Introduction
The purpose of this simple article is to guide the readers, particularly those who are not studying ethics and those who are interested in it on what to do in certain situation in which one cannot decide what to do. Reading this article will guide you on how to solve your moral dilemma. Mostly of the ideas are influenced by the lectures in the seminary and the book of Articulo (2005) on Moral Philosophy and Agapay (2008) on Ethics.
When we discuss ethics, we need to set aside the concept of ethics that are originated from religion. Ethics that we discuss here is not referring to any religion. The origin of ethics was not from religion but it was originated from philosophers, Greek philosophers who struggled to regulate human behavior of their time. Thus, ethics from the beginning was about human conduct. Since it is about human conduct, then ethics is all about daily life in relation with others, the animals and the environment.
Since morality is about our daily life, about what we do, about what we think, either it is seen or not seen, however, we need to understand what are the things or what are the acts that are under the scrutiny of morality. The concern here is that not everything we do is subjected to moral evaluation. There are acts that instinctively committed without the participation of reason and there acts that are calculated by reason with certain motives, means and ends. Therefore we need to identify those acts that are subjected to moral evaluation.
Assumption of Ethics
Assumptions are the things that we take for granted as correct without any further investigation. Now what are the things that we need to accept as correct in order to discuss morality? This is important for us or reader to know the main qualifiers if we want to evaluate certain act to be moral or not moral. It is the basis for our evaluation. There are the two main important assumptions of ethics:
a. That man is a rational being. It means that man is a thinking being. As a thinking being, man acts with purpose and reasons behind it. He is aware of his intentions as well as the consequences of his actions. He knows whether his actions are right or wrong/good or bad and and if such act will lead to good end or not. In this case, when he/she pursues such act and thus it is intentional. This makes a difference between human and animal and human act and act of man.
b. That man is a free being. This indicates that man is a free being who acts according to his will and volitions. He has the capacity to exercise his choices and to choose and do what is good. He acts in a certain way because he wills it, not because of external forces that influence him to act certain way.
These two assumptions are important to determine the morality of a certain act. To judge an act whether it is immoral or not, the act must be performed by person who is aware of his moral wrongness of his act and freely decide to perform the act even if he knew that it was immoral. If we remove these two elements, it is no longer possible to judge an act to determine its morality.
Human Person and Human Act: Object of Moral Philosophy
Since the object of moral philosophy is the person or moral agent and the act, thus it is important for us to understand who human person is, before we understand or analyze his action. This part will explain human person and what human act.
Human Person
Human Person is a Rational Being.
Human person is an organism composed of material and spiritual or body and soul. Thus, he/she is made of biological, psychological and rational power or intellect. His actions are directed by reason. This is important element to be included in the assessment of morality of a certain act. A certain act can be evaluated moral or immoral if the act is based on his/her knowledge. It is only within such requirement we can evaluate the act of a child or a crazy individual to be moral or immoral.
Human Person is a Moral Being.
Natural law theory will tell us that any rational adult persons are capable of knowing what is good and bad, right and wrong. It has been built in our mind and heart to know what is good and bad, right and wrong. As a moral being, a man is able to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong, moral and immoral. By his natural insight, a person has an understanding of what is right and wrong, of what is permitted and prohibited behaviour. He/she knows what is good “ought” to be done and what is evil “ought” to be avoided. This theory is contrary to the theory of human nature as a blank sheet (tabula raza) on which cultures writes its text, so that man is merely a product of social interaction and his behaviour is nothing more than a “reflex of social conditioning”.
Human Person is a Person.
He/she is born as an individual or person. He is unique. One is not the copy of the other. Thus, as a person, he/she exists separately and independently from others, not only in physical terms but also in terms of psychological character, which is capable of knowing in intellectual way and of deciding for himself the purpose or end of his actions. His act is influenced by his own decision, not by the influence of others.
Human Act and Act of Man
Not all act can be judged morally. Thus it is important for us know the difference between human act and act of man.
Human acts are actions that are conscious, deliberate, intentional and voluntary. These are products of rationality and freedom of choice like helping the sick, keeping promises, telling the truth, killing, stealing, lying, etc. These are the acts that are subject to moral analysis. They can be either ethical or unethical. These act cannot be done by an animal.
While Acts of man is a certain type of actions that are exhibited naturally by man such as talking, hearing, eating, snoring, walking, etc. These acts are morally indifferent or neutral because we cannot judge them to be ethical or unethical. Such acts are not really influenced by the intellect but by instinct which can be the same with animal. These act do not only belong to man but also to animals. They are natural acts that we perform by virtue of our nature as animal beings.
