special lesson double effect(limited coverage)

8/20/2019 Special Lesson Double Effect(Limited Coverage)

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The Human Person and

Human Acts: Human Act (actus

humanus) “any thought, word,

deed, desire, oromission which comesfrom a person actingwith full knowledge,who is free to act,

and gives full assent to the will to act

Act of !an (actushominis) “indeli"erate,

involuntary, not free,not under one#scontrol, and "eyondthe mind and will

$pontaneous"iological%sensualprocesses

&ithout use of reason

'irst reactions

'orced acts


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Human Acts:&hat maes upa Human Act*

There are + constituentprinciples for an act to "e

“human and therefore

su"ect to moral udgment

1. Knowledge - conscious of the act

2. Freedom - consent of the free will fromany e.ternal%internal compulsion

3. Voluntariness - when an act is "oth the o"ect and e/ect of the will(“voluntary)


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Human Acts: 02&34564 7 The

faculty of thought

The intellect discerns ina given o"ect "oth perfection andimperfection, "oth good

and evil, and thereforepresents it to the will asdesira"le in one respectand undesira"le inanother


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Human Acts: '94452! 7 The a"ility

to act without

restraint ;n the conte.t of

internal control,freedom is also nown

as self7determination,individual sovereignty,or autonomy


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5eterminants of !orality

of human acts: Primary source for the

udgment on the moralityof an act

4ither morally good, evilor indiferent &hile an act can "e

indi/erent in its o"ect,consideration ofcircumstances and

intention modiFes themorality of the entire act 'rinci(le: no

purpose%intention of theagent ("e it ever sogood) can permit a

morally evil o"ect

O)*+%! of theHuman Act:

“the e/ect which an action

primarily and directly causes (nis operis)

“Always and necessarily theresult of the act, inde(endent

of any circumstances or ofagent#s intention


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of human acts: =ircumstance of Person

5oer and%or receiver ofthe act

“A good act can "ecome

"etter, or a "ad act can"ecome worse "y thereason of the doer o theact

“A good act can "ecome"etter, or a "ad act can"ecome worse "y the

reason of the person towhom the act is done =ircumstance of Place

Particular space orlocality where the act isdone or performed

%I#%,S!"N%+S of the Human Act:

“conditions outside the actthat add%lessen the

voluntariness%freedom of act

'erson (&ho*), 'lace (&here*),!ime (&hen*), ,anner (How*),%ondition of "gent (&hy*),

!-e t-ing itself (&hat), ,eans (y what means*)


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of human acts: =ircumstance of Time

4.act or deFnitemoment or hour when

the act is performed =ircumstance of

!anner The way the agent

manages to do his%her

act (How did the agentdo the act*)

=ondition of the Agent ;n what condition was

the agent when he%she

performed the act*

=ircumstance of thething itself $pecial Iuality of the

o"ect

The !eans “y what means*

and “y whose help*


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of human acts: 1 “An act which is good in

itself and is done for a goodend "ecomes doul/good

An agent who performs agood act for a goodpurpose receives merits forthe good act another set ofmerits for his goodpurpose%intention

“An act which is "ad initself and is done for a "ad

end "ecomes doul/ ad An agent who performs a

"ad act "ecause he%shewants to achieve a "adend, or has "ad intention islia"le%responsi"le on twocounts

IN!+N!ION of the Human Act:

“The goal which the agentaims to achieve through

his%her act

“the reason0(ur(ose why theagent does the act (movementof the will towards the act)


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of human acts: + “An act which is good

in itself and is done witha "ad intention "ecomes

"ad The act is already good initself "ut due to "adpurpose, it "ecomes "ad

8 “An act which is "adin itself and is done with

a good end does not"ecome good o good end can change a

"ad act into somethinggood for the simplereason that the end

cannot ustify the means

However, while an agent

cannot change the "adact into something good,

it can ree the agent

rom his responsibility orat least lessen theagent’s culpability.


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of human acts:


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Principle of 5ou"le 4/ect:

Preliminaries: Human act is characteriKed "y its complexity

A person always acts for a purpose Purpose or intention of the agent (nis operantis) Purpose of the action (nis operis)

They may or may not "e the same ;t may also happen that other than what the other person

intends to achieve, there are ot-er conseuences thatmay come from his action

This is also nown as oluntar/indirect (rinci(le


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These conseIuences, as "ased frome.perience, can either "e: nintended ut foreseen conseIuences

Aware of the ensuing conseIuence "ut not deli"eratelyplanned

4. Act of smoing despite his nowledge of its haKardand danger "rought to health

nintended and unforeseen conseIuences @naware of the particular e/ect caused "y the act 4. ;n switching on the light, it sets the house on Fre

"ecause of faulty wiring or a short circuit



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;n terms of the unforeseen and unintendedconseIuences, there is 2 moral responsi"ility

ut as to the foreseen "ut unintended, it remainsvague and unclear “;t all depends!” as we often answer when ased a"out

whether such action can "e morally ustiFed or not

Traditionally, there are four (8) conditions that should"e present to validly apply the principle of dou"le

e/ect



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1 The action itself must "e morall/ good or at

least indi4erent 4ven if an individual intends to accomplish something good, he%she

cannot morally ustify the use of evil means the action must "e morally good or neutral in itself Providing medicine

to a sic patient meets this reIuirement

The good e/ect must (recede the evil e/ector at least "e simultaneous with it =oncerned with the precedence of causality, not with the time

seIuence of good and "ad e/ects the "ad results cannot "e the means for achieving the good results ;n

this case, negative side e/ects donLt cause the medicine to wor more

e/ectively

The '2@9 conditions:


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=raniotomy had "een practiced for hundreds, perhaps even thousands,of years This unhappy procedure involved the destruction ("yinstruments such as the crotchet) of the fetal sull and the piecemeale.traction of the entire fetus from the vagina Although this was agruesome operation, it entailed far lower ris to the mother than

attempts to remove the fetus through an a"dominal incision

2n craniotomy


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+ The intention of the agent should "e directedtowards t-e good e4ect, never to the evil e/ect An evil e/ect can never "e intended, even indirectly The most that is

morally allowed for such an e/ect is regretfully permitted as anunavoida"le circumstance the motivation for carrying out the action must "e solely to achieve the

good results 5octors prescri"e medicine to help their patients, not toe.pose them to side e/ects

8 'ro(ortionalit/: the good e/ect must "e more

im(ortant than or at least eual to the "ad e/ect The good e/ect must "e suMciently desira"le to compensate for the

allowing of the "ad e/ect he good result must "e at least as signiFcant as the "ad $o prescri"ing

medication with side7e/ects is accepta"le if the health "eneFts to thepatient will "e at least as signiFcant as the harm from the side7e/ects

The '2@9 conditions:


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Bust as all moral actions are geared towards

the achievement of a good or value, setting upa -ierarc-/ of alues is therefore necessary =ertain things are more valua"le than the others

Thus, every person is e.pected to have developed ahierarchy of values that is "ased onhuman%=hristian principles

" NO!+ ON 'ro(ortionalit/


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5eli"erate targeting ofcivilians to demoralisethe enemy

The "om"ing ofmunitions plants of theenemies

The administration of ahigh dosage ofpainillers for the reliefof pain in cases ofterminal illness evenwhen this will causedeath as a side e/ect

5eli"erate euthanasia

for the relief of pain

Figure t-ese out5

N*S!IFI+D

*S!IFI+D

*S!IFI+D

N*S!IFI+D

special lesson double effect(limited coverage)

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