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:
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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 Chosen
2. The End in View or the Intention
3. The Circumstances of the Action
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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 knowledge
3. 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:
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Doing your homework
Gossiping with friends
Lying to your family
Writing a love letter
Shoplifting
What actions make you
who 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 2014 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?