Determinants of Morality
Summary
TLDRElla Mabasa discusses the determinants of morality, emphasizing three key factors: the end of the action, the end of the actor, and the circumstances of the act. She explains how these factors influence the morality of human actions, using examples like studying and eating to illustrate natural purposes and individual intentions. Mabasa also highlights Paul Glenn's principles on how circumstances can alter the morality of acts, concluding with the idea that good acts performed with evil means negate their goodness.
Takeaways
- 🧑🎓 Human actions, such as studying, working, or stealing, are linked to moral norms and must be studied to understand their morality.
- 💡 The three determinants of morality are: the end of the action, the end of the actor, and the circumstances surrounding the act.
- 🎯 The first determinant, 'end of the action,' refers to the natural purpose or result of the act, which is generally the same for everyone (e.g., studying leads to learning).
- 🙋♀️ The second determinant, 'end of the actor,' refers to the individual's intention or motive, which can vary between people (e.g., one person may study for fun, another for exams).
- ⏳ The third determinant, 'circumstances of the act,' refers to external conditions like time, place, and method, which can increase or decrease the actor's responsibility.
- ⚖️ Circumstances do not form part of the act itself but can aggravate or mitigate its moral weight (e.g., eating meat on Good Friday is morally worse due to the day’s significance).
- 🤔 Who, what, where, when, how, and why are key factors when considering the circumstances of an action, impacting the morality of the act.
- 🚫 An indifferent act can become good or evil through circumstances, such as eating meat being morally neutral but wrong on Good Friday.
- 📉 A good act can become evil depending on circumstances (e.g., donating money to the poor is good, but doing so to buy votes is evil).
- 💔 An evil act can never be justified through circumstances, and a good act done with bad means, like stealing to help someone, destroys its moral goodness.
Q & A
What does the term 'determinants of morality' refer to?
-The determinants of morality refer to factors that serve as the measure of the goodness and evilness of a human act.
How many determinants of morality are mentioned in the script?
-Three determinants of morality are mentioned: the end of the action, the end of the actor, and the circumstances of the act.
What is the primary determinant of morality according to the script?
-The primary determinant of morality is the end of the action, which refers to the natural purpose or result of the action.
Can you provide an example of the 'end of the action' from the script?
-An example of the 'end of the action' is studying, where the natural purpose or end result is learning.
What does the 'end of the actor' signify?
-The 'end of the actor' refers to the intention or motive of the person performing the act, which can vary among individuals.
How does the 'end of the actor' differ from the 'end of the action'?
-While the motives of the agent (end of the actor) vary with different individuals, the motives of the action (end of the action) are the same for all individuals.
What are the circumstances of the act?
-The circumstances of the act refer to the conditions that affect the human act by increasing or decreasing the responsibility of the actor.
Can you give an example of the 'circumstances of the act'?
-An example of the 'circumstances of the act' is eating meat on Good Friday, where the condition (Good Friday) affects the morality of the act (eating meat).
What are the five principles involving the implications of the circumstances of the act as mentioned in the script?
-The five principles are: 1) An indifferent act can become good or evil through circumstances. 2) A good act can become evil through circumstances. 3) An intrinsically good act can become better, or an intrinsically evil act can become worse through circumstances. 4) An evil act can never become good through circumstances. 5) A good act done with evil means destroys the entire objective goodness of the act.
How does the script explain the principle that an evil act can never become good through circumstances?
-The script explains that no matter the circumstances, an evil act, such as stealing money to buy food, cannot become a good act.
What is the significance of the five principles involving the circumstances of the act?
-The five principles help to understand how the morality of an act can be influenced by the circumstances surrounding it, and they provide guidelines for evaluating the moral implications of actions.
Outlines
📚 Understanding Morality Determinants
Ella Mabasa introduces the concept of morality determinants, which are factors that measure the goodness or evilness of human actions. She explains that human acts are linked to norms, which are standards of proper behavior. Ella outlines three determinants of morality: the end of the action (the natural purpose or result), the end of the actor (the intention or motive), and the circumstances of the act (conditions affecting the act). She provides examples for each determinant, such as studying for learning, biking for exercise, and eating meat on Good Friday. Ella also discusses five principles by Paul Glenn that involve the implications of the circumstances of the act, which can make an indifferent act good or evil, turn a good act evil, or affect the goodness or evilness of intrinsically good or evil acts.
🚫 The Immutable Nature of Evil Acts
In the second paragraph, Ella Mabasa continues the discussion on morality determinants by emphasizing that an evil act can never become good, regardless of the circumstances. She uses the example of stealing money to buy food, which remains an evil act despite the intention to feed. Ella also points out that a good act performed with evil means negates its objective goodness, such as giving food to the hungry through robbery. The paragraph concludes with a summary of the principles discussed and a hope that the audience has learned from the report.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Determinants of morality
💡End of the action
💡End of the actor
💡Circumstances of the act
💡Human acts
💡Norms
💡Intention
💡Intrinsically good/evil
💡Culpability
💡Objective goodness
💡Paul Glenn
Highlights
Determining the goodness or evilness of an act can be challenging.
