CFED-2- Christian morality in our

times

Bachelor of Science in Nursing 1 (University of Saint

Louis)

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GOD’S JOURNEY WITH HIS PEOPLE

WEEK 1: INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN OUR TIMES

God created all things, (world and the human persons). They were in “paradise” which means,
there was harmony, justice, peace, and joy. Despite the very good conditions of life that they
were in, the first human beings (“Adam” and “Eve”) still committed sin.

Brief Historical Background of the Church

Sacrament: means channel, representative, visible sign of an invisible reality

God → Jesus → Church

The Sacrament of God is Jesus and the Sacrament of Jesus is the Church (John 20:21, Acts
1:8) The Church started as a religious renewal “movement”/group in Jerusalem, Israel by no other
than Jesus Christ. Jesus grounded the Church on the foundation of the Apostles and it spread from
Jerusalem to the Roman Empire world until throughout all the earth.

The first “name” of the Church was The Way (Acts 9:2). The members of the Church were
called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11: 26). The Church was persecuted by the Roman Empire
(which was still pagan) until the Conversion of the Emperor Constantine in 313 AD which paved the
way for Christians to infiltrate Rome until Christianity was declared as the official religion of the
Roman Empire in 380 AD by Emperor Theodosius.

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Way back in 45 AD, the first apostle who went to Rome and started the Church there was no
other than Peter. Later, reflecting on the mission of Jesus which He passed on to the Church, the
Church’s official “name” or title evolved into: One (John 17:21), Holy (Ephesians 1:4, 5:27, I Peter 2:9),
Catholic (Matthew 28: 18-20, Acts 1:8, Gen 12: 3, John 3: 16-17) and Apostolic (Ephesians 2:20 )

From the Church developed the Hierarchy (Bishops, priests, and deacons – with the Pope as the
overall head for the sake of division of work and maintaining the unity of the Church while it spreads the
Kingdom of God on earth.

From the Church comes the different “kinds” of priests according to spirituality or mission area.

a. Diocesan is a term use for priests serving their local places;

b. Monks: started in the 3rd century AD in Egypt and in Syria with a life of simplicity or asceticism.
Monks who are composed of sisters (not priests) only came out later. Example of few monks in
Cagayan who are sisters are those at the St. Claire monastery in Iguig

c. Missionaries are group/community of priests who really want to go to serve remote places not yet
evangelize.
Examples of missionaries are the following:
1. The Dominicans who was founded by St. Dominic in Prouille, France in 1216. (Dominic was a
Spanish priest).
2. The Augustinians which started in 1244 in Italy (group or no specific founder).
3. The Jesuits or called Society of Jesus who was founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola, formerly
a Spanish soldier who became priest.
4. The CICM and other missionary groups only came out later.

The CICM was founded by a diocesan priest Theophile Verbist in 1862 in Scheut, Anderlecht, Brussels,
Belgium.
So what is CICM?
So what is a CICM? It is just one of the missionary groups which is an arm of the Church for
evangelization.

One of the strategies for missionaries to evangelize people especially the youth to prepare them to become
also evangelizers in the future is to establish schools. With this, the missionary schools and even in the
schools established by the local Church, the core of the curriculum is the Christian Faith Education of the
young (children to college). In a wider sense, the Christian formation of the Community who are in the
school. The CICM established schools for such purpose. Here at the University of Saint Louis, our motto
for us to always remember this is “Mission and Excellence” and among the core values of our
University’s Vision-Mission, the first is Christian Living.

CICM-Philippines School Network: Vision-Mission

At the initiative of the Father,

Sent by the Son, Guided by the Spirit,

Inspired by Theophile Verbist our founder,

Who heard the call of the Lord
And left his country
To proclaim the Good News in China,

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Enlightened by those who preceded us
And who – like our founder-
Left their familiar surroundings
To follow Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word
By integrating themselves into a foreign culture,
And by living in solidarity with another people,

Enriched by those we serve,

Especially the poor who reveals to us the
sin of the world
And who help us discover the true meaning
Of God’s plan of love,

We CICM missionaries
Of different races and cultures
Live and work together as brothers
In order to bring the Good News of Jesus
Christ Wherever it is most needed.

We achieve our mission

When we facilitate
The encounter between Jesus Christ and the ‘nations’.

Our mission includes

Enabling people
To experience the coming of the Kingdom
-proclaimed by Jesus Christ-
In their own God-given context

USL’S VISION, MISSION, AND CORE VALUES

VISION
USL is a global learning community recognized for science and technology across all disciplines,
strong research, and responsive community engagement grounded on the CICM mission and identity for a
distinctive student experience.
MISSION
USL sustains a Catholic academic community that nurtures persons for community, church and
society anchored on CICM’s Missio et Excellentia.

EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND CORE VALUES

The University of Saint Louis upholds the philosophy that education is for building of self and
persons for the Church and the Society. Wisdom builds. To these ends, the following are the core values
of University of Saint Louis; integral in the formation of every member of the Louisian community.
1. Christian Living. We are witnesses to the Gospel values as taught and lived by Christ thus making
God’s love known and experienced by all.

