Chapter 2:You Are What You Do?

What is the Conceptual Framework of Action (CFOA)?

•CFOA is the understanding of the human capacity to make things happen

•The following questions with their answers are needed to help describe action:▫Who?▫What?▫Why?▫How?▫With whom or against whom?▫Under what circumstances?▫With what outcome?

What makes actions moral?

•The morality of any human act depends on:1. The Object Chosen2. The End in View or the Intention3. The Circumstances of the Action

• Lets compare that to what makes an action a mortal sin:

1. Mortal sin is of grievous matter (seriousness)

2. Sin is committed with full knowledge3. Sin is committed with deliberate consent

The WHO: The Agent

•Agent – the person who makes things happen

•You are a ‘self’ who intends to fo things•You have free choice and you are

responsible for what you do•With the intention of doing certain things,

you reshape who you are (even if its just an intention)

•The promises, plans and commitments that may follow shape the person you may become in the future

Grade 12…•You are who you are, because of what you

have done •When the agent intends to do something,

they want to change their future•If you attend on going to university, what

sorts of commitments should you have? What do you intend to do?

The WHAT: The Action

•Action – what the agent does•Your actions shape who you are;

▫Examples: Doing your homework Gossiping with friends Lying to your family Writing a love letter Shoplifting

What actions make youwho you are?

The Job of Ethics

•Again, ethics would ask us to reflect on these actions (0nly actions that are intentional)!

•Ethics need not be used in every kind of action. Some actions are not intentional and must occur with every human being▫Examples:

Walking Sleeping Sneezing

Graduation

•June 2010 is the action that you are aiming for!

The WHY: The Motive

•Motive – the reason for the action•The why are the reasons for what we

intend to do•Providing a reason for the action is to say

why it is worth doing (they always appear as a good reason)

•Motives are used to help justify the action•The jobs of ethics is to help you reflect on

your action and decide whether the act in question is moral or not

The HOW: With What Means?

•How you perform an action reflects who you are as a person (the agent)

•“The end does not justify the means”•The means help give quality to the action

▫Example: How do you respond to someone who is

yelling at you? How do you respond to someone who likes

you, but you don’t necessarily like them back?

With Whom or Against Whom?

•When one justifies an action, the agent is either seeking approval or to prevent disapproval from another person

•Every action is always an interaction with someone else. Are there any examples where an action is not an interaction with someone else?

•You either act with others, for others or against others

•When you act alone, you aren’t really acting for others

Under What Circumstances?

•Every action has aggravating or mitigating circumstances (other things to consider)

•Circumstances (positive or not) reflect how much of the action was really in your ownership

•Circumstances can increase or decrease your responsibility in an action

•Circumstances must always be taken into consideration when evaluating actions

With What Outcome?

•The outcome of one’s actions – intended or not – good or bad – affects the person

•Consider the following:▫If you drive drunk, crash into a tree and kill

your passenger, are you responsible even though you did not intend to kill him/her?