Elements of Human Act

ELEMENTS OF HUMAN ACT 1.Advertens –  To be considered a human act, a person must know what he/she is doing: o

whether it is good or bad,

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it is appropriate or inappropriate

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Knowledge – of what it is about and what is means

2. Volition –The person must deliberately will the act or exercise his/her freewill in wanting to do the act. •

Passion such as fear and anger are possible impediments to human acts as they cloud a person’s judgment and freewill

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This is one of the reasons why nurse and doctors are not advised to get involved in the treatment of their loved ones in critical condition as their passion may impair their freewill and professional judgment

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Freedom – o

to do or leave it undone without coercion or constraints

o

Freedom implies voluntariness which is to rationally choose by deliberate will the object.

Voluntariness however does not necessarily imply freedom 3. Execution with conscience •

Human acts with good and bad effect.  When human act results in both good and bad consequences or wanted and unwanted effects it is called “double effect” and the human act to be performed becomes an ethical problem. o

This problem is solved using the principle of Double Effect or Principle of TwoFold Effect.

The principle of Two Fold Effect. To be judged as morally good, an action with double effect must meet the following criteria: xxx 1. The action must be morally good and must not be evil in itself. Actions which are evil in itself are murder, lying and stealing, etc. 2.

The good effect must be willed and the bad effect merely allowed. The person intends only

the good effect though foreseen and permitted is not wanted. 3. The good effect must not come from an evil action, but must come from initial action itself directly. The good effect must immediately occur after the action is performed or at least appear simultaneously with the evil effect 4. The good effect must have a greater effect than the bad effect. There should be a proportionately grave reason to justify the evil effect.

Ethical Theories that can describe an Action 1. Consequentialism  Moral theory which states that act is RIGTH if and only if it produces consequences that are considered the BEST outcome when compared with all the alternatives (the ends justifies the means) 2. Utilitarianism  Requires the greatest balance of GOOD for all affected persons 3. Deontologism  Believes in moral limits of what a health care professional may do to produce good consequences 4.