Producción propia - Documentos Antonio Pardo

Analysis of the moral act. A proposal

II.d. Tolerated effects

We have consolidated that for a moral analysis of an action we must examine whether the foresight has been sufficient, whether the intention is good, and whether the decision-action is as well. Nevertheless this is not enough. Many times human actions, especially in these times of new social complexity, have effects other than those intended. It seems coherent that these effects, since they derive from an act of the will, have some relation with the moral qualification of the will that provokes them. In fact St. Thomas dedicates an article of the Summa to the effects of actions; it appears that all of its insights have not yet been extracted (62).

Veritatis Splendor also makes numerous references to the consequences of action as a factor to be taken into consideration when judging its goodness or evil . The encyclical does not specifically attempt to clarify the role of consequences within the evaluation of a moral act but rather tries to indicate the excesses which attempt to place the goodness or evil of actions only in the consequences and intention. But in keeping with the criticism of these excesses, the encyclical makes sufficiently clear the relevance of the consequences within the moral act.

Producción propia - Documentos Antonio Pardo