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Name: _________________________________ Strand/Section:____________

Teacher: ____Ma'am SAB_________________ Date: ___________________

Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person

Module 5: Quarter 2

Freedom of the Human Person

Objective:

At the end of this module, the learners will be able to:

1. understand the true essence of freedom;
2. exercise prudence in making choices;
3. rationalize that: a. choices have consequences; b. some things are given up while others are obtained in making
choices, and
4. show situations that demonstrate freedom of choice and its consequences.

Lesson 1: Definition of Freedom and It’s Kind

What is Freedom?
-The ability to make choices and perform those choices.
- The ability to be what we want and to decide and create oneself.

Two concepts that will help us fully understand freedom:

1. Freedom itself According to Merriam Dictionary, it is the quality or state of being free. It is our capacity to choose of
what we wanted and an inner awareness of what is right and wrong that is traced to our free will according to Aristotle. It
is also an intrinsic and an essential property of a human person which basically means, it is a part of our human nature.
Example: Think of yourself as a student, your teacher told you to study your lessons for the day for you will have a long
quiz the next meeting. However, as you reached home you find yourself having a good time doing Face book and online
chatting with your friends. Using your freedom, you can either choose to follow your teacher’s advice to study your
lessons for your quiz the next morning or continue doing the thing which you find enjoyable.

2. Free will Our free will allows us to decide on things we do depending on the situation. It is our ability to choose between
two different possible courses of action, independently. Simply put it, free will is our ability to choose things according to
our moral reasoning.

To sum it all, our freedom then could trace down in a person’s exercise of his rationality/intellect and free will. Simply that
individual actions as it is freely chosen by an individual it then defines who and what kind of person one is. We all are free
to choose, to be good person and act on it accordingly or be a bad person and act in a bad way. As our actions and
choices reflects us doing what is good and acting on it is what makes you a good person while on the other hand doing
the negative will also give a negative impression to an individual. This has been tackled on the previous lesson that self
determination or the ability to choose on what is right and wrong, that a person’s action determines what kind of person he
or she becomes.

KINDS OF FREEDOM

1. Physical Freedom
Physical freedom refers to the absence of any physical restraint. The person has the freedom of mobility to go where he
or she wants to go. He or she is not impeded in his or her actions by any physical force. Granted that the person has
natural limitations, physical freedom allows him or her to act and move in determined manner. You cannot be everywhere
at once, but your freedom allows you to move one place to another and to go whenever you want to go.

2. Psychological Freedom
Psychological freedom is also called freedom of choice. The person is free to perform actions that he or she considers
right and wise. A person is also free to act or not to act. Psychological freedom is innate and cannot be denied to a
person. No outside force or influence can compel a person to take action against his or her will.

3. Moral Freedom
Moral freedom refers to using freedom in a manner that upholds human dignity and goodness. Freedom is not an object
that a person may use in whatever way he or she pleases. A person must use his or her freedom to grow as a person. A
person becomes freer when he or she uses freedom well, but becomes less free when he or she uses it in a bad way.
Humans have a natural inclination for what is true and good, and when a person uses his or her freedom to do acts that
violates human dignity and goodness, he or she dehumanizes himself or herself and effectively negates human freedom.

Lesson 2: Elements of Freedom

Activity 1: It’s Me! Read the situation below and answer the questions after it. Write your answer in your activity notebook.
One of the barangays in your Municipality was struck by an earthquake. Your school will be conducting an outreach
activity to help the affected families and they need a lot of manpower. With this, they are asking for student volunteers
who would want to join the said outreach activity.

a. Would you volunteer to the said activity? Why or why not?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________
b. What do you think drives you to join or not join the activity?
________________________________________________________________________________________________
c. If you choose to volunteer to the activity, what are the responsibilities that you can associate to your act of voluntarism?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________

What is It?
There are two elements that define freedom:

1. Voluntariness

It is the ability of a person to act of his or her own free will and selfdetermination. A person may decide to do
things or not to do it according to his own free will. It also means that even though she/he is not required to do such things
he/she could still do it or take action on it.

Voluntary acts are free acts which can be assigned a corresponding moral value. One must always remember
that in every action we make, in every choice we make there is an equivalent consequence. These consequences affect
not just the individual who does the decision but also other people in their surroundings. With that, one must always
accept the consequences that results from his or her decisions or actions and take responsibility for them.

2. Responsibility

Responsibility refers to the person being accountable for his or her action and their consequences. Taking
responsibility can mean either you take responsibility to your action voluntarily or other people will hold you responsible.
For example, if you made a bad action it’s either you take responsibility of it or other people will hold you responsible for it.

There are important factors to consider in the exercise of freedom. These are Prudence and Self-reflection.