Attributes of Human Acts
The purpose of this simple article is to guide the readers, particularly those who are not studying ethics and those who are interested in it on what to do in certain situation in which one cannot decide what to do. Reading this article will guide you on how to solve your moral dilemma. Mostly of the ideas are influenced by the lectures in the seminary and the book of Articulo (2005) on Moral Philosophy and Agapay (2008) on Ethics.
When we discuss ethics, we need to set aside the concept of ethics that are originated from religion. Ethics that we discuss here is not referring to any religion. The origin of ethics was not from religion but it was originated from philosophers, Greek philosophers who struggled to regulate human behavior of their time. Thus, ethics from the beginning was about human conduct. Since it is about human conduct, then ethics is all about daily life in relation with others, the animals and the environment.
Since morality is about our daily life, about what we do, about what we think, either it is seen or not seen, however, we need to understand what are the things or what are the acts that are under the scrutiny of morality. The concern here is that not everything we do is subjected to moral evaluation. There are acts that instinctively committed without the participation of reason and there acts that are calculated by reason with certain motives, means and ends. Therefore we need to identify those acts that are subjected to moral evaluation.
Assumption of Ethics
Assumptions are the things that we take for granted as correct without any further investigation. Now what are the things that we need to accept as correct in order to discuss morality? This is important for us or reader to know the main qualifiers if we want to evaluate certain act to be moral or not moral. It is the basis for our evaluation. There are the two main important assumptions of ethics:
a. That man is a rational being. It means that man is a thinking being. As a thinking being, man acts with purpose and reasons behind it. He is aware of his intentions as well as the consequences of his actions. He knows whether his actions are right or wrong/good or bad and and if such act will lead to good end or not. In this case, when he/she pursues such act and thus it is intentional. This makes a difference between human and animal and human act and act of man.
b. That man is a free being. This indicates that man is a free being who acts according to his will and volitions. He has the capacity to exercise his choices and to choose and do what is good. He acts in a certain way because he wills it, not because of external forces that influence him to act certain way.
These two assumptions are important to determine the morality of a certain act. To judge an act whether it is immoral or not, the act must be performed by person who is aware of his moral wrongness of his act and freely decide to perform the act even if he knew that it was immoral. If we remove these two elements, it is no longer possible to judge an act to determine its morality.
Human Person and Human Act: Object of Moral Philosophy
Since the object of moral philosophy is the person or moral agent and the act, thus it is important for us to understand who human person is, before we understand or analyze his action. This part will explain human person and what human act.
Human Person
Human Person is a Rational Being.
Human person is an organism composed of material and spiritual or body and soul. Thus, he/she is made of biological, psychological and rational power or intellect. His actions are directed by reason. This is important element to be included in the assessment of morality of a certain act. A certain act can be evaluated moral or immoral if the act is based on his/her knowledge. It is only within such requirement we can evaluate the act of a child or a crazy individual to be moral or immoral.
Human Person is a Moral Being.
Natural law theory will tell us that any rational adult persons are capable of knowing what is good and bad, right and wrong. It has been built in our mind and heart to know what is good and bad, right and wrong. As a moral being, a man is able to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong, moral and immoral. By his natural insight, a person has an understanding of what is right and wrong, of what is permitted and prohibited behaviour. He/she knows what is good “ought” to be done and what is evil “ought” to be avoided. This theory is contrary to the theory of human nature as a blank sheet (tabula raza) on which cultures writes its text, so that man is merely a product of social interaction and his behaviour is nothing more than a “reflex of social conditioning”.
Human Person is a Person.
He/she is born as an individual or person. He is unique. One is not the copy of the other. Thus, as a person, he/she exists separately and independently from others, not only in physical terms but also in terms of psychological character, which is capable of knowing in intellectual way and of deciding for himself the purpose or end of his actions. His act is influenced by his own decision, not by the influence of others.
Human Act and Act of Man
Not all act can be judged morally. Thus it is important for us know the difference between human act and act of man.
Human acts are actions that are conscious, deliberate, intentional and voluntary. These are products of rationality and freedom of choice like helping the sick, keeping promises, telling the truth, killing, stealing, lying, etc. These are the acts that are subject to moral analysis. They can be either ethical or unethical. These act cannot be done by an animal.