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2. Excellence. We seek and maintain uncompromising standard of quality in teaching, learning,
service, and stewardship of school resources.

3. Professional Responsibility. We are committed to efficiently and responsibly apply the learned
principles, values and skills in the chosen field of discipline, taking initiative and command
responsibility in one’s professional advancement.

4. Social Awareness and Involvement. We engage ourselves with society by listening to the
prevailing issues and concerns in the society, thereby initiating and participating in constructive
and relevant social activities for the promotion of justice, peace and integrity of creation and for
people’s wellness and development consistent with the CICM charism.

5. Innovation, Creativity and Agility. We keep ourselves relevant and responsive to the changing
needs of our stakeholders by being flexible, solution oriented, and having cutting-edge decisions
and practices.

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WEEK 2: BASIC ASSUMPTIONS ON CHRISTIAN MORALITY

What is Morality?
The Descriptive title of our course is Christian Morality in Our Times. First, we have to
ask what is Morality? Basically, Morality is connected with norms. So, the next step is to ask
what is a norm?

Norm is a fundamental concept in the social sciences. It is commonly defined as rules or

standards that are socially enforced. In the ancient times, when there were no formal social
structures such as government and the Church; or when the different religions were not yet
organized as they are now, norms often come in the forms of customs, rituals, and traditions.
This was so since people would easily follow these standards if it becomes part of their lifestyles
until it becomes part of their way of living. In the Philippine context, respecting one’s parents
would be taught by saying “po” or “opo” to them, or by the practice of “pagmamano”.

Norms would only come in the forms of rules, regulations, or technically called law when
society became more socially organized in their government systems. When different societies
mature or develop, their moral standards would also become more organized, more so when they
realized how important is the laying out of the rules to govern human actions for the sustenance
of the peace and order in society which will pave the way for more social progress and further
developments. So, what is morality in a more technical definition?

Morality is a science that deals with the “quality” (goodness or badness) of human
acts/actions. “Science” generally means a field of study. So, morality will judge whether a
certain act or action is good or bad. How does morality judge human act/actions? Morality needs
basis/bases which are the rules or standards or technically called Law. In general, these rules or
standards or laws are called norms.

Our next question is, how did morality arrive with these norms? If the human person
came up with these norms or found these norms by thinking deeply/reflecting or so, called
philosophizing, then the process or the science is called Moral Philosophy. In other situations, if
the norms or rules were given or revealed by God or the Divine Being, the science is called
Moral Theology.

What is the difference between the two?

Moral Philosophy found out the norms or rules by using purely human reasoning or called
philosophizing, while in Moral Theology, these rules or norms were given or revealed by God.
An example of norms in Moral Theology is the Ten Commandments. So Moral Philosophy relies
on pure reasoning/deeply thinking while Moral Theology would depend on God’s revelation and
faith. Aside from Philosophizing and God’s Revelation, let us try to find out how others come up
with norms for the human person.

Source of Norms:
Three Bases in coming up with a good/right norm for human act/human life. Knowing the
Origin, Nature and the End/Destiny of the human person.

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The concepts of the Origin, Nature, and the Destiny of the Human Person and their serious
implications in coming up with moral norms.

1. The Concept of the Origin of the Human Person and all things that surround him/her.
Origin: God (man is a creature of God
: Apes (man came from apes)

Most if not all religions would strongly believe that all creation and the human person
came from a creator which we call "God" whether you call that God YHWH, Allah, Brahman,
Bathala, Kabuniyan or what so ever term which would indicate being all-powerful and other
traits expected of a supreme being.

Outside the realm of beliefs, some would strongly propose other theories for the origin of
the human person such as the theories that the human person evolved from other creatures or
animals or even product of purely natural happenings.

Serious Implications to Morality:

If you believe that the human person originated from a supreme being called person. An
example of this is the 10 Commandments in the case of Judaism or Christianity. The moral laws
will greatly respect the dignity of that "God" and the human person whom He also created. There
is what you call "fear of the Lord" as part of your moral norms.

For the second concept of the origin of the human person which suggests that we evolved
from other animals or just product of purely natural events, its moral norms will just depend on
the nature of the human person which will just be purely animal. With this, there will be no
higher dignity for the person to be respected and there will also be no fear or respect for a higher
being or higher authority which is called "God" So, you can just do whatever you want such as
easily manipulating others even to the point of killing fellow human persons since you may think
that man is the highest authority on earth.

2. Human Nature / Natural law (since man is part of the whole nature or Creation)
The same with the concept of the origin of the human person, one's concept/view of the nature of
the human person will also dictate what set of moral norms is being set to be followed or lived
by us humans.

Serious Implications to Morality:

As being explained above in the concept of the origin of all things, if you believe that we
are both bodily and spiritual beings since we are creations of God, then our moral norms will
flow from such concept, and if you just believe that we are purely animals, then our moral norms
will also flow from such view like treating us as purely animals.

3. Destiny / End / or the Ultimate Goal of human life

Different religions commonly believe that as we were created by a higher being or called
Supreme Being, we also have a good destiny prepared for us. We commonly believe that there is
a life after the death of our physical aspect. This is called "heaven" in Christianity, and other
religions have also their own terms for such a destiny for the human person.

