INADVERTENCE. - In general, everything that lies outside the field of actual consciousness is called i. I. takes the form and name of forgetfulness if it refers to the past; of improvidence if it concerns the future. As synonyms of i., the terms distraction, inattention, trufflession are often used, whose metaphorical expressiveness denotes that an acute experimental intuition of the psychological mechanism of i. is present in the patrimony of common sense.
I. is not in itself an error, although it can be a cause of error. Since human action, properly so called, is essentially conditioned and measured by the actual or virtual awareness of the acting subject, i. serves as a limit of voluntariness and responsibility and thus acquires relevance, in many cases, from the juridical and moral point of view. What is inadvertent is not in itself either willed or voluntary.
However, i. can be voluntary. Man in fact possesses a certain dominion over his awareness; he can freely fix, shift, expand and restrict its field, strengthen or suppress it, concentrate and disperse it. In other words, it is in man's power to pay attention, to reflect, to observe, to examine, to control himself and reality. Now, since man is bound in his every action to the moral norm, this norm demands first of all that he become aware of the moral value of his actions. Therefore the first and fundamental duty of man runs: « Be consistent with your conscience: form your conscience ». And conscience means not only abstract and generic awareness of good and evil, but also and properly awareness of the good and evil inherent in the content, the circumstances, the intentions, the possible resonances of concrete action (v. COSCIENZA; FONTI DELLA MORALITÀ).
The general obligation to become aware of the moral value of one's actions assumes different forms and proportions according to individuals, their capacities, their objective possibilities, the nature and importance of individual actions. In any case, he who voluntarily fails in this obligation makes himself aware directly of i. and indirectly of its consequences. These are the cases in which common sense, morality and civil laws themselves rightly qualify and punish unconsciousness and irresponsibility as a fault. Since i. is a form of ignorance, all the distinctions and principles concerning ignorance as a limit of voluntariness hold for it (v. IGNORANZA; RESPONSABILITÀ).
BIBL.: sources