While Acts of man is a certain type of actions that are exhibited naturally by man such as talking, hearing, eating, snoring, walking, etc. These acts are morally indifferent or neutral because we cannot judge them to be ethical or unethical. Such acts are not really influenced by the intellect but by instinct which can be the same with animal. These act do not only belong to man but also to animals. They are natural acts that we perform by virtue of our nature as animal beings.
Attributes of Human Acts
An act is done knowingly. The person
is conscious and aware of the reason and the consequences of his actions. The
person knows all the information about the act if it is good or bad, right
or wrong. He knows the consequence of his act. He knows that the
consequence of certain act is bad but knowingly he pursue it.
The Act is done freely. The person
acts by his own initiative and choice without being forced to do so by
other people. The person knows the consequence and he freely decided to
pursue it.
The act is done wilfully. The doer
consent to the act, accepting it as his own and assume accountability for
its consent.
Forms
of Human Act
When we judge the morality of certain act, judgment may also include the act that cannot be seen. Human acts are not only acts that we observe everyday but we can observe them by our eyes such as a guy who is stealing fried chicken, or kissing under the mango tree. But there are also acts that we cannot observe by our naked eyes. For instance the bad desires to steal fried chicken or adulterous thought of a person who is looking at a beautiful lady cannot be seen but they deserve to be judge morally. Thus, there are two forms of human acts and these are external and internal acts.
a. External Acts. External acts are acts that are externalized or manifested. (Agapay, as cited by Articulo, 2004). They also called elicited acts. These acts are overt and thus physically are observable by others.
b. Internal Acts.
Internal acts are acts that are not bodily manifested. These acts are hidden, within a person and very subjective or personal. It is impossible for other person to know them, unless the person reveals his adulterous thought to his drinking mates. As a consequence of internal acts, then we have internal acts and personal ethics. This is due to the fact that not all acts are to be judged by simply looking at them from the outside. What the eyes cannot see is also worthy of moral praise or blame. But this is the domain of a very subjective moral assessment. We alone can judge the content of our thoughts as either ethically appropriate or not because alone know what we are thinking
Classification of Human Acts
Human acts are usually judged based on their moral worth. If these acts are to be moral, they should conform to standards of morality. Thus, acts are classified into three categories:
When we judge the morality of certain act, judgment may also include the act that cannot be seen. Human acts are not only acts that we observe everyday but we can observe them by our eyes such as a guy who is stealing fried chicken, or kissing under the mango tree. But there are also acts that we cannot observe by our naked eyes. For instance the bad desires to steal fried chicken or adulterous thought of a person who is looking at a beautiful lady cannot be seen but they deserve to be judge morally. Thus, there are two forms of human acts and these are external and internal acts.
a. External Acts. External acts are acts that are externalized or manifested. (Agapay, as cited by Articulo, 2004). They also called elicited acts. These acts are overt and thus physically are observable by others.
b. Internal Acts.
Internal acts are acts that are not bodily manifested. These acts are hidden, within a person and very subjective or personal. It is impossible for other person to know them, unless the person reveals his adulterous thought to his drinking mates. As a consequence of internal acts, then we have internal acts and personal ethics. This is due to the fact that not all acts are to be judged by simply looking at them from the outside. What the eyes cannot see is also worthy of moral praise or blame. But this is the domain of a very subjective moral assessment. We alone can judge the content of our thoughts as either ethically appropriate or not because alone know what we are thinking
Classification of Human Acts
Human acts are usually judged based on their moral worth. If these acts are to be moral, they should conform to standards of morality. Thus, acts are classified into three categories:
Ethical or moral acts. There are
human acts that may be in conformity to norm of morality such as helping
others in need, telling the truth, keeping a promise, etc.
Unethical or immoral acts. These acts
are in violation of norms of morality. These may include spreading gossip
about other people, cheating in examination, telling lies and stealing,
etc.
Amoral Acts. These acts are without moral content. These acts are also called
neutral acts because they are neither moral nor immoral. These acts may
either be moral or immoral depending the circumstances. These acts include
sleeping, walking, smiling, laughing, etc. Sleeping
may be immoral act if it is done during office hour or in violation of
duty. But basically sleeping alone
is amoral act
Elements of Human Acts
There are four elements of human acts and they are the intention of the act, the means of the act, the end of the act and the consequence of the act.
a. The intention of the act. It is the reason or motive why the act is done. Intention is the end of the act. A moral agent acts for a particular end or result. Ex: telling the truth is to set us free.
b. The means of the act. The object employed or the medium used to carry out the intention of the act. Ex: the act of exercise daily is a means to stay fit.
c. The end of the act. The intention of the act is directed toward a desired end or a perceived good such as living a healthy life. The end of the act is the inspiration behind the intention of the act.
d. The consequences of the act. It is about the result or the outcome of the act. This is to determine whether the intention of the act was carried out or the end of the act was successfully realized.
