Rev José Mario O Mandía
jmom.honlam.org
Circumstances are the accidental moral conditions that contribute to increasing or diminishing the moral goodness or evil of an already existing action.
“The circumstances, including the consequences, are secondary elements of a moral act” (CCC No. 1754). Circumstances include the following:
- The person who does the act, or to whom the act is done, is important to note. It is different for a child to lie than it is for a government official. And robbing a millionaire is different from robbing a beggar.
- The quantity or quality of the object, e.g., theft of a sacred object is graver than theft of something of similar value but not sacred.
- Where the action took place may alter the morality – a sin committed in public view is different from a sin in private.
- The means used to carry out the action.
- Additional reasons as to why a person did something.
- The act’s goodness or evil is also affected by how it is done.
- When an act is done, and for how long (the duration) may also affect the gravity of the act.
CCC No. 1754 also explains the effect of the circumstances on the act.
- They contribute to increasing or diminishing the moral goodness or evil of human acts (for example, the amount of a theft).
- They can also diminish or increase the agent’s responsibility (such as acting out of a fear of death).
- Circumstances of themselves cannot change the moral quality of acts themselves; they can make neither good nor right an action that is in itself evil.
ACTIONS WITH MULTIPLE CONSEQUENCES
Many times, an action can bring about several effects. Let us examine the case of one action with two effects, one good and one bad. Three conditions are needed to make this action good.
(1) As we have seen before, the first and fundamental condition is that the object of the action itself (finis operis) must be morally good or at least indifferent (morally neutral). One problem that may arise here is that sometimes it is difficult to determine whether the proper object of the action is the good effect or the bad one.
The object is good if the good effect is what follows necessarily and by itself from the action. The bad effect, on the other hand, should arise only accidentally – although at times it may be sure to arise – because of some circumstance that the agent cannot avoid.
We cannot commit an act that is bad in itself for the sake of an accidental effect that is good.
(2) The intention of the agent must also be good. He must exclusively seek the good effect.
(3) There must be a proportionately serious cause for doing the action and allowing the bad effect to happen. The cause should be all the more serious when
- the indirectly caused evil is more serious;
- the influence of the action is more likely to bring about the bad effect;
- the bad effect is more probable;
- the obligation (because of one’s position or office) to prevent the evil effect is greater.
The following examples are illustrations of the application of these principles:
- “A patient without hope of survival can be given a strong sedative to alleviate his pain, even if it will shorten his life. But he cannot be given a stronger, lethal dose of the same drug in order to cause his death and cut short his agony.”
- “One can undergo a necessary surgical operation even if sterility may result. But one cannot be sterilized to avoid serious complications or even death arising from a possible future pregnancy.”
- “One can go into a risky investment in order to save a fledgling company, even if there is danger of sinking it deeper. But one cannot fraudulently declare bankruptcy, even if it is sure to save the company.” (C Belmonte, Faith Seeking Understanding, vol. 2, pp 41-42)
Image: Surprising_Shots at Pixabay.com)
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