The Science of Ethics is greatly concerned with the study of man, particularly with his/her actions. Ethics intends to determine whether the action taken by man is moral or immoral in the grounds of morality.
Human action or human act should be investigated because it is being considered that not all human actions are considered as human act.
It is confusing but it is being determined that the act that was committed must be done knowingly and willfully by any individual before we can declare that he/she is accountable for it. In short, an act committed without the knowledge and consent should not be considered as a human act.
To consider that the act is a human act, it should be a voluntary act committed by an individual. The act must also be done with the individual’s knowledge and consent. The act committed should be considered as an act that is proper to man as man ( in consideration that of all the animals, man alone has the intellect and the freedom of will to do the act ). The act should also be committed in a conscious state and under the control of the individual in which he/she is responsible. The act should also be of those events or time that the individual is considered to be as the master, possessing the power to do the act or not as he/she intends to do.
It was being signified that only the human act is considered as the one who has moral significance. There are acts that affects the human life but these things does not fall under the study of the science of Ethics. These acts are the movements of other things such as bomb explosion, volcanic eruption, sinking of the ships, earthquakes and the like.
There are some other acts that also belong to this category; such as the biological or the physiological functions and processes of the human body. These things are like the circulation of the blood in the body, the opening as well as the closing of valves in the heart, the breathing processes, the growth of the hair as well the growth of the nails and some other things. All of these movements or actions was considered to have no moral bearings and no moral significance as well as the Ethics is concern.
Still there are acts that are considered to be as morally indifferent acts. Examples of these are walking, sitting, talking and more. These acts could be either good or bad considering that they can only be wrong when they are declared forbidden by certain circumstances.