France Allyson N.

Canaveral
BEE-2SPED
MODIFIERS OF HUMAN ACTS
1. Concupiscence/Passion
Antecedent Concupiscence
Consequent Concupiscence
2. Fear
Grave Fear
Slight Fear
3. Violence
Perfect Violence
Physically Perfect Violence
Morally Perfect Violence
Imperfect Violence
4. Habit

1. Concupiscence
- Strong sexual desire; lust. Simply, Passion
PASSION
- are either tendencies away, from under undesirable or harmful things.
Positive emotions, the former include love, desire, delight, hope and bravery
Negative emotions, the latter include hatred, horror, sadness, despair, fear and anger.
TYPES OF PASSION (Concupiscence)
Antecedent Passion are those that precede an act.
Consequent Passion are those that are intentionally aroused and kept.
PRINCIPLES OF PASSION (Concupiscence)
Antecedent passions do not always destroy voluntariness, but they diminish accountability for the
resultant act.
Consequent passions do not lessen voluntariness, but may increase accountability.
2. FEAR
- Is the disturbance of the mind of a person who is confronted by an impending danger or harm to himself
or loved ones.
- Is an instinct for self- preservation.
TYPES OF FEAR
Grave Fear
- That is
- That is
Slight Fear
- That is

aroused by the presence of a danger.

regarded by most people as serious.
judged to be serious by the one concerned.
aroused by a danger.
not serious.

PRINCIPLES OF FEAR
Acts done with fear are voluntary.
Acts done out of fear, however, great, is simply voluntary, although it is also conditionally voluntary.
Acts done because of intense fear or panic are involuntary.

3. VIOLENCE

- Refers to any physical force exerted on a person by another free agent for the purpose of compelling said
person to act against his will.
- In cases where the victim gives complete resistance, the violence is classified as perfect violence.
- However, if the victim offers insufficient resistance, the violence classified as imperfect violence.
TYPES OF VIOLENCE
Perfect Violence
Physically Perfect Violence
- In which all possible forms of resisting is utilized
If a woman walking along a dark street at night is attacked, and she attempts to fight of the
attackers with all the physical powers at her command, she has been the victim of physically
perfect violence.

Morally Perfect Violence

- Is that in which all powers of resistance should be used but not employed for a good reason.
A man being robbed attempts to fight the robber but soon realizes that further assistance will
probably result in his death.
Imperfect Violence is that in which some resistance is shown but not as much as should be.
A Stenographer who is working after hours in an almost empty building is approached by the
department head. The man, suddenly filled with lustful intentions, makes certain rough and
violent advances. The young woman for a moment puts up some resistance and feels that
additional resistance might terminate the incident. However, she quickly ceases resistance and
gives in to the man. The stenographer is the victim of imperfect violence.

PRINCIPLES OF VIOLENCE
External actions, or commanded actions, performed by a person subjected to violence, to which
reasonable resistance has been offered, are involuntary and are not accountable.
Elicited acts, or those done by the will alone, are not subject to violence and are therefore voluntary.
MORAL PRINCIPLES CONCERNING VIOLENCE
a. Regarding perfect violence, the moral principle is this: that which is done from perfect violence is entirely
involuntary, and so in such cases there is no moral responsibility.
If an individual is a victim in the absolute sense of the word, no sensible person condemn him. If the victim
makes a judgment that resistance is utterly useless, he need not resist. There is no obligation to do what is
useless.
b. Regarding imperfect violence: that is which done under the influence of imperfect violence is less
voluntary, and so the moral responsibility is lessened but not taken away completely.
4. HABITS
- Is a lasting readiness and facility, born of frequently repeated acts, for acting in a certain manner.
- Are inclination to perform some particular action acquired by repetition, and characterized by a decrease
power of resistance and an increase facility of performance.
- Sometimes called second nature; something deeply embedded in an individual, but ingrained by being
acquired not being inborn.
- Repeated actions by performed by the agent.

VIRTUE Disposes to God

VICE Disposes one to Evil

PRINCIPLE OF HABITS
Action done by force of habit are voluntary in cause, unless a reasonable effort is made to counteract
the habitual inclination.

