FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY EXISTENTIALISM AND ESSENTIALISM
Essence
HUMAN ACTIONS VS ACTS OF MAN
Acts of Man
● Actions shared by humans and other animals
● Example: sleeping, eating, drinking
Human Acts
● Appropriate actions of human beings
● What makes an act performed by a human being
distinctively a human act is that it is voluntary,
that is, an act in some way under the control or
direction of the will, which is proper to man
● A voluntary act continues either by the will - like
an act of love or choice - or from another human
power that may be motivated by the will, either
by an act of intellect or by the sense of reasoning
or emotion
ARISTOTLE’S DISTINCTION OF VOLUNTARY
AND INVOLUNTARY ACTIONS
● Voluntary Actions - these are acts originating
from the individual performing the act using
knowledge about the situations of the act
■ Voluntary - actions are performed from
will and reason
■ Related to Compulsion - it is considered
as mixed of voluntary and involuntary. It is
more voluntary if the desire and choice
has been performed and involuntary if it
has considered preferences or
alternatives. Example: You are asked to
perform a crime and your options are;
either you do it and your family survives or
you don’t do it but they will be murdered
● Involuntary Actions - are acts done under a)
force or coercion and b). ignorance where the
doer failed to understand the effect and feels
sorry on the result
Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau
INTELLECTUAL CHOICE VS PRACTICAL CHOICE
Intellectual Choice
● Choice which is deliberately selected based on
a moral standpoint. (ought to do)
● They are normative answers about what we
ought to do from a moral system that we uphold
and its moral principles
● These normative answers would take into
consideration the behavior which the society
will accept
Practical Choice
● Choice borne out of psychological and
emotional considerations
● Practical choices are made when confronted
with the actual situation, and usually affected by
psychological aspect of the person embroiled in
the moral situation or dilemma
● A certain set of core properties that are
necessary or essential for a thing to be what it is
● Part of what it means to be a good human is to
adhere to your essence
● Friedrich Nietzsche - embraced Nihilism, the
belief in the ultimate meaningless of life
● Absurdity - the search for answers in an
answerless world
● Bad Faith - a refusal to accept the absurd
● Living authentically - you have to accept the full
weight of your freedom in light of the absurd. You
have to recognize that any meaning your life has,
is given to it by you.
● Albert Camus - “The literal meaning of life is
whether you're doing that prevents you from
killing yourself.”
Existentialism
● A theory that emphasizes the existence of the
individual person as a free and responsible agent
determining their own development through acts
of will
● Soren Kierkegaard - Father of Existentialism
● Jean Paul Sarte - “Existence precedes essence”
○ Our birth comes first and it is up to us to
determine what we are
○ We write our essence by the way we choose
to live
○ No actual predetermined future; no set path
to follow
● The existentialists refute the notion that God
made the universe, or our world, or us, with any
particular purpose in mind
Essentialism
● A belief that things have a set of characteristics
which make them what they are, and that the talk
of science and philosophy is their discovery and
expression
● Teleology - abides by essentialism; the world has
purpose / meaning
INTERSUBJECTIVITY
Humans have the natural and universal tendency to
relate, establish attachments, and seek close
relationships with other people.
Intersubjectivity
● “Inter” connotes “among and between”
● “Subject” equivalent to a conscious being
● Intersubjectivity would mean in the general sense
as “sharing of subjective states by two or more
individuals”
● Characteristic of the human person to engage in
a very intimate and personal relationship with
others who are different from him or her but who
are also like him or her
● It is the organic union of the subjective reality
and objective reality of beings.
