BUILDING A SENSE OF MORAL RESPONSIBILITY
(Erico Joseph T. Canete)
MORAL PHILOSOPHY teaches us that for an act to be considered human, as differentiated from an act of man, it should be voluntary. Meaning, the moral agent doing the act has knowledge and freedom. Voluntariness presupposes freedom, and freedom presupposes knowledge for nothing is willed unless known. As the Romans put it: “Nihil volitum nisi prius praecognitum.”
These three constituent elements of human act serve as bases of moral responsibility.
First, once the moral agent is conscious of what he is about to do, or what one is doing, aware of the consequences, and thought of it in advance or premeditated, then there is knowledge or advertence.
Second, when a moral agent is faced to choose from alternatives to refrain or perform an act without being forced or coerced save by one’s own will, then there is freedom. He has the power to choose.
Nevertheless, knowledge may be modified by ignorance, error, and inattention. While freedom may be modified by passion, fear, violence and habit. These modifiers may lessen or increase the culpability of the act.
Relating this moral thought to the senseless and gruesome killing in Tacloban, we can say that the agent has moral responsibility.
Our law enforcers and witnesses noted that the alleged perpetrators knew what they did. In fact, it was premeditated. They planned it. They knew it was evil but thought that their age was a license to be freed from any criminal liability.
There was freedom for no one forced them to do the act. They performed it without coercion.
The whole act was consummated. There was voluntariness. Hence, the agent is morally responsible.
Note that we are discussing here is moral responsibility and not criminal liability; a case to be deliberated under the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 (RA No. 9344).
Our mission here is to strengthen the sense of moral responsibility which ought to start in the family; the institution where the seed of virtues ought to be nurtured. This in a way strengthens the will’s freedom to direct itself to the real good.
Teachers in the school supplement the role of the parents by acting in loco parentis. The academe likewise, instead of abolishing humanity subjects like logic, philosophy of man, and moral philosophy, must continue to teach these cognate courses to help strengthen the intellect to build a sense of moral responsibility among the young educands.
May we build a strong nation with a sense of moral responsibility.
Likewise, we pray that justice be served to the victims.