ENDS OF HUMAN ACTS

Man does not act aimlessly .
When he acts, it is because he enjoys the action,
or because he wants to achieve something by that action.
What we call end is the purpose or goal of an act. It is that which complete or finishes an act.
Distinction is made between end of the act and end of the doer or agent. The end of the act is the
natural termination of an activity. The end of the eating is nourishment; that of reading is
comprehension; that of basketball is scoring a goal and that of jogging is physical exercise
The end of the doer is the personal purpose intended by the person performing the act. He who eats
aims to satisfy his hunger; the reader to relax himself; the basketball player to win the game and the
jogger to maintain the physical fitness.
The end of the doer is either:
Proximate or Remote end Immediate or Ultimate end
The proximate end is the purpose which a doer wishes to accomplish immediately by his action.
The remote end is the purpose which a doer wishes to accomplish in a series of acts.
The ultimate end is the purpose which is desired for its own sake and not because of something else.
The intermediate end is the purpose which is desired as a means for obtaining another thing. The
attainment of an ultimate end completes an act and stops all further acts.
A student may assign his graduation as an ultimate end. intermediate end, in this case, would consist
in all those activities leading towards graduation, such as attending classes, taking exams,
participating in recitation and so on.
Every agent that performs an action acts for the sake of an end or purpose to be attained.
agent acts towards an ultimate end.
Every agent has the power to move himself towards an end which he finds suitable for him.
Nothing excites the human appetite or rational desire than that which is good. Because something is
good, it becomes the object of desire and therefore, desirable. Actions are tendencies towards
something good. Thus, what is good and desirable is also the end of the act. The concept of the end
coincides with that of good.
Man has a natural aversion to evil. Evil is never desirable for its own sake. It is naturally repugnant to
man. When someone desires evil as an end, it is only because he views it, subjectively as something
good. Evil viewed as good is called apparent good. It is evil disguised as good. It is deceptively tempting
and many fall for it.
1. Essential and Accidental. Those that fit the natural needs of man are essential good. Such good
include food, shelter, health, knowledge, virtue and life. Those that fit the wants of an individual
because of his circumstances are accidental good. Such include money, car, good name, academic
degree, power and luxury and many more.
2. Essential
good is also called perfective because they contribute to the integral perfections of man.
good, on the other hand are called non-perfective because they merely contribute to the external worth
or appearance of a person.
Accidental A real good is something which has an intrinsic value. Thus, we call it: V alue. It
possesses qualities rendering it fitting or desirable. Examples of real good are good acts and habits,
parents, parenthood, pleasure and joy, work and leisure

 Perfective good is that which contributes to the integral perfection of the person such as education,
virtue, food, exercise, medicine. good is that which merely contributes to the external appearance and
convenience of a person, such as clothes, wealth, etc.
Non-perfective Also called unlimited or limited goods respectively or absolute and relative good.
Perfect good has the fullness of qualities enabling it to fully satisfy human desire. Imperfect good
possesses only certain qualities so that it does not fully satisfy human desire except in a relative or
limited sense. All earthly good are imperfect . Only God, the absolute sense, is perfect.
In every activity, man seeks that which is good. The greatest good as a matter of fact.
is evident in our concern for the best in everything: best friends, best parents, best food, best
performance, best job and so forth. the language of the philosophers, the greatest good is the
SUMMUM BONUM.
For Aristotle, the greatest good is happiness.
Happiness is what man aims to achieve in all his activities. ultimate purpose of life is the attainment
of happiness.
As
a psychological state, happiness is the feeling of contentment arising from the possession of a good.
a state of being, it is the perfection arising from the possession of the good.
As Happiness coming from the possession of the greatest good constitutes mans perfection.
Now which is the greatest good? What wonderful thing is there the possession of which will fully and
absolutely satisfy human desire so that nothing more remains to be desired?the greatest good does not
exist or if it does but is totally beyond mans grasp, then human life would be pointless.
If Some people give the impression that money or wealth can buy happiness. This is tragic because
money merely feeds the bottomless appetite for greed.
people equates health with happiness. Of course health is a prerequisite to a productive life. But there
are sick who are at the same time happy..
Sensual people vainly seeks happiness in earthly pleasure, but one may not indulge in all the pleasures
of this world without ending with pain.
People cling to their public image as if God himself was made after their illusion. Yet fame and fortune are
fragile as the mirror that reflects their vanity.
Some dedicate their lives to science and arts. Doubtlessly, sciences and arts are essential to mans
development. They are however, simply means rather than the end in themselves. Some propose that
the final purpose of man is the promotion of the State or Government. While man is sociable and needs of
the state to regulate his social, political and economic relations, the good of the individual comes ahead of
that of the State.
Natural happiness consists in the perfection that can be attained by man through the employment of
his body and soul and the powers inherent in them: intellect, will, internal and external sensory powers,
the sense of appetites, locomotion, nutrition and growth.
For Aristotle, it was obvious that natural happiness does not rest on one single good object.
Rather, it consists in the attainment of all those things that are essential to human growth and
development..
These goods, however, must be ranked in a hierarchy: from the lowest level to the highest level.
Complete happiness, the natural order consists in those goods pertaining to the soul. The highest
good according to Aristotle, belongs to the intellect: the contemplation of truth. But this fullness of
knowledge is attained through virtue.
Aristotle does not go beyond earthly life in his dissertation on the last or ultimate end.
philosophers, notably St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, teach that man in every deliberate action
acts toward an end, and ultimately to an absolutely ultimate end: happiness.

