FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN PERSON

This lesson highlights freedom from the intellectual, political, spiritual, and economic aspects. To be
free is a part of humanity`s authenticity.
FREEDOM
- Associated with having FREEWILL
- An idea closely related to the concept of LIBERTY

- Freedom to do things that will not, in theory or in practice, be prevented by other forces.

TYPES OF FREEDOM
 CIRCUMSTANTIAL FREEDOM

- is the liberty to accomplish an action without interference from obstacles.

 METAPHYSICAL FREEDOM

- is the power to choose among genuine alternatives

PRINCIPLE OF ALTERNATE POSSIBILITIES

- This states that can action is free only if the agent that is the person doing thing could have done otherwise.

MORAL RESPONSIBILITY
- Status of morally deserving praise, blame, reward or punishment for an act or omission in accordance with
one's moral obligations

VIEWS ON FREEDOM AND MORAL RESPONSIBILITY

 LIBERTARIANISM

- Belief that human actions are freely chosen

- We do have metaphysical freedom; we are morally responsible
 HARD DETERMINISM

- That all events are caused by past events such that nothing other than what does occur could occur.
 COMPATIBILISM

- Belief that freewill and determinism are compatible ideas that it is possible to believe in both without being
logically inconsistent. We are determined and we have moral responsibility circumstantial freedom is all we
need to be morally responsible.
 DETERMINISM

- Belief that all human behavior flow genetic or environmental factor that was they have occur very difficult or
impossible to change.
 DETERMINISM

FREEWILL
LIBERTARIANISM

COMPATIBILISM

HARD
DETERMINISM

REALIZE THAT “ACTION HAVE CONSEQUENCES.”

-A R I S TOT L E

1. The power of Volition (the power to make your own choice or decisions) – The imperative quality of a
judgement of practical intellect is meaningless, apart from will.
2. Reason can legislate (control), but only through will can its legislation be translated into action. •If there
is no intellect, there would be no will.
3. The will of humanity is an instrument of free choice. It is within the power of everyone to be good or
bad, worthy or worthless. This is borne out by:
a. Our inner awareness of an aptitude to do right or wrong;
b. The common testimony of all human beings;
c. The rewards and punishment of rulers
d. The general employment of praise and blame.

4. Moral acts, which are always particular acts, are in our power and we are responsible for them.
Character or habit is no excuse for immoral conduct. (e.g. cutting classes)
5. For Aristotle, a human being is rational (based on facts or reason and not by emotion). Reason is divine
characteristic. Humans have the spark of the divine. If there were no intellect, there would be no will.
6. Our will is an instrument of free choice. Reason, will, and action drive each other.

LOVE IS FREEDOM - ST.THOMAS AQUINAS

1. Of all creatures of God, human beings have the unique power to change themselves and the things
around them for the better.
2. Human beings therefore, have a supernatural transcendental destiny. This means that he can rise
above his ordinary being or self to highest being or self.
3. This is in line with the idea of St. Thomas that in the plan of God, a human being has to develop and
perfect himself by doing his daily tasks.
4. Hence, if a human being perseveringly lives a righteous and virtuous life, he transcends his mortal state
of life and soars to an immortal state of life.
5. The power of change, however, cannot be done by human beings alone, but is achieved through
cooperation with God. Between humanity and God, there is a gap, which God alone can bridge through
His power.
 6. For love is in consonance with humanity`s free nature, for law commands and complete; love only calls
and invites. St. Thomas emphasizes the freedom of humanity but chooses love in governing humanity`s
life.
7. Since God is love, then love is the guiding principle of humanity toward –self-perception and happiness
his ultimate destiny.
8. St Thomas Aquinas establishes the existence of God as a first cause of all God`s creations, human
beings have the unique power to change themselves and things around them for the better.
9. As humans, we are both material and spiritual. We have a conscience because of our spirituality. God
is Love and Love is our destiny.

INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM
- JEAN PAUL SARTRE

1. Sartre`s philosophy is considered to be a representative of existentialism. The human person is desire

to be God. The human person builds the road to the destiny of his/her choosing; he/she is the creator.
2. Sartre emphasizes the importance of free individual choice, regardless the power of other people to
influence and coerce our desire, beliefs, and decisions.
3. To be human, to be conscious, is to be free to imagine, free to choose and be responsible for one`s life.

SOCIAL CONTRACT
-JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU

1. He is the most famous and influential philosophers of the French enlightenment in the 18th century. In
his book The Social Contract. He elaborated his theory of human nature.
2. Human beings have to form a community or civil community to protect themselves from one another,
because the nature of human beings is to wage war against one another,
3. And since by nature, humanity tends toward self-preservation, then it follows that they have to come to
a free mutual agreement to protect themselves.
4. Hobbes thinks that to end the continuous and self-destructive condition of warfare, humanity founded
the state with its sovereign power of control by means of a mutual consent.
5. Rousseau believes that a human being is born free and good. Now, he is in chains and has become
bad due to the evil influence of society, civilization, learning, and progress.
6. Because of this human being lost his original goodness, his primitive tranquillity of spirit.
7. In order to restore peace, bring his freedom back, and as he returned to his true self, he saw the
necessity and came to form the state through the social contract whereby everyone grants his
individual rights to the general will.
8. The term social contract is a certain way of looking at a society of voluntary collection of agreeable
individuals.
9. There must be a common power or government which the plurality of individuals (citizens) should
confer all their powers and strength into (freedom) one will (ruler).

EVALUATE AND EXERCISE PRUDENCE IN CHOICES

CAREFUL GOOD JUDGEMENT THAT ALLOWS SOMEONE TO AVOID DANGER OR RISKS.

