Accountability of Moral
Presented by Saira Guiel
Act
Fabre
BASES OF MORAL
ACCOUNTABLITY
‘’When I perform a free act-one which able to do or
not to do, as I choose – the act is evidently
imputable to me: if the thing is blameworthy , the
blame belongs to me: if it is praiseworthy , I am
entitled to praise . Every human act therefore,
since it is a free act, is imputable to him who
performs it.”
-
Fr. Coppens (2017)
THREE BASES OF MORAL ACCOUNTABILITY
1. Knowledge
o Human act must be done knowingly
o You are in the possession of a normal mind ; you are not
insane or totally ignorant , sleep-walking due to
somnambulism.
o The awareness of our familiarity with a fact, situation, or
truth, unveiled through experience or disclosed in a
dialogue or encounter with person or things.
o To have genuine knowledge , your mind must be normal ,
not impaired, or vitiated by mental condition or
ignorance.
2. Freedom- human act must be done knowingly.
This happens when you can exercise your power of
choice.
Your freedom should not be impaired by an irresistible
force or uncontrollable fear.
3. Voluntariness- must be done voluntarily (intentional
or negligent)
The act is either intentional or negligent.
An act is voluntarily intended when it is done with the
aim, purpose or goal of attaining a resul.t
An act is negligent when it is done voluntarily but
without care or precaution in avoiding the happening of
foreseeable event.
Modifiers of Human Act
Modifiers of human act- either increase or decrease accountability. These are
analogous to exempting, mitigating, aggravating and justifying
circumstances in criminal law. "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".
The modifiers of human act:
1. Ignorance- is the "absence of knowledge".
o Traditional ethics classifies them as vincible, invincible, affected, and
supine or gross ignorance.
o "Ignorance, whether of the law or of the facts, is either vincible or
invincible. When it cannot be overcome by the due amount of diligence, it
is invincible; otherwise, it is vincible.
o The latter is said to be gross or supine when scarcely an effort has been
made to remove it; and if a person deliberately avoids enlightenment in
order to sin more freely, his ignorance is affected". The basic rule is
2. Passions- refers to positive emotions like love, desire, delight, hope, and
bravery and negative emotions like hatred, horror, sadness, despair, fear
and anger.
o "Antecedent passions those that precede the act, do not always destroy
voluntariness, but they diminish accountability for the resultant act.
o In criminal law, the commission of a criminal act "with passion and
obfuscation" means the perpetrator is blinded by his emotions lessening
his accountability from maximum to medium or from medium to
maximum. Consequent passions are those that are intentionally aroused
or kept. They do not lessen voluntariness, but may increase
accountability.
3. Fear - is the disturbance of the mind of a person due to an impending
danger or harm to himself or loved ones. Acts done with fear is voluntarily,
but acts done because of intense or uncontrollable fear or panic are
involuntarily.
4. 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.
Actions performed by person subjected to violence or irresistible force are
Moral Accountability for What Could Have been
It is termed as sin of omission. Whatever one fails to do
but which should have been done is also imputable to
him. This refer to failure to act despite knowledge of
being free, therefore different from negligence or lack of
foresight. It is intentionally not doing same thing when
one should have done it.
It is failing to act as a Good Samaritan when one should
have acted as such. Pilate had the case of Jesus Christ
investigated and found Him innocent. He could have set
Jesus free but he did not. Withholding an information
could have prevented a disaster. Damaging
consequences could have been avoided.
THANK
YOU
