Section A: On the Condition of Human Acts

52. Elements of a Human Act. - In a human act we can distinguish essential being, or the elements which constitute it, and accidental being, which is added to it once already constituted; likewise the subjective element, or the very activity of the agent, and the objective element, or the object (that is, the end or good) considered totally with all things that pertain to it.

1. The whole subjective element is essential; for it three things are required:

a) Deliberate reason, that is, the previous knowledge of the intellect proposing the good, because nothing is willed unless it is foreknown, and indeed deliberate knowledge, without which man would not be master of his act;

b) The tendency of the will toward the good proposed by reason;

c) The freedom of this tendency, for otherwise the will would not choose nor act in the mode proper to men.

Concerning deliberate knowledge nothing special must be said, because the will supposes knowledge, and freedom supposes deliberation; hence it suffices to explain the other two elements. Therefore the essence of the human act is that it be voluntary and free.

2. The objective element, however, is twofold:

a) one essential, namely, the object itself, or the end or good to which the agent tends;

b) another accidental, namely, the circumstances which are added to the object and affect it.

Concerning all these things we must now speak specifically.