Exploring

THE END OF HUMAN

ACT
In Ethics
"Man does not act
aimlessly. When he acts, it
is because he enjoys the
action, or, because he
wants to achieve
something by that action."
THE END OF AN ACT
INTRODUCTION
What we call end is the purpose or goal of an act. It is that
which completes or finishes an act. Distinction is made
between end of the act and end of the doer or agent.

The end of the act- is the natural termination of an activity

The end of the doer- is the personal purpose intended by the

person performing the act.The end of the doer is called the
motive. The motive is the reason why a person performs an act.
It is the force that sustains the act and brings it to completion.
KINDS OF ENDS
The end of the doer is either
1. Proximate or Remote End
2. Intermediate or Ultimate End

The proximate end The ultimate end

is the purpose which a doer wishes

is the purpose which is desired for
to accomplish immediately by his
its own sake and not because of
action.
something else. The intermediate
The remote end is the purpose
end is the purpose which is desired
which a doer wishes to accomplish in
as a means for obtaining another
a series of acts.
thing.
ACTION AND MOTIVATION

Alfredo Panizo gives us

the opportunity to cite
principles conceming
human action (Panizo:10):
Every agent that performs an Every agent has the power to
action acts for the sake of an move himself towards an end
end or purpose to be attained. which he finds suitable for him.

The end is the

Man is a motivated motivation of an
act. But only what is
animal. For him to act,
good can motivate
he must first find the man to act.
Every agent acts towards an
motive to act. ultimate end.

The ultimate end is that on

account of which man decides to
act. It is what is desired through
the actions. It is what confers
meaning to an activity. The
concept of motive implies that
there is something important to
be achieved.
End as
Something Good

Nothing excites the human appetite or rational

desire than that which is good. Because
something is good, it becomes the object of
desire and, therefore, desirable. Actions are
tendencies towards something good. Thus,
what is good and desirable is also the end of
the act. The concept of end coincides with
that of good. Accordingly, Aristotle says that
"good" means either of these: good as an end
in itself and good as a means (intermediate
end) to another end.
Apparent Good. Man Man is moved by Every human activity
has a natural aversion is intended for the
to evil. Evil is never nature this first attainment of
desirable for its own and fundamental something good. This
sake. good must be
act of the will is objectively genuine,
natural and not merely an
necessary - apparent good.
"Unfortunately," as a
toward good in free agent, man is
general (object) able to set his choice
on mere apparent
and beatitude in goods and false
general (end). values."
THE MEANING OF
GOOD
The word "good has
varied shades of
meaning. Aristotle
defines it as that which
fits a function.
A thinker once wrote that human
beings have their needs, while The good that fits man
individual humans have their as man are the needs of
wants. Needs are those goods his rational nature. All
which are essential to man as other needs, such as
man. Without them, man is
the biological and
incomplete and underdeveloped.
Wants are those goods obviously
social, while they are
dual requires because of his similarly required, are
particular circumstance in life. subordinate to the
Obviously, the needs must first be rational needs.
fulfilled before the wants.
KINDS OF GOOD

Essential and Real and Apparent. Perfective and Non-

Accidental. perfective good.

A real good is something

Those that fit the natural needs Perfective good is that which
which has an intrinsic value.
of man as man are essential contributes to the integral
Thus, we call it: Value. It
good. Such good include food, perfection of a person, such as:
possesses qualities rendering
shelter, health, knowledge, virtue, education, virtue, food, exercise,
it "fining" or desirable.
and life. Those that fit the wants medicine. Non-perfective good is
Examples of real good are
of an individual because of his that which merely contributes to
good acts and habits, parents
circumstance are accidental the extemal appearance or
and parenthood, pleasure and
good. Such include money, car, convenience of a person, such
joy, work and leisure, etcetera.
good name, academic degree, as: clothes, wealth, social status,
The mal good includes both
power, and luxury, and many political power, etc.
essential and accidental
more.
goods.
Perfect and Imperfect
good.

Also called unlimited or limited goods

respectively, or absolute and relative
goods.Perfect good has the fullness of
qualities enabling it to fully satisfy human
desire. Imperfect good possesses only
certain qualities so that it does not fully
satisfy human desire except in a relative or
limited sense. All "earthly" goods are
imperfect. Only God, in the absolute sense, is
perfect good.
In every activity, man seeks that which is good. The
greatest good as a matter of fact. This is evident in
The our concern for the best in everything: best friends,
best parents, best food, best performance, best job
Greatest and so forth. In the language of the philosophers,
the greatest good is the Summum Bonum.
Good
For Aristotle, the greatest good is happiness.
Happiness is what man aims to achieve in all his
activities. The ultimate purpose of life is the
attainment of happiness.

