
a doctor
 I intend ………… to become a doctor
so I can help the poor
 I consent…………. To enrol at a
medical school
 I elect …… To enrol at a particular
medical school
 I use my faculties ………(body and
mind) to study hard
B. Commanded Acts

1.Internal Act. These are acts performed

by the internal powers under the
command of the will.
2.External Acts. These are acts effected
by the bodily powers under the
command of the will.
3.Mixed Acts. These are acts that
involve the employment of both bodily
and mental powers.
II. Relation of Human Act to Reason
1.Good, when HA is in harmony with the
dictates of reason
2.Evil, when HA is in opposition to the
dictates of reason
3.Indifferent , when HA stand in no
positive relation to the dictates of
reason
Constituent Elements of Human
Act
1.Knowledge

 Deliberation (careful decision)

 Advertence (attention is present)
 knowledge in intellect of what it is about and
what it means.
 Awareness of the possible consequences of
the act.
2.Freedom

 What is a free act?

 An act under the control of the will,

 An act that the will can do or leave undone
3.Voluntariness

 What is a voluntary act?

 An act which originates from the will of the

doer.
 An act done with “gusto”
Properties of a Human Act
1.Imputability

 It belongs to a knowing and free willing agent

2.Merit and Demerit

 It is deserving well or meritorious

 It is deserving ill or condemnable
Voluntariness of Human Act
Kinds or Degrees of
Voluntariness
1.Perfect and Imperfect Voluntariness

2.Simple and Conditional Voluntariness

3.Direct and Indirect Voluntariness

4.Positive and Negative Voluntariness

5.Actual, Virtual, Habitual, and Interpretative

Voluntariness
Indirect Voluntariness
Indirect Voluntariness

 voluntariness in causa

 present in that human act which is an

effect, foreseen or foreseeable, of
another act directly willed.
Two Ethical Questions on Indirect
Voluntariness
1.When is the agent (doer of the
action) responsible for the evil
effect of a cause directly willed?

2.When may the agent perform an

act, not evil in itself, from which
flow two effects, one good, one
evil?
When is the agent (doer of the action) responsible
for the evil effect of a cause directly willed?

1.If the agent was able to foresee the evil

effect, at least in a general way.
2.If the agent was free to refrain from
doing that which is the cause of the evil
effect.
3.If the agent is morally bound not to do
that which is the cause of the evil effect.
When may the agent perform an act, not
evil in itself, from which flow two effects,
one good, one evil?
1.The evil effect must not precede the good
effect.
2.There must be a reason sufficiently grave
calling for the act in its good effect.
3.The intention of the agent must be honest,
that is, the agent must directly intend the
good effect and merely permit the evil effect
as a regrettable incident or “side issue.
Modifiers or Impairments of
Human Act
1. Ignorance

 absence of intellectual knowledge.

 Ignorance could be:

1.Negative
2.Positive
3.Privative
Kinds of Ignorance

1.Ignorance in its Object

a.Ignorance of the Law

b.Ignorance of Fact
c.Ignorance of Penalty
Kinds of Ignorance

2.Ignorance in its Subject

a.Vincible Ignorance
1. Crass or Supine
2. Simply Vincible
3. Affected

b.Invincible Ignorance
Kinds of Ignorance

3.Ignorance in its Result

a.Antecedent Ignorance
b.Concomitant Ignorance
c.Consequent Ignorance
Moral Principles on Ignorance
1.Invincible Ignorance destroys the
voluntariness of an act.
2.Vincible ignorance does not destroy the
voluntariness of an act
3.Vincible ignorance lessens the
voluntariness of an act.
4.Affected ignorance in one way lessens
and, in another way, increases
voluntariness.
2. Concupiscence or Passions
 Principles on Concupiscence

1.Antecedent concupiscence lessens the

voluntariness of an act.
2.Antecedent concupiscence does not destroy
the voluntariness of an act.
3.Consequent concupiscence, however great,
does not lessen the voluntariness of the act.
3. Fear

 Principle on Fear

An act done from fear, however great,

is simply voluntary, although it is
regularly also conditionally
involuntary.
4. Violence

 Principle on Violence

Acts elicited by the will are not

subject to violence; external acts
caused by violence, to which due
resistance is offered, are in no
wise imputable to the agent.
5. Habit

 Principle on Habit

Habit does not destroy voluntariness;

and acts from habit are always
voluntary, at least in cause, as long as
the habit is allowed to endure.
ENDS OF HUMAN ACT
The Ends of Human Act
 End could refer to:
1.Goal
My end (goal) is to become a lawyer.

2. Termination
I will become a lawyer when I finish
(terminate) my studies, which is passing
the Bar exams.
 Every activity tends towards an end.

 Every action which is “in-tended” has

an end (goal)
 Every human act is intended
(knowledge)
 Therefore, every human act has a
tendency or appetency.
 Appetency (desire, goal) could be of 2
kinds:

1.Appetency which is stirred into action by

sensation
Ex. I feel like eating or sleeping

2.Appetency which is stirred into action by

intellectual knowledge
Ex. I want to eat because I wanna be
healthy.
 To define End in human act:

 End is the final cause, namely, that on

account of which, or to attain which,
the act is performed, and which is, in
consequence, apprehended as a good
sufficiently desirable to motivate the
agent in performing the act.
Classification of End

1. The end of the act and the end of the agent

a)End of the act is the end towards which the act of

its own nature tends.