Studying determinants of morality helps understand human acts.
Human acts are linked to norms, which are standards of proper behavior.
Determinants of morality measure the goodness and evilness of human acts.
There are three determinants of morality: end of the action, end of the actor, and circumstances of the act.
The end of the action is the primary determinant of morality.
The end of the action refers to the natural purpose or results of an act.
Studying has a natural purpose of learning, which is the same for all people.
The end of the actor refers to the intention or motive of the doer of the act.
Intentions vary with different individuals, unlike the end of the action.
Circumstances of the act affect the morality by increasing or decreasing the responsibility of the actor.
Circumstances are not part of the action itself but can affect its morality.
Eating meat on Good Friday is an example of how circumstances can make an act evil.
Five principles by Paul Glenn 1968 involve the implications of the circumstances of the act.
An indifferent act can become good or evil through circumstances.
A good act can become evil through circumstances, such as giving money to buy votes.
Intrinsically good acts can become better, or intrinsically evil acts can become worse through circumstances.
An evil act can never become good through circumstances.
A good act done with evil means destroys the entire objective goodness of the act.
The report aims to educate on the determinants of morality and their practical implications.
Transcripts
hi i'm ella mabasa
sometimes i find it difficult to
determine if my action is good
or bad i do have my confusions
when it comes to the goodness or
evilness of an act
that's why we have to study the
determinants of morality
human acts like studying working
stealing and shopping
which proceed from the deliberate free
will of men are linked to what we call
norms
the standards of proper behavior only
the human beings were given the freedom
unreal to choose between things the
determinants of morality
are factors that serve as the measure of
the goodness and the evilness of the
human act
so there are three determinants of
morality the first determinant
is the end of the action this is
considered as the primary determinant of
morality
it refers to the natural purpose of the
act or it refers to the natural results
of the action to further understand the
concept of the end of the action
let's take for example studying the
natural purpose or end result for
studying is
learning and as you have observed it is
the same with all people
in a way that if everyone will study
then they will learn something
same with eating the natural purpose of
why we eat
is for us to get our tummy full this
purpose or result
is the same or applicable to all people
now let's proceed to the second
determinant of morality
which is the end of the actor this
refers to the intention
or the motive of the doer of the act
this is to be distinguished from the end
of the action
when we say the end of the actor the
motives of the agent
varies with different individuals so
there are different intentions with
different people
well for the end of the action the
motives of the agents are the same with
all individuals
example for the end of the app door we
have here biking
for this girl her purpose is exercise
and for this guy his purpose is to
finish an iran
and for this third guy his purpose is
for fun
see there is different motives between
people
now let's move to the end of the action
our example here is studying
the end result for studying is learning
it is always the same with people that
learning is
is the goal why we study the loss
determinant of morality
a circumstances of the act it refers to
the conditions that affect the human act
by increasing or decreasing the
responsibility of the actor
these circumstances of the act are not
considered part of the action
which means acts per se can exist
without the circumstances
for example eating meat on good friday
the condition here is good friday
and the human act is eating meat
the condition which is the good friday
is not part of
action because eating meat can still
exist even without the former
however circumstances affect the
morality of the act
the following are considered the
circumstances of the act because they
can either
aggravate or mitigate the culpability of
the actor
first to consider is who it refers to
the person to whom the act is ascribed
what it refers to the quality or the
quantity of the object of the act
where refers the place where the act is
performed
how refers to the manner or mode of act
performed
by what means refers to the means
employed by the actor
when refers to the circumstance of time
last is why refers to the intention
of the act now paul glenn 1968
write five principles involving the
implications of the circumstances of the
act
first principle an indifferent act can
become good or evil
through circumstances eating meat
is neither good nor bad however
eating meat on good friday intentionally
is evil
second a good act can become evil
through circumstances
like giving money to poor people is a
good action
however giving money to the same poor
people to buy
votes during election is evil
third an intrinsically good act can
become better
or intrinsically evil act can become
worse through circumstances
like visiting a sick person to come to
comfort him
is a good action however not visiting a
sick person in the hospital out of
hatred is worse
fourth an evil act can never become good
through circumstances
stealing money to buy food cannot make
the action of stealing
good fifth a good act
done with evil means destroys the entire
objective goodness of the act
like giving food to the hungry is a good
action
however giving money to the hungry
through robbery
is evil thank you so much i hope you
learned something from my report
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