1. Skinner maintains that behavior is shaped and maintained by its consequences.

2. Yelon accepted that behavioral psychology is at fault for having overanalyzed the words reward and
punishment. We might have miscalculated the effect of the environment in the individual.
3. There should be a balance in our relationship with others and the environment.
4. Skinner thinks that the problem is to free human beings not from control but from certain kinds of
control, and it can be solved only if we accept the fact that we depend upon the world around us and
we simply change the nature of dependency.
 5. We do not need to destroy the environment or escape from it. What is needed, according to skinner, is
to redesign it.
6. Life is full of paradoxes, nobody could nor should control it. We have to be open to life, learn to accept
and live with paradoxes. Learning with contradiction is not the same as living contradiction.
7. In the spirituality of imperfection, we learn to accept that life, our environment is both evil and good. We
learn to be flexible and adaptable.
8. Indeed, the theory of freedom has negative and positive tasks. Our lives should not merely controlled
by rewards and punishments.
9. According to Yelon, punishment is an educative measure, and as such is a means to the formation of
motives, which are in part to prevent the wrongdoer from repeating the act and in part to prevent others
from committing a similar act.
10. Indeed, the environment plays a significant part in our lives. Since the Stone Age, we had proven that
we are not completely under its mercy. We have and shall continue to tame and adapt to the changes
in the conditions of the environments
11. As Plato believes, the soul of every individual possesses the power of learning the truth and living in
society that is accordance to its nature.

CHOICES HAVE CONSEQUENCES AND SOMETHINGS ARE GIVEN UP WHILE OTHERS ARE
OBTAINED IN MAKING CHOICES

1. 20th century gave rise to the importance of the individual, the opposite of medieval thought that was
God. •For Ayn Rand, individual mind is the tool for economic progress, since the mind is important; the
sector that molds it should not be controlled by the government.
2. Rand believes that thinking is volitional. A person has the freedom to think or not. Rand cited the right
to gain, to keep, to use, and to dispose of material values. Most developed countries have disposed
their toxic wastes developing countries.
3. Filipinos embraced family and political parties. For the Filipinos, one does not only fulfill reasons of the
mind but of the heart and personal involvement as well.
4. Filipinos look at themselves as holistic from interior dimensions under the principle of harmony.
5. It aspires harmony with others and nature to be in union with God.
6. Filipinos loob is the basis of Christian value of sensitivity to the needs of others and gratitude. It
encompassed give and take relationship among Filipinos.
7. As such, repaying those who have helped us is a manifestation of utang na loob or debt of gratitude.
Loob prioritized family, relatives, and even non-kinsmen (male relative).
8. It bridges individual differences and is the common factor among human beings
9. The concept of Rand`s free individual and Filipino`s view of the free human being may have differences
but can be overcome.
10. The potential of the Filipino should be able to grow so that he will be aware of his uniqueness. Children
should be brought up to the identity of the members of the family and simultaneously with that of the
nation.
11. Self-sufficiency (kasarinlan) should recognize human worth and dignity.
12. Kagandahang loob, kabutihang loob and kalooban are terms that show sharing of one`s self to others.
Loob puts one in touch with his fellow beings.

SHOW SITUATIONS THAT DEMONSTRATE FREEDOM OF CHOICE AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF

THEIR CHOICES

1. According to Rand, individual freedom should be aligned with economic freedom. The Filipino harmony
can be a helping value to the full development of Filipino if it opens up to embrace the whole Philippine
society.
 2. There are cases where the Filipino may adversely affect the social and financial status of the one
moving upward the social ladder. For instance, the more well-off members of a family share their gains
with their relatives and friends in need.
3. Sometimes, the beneficiaries of the monetary assistance (utang or loan) just use the money for non-
essentials. Where there are more important concerns that should be prioritized.
4. As leader or manager with “magandang kalooban” is not passive but plays active role in economic
development. Leaders should not just focus on the impact of job performance but treats every individual
worker as persons and not as objects.
5. “Kasarinlan” promotes entrepreneurship which minimizes foreign control of Filipinos. •Individualism
should be tied with social responsibility and should not be just “tayo-tayo” or “kami-kami”. Our own
individuality should be interact with others.
6. As individuals who are free, Filipinos should recognize their own brand of uniqueness, instead of
copying foreign cultures.
7. For Aristotle and Rand, reason and will or volition is part of our being human. In relation to this, Filipinos
had proven matured thinking, pertaining to EDSA revolution.
8. The decision Is based on the Filipinos` belief in freedom. They also voluntarily risked their lives as they
face danger. Again, the EDSA Revolution is one example of social contract as discussed earlier in this
lesson.

QUESTIONS:

1. How is the libertarian approach to the freedom-determinism question similar to the libertarian
approach to political relations?
2. How is the difference between a causal explanation and a rational explanation of freedom
similar to the difference between foundationalist and anti-foundationalist accounts of morality?
3. Explain, “When we are self-sufficient, we come to possess the inestimable good of freedom”
(Epicurus)
4. Why Thomas Aquinas defined love as freedom? Explain your answers through giving
examples.
5. In your own understanding, explain the principles underlie on Social Contract Theory as
related to Freedom.
6. Differentiate Circumstantial from Metaphysical freedom through citing definite life examples.
7. Give explanation on “ACTION HAVE CONSEQUENCES”
8. How your understanding about freedom will help you live your life as a future educator?
9. How Jean Sartre define individual freedom? Support your answer with real life examples.
10. Explain, Plato believes, the soul of every individual possesses the power of learning the truth
and living in society that is accordance to its nature.