Understanding Human Action: 7 Key Elements
When studying human action, we can identify a minimum structure of elements that is always present. Analyzing these elements provides an ideal preparation for understanding the logic of action and its ethical evaluation. These seven elements are: deliberation, intention, purpose, environment, choice, object, and consequences (or effects).
Deliberation
Deliberation is a moment of reflection and self-knowledge, oriented towards action. It is essential for any fully human and responsible action. Deliberation does not always need to be conscious and explicit in the strict sense, nor does it require a significant amount of time between reflection and the start of the action. We propose deliberation as a necessary element of knowledge for a voluntary act. It represents a practical use of reason and, therefore, may be implicit and almost automatic, but never non-existent. It is the moment of knowing what to do that enables one to decide what to do.
Intention
Intention is the act of will that moves a person to achieve a certain goal through subsequent actions. It is the soul of human action.
Purpose
The purpose is the ultimate goal of the action, that in view of which one acts.
Means
The means (in the moral sense) are the concrete actions chosen to achieve the intended purpose.
Object
The object of the action is the proximate end of a deliberate choice that defines and specifies the act of the will of the acting person. The purpose of the act of willing is always a freely chosen behavior that is described by an intention.
Example: Lifting one arm, as a human action, includes the desire to raise the arm. However, we still need to know what is being done with it. In the case of human actions, this is always a “why”, i.e., the description under which we choose the actual physical act that constitutes the intentional content. For this reason, being in bed, as such, cannot be the object of any human action itself; there must be a reason to choose it. If it is chosen, it is because we chose to “rest,” “lounge,” practice “yoga,” etc. The basic what of the action, the basic intentional action described, is the object of the action in its own right.
As we can see, describing what is done from a human point of view cannot be a mere description of facts or events (lifting an arm, for example). Instead, we need to talk about intentional content.
Moral Purpose vs. Object
Now, compare the purpose and object of moral action: moral purpose and object are decisive for the act of will. They provide insight and enable us to know what is desired. However, the moral object and purpose are not acts of will. The purpose is to the object what thought is to the specific choice.
Consequences
There’s still something important in every action: the effects or consequences of the action. These are not part of the intention or particular choices; otherwise, they would be the end or moral objects (something wanted). These effects or consequences are predictable and often have moral significance, especially when they involve an evil that is tolerated.
Structure of Human Actions
We can see that human actions are not isolated atoms but are linked to each other through structures of ends and means. Ends can be desired for themselves (ultimate ends) or with a view to further ulterior motives. This raises the question of whether ultimate goals are chosen by the subject in an entirely free and subjective manner, or if there is any objective guide to recognize a given purpose in the very nature of the subject. Linked to this question is whether there is a single, ultimate end for which we desire everything else, or if these ends are diverse and plural.