October | 21 | 2020

Lesson: Freedom of the Human Person

"Man is nothing but what he makes of himself." -Jean Paul Sartre

DETERMINISM

refers to the doctrine made popular by Skinner, who says that;

ALL EVENTS INCLUDING HUMAN ACTION, ARE ULTIMATELY DETERMINED BY
CAUSES EXTERNAL TO THE HUMAN WILL.
Determinism, thus, implies that individual human beings have no freewill and cannot be held
morally responsible for their actions.

PAN-DETERMINSM

Human person is not free because their decisions, actions, and behavior are determined by their
BIOLOGICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, and SOCIOLOGICAL DETERMINISM.

BIOLOGICAL DETERMINISM

I am calm, kind, friendly, and sociable; others have the opposite traits.
These traits affect the way I decide, act and behave.

PSYCHOLOGICAL DETERMINISM

Your choice is a product of your values, preferences, wishes, and hopes and past experiences that
continue to determine your present decision, action, and behavior.
SIGMUND FREUD
Father of the School of Psychoanalysis
He is known for his concepts of the 3 aspects of human personality (id, ego, and superego) and
the 3 levels of the mind (conscious, subconscious, and unconscious)

The environment..

creates human being

Skinner suggests:
governments may prescribe the perfect and desirable human behavior
Goal: to increase the statistical rate of seeing a good behavior - REWARD
Goal: to decrease the probability of recurrence of a particular bad behavior - PUNISHMENT