This document discusses key concepts in ethics including: 1. Modifiers of human acts refer to factors like ignorance, passions, fear, and habits that can increase or decrease the accountability of a person's actions. 2. The ends or purposes of human acts are important in ethics - acts are aimed at achieving some goal or purpose. Common errors involve believing things like money or popularity constitute happiness. 3. Determinants of morality include aspects of the act itself, the motive or purpose, and surrounding circumstances that contribute to an act's nature and accountability. Intrinsic acts are wrong by their very nature while extrinsic acts are not inherently evil but still prohibited.

1. QUIZ
1. Refers to the characteristic way of acting
2. He said that “to know the purpose of life, one
must assume that there is a God”
3. Means that the person performing the act is
liable for such act
4. The shared consciousness of prudent people
about propriety of a certain action
5. It Posited that “Man is matter and does not
have spiritual dimension”
6. A deliberate, intentional, or voluntary actions
7. The selection of the will of those means
effective enough to carry out the intention
8. It begins with the assumption that God is the
Supreme lawgiver
9. The science of the morality of human act
10. These are indifferent actions
1. Ethos
2. Bertrand
Russell
3. Imputability
4. Dictates of
Reason
5. Atheistic
Principle
6. Human Act
7. Election
8. Theistic
Approach
9. Ethics
10. Amoral

2. OBJECTIVES
1. Define the concept “Modifiers” in relation
to Human Acts
2. Explain the various Modifiers of Human
acts
3. Explain the principle ‘ignorantia legis non
excusat”
4. Explain what is “Ends of an act”
5. Names some errors concerning Happiness
6. Understand the “Summum Bonum”
principle
7. Explain the determinants of Morality
8. Define what is a law and describe its various
types

3. THE
MODIFIERS
OF
HUMAN ACTS

4. “The greater the
knowledge and
the freedom, the
greater the
voluntariness and
the moral
responsibility”ALFREDO
PANIZO
EXAMPLE:
K: “thou shall not kill”
Art. III Sec 1
F: should I kill him or
not?
V: I will kill him!
MR: criminal offense
either murder or
homicide

5. MODEFIERS
of
HUMAN ACT
Somebody or something that makes slight
changes to something, especially to
improve
• Ignorance
• Passions
• Fear
• Violence
• Habit
•Factors that influence
man’s inner disposition
towards certain actions
•They affect the mental
or emotional state of a
person to the extent that
the voluntariness
involved in an act is
either increased or
decreased
•This is significant
because the
accountability of the act
is correspondingly
increased or decreased

6. IGNORANCE
Refers to the
absence of
knowledge
which a person
ought to possess
VINCIBLE
IGNORANCE
Can easily be
reminded through
ordinary diligence
and reasonable
efforts
INVINCIBLE
IGNORANCE
Ignorance
possesses by a
person without
being aware of it
or having
awareness of it
but lacks the
means to rectify it
AFFECTED
IGNORANCE
Is a vincible
ignorance which a
person keeps by
positive efforts in
order to escape
responsibility or
blame
EXAMPLE:
If you forgot the number
of your gf, there is a way
to find it by asking her
friends
EXAMPLE:
If you gave your friend a
leftover food not
knowing it was already
spoiled causing her to
vomit intensely
EXAMPLE:
A refusal to read the student
handbook accurately so that
he may be exempt from its
requirement i.e. prescribed
uniform

7. “IGNORANCE OF
THE LAW EXCUSES
NO ONE”
This implies that one
should not act in the
state of ignorance and
that one who has done
a wrong may not claim
ignorance as a defense
EXAMPLE:
Non-Smoking policy in any
public places in Davao City
LOGIC
Illiteracy is not an excuse to abide by the non-smoking policy in
any public places in Davao City
Pedro, an illiterate lumad from Calinan was caught smoking
along the premises of SM Mall
Therefore, he is not excused to abide by the said policy on the
ground of illiteracy