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On the other way around, other people who do not believe in beings that are higher than the
human person will just say that there is no such thing as life after death. Death is the ultimate end
of the human persons.

Serious Implications to Morality:

The same with the case of the concept of the origin of all, the view for the end/destiny of
the human person will also dictate what set of moral norms is being laid for us. If you strongly
believe in the life after death and going there at the end of life requires good moral life, then we
have to do good in our lives to be able to attained such destiny. On the other hand, if there is no
noble end/destiny for the human person, then there are no such thing as moral norms. There will
be norms but they will greatly depend on the concept of the people who can manipulate the
others.

With the presentation of the different sources of moral norms, I hope it now clear to us
why there are norms or laws which we find not compatible what we believe especially with our
views on the origin and the destiny for the human person. There are also norms/laws which we
find not compatible with our basic nature as human persons. These norms which we strongly
believe as not good for us are what we call misconceptions on morality. So, coming up with
wrong' norms is a product of one's misconceptions of morality. The misconceptions on morality
are just product of the wrong concept of the origin, nature, and the destiny for the human person.

Summarizing what is being discussed above morality is centered on norms use to judge
human acts/actions or other practices of society whether they are good or bad. The nearest and
best basis to come up with moral norms is the nature of the human person and his/her
surroundings/environment since for some people the origin and destiny for the human person is
still unclear or for them others' belief on those matters is unacceptable.

As stated in the beginning of this discussion, for us Christians, the two basic ways on how we
arrived with our moral norms are Philosophy (Moral Philosophy) and Theology (Moral
Theology) Formally defining the two will be as follows: Moral Philosophy studies the goodness
and badness of human actions in the light of the highest principles based on human reason alone
While Moral Theology studies the goodness and badness of human actions in the light of
revelation (in the light of Christian' faith to attain his final goal).

Our course, Christian Morality is based on both Moral Philosophy and Moral Theology.
Christian Norms are product of these two fields of science.

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WEEK 3: HUMAN NATURE / THE HUMAN PERSON

Introduction
In our discussion last week, we mentioned the three bases on how morality came up with the
norms for the human person which are: the origin of all things, nature, and the destiny of all.
Among these three bases, the closes or nearest from which morality derived norms for the human
person is Nature. Nature in its totality refers to our environment as a whole, and since we are
living on earth or connected to mother nature/earth, we are essentially part of nature. With this,
we will discuss first the characteristics of the nature of the human person based on nature, after
which is his/her traits in a theological view and the last part will present some views about
his/her ultimate end/destiny.

Human Nature / The Human Person

Who or what is the Human person based on Nature?
Since the actions of the human person flows from what he/she is, we need to discuss his/her nature
by enumerating its essential characteristics.

1. Rational Being - The human person has intellect/mind/reason. She/he discovers things by
reason, and she/he is the only animal who knows the she/he knows. He/she thinks,
rationalize, reflect and other activities of the intellect.

2. Has Free-will. The human person is free/has freedom which means he/she has two or
more options or choices and also has will which is the power to act or not to act on his/her
choices. Will is the power to do or not to do or to act or not to act.

3. Has Conscience - is the practical judgement of the intellect on what is good or what is
bad, and is prompting the person to always do/follow what is good.

4. Loving being - Aside from the love between opposite sex which is designed for the
continuity of the human species, generally, loving means desiring the good of others.

5. Body - Person - We have a flesh (physical part), which connects us to the material world.
Our bodies (physical part) is dependent on nature/earth. Our bodies use the elements of
the earth. The death of mother earth will also be the death of our bodies.

6. Sexual - refers to being male or female which is intended for companionship and pro-
creation.

7. Unique Though Social - We are individuals and need independence but we are also
social being: live with others. These two are inseparable. We are individuals and need
independence but we also need the presence of others to complete ourselves.

8. Historical. We have continuity with the past.

9. Transcendental: We always aim higher, to surpass our achievements, since we are

longing for Completeness or total satisfaction/contentment. This also means that human
person has Metaphysical (meta = beyond) aspects such as intellect, emotion, conscience
and others.

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What is the Implication of the Human Nature to Morality?

Going direct to the point, what does your nature has to say to your actions? As we have
stated above, our actions flow from our nature. Example, if you are historical beings, then you
must learn from your past experiences; if you are a loving being, you must always desire what is
good for others; if you are a rational being, then you think before you act; if you are
transcendental, then you are not satisfied with your present achievements, or it will lead us to ask
and reflect that if we are transcendental, are we heading to a certain destiny?; if we are body
persons, do we need to take care of mother earth? and the likes. Among these traits of the nature
of the human person, which should regulate the others and his/her human actions/decisions?

Among the nine traits stated above, the one which should always regulate the others or
human actions which proceed from the other traits is Conscience. This is because using the other
traits like intellect or freewill alone without the intervention of Conscience can lead to misuse, or
abuse of human actions. Example is thinking, if you are problematic, you can think of some bad
actions as a solution to your problems which in the end is not the case, but it will just add or
complicate your problem.

