UNIVERSITY OF SAINT LOUIS
Tuguegarao City
SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, ARTS and SCIENCES
Department of Philosophy and Religious Instructions
Second Semester
A.Y. 2021-2022
CORRESPONDENCE LEARNING MODULE
CFED 1023 - Christian Morality in Our Times
Prepared by:
IRENE BAUTISTA
THELMA BARICAUA
NICHOLE MAE LOZADA
ARISTOTLE MIGUEL MAGGAY
RAY OBISPO
WILSON TEMPORAL
CHARISSA ZALUN
Reviewed by:
WILSON J. TEMPORAL, LPT, MST
DPRI Department Head
Recommended by:
VENUS I. GUYOS, Ph.D.
Academic Dean
Approved by:
EMMANUEL JAMES PATTAGUAN, Ph.D.
Vice President for Academic
School of Education, Arts and Sciences
Department of Philosophy and Religious Instruction
Second Semester A.Y. 2021-2022
CORRESPONDENCE LEARNING MODULE
CFED 1023 (Christian Morality in Our Times)
This Weeks’ Time Table: (February 7- 12, 2022)
For this week, the following shall be your guide for the different lessons and tasks that you need to accomplish.
Oops! Be patient, read them carefully before proceeding to the tasks expected of you.
HAVE A FRUITFUL LEARNING EXPERIENCE
Date Topics Activities or Tasks
February 7 Determinants of Morality Read and Internalize Lesson
February 8-9 Other Moral Principles Read and Internalize Lesson
February 10-11 Kinds of Voluntary Acts Read and Internalize Lesson
February 12 Submission of learning tasks Accomplish the learning task in the Activity
portion of this module
Lesson 4: KINDS OF VOLUNTARY ACT
IMPEDIMENTS OF HUMAN ACTS
PRINCIPLE OF DOUBLE EFFECT
STOP PRINCIPLE
Topics: Determinants of Morality
Other Moral Principles
Kinds of Voluntary Acts
Learning Outcomes: At the end of this module, you are expected to:
a. Explicate the Determinants of Morality;
b. Come up with a morally sound judgement of the different acts that you do; and
c. Differentiate the different kinds of voluntary acts.
LEARNING CONTENT:
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 are
generally not judge as good nor bad, this is called amoral or indifferent act. Amoral or indifferent acts are the
same 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 actions 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
There are three determinants of morality for us to assess the quality of human actions.
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 a bad intention.
Example: helping is generally good, but some people will help a poor girl with the intention of seducing her; then,
helping which was supposed to be a good action became bad in that instance. Studying is also good; but how
about studying how to make a bomb to kill people whom you envy? This is how crucial the intention is as part of
the criteria in moralizing human acts.
3. Circumstance (involves: place, time, person, manner)
This refers to the persons involved, the time, place, and occasion that surround the act. In other words, it
answers the questions: ‘WHO’, ‘WHEN’, ‘WHERE’ and ‘HOW’. This can change or completely alter the moral
quality of a human act. Circumstance is a condition modifying human actions, either by increasing or diminishing
the moral responsibility. 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. It can increase or minimize the guilt of the individual as when a student lies
to his/her teacher when he/she cheats. Since all human actions occur at a certain time and place, the
circumstance must always be considered in evaluating the moral quality of any human act.
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.
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 culpability (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.
Other Moral Principles Based on the Three Criteria of Morality
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 or 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
Robinhood 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.
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 kinds of
voluntary act
WILLFUL
HUMAN ACTS
KNOWN
KINDS OF VOLUNTARY ACT
1. Perfect Voluntary act - the is 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 effect 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 judgement of a certain action.
Point for Reflection: Which of these kinds of Voluntary Act is the most culpable if the act committed is bad?
*****END OF LESSON*****
REFERENCES:
Books:
Living A Christian Moral Life (150 years of CICM in the Philippines) by CICM Philippines
Salbay, Esteban Jr., (2008). Christian Morality in Contemporary Society. C & E Publishing, Inc.
Online References:
BBC Ethics Guide: The Doctrine of Double Effect. Retrieved February 10, 2021 from
[Link]
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