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The Moral Act
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The Principle of Double Effect
The principle that says it is morally allowable to perform an act that has at least two effects, one good and one bad.
Conditions:
Errors in Moral Thought
An ethical theory that derives good and evil from the circumstances that accompany the acting agent.
The belief that there are no absolute truths, and that morality changes with each new situation.
An ethical system that deduces the moral value of an act from the proportion of good and evil effects.
An ethical system that determines the good or evil of an act from the consequences that follow an act.
The Moral Act
Obstacles to the Moral Act
Anything that of its nature or because of human frailty can lead one to do wrong, thereby committing sin.
Anything that poses a slight danger of sinning.
Anything that poses a probable danger of sinning.
Incitements to sin.
Components of the Moral Act
An action that does not involve the intellect.
These are involuntary actions.
Examples: breathing, sneezing, etc...
The purpose pursued by the action.
A good toward which the will deliberately directs itself.
An action that is performed with deliberation and free choice.
The situation that surrounds an act.
It must be made freely.
It is preceded by knowledge.
A human act may be either good or evil.
These include:
Who
Circumstances can not make an immoral act good.
Circumstance
Repeatedly refusing to avoid a proximate occasion to sin may become a sin, since you are purposely putting yourself in a position that may lead to sin.
Three errors arise from this:
Situation Ethics
It is different from a near occasion to sin, since the near occasion is an object. Temptation is an action.
Types of Circumstances
Each situation is judged separately and by the individual performing the action.
The evil that follows an action must be less in proportion to the good for the act to be considered good.
It justifies the morality of means ("the ends justify the means").
The intention is the source of the action.
The good effect must balance the evil effect.
If the object is good, the act could be good.
Human Act
Morality is based upon the conditions and circumstances in which the act takes place.
Bases morality on the circumstances of an act and ignores the value of the act itself.
These should always be avoided.
The person acting.
What
What is an occasion to sin for one person may not be an occasion to sin for another since we all have different weaknesses.
Occasions to Sin
Temptations
The manner in which the act is done.
An occasion to sin can be a person, place or a thing.
Seeks to justify the morality of an act by the proportion of the effects that follow it.
The action must be good in itself or at least indifferent.
Remote Occasion to Sin
Is not based on any universal principles, ideas, or laws.
The thing done.
This is what the person meant to happen by doing the act.
Consequentialism
Moral Relativism
Object
We don't perform a human action without some idea of what we want to accomplish by it.
Types of Occasions of Sin
These are almost impossible to avoid.
Denies the possibility of moral absolutes.
Example: An alcoholic who has learned to control himself going into a restaurant that serves drinks would be a remote occasion to sin.
Denies the objectivity of Morality.
Anything that experience has shown leads you to sin.
The agent may only consider the action in regards to themselves, but not for someone else or society.
Where
How
Anything that would lead most people to sin.
Acts of Humans
Hi! I'm an elephant!
I'm just acting as a balancing placeholder. Pay me no mind.
Effects of an action are overvalued.
The object helps determines the morality of the act:
The agent must have the right intention.
Temptation may occur either from the outside (Devil, others) or from within.
Any reason a person may have for committing an act.
The evil effect cannot be the means to the good effect.
The circumstances merely influence some of the morality of the act, making it either a little worse or a little better.
If the object is bad, then the act will always be bad.
When
Why
Near Occasion to Sin
Intention
Proportionalism
The place where the act occurs.
The timing of an act.
Example: Adultery is always evil, so therefore the intention does not matter. It is an intrinsically evil act.
The object is either the matter chosen in a human act or the act itself.