Since we are Christian who strongly believe in the existence of a Creator (Theos or God)
as the origin of all and the proper destiny which this Creator prepared for us, we also need to
look at the other traits of the human person based on this perspective.

Who/What is the human person in a Theological Perspective/View?

1. Masterpiece of God (God’s Image and likeness): If we are the image and likeness of
God, means we reflect some of the important characteristics of God such as goodness,
loving, just, compassionate and many others. So, if God is good, then basically we are
also good; if God is just, we are also basically just, and others.

2. Fundamentally/innately good or moral being: No human person is bad or evil, only our
wrong actions are bad or evil and not the human person.

3. God’s partner/“co-creators” of God. God created the world and us as “incomplete” or

imperfect so our mission is to develop or bring ourselves and our world to perfection. This
is why we are called stewards of God’s creation. Part of our being “co-creators” of God is
our being sexual (male or female) which is design for pre-creation.

4. Rational being - has intellect or reasoning or mind.

5. Free-will - has freedom and will which he/she can use to act or not to act.

6. Brother’s keeper (social, and communal): we need to take care of others aside from
ourselves.

7. Weak/has fallen nature/“brokenness”: This is called original sin in Theology. In other

terms we may call this being “incomplete”, or “unfinished”. From this being incomplete
comes your mission which is to finish or complete yourselves. Point of reflection: What if
God created us as perfect beings, what will you do?

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8. Graced: this means we are aided/being assisted by God in our journey of bringing
ourselves to perfection. In the Catholic Church, God’s grace will come to us through the
Seven Sacraments and our other ways of connecting with our Creator.

9. Transcendental: this pushes us to look for the ultimate meaning of life and ultimately to
our God.

10. Children/family of God. We belong to the family of God, formally through Baptism.

11. Destined for the Kingdom. We have our destiny which we commonly call “heaven” or
“paradise” or in Jesus’ words called the Kingdom of God.

Basically, most of these traits of the human person in this Theological respective are the
same with those traits based on Nature since these are parts of the basic nature of the human
person. There are just other traits which are rooted in our connectedness with our Creator. So, for
its relevance to Morality, we have to ask the same question, what do these traits of the human
person in the Theological view say in how he/she should act or live?

The same answer, that these traits of the human person should strongly influence how
he/she acts or live his/her life. In the formulation of specific norms for the human person, these
traits should be strongly considered since these are the ones which will help direct the human
person to perfection/completeness or to his/her proper destiny which we call the Kingdom of
God.

The same clarification also that why do we need to formulate norms/rules/laws for the
human person if his/her nature should influence his/her actions? Well, there are many people
who abuse their other faculties like mind/intellect, freedom and others, and they also ignore
the very basic and immediate norm which is Conscience. This is why there are many norms or
set of norms laid for the good of the human person and one of the very basic set of norms is the
Ten Commandments.

With this, we hope that the sources of the norms of Morality is now very clear to us. For
a kind of widening of horizon, let us look on the other views in the destiny for the human person
since we also said earlier that the concept of the destiny is also one of the sources of the norms of
morality.

Some views in the Ultimate End/Destiny of the Human Person

Most if not all of these other views or concept of the destiny for the human person are just
product of philosophizing (Philosophy).

a. Hedonism
For this Philosophy, the ultimate goal for the human person is Happiness, and this happiness is
found in pleasure (“sarap”). So, “kung saan ang masarap, dun ang kasiyahan”. This pleasure is
sensual.

Therefore, for this certain philosophy, the norm for human action is to look for
pleasure/pleasurable things.

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b. Marxism: A philosophy by Karl Marx which looks at the human person as purely material
being or from mater and there are no such things as metaphysical aspects such as souls and also
God. This view just focused on the way of governance since it was more of a reaction to the
abuses of the democratic and other forms of governing people.

For Marxism, the ultimate goal of people is to have a Classes Society (no rich, no poor). This
was achieved in a communistic form of government. Development or progress must always be
for the common good/not individualistic. Norm: Do everything for the common good. Never
mind individual goals or individual progress, set aside yourselves. “all for one, one for all”.

c. Nihilism:
For this philosophy, the human person and his/her life has no ultimate meaning, no ultimate
value. If the human person and life is meaningless or no value at all, what is your norm for life
and for your action? Aside from having no definite norm, you reflect on the danger of this kind
of philosophy.

d. Christian view:
For Christianity, the ultimate goal/destiny for the human person is to enter the Kingdom or to
have eternal union/happiness with God.

Norm: Follow the teachings of God such as the Ten Commandments.

As you may have noticed in our discussion, the view of the nature of the human person
and his/her ultimate destiny plays a very crucial role in laying out norms for human actions or for
his/her way of living. As we have said in our past discussions, “wrong” concept of the nature and
the destiny for the human person cause a lot of misconceptions about morality and produces a lot
of wrong principles or norms. Examples of these wrong principles/norms of morality are the
following:

a. Morality is a matter of opinion. This means that moral norms are subjective; depends on
the person.
b. All opinions about morality are equal and correct. Therefore, all opinions should be
followed.
c. Morality is outside the world of practical people. Whatever impractical is not good.
d. Morality develops guilt and moral obligation which makes life unhappy. So, we need to
set aside moral norms.