 Since mans desire and tendency towards happiness is unlimited, nothing short of the
perfect good can satisfy it
Absolutely perfectly.
Therefore God, the Infinite Good is the greatest good to attained as the ultimate e
Man cannot attain perfect happiness in this life, because God can never be known perfectly by
mans natural powers. man can approximate perfect happiness in this life by knowledge and love of
God and by the exercise of virtue.
DETERMINANTS OF MORALITY
Only human persons act for a reason, a purpose, an intention or a goal because only human persons are
created with the intelligence to know and the free will to choose.
Many times, we find ourselves at the crossroad of choosing and deciding what is good, what is better, or
what is best, what is evil or what is less evil for one particular situation.
Determinants are essential features of morality that point to the rightness or wrongness of an action.
They enable us to perceive the specificity of morality,
i.e., to evaluate the goodness or the badness of the actions that we do by taking into consideration
the object (act itself), the end (intention of the agent/doer), and the circumstances that surround
our action.
1. Object of the Act/End of the Act (Finis Operis) the act itself. The end by which the act naturally tends to.
The act is considered good when it is done in conformity with reason, which is the proximate norm of
morality. Otherwise, it is evil. Right intention and workable means do not render an evil act good.
e.g. murder is intrinsically evil regardless of situational factors.

2. End of the agent (Finis Operantis) - The end of the doer / agent in performing the act independently,
sometimes from the very end of the act.
An objectively good act may become morally evil. An objectively evil act can never become good in spite
of the good motive.
3. Circumstances are the situational factors surrounding the concurrent of the act. These circumstances
may either increase or diminish our responsibility in doing the act.
Principles:
1. Every agent acts for an end.
2. The end does not justify the means.
3. The end is always first in intention, last in execution.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

What (Quid) - the nature of the act.

Who/Person/Doer (Quis) - the doer/agent and the recipient of the act.
Where/Place (Ubi) - the locus of the act or the place where the action took place.
By what means (Quidis Auxiliis) - the instrument used in the performance of the act.
Why (Cur) - the reason in doing the act.
How /Manner (Quomodo)- the process of performing the act.
When/Time (Quando) - the time element in the commission of the act.

Kinds of Circumstance
1. Aggravating - It intensifies the gravity of the act.
2. Mitigating - It lessens the culpability of the act. However, it is still culpable.
3. Exempting - There is culpability but not applicable for the given time.
4. Justifying - No more culpability involved.

Influences of circumstances of human acts: in positive sense, it can make better an act good or even
indifferent in its object. In negative sense, it can also make worse an act evil or indifferent in its object. It
can also make less good or less evil an act good in itself.
The act may be morally good, all three determinants must be without a flaw, according to the received
axiom: "Bonum ex integra causa, malum ex quocumque defectu," " A thing to be good must be wholly so;
it is vitiated by any defect."