MARTIN BUBER SEEMING AND DIALOGUE
● Jewish philosopher who introduced the “I-Thou”
● Seeming
and “I-It” relationships to embody his philosophy
○ An individual presents himself nor herself in
of intersubjectivity
a certain way when dealing with others
● For Buber, we have to treat another person as a
○ Persons take on “roles” or act out
subject (a being different from things or objects)
characters when dealing with certain
● “I” refers to the self and “Thou” or “You” refers to
people or when in certain situations
others
○ This is considered as an unconscious,
● This “I-Thou” relationship is the most meaningful
natural act on the part of humans
relationship in the realm of humanity
● Dialogue
● The “I” is the same with the “Thou” and there
○ An interaction between persons that
should be mutual relationship between them.
happens through speech or the use of
● We can only recognize the self in the context of
words, expressions, and body language
the other. This is a “person-to-person”
○ Humans to strive to achieve deeper and
relationship, “subject-to-subject” relation
gain more substantial interactions and
relations with other people
I-IT AND I-THOU
ASPECTS OF INTERSUBJECTIVITY
● I-IT RELATIONSHIP
○ Means to end instrumentality ● EMPATHY
○ Treating others as an object rather than a ○ The ability to share emotions
subject ○ Driven by a person’s awareness that the
○ Manipulating others into getting what you other is a person with thoughts and
waint feelings
○ Purely instrumental, with an interest in the ○ Enables us to experience another person’s
outcome of the interaction emotions
● AVAILABILITY
● I-THOU RELATIONSHIP
○ The willingness of a person to be present
○ Reciprocity/mutuality
and be at the disposal of another
○ Being fully engaged and completely
● ETHICS OF CARE
present with another person
○ An ethical theory that emphasizes the
○ Recognizing and acknowledging others
moral dimensions of relationships and
○ Deeper involvement with others
interactions
○ Focuses on the here and now
○ This moral perspective encourages
○ Requires will and freedom
individuals to help other people, most
○ Three realms: nature, other, spiritual life
especially the vulnerable
○ The obligation to respond to the needs of
TWO LEVELS OF SELF-OTHER INTERACTION other people
1. The simple awareness of the existence of the
other ALIENATION
● Being aware that there are other beings
● Not all human interactions, however, are
unique from us, and that they exist outside
positive. There are those who view other people
of our own awareness or perception.
negatively and consider human action as being
● Recognizing others that they exist
influenced by selfish interests.
2. The awareness of the self as being seen by
● This pessimistic view considers human
others
relationships frustrating and often inauthentic or
● Aware of this person’s actions
deceptive.
● This self consciousness is considered as a
● A person that adopts this negative view is said
defining characteristic of the self-other
to be experiencing alienation.
relationship
● This arises when a person ceases to view the
The unique phenomenon of the human gaze is other as a distinct and authentic person, and
considered a defining characteristic which sets apart merely considers the other person as a mere
human interaction from the interaction of other object or a means to satisfy personal interests.
species. Also, the awareness of the “self in the other”
is an important element in all other aspects of
interpersonal interactions. The way we act with other
people is often influenced by our ideals of how these
people see us.
PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
HELEN KELLER (June 27, 1880 – June 1, 1968)
● American author, disability rights advocate,
political activist and lecturer.
● Born in West Tuscumbia, Alabama, she lost her
sight and her hearing after a bout of illness at the
age of 19 months.
● She then communicated primarily using home
signs until the age of seven, when she met her
first teacher and life-long companion Anne
Sullivan.
NICHOLAS JAMES VUJICIC
● Australian American Christia evangelist and
motivational speaker of Serbian descent
● Born with tetra-amelia syndrome a rare disorder
characterised by the absence of arms and legs
ROSELLE AMBUBUYOG
● First visually-impaired Filipino to graduate
summa cum laude from Ateneo de Manila
University
● Initiated Project Roselle together with the Rotary
Club of Makati-Ayala, and provided schools with
software and equipment, that will aid blind
students
● Worked as Freedom Scientific, Inc. as a
consultant in developing softwares for the blind
● Motivational speaker
HUMAN PERSON AND THE SOCIETY
SOCIETY
● An organized group of people whose members
interact frequently and have a common territory
and culture
● Product of deliberate actions by individuals who
come together in pursuit of a common goal
● Unique among all other groups because of the
nature of the humans that compose it, as well as
the relationships among its members.