Point for reflection: What are the possible or even probable things that will happen to people and
to society if all these wrong principles about morality are correct?

After discussing all the sources of norms for the human person and their serious implications if
there are misconceptions, our next question is, what should we really judge as good or bad? Is it
the human person or his/her qualities or traits or his/her actions? Reflect on this for our
discussion next meeting.

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WEEK 4: BASIC CONCEPTS IN MORALITY

What is Morality?

Morality is an encompassing concept that serves as the underlying force for every action of an
individual and of a society. Morality takes the crucial role of formulating, establishing and
setting ethical norms of conduct that govern behaviors and actions of an individual or group of
individuals in order to achieve harmony, unity, and order within a society.

Purposes of Morality:

Why do we need to follow certain standards or set of norms? In our past discussions, we
answered this by saying that we need norms since some of the faculties of the human person like
freedom and is/her passions can be exercised in an abusive manner or even destructive to the
person himself/herself and to others. Going deeper, why do we need to use our faculties in a wise
or good way? Will it lead us to a higher end? This will tell us that there are noble reasons why
we need to follow set of norms which are the following below:

A. For the Fullness of freedom – for the human person to be totally free
God created the human person as a rational being, conferring him/her dignity of an individual
who can initiate and control his/her actions. God willed that man/woman should be ‘left in the
hand of his/her own counsel’ so that she/he will, of his/her own accord, seek his/her Creator and
freely attain his/her full blessed perfection. Man/Woman is “rational and, therefore, like God.
He/She is created with free will and is master over his/her acts.” So, norms are not prohibitions
or imprisonment for the human person but are guide for him/her to be totally free.

To clarify this, what will happen to you if you do whatever you want? This is the young’s
perception of freedom. If I will do whatever I want, like I will just steal others’ property or even
kill someone, what will happen to me? It is either I will end up in the prison cell or I will go
hiding. Doing whatever I want will make me unfree. So, freedom does not mean I will do
whatever I want, but I will always do anything so long as it is good for me and for others.
Freedom is aimed at the perfection of the human person.

B. A guide to the Fullness of Human Development

Moral development is part of human development. Moral development is the process through
which children develop proper attitudes and behaviors toward other people in society, based on
social and cultural norms, rules, and laws.

Moral development is a concern for every parent. Teaching a child to distinguish right from
wrong and to behave accordingly is a goal parenting.

So, developments whether scientific, social, economic and others should always follow norms of
morality or else, they are aimed for destruction of many things as mentioned above.

C. A Guide towards Reality (truth of things, life)

Morality is a guide for the human person to discover reality or the truth of things, and of life.
This will lead the human person to discover the hierarchy of values until the ultimate value of
life and of all things. So, this will help the human person to set his/her priorities in life until
her/his attainment of the ultimate goal which is the eternal union and happiness with his/her
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Creator.

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E. The Entrance of Eternal Life into the Life of the Human Person
After following the moral norms, discovering the truth and real value of all things, and bringing
himself/herself to perfection, the human person will be able to reach his/her final destiny which
is to enter the kingdom of God. Morality reveals and leads the human person to his/her ultimate
end/destiny.

After finding out the purposes of MORALITY, let us go back to the causes why there is
morality, although, there were implied in the discussions above, we will enumerate and briefly
explain them for clarification purpose.

MORALITY PRESUPPOSES the following:

1. The existence of God

Morality points us to the existence of the Creator of all things who is totally good and
perfect and whom we call “God”. Since this creator is totally good or perfect, He/She
also gave us am guide to attain total goodness or perfection.

2. Intellect and Free Will

Intellect, freedom, will, and passions needs moral norms so for them not to be abuse,
misuse or overuse.

3. Ultimate Destiny
As discussed above, moral norms are guides for the human person to attain his/her
ultimate destiny which is the Kingdom of God or eternal happiness with God.

4. Accountability to an Ultimate value

Morality tells us that there are ultimate values or ends that we will be accountable
(responsible) or we will face the consequence later if we do not follow the norms. This
ultimate value is our final destiny which is the Kingdom of God.

Object of Morality

We have been talking about norms, rules, standards or laws of which is being use by morality to
judge our actions. To clarify this, what does morality judge as good or bad? Is it the human
person or his actions? It is the action of the human person. To be very specific, what kind of
action needs to be judge as good or bad? There are two kinds of acts which are the so-called
human acts and acts of man. Which of these two should be moralized? While human acts and
acts of man both pertain to the actions or behaviors of an individual or group of individuals, they
must be clearly delineated in order to discern which brings moral responsibility.

Human Acts are actions that are proper to humans, thus the crucial element of willful consent
and knowledge of the action must be present. One must freely use his/her intellect and freewill
when acting. Human acts reveal the value of responsibility or accountability. Eating healthy
foods, reading notes in preparation for an exam, and saying no to drugs are just few examples.

Acts of Man are the actions that do not reflect the person as a rational being. The actions are
performed without conscious deliberation or knowledge and with the absence of freewill. Acts of
man constitute unconscious and involuntary actions. Examples are one’s way of sleeping,
suddenly catching a falling object, one’s way of walking, reacting instinctively when touching a

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very hot surface, and the likes. These are done without the use of freewill and reason. Some of
these just happen naturally as automatic responses to the situations.

