Section II. The Sources of Morality

We saw in the preceding section that there are various rules by which we know whether a human action is good or bad. It will be a good action if it be conformable to right order, otherwise it will be a bad action. It remains for us to cor- sider what elements in an action make it conformable or not with right order. What have we to attend to in order to know whether an action is according to right reason or not ?

There are three such elements, of which sometimes one, sometimes another, sometimes all together, contribute to make the actions in right order or, on the contrary, inordinate. They are the-object, the end, and the circumstances of the action.