Determinants of Morality

Summary

Ella 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

00:00

📚 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.

05:01

🚫 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.

Keywords

💡Determinants of morality

Determinants of morality refer to the factors that measure the goodness or evilness of human actions. In the script, these determinants are the primary focus, as they help to establish a framework for understanding ethical behavior. The video discusses three specific determinants: the end of the action, the end of the actor, and the circumstances of the act.

💡End of the action

The 'end of the action' is considered the primary determinant of morality. It refers to the natural purpose or result of an action. For example, studying has the natural end result of learning, which is a universal purpose applicable to all individuals engaging in the act of studying.

💡End of the actor

This refers to the intention or motive of the person performing the action, which can vary between individuals. Unlike the 'end of the action,' which is consistent across all people, the 'end of the actor' highlights the diversity in motives. For instance, people may bike for exercise, to finish a race, or for fun, showcasing different intentions behind the same action.

💡Circumstances of the act

Circumstances of the act are conditions that affect the morality of an action by increasing or decreasing the responsibility of the actor. These are external factors to the action itself, such as timing or location, which can influence the ethical judgment of an act. Eating meat on Good Friday is used as an example, where the act of eating meat is common, but the circumstance of doing so on a religious holiday makes it morally questionable.

💡Human acts

Human acts are actions that proceed from the deliberate free will of individuals. The script uses examples such as studying, working, stealing, and shopping to illustrate how these acts are linked to moral norms and are subject to moral evaluation based on the determinants of morality.

💡Norms

Norms are the standards of proper behavior to which human acts are compared. They provide a societal or cultural framework for what is considered right or wrong. In the context of the video, norms are used to evaluate the morality of actions based on their determinants.

💡Intention

Intention is a crucial aspect of the 'end of the actor,' referring to the purpose or goal an individual has in mind when performing an action. Intentions are what differentiate the morality of similar acts performed by different people, as highlighted by the different motives for biking in the script.

💡Intrinsically good/evil

Intrinsically good or evil acts are those that are considered morally right or wrong in themselves, regardless of circumstances. The script explains that while the circumstances can make a good act better or an evil act worse, an evil act can never become good through circumstances.

💡Culpability

Culpability refers to the degree of blame or responsibility attributed to an individual for their actions. The script mentions that circumstances can either aggravate or mitigate the culpability of the actor, indicating how external factors can influence moral judgment.

💡Objective goodness

Objective goodness is the inherent moral value of an action, independent of the actor's intentions. The script uses the example of giving food to the hungry, which is objectively good, but if the means of providing the food is through robbery, the objective goodness of the act is destroyed.

💡Paul Glenn

Paul Glenn is referenced in the script as the author of five principles involving the implications of the circumstances of the act. His principles are used to further explain how circumstances can alter the moral evaluation of actions, providing a structured approach to understanding moral determinants.

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