HUMAN ACTS ACTS OF MAN

Deliberate Indeliberate
Free Not free
Voluntary Involuntary
Conscious “Unconscious”
Willful Unwillful
Known “Unknown”
Aware “Unaware”

Constituents of Human Acts

1. Human acts are known and deliberate. An individual, as the moral agent, has full
knowledge in doing a certain action. There is a prior knowledge and a deliberate
evaluations whether to do an action or not.

2. Human acts are free. An individual as the moral agent is free from any external factors
as well as internal pressure to do the act. He/She is neither forced nor intimidated to do or
not to do something.

3. Human acts are voluntary. The actions proceeds from the willingness of an individual to
perform action with a perceived knowledge of the end.

With the given distinction above, it is now very clear that we cannot moralize acts of man but
the Human Acts. Morality therefore covers human acts and not acts of man.

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WEEK 5: KINDS OF VOLUNTARY ACTS IMPEDIMENT OF HUMAN

ACTS PRINCIPLE OF DOUBLE EFFECT STOP PRINCIPLE
Introduction:
Last week, we made it clear that what we moralize or judge as good or bad is the human act and
not the acts of man nor the person who is the doer of the action. In the ancient time when there were no
formulated norms yet which we now call law/s, what were their bases or norms to judge people's actions
or practices? Let us first look at the etymology of the word morality or moral. The word “moral”
originated from the Latin word "mores" which means manner or custom/s which are widely used within a
particular society or culture. So, the norms for people at that time were the established practices called
customs. Example in the Philippine context, people do not state the rule such as “honor your
parents/elders" but they teach us the customs on how to do such like saying "po or opo” or “pagmamano”
and others.

Even in ways of dressing, our elders had their customs on how to do it to be respectful and others.
So, it is now clear to us that the customs set by our elders before were the norms for people to live a good
life and to have a good relationship with one another. From its etymology, moral means good, if you put a
prefix "im", immoral means bad. There are actions which ore generally not judge as good nor bad, this is
called amoral or indifferent act. Amoral or indifferent acts are the some with the acts of man. Therefore, if
you follow the norms of society which in the ancient time were customs, traditions, and other practices,
then your action is good, if not then what you are doing is bad.

What is lacking on the norms set by our elders during their time? They are just general guidelines
on how people should live a good life and how to sustain good relationship with each other. There is no
criteria on how are we going to moralize or judge very specific human action to see if they are really good
or bad. Even most of our laws today are still too general as bases to moralize human actions. They cannot
give an exact judgment or exact amount or degree of reward or penalty which corresponds to the action
committed. With this, we need specific criteria.

ELEMENTS IN DETERMINING THE MORALITY OF HUMAN ACTS

1. The Act (The Object)

There are actions that the act itself will reveal if it is good or bad. There is no need for norms or rules
to base on to see their quality. Examples: killing, stealing, cheating; these acts are clearly or
obviously bad. Praying, attending the holy mass; these actions are obviously good.

2. Purpose or Intention (The End of the act) – WHY?

A lot of our action is done with an intention or purpose – the reason behind the act. Although
generally we do things with a good intention, there are also instances where some will really do an
action with bad intention.

3. Circumstance (involves: place, time, person, manner)

It plays an important role in affecting the morality of an action because human acts are performed at a
definite time and place, in a particular manner, for a certain reason, etc. all of which, in one way or
another, increase or diminish the responsibility of the action. Circumstance can make a good action
evil, as when a guard on duty goes to sleep.

PRINCIPLES FOR JUDGING THE MORALITY OF HUMAN ACTS

(Application of the three criteria above)

1. An act is morally good if the 3 (Act, Purpose and Circumstance) are substantially
good. Examples: Helping, studying, working, etc.

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2. If one of the three is evil, the act is evil.
Helping one to steal, studying how to easily kill someone (what is evil here is the intention)

3. Circumstance may create. Mitigate or aggravate sin/culpability.

Circumstance can create, lessen or increase or even remove one’s capability (guilt, penalty)
Example: walking on a newly cemented area is bad since alam na this, how about if the one who
walked on that area is a two years old girl? Will you moralize her action? Of course not.

4. For amoral act or indifferent act, its morality will be judge by its purpose and circumstance.
Ex. Throwing a stone, walking, etc. how about if one intentionally stepped on the newly cemented
area? Obviously, such action is bad.

5. An act which is intrinsically evil is not morally allowed regardless of any circumstance.
Ex. Killing suicide adultery, rape, and the likes.

a) A good act done for a bad end becomes bad.