8. UNDESIRABLE
or NEGATIVE
Hatred, horror,
sadness, despair,
fear and anger
DESIRABLE or
POSITIVE
EMOTION
Love, desire, delight,
hope, and bravery
Also known as
concupiscence
which refers to
either tendencies
towards or away
from undesirable or
harmful objects
PASSION
ANTECEDENT
Those that
precede an
act and may
happen that
a person is
emotionally
aroused to
perform an
act
PRINCIPLE
Antecedent
passions do
not always
destroy
voluntariness,
but they
diminish
accountability
for the
resultant act
CONSEQUENT
Those that
are
intentionally
aroused and
kept and said
to be
voluntary in
cause, the
result of the
will playing
the strings of
emotions
PRINCIPLE
Consequent
passions do
not lessen
voluntariness,
but may even
increase
accountability
LOGIC
CRIME OF PASSION
Emotionally Motivated Crime
a crime that is motivated by an
extreme emotion, especially sexual
jealousy
Voluntariness: getting a knife or
a gun
Accountability: not murder
LOGIC
Clause Expressing Condition
the first part of a conditional
proposition, which states the
condition and is the p component
in a proposition phrased
"if pthen q”
LOGIC
Second Half of Conditional
Sentence
the part of a conditional sentence
that expresses the result and is
the q clause in a proposition of
the form
"if p then q"
LOGIC
REVENGE
the punishment of
somebody in retaliation for
harm done
Voluntariness: plan of
action
Accountability: murder

9. FEAR
The disturbance of the
mind of a person who is
confronted by an
impending danger or harm
to himself or love ones
It is also refers to an
instinct for self-
preservation
Acts done with
fear are
voluntary
Acts done
because of
intense fear or
panic are
involuntary
PRINCIPLES
SELF DEFENSE
defense of one's person or
property from threatened
violence or injury by the
exercise of force

10. 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
• Examples are torture,
maltreatment,
isolation, mutilation,
massacre
HABITS
• Defined as a lasting
readiness and
facility, born of
frequently
repeated acts, for
acting in a certain
manner
• Requires
inclinations
towards something
to be done,
performed with
relative ease

11. THE ENDS OF THE HUMAN ACT
The very reason why man act is to attain his personal aim and
he enjoys it. Ends means the purpose or goal of an act
It is that which completes or finishes an act
END OF THE ACT
The natural
termination of
activity
END OF THE DOER
The personal
purpose intended
by the person
performing the act
also known as the
driving force or
motive of an
action

12. “every human activity is intended for the attainment of good and
this must be objectively genuine, but as free agent, man is able to set
his choice on mere apparent goods and false values”
ARISTOTLE
Money can buy
happiness
Health equates with
happiness
Earthly pleasures is
happiness
Popularity, power and
influence is happiness
Full dedication to
science and arts
Promotion to top
government or business
position
SOME ERRORS CONCERNING HAPPINESS

13. SUMMUM BONUM
“God is the Infinite
good and the
greatest good to be
attained as the
ultimate end which
is the real
happiness”
ST. THOMAS
AQUINAS

14. LAW
DIVINE
POSITIVE
Is an ordinance of reason
promulgated for the common
good by one who has charge of
society
AQUINAS
HUMAN
POSITIVE
Are those
promulgated
Or made
known to us
by special
command
of God
Are those
promulgated
By a legitimate
Human
authority
either in the
State
Or in the
Church

15. THE DETERMINANTS OF MORALITYTHEACTINITSELF
Refers to the
nature of an act
which is either
extrinsic or
intrinsically evil
THEMOTIVEOF
THEACT
The purpose
which the doer
wishes to achieve
by such action
CIRCUMTANCESOF
THEACT
Refers to the
event of an act
which occur in a
definite time and
place and
accompanied by
certain elements
which contribute
to the nature and
accountability of
such act
INTRINSIC EVIL ACT
Is one which by its
nature, that is by its
functional purpose, is
wrongful or an act that
is evil by nature
EXTRINSIC EVIL ACT
Is one which by its
nature is not really evil,
although good or
indifferent in itself ,
however prohibited by
human law
“THE END JUSTIFY THE
MEANS”
NICOLLO MACHIAVELLI

16. Human laws must
conform with divine
laws
Human laws must
promote the
common good
Human laws must be
just and not
discriminatory of
certain individuals
or groups
PROPERTIES
OF
HUMAN LAWS