 Prudence is the ability to govern and discipline oneself with the use of reason; it is having caution and giving good
judgments in making decisions. Because once we made a decision there is no turning back, there is no rewind,
so we should always reflect first on the possible outcomes of the choices that we are going to make. Self-
reflection is very important in exercising freedom.

 Self-reflection allows us to be more rational in making choices, because sometimes human beings tend to be
slaves by their emotions and moods whenever they act certain things. As free beings, exercising our freedom
responsibly is very important. Thus, it requires us to reflect on the actions that we are going to make by
considering its possible effects and the benefits it has to the people affected by it.
Lesson 3: Exercising Freedom in a Responsible and Beneficial Manner

1. What do you think is the message the picture below is trying to convey?
2. How do you think does the picture relates to the previous lesson?

What is It?

Freedom should be exercised with control and reasonable limits. As humans, we enjoy freedom, but we need to
understand that it is not absolute. Meaning, we should exercise our freedom with control and reasonable limits. Examples:
1. A student may be first in line in a grocery store but chooses to give way to an elderly woman next to her.
2. You may be very upset to a friend for losing a thing she borrowed but refuses to confront her because you
already know that she already feels bad of herself for the thing she had done.
3. You may be very angry with your teacher for scolding you in front of the entire class, but you refrained from
answering back at him/her since it will be considered as disrespectful act.

Giving limits to our personal freedom simply means sacrificing certain selfinterest and accept that there are things
beyond our control. Our ability to think and know what is right and what is wrong serves as guide in recognizing and
deciding the limitations of our freedom.

Freedom should be exercised with regard for knowledge and truth.

As a rational beings, it is natural for us to think before we act. We use our freedom to acquire knowledge, which in
turn are useful in making right and sound decisions essential in dealing with our life situations.
Example: To correctly answer a multiple-choice item in an examination, a student has to study his/her lessons.
Otherwise, he/she cannot answer the test. We should also be equipped with the ability to acquire information and truthful
knowledge because it will aid us in making wise and informed choices. Example: In casting our votes during SSG election,
we will not vote to a candidate because of she/he is attractive or appealing but because she/he is knowledgeable on the
important school issues.

Freedom should be exercised to uphold the freedom of others.

Freedom is recognized and guaranteed right for all persons. Meaning, freedom should be enjoyed by all. But it is
important to remember that freedom should be exercised not as a tool to restrict the freedom of others, but as a means to
enable others to fully enjoy their own freedom.
Example: A teacher doing his/her class discussion under the Narra tree instead of having it inside the classroom.
You shared your hard-earned money to cater the needs of your friend who is in dire needs of it for the realization of
his/her school project.

What I Have Learned

 Freedom is an intrinsic and essential property of a human person.

 Human person by nature seeks freedom and our freedom makes us distinct from other beings.

 Freedom gives us the power/ability to be what we want and to decide and create ourselves.

 There are three kinds of freedom. Physical freedom refers to the absence of physical restraint. Psychological
freedom is the freedom of choice. Moral freedom refers to the responsible use of freedom which upholds human
dignity and goodness.

 The two important elements of human freedom are voluntariness and responsibility. Voluntariness refers to
the ability of the person to act out of his or her own free will. Responsibility refers to the person being
accountable for his or her action and their consequences.

 As a person possessing self-determination, individual actions as it is freely chosen by an individual then defines
who and what kind of individual we are.

 Having freedom and exercising it bears responsibilities. All our actions have consequences that come with it.
Therefore, it is important to act with prudence and reflect on possible courses of actions in making decision.
  Freedom should be exercised in a responsible and beneficial manner. One must control and recognize limits of
his or her freedom for it is our responsibility as persons to uphold not only our individual freedoms, but also the
freedom of others.

Assessment

A. Encircle the letter that corresponds your answer.

Write your answers in your activity notebook.

1. This refers to the ability to make choices and perform actions. It is an intrinsic and essential property of the human
person. a. Freedom b. Free Will c. Psychological freedom d. Voluntariness

2. A type of freedom from physical restraint. a. Moral freedom b. Physical freedom c. Psychological freedom d.
Voluntariness

3. This is the kind of freedom which allows a person to perform actions which he or she considers right and wise. a.
Freedom of choosing b. Voluntarism c. Psychological freedom d. Moral Freedom

4. It is the ability to act out one’s free will and self-determination. a. Volunteerism b. Responsibility c. Psychological
freedom d. Voluntariness

5. This means that a person is being accountable for his or her actions and their consequences. a. Responsibly b.
Responsibility c. Irresponsibleness d. Voluntariness

***END OF MODULE 5 Quarter 2**

4 pages