Example: politicians who gave relief goods to people who were greatly affected by the mass
flooding taking advantage of the situation to campaign for the election.
b) A bad act done for a good end does not become good.
Example: when a father put the justice into his hands and kills the murderer of his daughter to
take revenge for her death.
c) The end does not justify the means. (The end purpose does not justify the means or manner)
This is almost the same with letter b. no matter how good the purpose is if the manner or way
or act is bad then it is not morally allowed.
Example: a student cheats during examination to pass and obtain scholarship in a university.
Recall also the Robin hood story.
d) An indifferent act may become morally good or bad. (Depending on the purpose/intention)
Example: To study law is in itself an indifferent action. It becomes good when inspired by the
thought of alleviating human sufferings or making a decent living. It becomes bad if it is
intended to perform illegal or immoral actions.
An elder brother who puts hot sauce on a cake before giving it to a begging younger brother, so
that the younger brother will not ask for more, and the elder can have the cake all to himself.
e) Choose the lesser evil (if no other options or it is the last resort)
This is only allowed if there are no other options and the situation is a matter of life and death
where you need to decide at that very moment.

OTHER MORAL PRINCIPLES BASED ON THE THREE

CRITERIA OF MORALITY
Why not give the same punishment for the same crimes?

Aside from the purpose and circumstance which can lessen or increase the culpability of a bad
action. There are also other factors which affect the manner or the reason why a person
committed such an act. Not all acts are done perfectly by the doer/ agent. There are the so-
called kinds of human act or specifically called of voluntary act.

WILLFUL
HUMAN ACTS
KNOW

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KINDS OF VOLUNTARY ACT

1. Perfect Voluntary act – the act done with full knowledge and full consent.
2. Imperfect V.A – the act is done with some defect in the knowledge or consent.
3. Simple V.A – the act is done by the agent because he/she simply likes doing it.
4. Conditional V.A – the act is done with a condition. “if”
5. Direct V.A – the act is intended by the agent.
6. Indirect V.A – the act is not intended by the agent but an affect or result of the act which is
directly intended.
Example: I intentionally threw a stone to the window but it bounced back and hit my playmates.
7. Actual V.A – the act is spontaneous: an act is a result of an intention done here and now.
8. Virtual V.A – an act done is a result of a previous intention (which may have been forgotten) – it
is like the act is planned.
9. Habitual V.A – the act done is a result of habit.
10. Interpretative V.A – an act influenced by an intention which is presumed (interpreted) to be
present in an agent who lacks the ability to express his actual intention. Example: a mute person
is asking you something through sign language, and you are the one who will interpret what
he/she is asking and you did or gave it.

These kinds of voluntary act are great factors

which will affect the judgment of a certain action.

Point for reflection: which of these kinds of

Voluntary Act is the most culpable if the act committed
is bad?

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WEEK 6: IMPEDIMENTS TO HUMAN ACTS

Principle of Double
Effect STOP Principle

IMPEDIMENTS TO HUMAN ACTS

Human action, through naturally a product of will and reason, are sometimes influenced by many
factors.

These factors can intervene and bar one’s actions from being human or contribute to the
reduction of the quality of the quality of a certain action. Since they can bar one’s faculties like
the mind in performing a human act, these are called impediments to human acts. These
impediments reduce the quality of human acts and so affects the judgment or morality of human
acts.

1. IGNORANCE
Ignorance – pertains to the lack of pertinent information as to the nature,
circumstances and effect of a certain action. Either in commission or omission, the
willful lack of initiative to properly understand the whole picture of the circumstance
affects the moral quality of an action.

Ignorance takes place when an individual consciously proceeds to act on a certain matter
without due consideration of the relevant or necessary information related to it. Usually,
this takes place when someone unconsciously violates certain rules and regulations.
When asked to be made responsible for the action committed, one asserts that he/she
must not be held accountable since he/she was unaware that such was a violation. This
example is a clear manifestation on how ignorance… (sadyang walang katuloy
ito,,hanggang dito lang nasa module)

Ignorance is classified into:

a) Invincible ignorance – this refers to a total ignorance of the person about the
circumstance and other factors surrounding the action that he/she committed. This
total ignorance is unintentional.

b) Vincible ignorance – this is an ignorance that can be dispelled/removed or learned

through ordinary efforts, conscientiousness and proper diligence. There are two
forms of vincible ignorance:
 Crass ignorance (lack of effort) – happens when a person exerts little effort
to dispel his ignorance.
 Affected ignorance – is willful act of asserting one’s ignorance in order to
plead innocence to a charge of guilt in doing or not doing an act. The act is
pretended. An example is a student who pretends not to know the school’s
policy on proper haircut when confronted by the guards.

Morality of actions done under ignorance:

 Wrong actions done under invincible ignorance is not culpable; because of one’s
unintentional total ignorance.
Example: a person who does not know how to read and write caught for jaywalking.
You cannot penalize him/her since he/she is totally ignorant about the norm.
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 Wrong action done under Crass ignorance is culpable but the culpability can be
lessened. This is so, since the person exerted little effort to dispel his/her ignorance
despite the opportunities to do so.

 Bad action done under Affected Ignorance is totally culpable. In fact, the
culpability could increase since the person just pretended his/her ignorance.

2. CONCUPISCENCE
Happens when inordinate passion hinders one to exercise correct reasoning. Passions are
the emotional elements such as pride, anger, love, joy, and the likes. Concupiscence
happens when these passions push the person in doing a certain act without the
intervention of reasoning or mind.

Examples: suddenly punching someone out of wrath, destroying someone’s image out of
envy, having pre-Marital sex with someone due to being in loved, etc.