Ex. I will exercise so I will be healthy.

b)End of the agent is the end by which the agent

wants to achieve by his act.

Ex. I will exercise in order to be healthy so I would

have a longer life.
Classification of End
2.Proximate end and Remote end

a)Proximate End is the intended as the

immediate outcome of an act
Ex. I will exercise in order to be healthy

b)Remote End is that which the agent

wishes to achieve later on
Ex. I will exercise so I will be healthy and
which will bring me to a longer life.
Classification of End
3. Ultimate end and Intermediate end

a)Ultimate end is if the end is willed for its own

sake.
Ex. I will exercise because I want to be healthy.

b)Intermediate end if it is an end which is willed as

a means to a further end.

Ex. I will exercise so I will be healthy. I want to be

healthy because I wish to have a longer life.
An ultimate end is both objective and subjective.

 The objective ultimate end is that thing, that

object, which, in the last analysis, motivates a
human act; while the…..
 subjective ultimate end is the possession of the
objective end and the satisfaction or happiness
that is apprehended as belonging to that
possession.

Example: the objective ultimate end of a student

who studies hard is learning or knowledge. His
subjective ultimate end is success or a bright future.
 The objective ultimate end of human
acts is the Summum Bonum or the
greatest good.

 the subjective ultimate end of human

acts is happiness.
NORMS OF HUMAN ACT
Norms of Human Act

1.Law

2.Conscience
Law

 Law is an ordinance of reason,

promulgated in a society by one who
has charge of the society, for the
common good.
Law as an ORDINANCE

 means that a law is an active and

authoritative ordering or directing of
human acts in reference to an end to be
attained by them.
Law as an ORDINANCE OF
REASON
 means that it is not an arbitrary or
whimsical decree of the legislator’s will.
Law as PROMULGATED

 means that it is made known to those

bound by it, and these are called its
subjects.
Law as promulgated FOR COMMON
GOOD
 law is distinguished from a precept, which is
an ordinance issued by public or private authority
for the particular or private good of one or several
persons.

 law is territorial or jurisdictional in the sense

that it only binds its subjects while they are with
its jurisdiction, while a precept is personal and it
binds its subjects wherever they may be.
Law is promulgated IN A SOCIETY

 since it is, for a fact, promulgated for the

common good and, therefore, supposes
a commonality or community of subjects
(persons); and a community of subjects
(persons) is a society.
Law is promulgated by one WHO
HAS CHARGE OF A SOCIETY
 By “one” is meant a person, whether this be a single
human being (a physical person) or a body of men
united to form the governing power (moral person)

 the author of a law is “legislator” or “lawgiver”

 A “legislator”, from its root word, is one who has the

just authority to say what is right.
Classification of Law

A. According to its immediate author

1.Divine Law (God is the author). Example:

The 10 Commandments

2.Human Law (Man is the author). Example:

Civil Law, Penal Law, Constitution
Classification of Law

B.According to its duration

1.Temporal (Subject to amendment or repeal)

Example: All human laws

2.Eternal (Laws that do not change) Example:

God’s Laws; Natural Laws
Classification of Law

C.According to its manner of promulgation

1.Natural Law (directs creatures to their end

according to their nature)

2.Positive Law (Laws enacted by positive act

of a legislator)
Classification of Law

D.According to the effect of their violation

1.Moral Law (Violation of which is fault or sin)

2.Penal Law (Violation results to penalty)

3.Mixed Laws (Violation results to both sin and

penalty)
CONSCIENCE

 Conscience is the practical judgement

of reason upon the individual act as
good and to be performed, or as evil and
to be avoided.
Conscience is a JUDGEMENT OF
REASON
 a reasoned conclusion.

 Meaning, conscience is the act of reasoning

out the right and the wrong of a situation
before choosing what to do.
Conscience is a PRACTICAL
JUDGEMENT
 Meaning, it has reference to something
to be done, that is, either the
performance or the omission of an act.
Conscience is judgement upon an individual
act as good, hence, to be performed, or as
evil, hence, to be avoided.
 Conscience is a judgement upon an individual act, here
and now, in these present circumstance, to be performed
or omitted.

 It is a judgement upon an individual act after it has been

performed or omitted.

 Before action, conscience judges an act as good and to be

performed, or as evil and to be avoided.
 After action, conscience is a judgement of approval or
disapproval.
States of Conscience

A. Correct or True Conscience

When conscience is a judgement in

accordance with fact, that is, when it
judges as good that which is really good,
and as evil that is really evil.
States of Conscience

B.Certain conscience and Dubious Conscience

1.Certain Conscience is when conscience is

altogether firm and assured judgement, in
which the agent has no fear whatsoever of
being in error.
2.Dubious Conscience is when conscience
is not certain and the agent is aware of the
possibility of error.
Doubtful or Dubious Conscience

 Types of Doubt

1.Speculative Doubt, when the doubt

concerns the existence or applicability of law
or moral principle.

2.Practical Doubt, if the doubt concerns the

lawfulness of an individual act be performed.
Principle on Doubt

Never act when in the state of doubt.

 What if the conscience is doubtful, but
grounded upon solid reasons?

 it is called Probable Conscience, and

the agent is said to have a Probable
Opinion.
Principle on Probable Opinion

One may not follow a probable opinion,

even a most probable opinion, when there
is question of a definite end to be
achieved, and sure means to its
achievement.
Conscience precedes Law

 A doubtful law does not bind