Human Act versus Act of Man

Factors that can prevent man from

HUMAN ACT is an act which proceeds from experiencing authentic freedom
the deliberate free will of man. *Biological – inherited handicaps and defects
as well as external substances like drugs.
Each human act can be CLASSIFIED as: *Psychological – interior compulsions,
- moral – good including those originating in the
- immoral – evil unconscious.
- indifferent – neither good or evil *Social pressures – economic,political and
cultural conditions.
ACT OF MAN is an act that proceed from
bodily tendencies. SIN – the greatest single obstacle to freedom
*It is an act that a man may perform without
the exercise of free choice. Christian Freedom
-the capacity of the will, aided by God’s grace
The Elements of Human Act to decide, to do what is good, and to avoid
what is evil in every possible way.
Knowledge – it is the awareness of the act
that man does.In order for an act to be called Two important truths with regards to
a human act the doer must have the Christian Freedom:
awareness that he is doing something and he 1.The freedom that we enjoy as God’s
has the command of it and has it in mind. children is simply God’s gift.
2.The gift of freedom involves responsibility.
Freedom – A human act is always
determined by the will. It means that the act LOVE is the highest form of choosing because
is always a product of the will that can do it or it is taking an option for others.
leave it undone.Every act that comes from
the will is called a free act. And for an act to According to Greeks,there are four kinds of
be human, it has to be a free act.Freedom LOVE
therefore is an essential element of the *Narcissism or self-love - destructive self-
human act. love
*Eros – passionate attraction between sexes
Voluntariness – It comes from the Latin word *Philia or platonic love – love among friends
voluntas which means will. Human act must *Agape- brotherhood, sense of community
be a will-act.
Voluntariness is the formal essential quality The Modifiers of Human Act
of the human act, and for it to be Ignorance – This is defined as the mere
present,there must be ordinarily be both absence of knowledge.The absent of any
knowledge and freedom in the agent. intellectual knowledge.
Ignorance maybe classified as:
Christian Freedom and Love vincible - an ignorance that can be conquered
Freedom-is a power rooted in reason and by proper diligence.
will,to act or not to act, to this or that, and so invincible – an ignorance that cannot be
to perform deliberate actions on one’s own dispelled by ordinary and proper diligence.
responsibility. The more one does what is affected – an ignorance that is directly willed.
good, the freer one becomes.There is no true
freedom except in the service of what is good CONCUPISCENCE
and just. The choice to disobey and do evil is In theology it refers to the proneness of sin in
an abuse of freedom and leads to the slavery man’s nature due to the fall of Adam and Eve.
of sin. But in morality, it refers to the bodily
Human Freedom can be internal (the appetites or tendencies which are called the
freedom to be all one can possibly be) and PASSIONS. These are love, joy, fear, grief,
external (freedom to do all one can possibly desire, aversion of horror, courage, anger,
do). despair, and hope.
 The Object – the thing done.
Antecedent concupiscence – When these The End – the purpose, the motive in doing
passions spring into action without any the act.
stimulation or influence by the will. They are The Circumstances – conditions which
acts of man and not human acts therefore contribute to increasing or diminishing the
they are amoral or without any connection to goodness or evil of human acts
morality.

Consequent concupiscence – These are acts

directly or indirectly stirred by the will.This
means that the will approved or consented
them either directly or indirectly. So the
agent is responsible for them.

In here we see that antecedent

concupiscence is an act of man and therefore
the agent is not responsible for it since he
does not will it.

Fear – is defined as the shrinking back of the

mind from danger. It is the agitation of mind
brought about by the apprehension of
impending evil.
Actions may be done from fear or done with Guides of the influence of the end of the act:
fear. 1. good act + good motive = good act
2. evil act + evil motive = evil act
Violence – It is external force applied by a 3. good act + evil motive = evil act
free cause (a cause with freewill;by man) for 4. evil act + good motive = evil act
the purpose of compelling a person to 5. indifferent act + good motive = good act
perform an act which is against his will.This 6. indifferent act + evil motive = evil act
cannot reach the will directly. It may cause
the body to be forcibly doing something The Circumstances
which is against the will but it can never reach -conditions which do not belong to the
the will directly. As long as the will exert essence of the act but may affect it morally.
command to counter the force the agent is
not responsible of the act. Conditions which contribute to increasing or
diminishing the goodness or evil of human
Habit – It is a lasting readiness and facility, acts:
born of frequently repeated acts, for acting in 1. Who refers to the person who does the act
a certain manner. A man who always gives or to whom the action was done.
alms to the poor has the habit of generosity 2. What is the circumstance of quantity and
and it is always against his habit to be selfish quality.
and not to give. 3. Where is the circumstance of place.
4. With what ally refers to the circumstance
A good habit is called a VIRTUE while a bad of means or instrument.
habit is called a VICE. A man who has many 5. In what condition refers to the
good habits is called a virtuous man while a circumstance of manner.
man who has many bad habits is called 6. When is the circumstance of time.
vicious. When was the act done?
7. Why is actually equivalent to the end or
Human acts – are measured by the norms the purpose of the agent.
that would make them good or evil.

Determinants of human act