Two kinds of concupiscence (ante = before, consequent = after)

a) Antecedent concupiscence- a spontaneous inordinate passion influences an action
before it is controlled by the will. The act abruptly or suddenly happens. This is
called “gavva lang” in ibanag
For example, Juan was allegedly running late for his class. When he entered the
school campus, the guard confiscated his ID for no apparent reason. Out of anger,
he cursed the guard.

b) Consequent concupiscence – happens when the intellect is aware of the

inordinate passion and the will still choses to arouse the said passion and proceed
with the act. So, it is pre-meditated. Example: you got angry with your classmates
and after many hours or even a day, you did not calm your anger and still wanted
to punch your classmates and you did it.

Morality of actions done under concupiscence

 Bad actions done under Antecedent Concupiscence are still culpable but the
culpability can be lessened or can even be negated. This is so since the action was
abrupt and so not intentional.

 Bad actions done under Consequent Concupiscence are totally culpable.

3. FEAR
Fear – happens when the individual is threatened by impending danger. The existence of
danger or threats can limit one’s ability to use the will and reason and merely acts base on
the instinct to survive or overcome the situation. There are two kinds of fear.

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Two kinds of fear

a) Light fear: the impending danger or threat is light or somewhat like remote.
Example is, your classmates tells you that he will slap you if you will not give in
to his demand.
b) Grave fear: the impending danger or threat is so serious like a matter of life and
death choices. Example is when your classmate demands something from you his
gun pointed at your head.

Morality of actions done under fear

 Bad action done with light or grave fear are both culpable. This is because, despite
the presence of the threat, one can still choose to do what he/she prefers to do,
although the consequence can really affect the decision.

Point to ponder: which is more culpable? Bad action done under light fear or under grave fear?
Which culpability can be lessened? Bad action done under light fear or under grave fear?

4. VIOLENCE
Violence – (physical attack) is the application of physical force upon a resisting person to
compel him/her to do or not to do an act like protecting oneself and others. There are two
persons involve here, the one who attacks and the one who defends her/himself. What we
judge here is the reaction of the one being attacked since the act of the one who attacks is
understood as bad.

Self-defense is a classic example for violence. With the presence of fear, one has to
protect himself/herself against his/her perpetrator. Self-defense means, there is no
intention to kill one’s perpetrator but only to defend oneself.

Morality of actions done under violence

 If you are the act of defending yourself against your perpetrator like a rapist or
killer or kidnapper and unintentionally, you killed him/her, are you culpable? Of
course not, but if you intended to kill your perpetrator while defending yourself,
then you are culpable although your culpability can be lessened.

5. HABIT
Habit – firm and stable behavior pattern of acting. An individual naturally and
consciously, although most often unconsciously performs through time. With the
presence of habit, an individual act based on his/her repeated responses to situations.

Good habits are called virtues while bad habits are vices. Obviously, we only moralize
bad habits and not the good one’s examples of your habits is speaking bad words as
reaction to situations, like “ko diablo” or “ diablo ka ko” or “pesti”, or always causing
trouble in a party when drunk, etc.

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Morality of actions done under bad habits
 Bad action done because of habit are culpable. The culpability is lessened only
when the person exerts utmost effort to free himself/herself from a vicious habit.

The S-T-O-P Principle

There is one good practice which is very helpful in dealing with passions and dilemmas or
problems in life. This is called the STOP principle.

S T
Search for the fact/s. study what is the Think for alternatives. This is necessary
issue behind one’s problems or dilemmas if your proposed action is not clear or not
and other related situations. sure.
O P
Others are to be considered for advice. Pray for guidance and wisdom. Pray to
Ask others’ advice or suggestions if you God for enlightenment about the issue or
are hard up. problem.

*One should apply STOP if one is doubting, confused, emotionally disturbed, things are unclear
etc.

General Moral Principle Point to ponder

One should not act nor decide if one is What will happen or what could be the
doubting, confused, emotionally probable result if one acts immediately
disturbed, problematic, things are unclear when he/she is still confuse, problematic
and other same circumstances. or controlled by passions? What is the
worst thing that one can do if he will
act under these circumstances?

DOUBLE EFECT
What is double effect?
There are actions which have two effects (good and bad)

Question:
When are you allowed to proceed with an action with these two effects?

Principle of Double Effect

One is allowed to do an act with two effects (good and bad) under the following conditions.

1 2 3 4

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The act must be The evil effect There must be a The intention of
good or at least must not precede sufficient reason to the agent is honest.
morally the good effect or do the act. There should be no
indifferent. at least they should Sufficient to do the other intention
happen act means like than to do good
simultaneously. So, helping one to like the ones
the good effect escape death or mentioned as
must come first escape danger and sufficient reasons
before the bad the likes. above.
one if ever.

EXAMPLE
An example of this is a physician/doctor operating a pregnant woman with the expected effects
if ever like the mother might die in the process or the baby in her womb might die or even the
two might die. Point to ponder: what should be the intention of the physician in proceeding with
the operation? Should he/she intend to save only the mother, or the baby, or both, or kill both or
what?

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