Human Acts and Human Will.
Human acts stem from the human will. It is the will than influence the internal and external action of man. The will stirs a person to act or to refrain from acting. Articulo (2004) as cited from Glenn (1965) cited the following motivations that proceed from the will:
Wish: the tendency of the will toward something whether this is attainable or not. Example: A teacher wishes to be an international writer.
Intention is the tendency of the will toward something attainable but without necessarily committing oneself to attain it. Ex: a student who intends to become international writer.
Consent is the acceptance of the will of what is needed to carry out the intention. It is the determination of the alternative means necessary to realize the intentions. Consent of the teacher is to devote her life in research or just copy the research of other researchers.
Election is the selection of the will of those effective means to carry out the intention. This includes reading a lot of books and not to copy the research of others.
Use is the command of the will to make use of those means selected to carry out the intention. Thus spending time to read books and conducting a research are the means to be used to carry out the intention.
Fruition is the enjoyment of the will derived from the attainment of the thing desired. The joy of the teacher after publishing her/his research in international journal.
Thus the will is a potential force for both good and bad. The strength and the weakness of the will determine the strength and the weakness of the human character and it determines the outcome of the act.
Conclusion
From the discussion, we can conclude that not all acts are subjected to moral judgment. It is only human act and not acts of man that can be assessed morally. Definitely the main characteristics of human act are reason and free will. From such requirement, an act can be evaluated based on the intention, the means, the ends and its consequences. Thus when one evaluates certain act, the first question to be raised is: Does reason involve in the act? This question points out that when the act is committed by irrational person, crazy person or a child, such act cannot be solved morally. Second question is: Is free will present in the act? This question makes it clear that for certain act to be considered immoral or moral, such act has to be acted out of free will, not because of force or intimidation.
There are four elements of human acts and they are the intention of the act, the means of the act, the end of the act and the consequence of the act.
a. The intention of the act. It is the reason or motive why the act is done. Intention is the end of the act. A moral agent acts for a particular end or result. Ex: telling the truth is to set us free.
b. The means of the act. The object employed or the medium used to carry out the intention of the act. Ex: the act of exercise daily is a means to stay fit.
c. The end of the act. The intention of the act is directed toward a desired end or a perceived good such as living a healthy life. The end of the act is the inspiration behind the intention of the act.
d. The consequences of the act. It is about the result or the outcome of the act. This is to determine whether the intention of the act was carried out or the end of the act was successfully realized.
Human Acts and Human Will.
Human acts stem from the human will. It is the will than influence the internal and external action of man. The will stirs a person to act or to refrain from acting. Articulo (2004) as cited from Glenn (1965) cited the following motivations that proceed from the will:
Wish: the tendency of the will toward something whether this is attainable or not. Example: A teacher wishes to be an international writer.
Intention is the tendency of the will toward something attainable but without necessarily committing oneself to attain it. Ex: a student who intends to become international writer.
Consent is the acceptance of the will of what is needed to carry out the intention. It is the determination of the alternative means necessary to realize the intentions. Consent of the teacher is to devote her life in research or just copy the research of other researchers.
Election is the selection of the will of those effective means to carry out the intention. This includes reading a lot of books and not to copy the research of others.
Use is the command of the will to make use of those means selected to carry out the intention. Thus spending time to read books and conducting a research are the means to be used to carry out the intention.
Fruition is the enjoyment of the will derived from the attainment of the thing desired. The joy of the teacher after publishing her/his research in international journal.
Thus the will is a potential force for both good and bad. The strength and the weakness of the will determine the strength and the weakness of the human character and it determines the outcome of the act.
Conclusion
From the discussion, we can conclude that not all acts are subjected to moral judgment. It is only human act and not acts of man that can be assessed morally. Definitely the main characteristics of human act are reason and free will. From such requirement, an act can be evaluated based on the intention, the means, the ends and its consequences. Thus when one evaluates certain act, the first question to be raised is: Does reason involve in the act? This question points out that when the act is committed by irrational person, crazy person or a child, such act cannot be solved morally. Second question is: Is free will present in the act? This question makes it clear that for certain act to be considered immoral or moral, such act has to be acted out of free will, not because of force or intimidation.