Three conditions of the Human Act
Human (moral) acts are acts which are chosen by exercising one’s free will as a consequence of a judgment of conscience. Human acts are moral acts because they express the good or evil when someone is performing them.[1] The morality of acts is defined by the choices that one makes in accordance with the authentic good, which is based on the eternal law that has a desire for God as our end goal. This external law is the “natural law” based on God’s Divine Wisdom, made known to us through His supernatural revelation[2]. A human act is thus morally good when we make choices coherent to our true good and brings us closer to God.
The goodness of a moral act is assessed based on three conditions: object (and its goodness), intention (or end as expressed by Saint Thomas Aquinas), and circumstances[3]. For a moral act to be considered good, all three conditions must be met. A defect in any of these three conditions causes the act to be deemed morally evil[4].