As a psychological state, happiness is the feeling of

contentment arising from the possession of a good.
THE MEANING OF
HAPPINESS
Happiness is either objective or subjective. Objectively,
happiness refers to something having intrinsic value and
capable of satisfying a human need. Subjectively, it s the
psychological state of feeling contented resulting from the
attainment of that which is good in itself. The toy (objective)
makes the child happy (subjective.

Happiness contributes to the perfection of a person.

Hence happiness is not just an emotion or something of value
but a state of being. It is the state of perfection arising from
the possession of what is good. Just as the possession of
wealth makes an individual a rich man, the possession of the
greatest good makes a person perfect happy.
Some errors 1.Some people 2. Some people equates 3.Sensual

concerning give the

impression that
health with happiness. Of
course, health is a
people vainly
seeks

happiness: money or
wealth can buy
prerequisite to a
productive life. But there
happiness in
earthly
happiness. are the sick who are at pleasures. But
the same be happy. one may not
indulge in all
4.Certain people the pleasing
cling to their 5. Some this without
public image as dedicate their ending up with
if God Himself lives to science pain.
was made after and arts.
their illusion.
6. Some
propose that
the final
purpose of
man is the
promotion of
the State or
Government.
NATURAL AND SUPERNATURAL
HAPPINESS
Natural happiness is Supernatural happiness is
that which is that which is attainable by
man through the use of his
attainable by man
natural powers as these are
through the use of informed and aided by God's
his natural powers. infusion of grace.
Supernatural Happiness is a
study belonging properly to
Moral Theology.
THE ULTIMATE
PURPOSE
"Man cannot attain perfect happiness in this life, because God
can never be known perfectly by man's natural powers. But
Aristotle does not go beyond earthly life in his man can approximate perfect happiness in this life by
dissertation on the last or ultimate end of man. knowledge and love of God and by the exercise of virtue."
Christian philosophers, notably St. Augustine Paul Glenn: The History of Philosophy

and St. Thomas Aquinas, teach that man, in

every deliberate action acts toward an end,
and ultimately, to an absolutely ultimate end:
happiness. Since man's desire and tendency
towards happiness is unlimited, nothing short
of the Absolutely Perfect Good can satisfy it
perfectly. Therefore God, the Infinite Good, is
the greatest good, or "summum bonum", to be
attained as the ultimate end.
ETHICAL THEORIES

HIDONISM THOMISM
ARISTOTLELIANI
SM
is based on the teaching of
proclaims the is based on the
Epicurus who regards pleasure as
supremacy of reason teaching of St. Thomas
the ultimate good of man.
over man’s lower Aquinas. It hold s that
According to him, pain is evil to be appetites. Thus, the the ultimate purpose of
avoided. And because some highest good of man is man consists in the
pleasures may also cause pain one the contemplation of Beatific Vision of God
must be choosy about his divine truths. The which however is
pleasure. Contrary to the popular reasonable life is that possible only in the
notion, Epicurus does not which is in accordance
next life and only with
recommend indulgence in sensual with temperance,
the aid of supernatural
pleasures. But the word “hedonist” nothing by excess and
grace.
is descriptive of a pleasure- nothing by defect. This
seeking individual, a low life. is the Golden Mean.
UTILITARIANISM EVOLUTIONISM

defines pleasure as that which gives the proceeds from the biological theories of
greatest happiness for the greatest Charles Darwin. According to him, the
number of people. John Stuart Mill says greatest good is the rearing of the
that pleasure itself is good, but even greatest number of individuals, with
better when it experienced by the most perfect faculties, under given
number of people. circumstances. Accordingly, moral
values are factors of survival, either of
the individual or that of society. Inspired
by this theory, Communism looks
forward to the evolution of a “classless
society.”
EXISTENTIALISM

laments the inadequacy of reason to

guide man in the complexities of life.
The attainment of personal fulfillment
which is the ultimate purpose of one’s
life depends largely on one’s faith and
personal conviction. Existentialism is
either theistic or atheistic. No table
existentialists are Blaise Pascal, Soren
Kierkegaard, Karl Jaspers and Jean Paul
Sartre.
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