Moral+Acts+(Why+we+can)

Moral Acts (Why we can)

Please read Soul(Faculties of) before reading this entry.

Human beings, like all animals, possess **simple faculties** that incline us toward survival. The **lower appetites** attract us to goods that contribute to survival. Hunger for example makes food attractive so we eat and survive. The simple will allows animals to make decisions within their natures. For us, the **simple will** explains how we make routine decisions. The **skill intellect** refers to aptitudes that animals have in order to survive. Birds build nests; bees make hives; Human also develop skills. As impressive as humans are in the simple faculties, we are not at the top of pecking order. Chimpanzees are many time stronger that humans. Lots of animals can run, jump and fight far more effectively than us, if we had only our simple faculties to rely upon.  We are able to act morally unlike other animals because of the executive faculties of the human soul. The **executive faculties** distinguish us in quality (not just quantity) from other living things. Our higher appetites attract us to goods like holiness, patriotism, and happiness. We have an executive will because we have a free will. **Free will** means that we can act even in opposition to our own nature. Humans can act inhumanely, but dogs don’t act incaninely. We are not hard wired to our natures, as other living things seem to be. The panoramic intellect means that we can step back and see the bigger picture. Driving a vehicle along a familiar route will eventually offer an opportunity to experience the interaction of the faculties of the soul. Have you noticed that you can drive a familiar route and have no memory of the trip? It happens because while driving we occupy the mind with something other than what we’re doing. All the same, we get where we’re going safely. That’s because the skill intellect and simple will manage the driving freeing the executive faculties for more stimulating contemplation. Then the day comes that traffic backs up. Suddenly, the trip management switches to the executive faculties. The panoramic intellect seeks solutions to the delay. When found, the executive will clicks in and makes a command decision. Golfers will confirm that the presence of the panoramic intellect and the executive will are not always an asset. Too much swing management can send a golf score into the stratosphere. We need to swing as a automatic as that routine drive managed by the simple will and the skill intellect.