Human Acts (INCOMPLETE)

HUMAN ACTS

• Actions constitute a person, an individual in control of himself and accountable to himself. • What a person is and what becomes of him depend largely on the type of actions he performs during his lifetime.

• Distinction is made between human acts and acts of man. • The human acts are those actions which man performs knowingly, freely and voluntarily.

• These actions are the result of conscious knowledge and are subject to the control of the will. We refer to these actions as DELIBERATE,INTENTIONAL OR VOLUNTARY.

• The acts of man are those actions which happen in man. They are instinctive and are not within the control of the will. Such actions are the biological and physiological movements in man such as, metabolism, respiration, fear, anger, love and jealousy.

ESSENTIAL ATTRIBUTES • For an act to be considered a human act, it must possess the following characteristics: • It must be performed by a conscious agent who is aware of what he is doing and of its consequences. Children below the age of reason, the insane and the senile – are considered incapable of acting knowingly.

• It must be performed by an agent who is acting freely, that is by his own volition and powers. An action done under duress and against one’s will is not entirely a free action.

• It must be performed by an agent who decides wilfully to perform the act. This willfullness is the resolve to perform an act here and now, or in some future time. • Human acts must, therefore, be knowing, free and willfull. The lack of any of these attributes

KINDS OF HUMAN ACTS • Human acts are either elicited acts or commanded acts. Elicited acts are those performed by the will and are not bodily externalized: • Wish is the tendency of will towards something whether this be realizable or not. The object of wishing may include the impossible, or that which is remotely possible, such as winning the sweepstakes.