● Members of society are able to transform
themselves and attain development through their
interactions within society. In turn, humans are
also able to influence society through their
actions
TYPES OF SOCIETY
HUNTING AND GATHERING SOCIETY
● Small size; composed mainly of families
● Nomadic because they spend most of their time
searching for food and thus, have no permanent
territory
● Hierarchy is not very varied
● Members are generally treated equally and
decisions are made through a consensus
● No clearly defined roles and division of labor
PASTORAL SOCIETIES
● Domestication of animals for food for a more
stable and predictable food supply
● Larger populations that hunting society
● Produce surplus food and resources, which they
trade with other societies
● This relative prosperity enables the people to
engage in other activities apart from those
necessary for survival, such as handicrafts
● Emergence of specialized tasks in the community
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES
● Primarily engages in the small-scale cultivation of
plants, fruits, and vegetables and the
domestication of animals.
● Semi-nomadic - travel to another place when
they have already depleted the resources in one
area.
● Roles and responsibilities are more clearly
defined
● Tasks assigned according to gender
● Surplus of goods leading to inequality among
members
● People were family-oriented, their behavior and
actions were restricted by tradition
AGRAGARIAN SOCIETIES
● Agriculture is involved in the large-scale and
long-term cultivation of crops and domestication
of animals.
● Improved technology
● Use of tools to aid in farming
● Improved technology and farming methods result
in increased production, giving rise to a growing
population in agricultural societies to a more
structured social system that helps manage
resources and its members
● The increasingly complex social organization and
growing importance of territory often result in
conflicts among neighboring societies over
resources and land
FEUDAL SOCIETIES
● Based on the ownership of land
● Arouse out of developments in western Europe
during Medieval time, when kingdoms were
engaged in conflict over resources, particularly
land.
● Rules grant their followers or vassals the right to
manage parcels of land
● These vassals are served by peasant workers
who cultivate the land and tend to the animals in
the farms. In return for their services, they are
provided with military protection.
● Members of society are organized based on
status.
● Those who own land are considered the most
powerful and influential members of society
● Peasants are considered the lowest group
INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES
● Based on the use of specialized machinery in the
production of goods and services.
● Gave rise to new production and industrial
methods, as well as innovations in transportation
and communication
 ● Technological advances resulted in improved
trade and commerce and better life conditions,
for many people.
● Work is done in factories and public education is
more prevalent.
● Greater inequalities in wealth, power, and
influence
● Defined by nature of work and the prevailing
industry in an area
● The capitalists or business owners are
considered the most influential
● Characterized by cultural diversity and the
presence of bureaucratic forms of organization
POST-INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES
● Marked by the establishment of societies based
on knowledge, information, and the sale of
services
● Led by the human mind and aided by highly
advanced technology, the trend has shifted from
industry to the generation, storage, manipulation,
and sale of information
● Information influences the behavior of people
and has thus become a very important
commodity
● Higher educational attainment, better training,
and specialized roles
● Virtual society where people organize
themselves through communication technology
and the Internet,
● Engage in complex relationships
● Have fluid identities and do not necessarily
subscribe to certain norms or established
standards of behavior
● The freedom allowed in virtual worlds means that
a person is able to engage in various activities,
as well as access various kinds of information
NORMS
● Norms - set of traits and behavior that society
considers acceptable, and are thus encouraged
and passed on to other members
● Laws - more formal and stringent norms that
establish and define acceptable behavior of
citizens
● Folkways - less formal norms that arise from
tradition and do not result in punishment when
violated
● Social system - organized or patterned set of
relationships among individuals and groups that
compose a society
● Social institutions - Certain groups that perform
vital functions in society are recognized as social
institutions (family, school, government, and
religion)
● Social values - actions or ideals that are
considered important by society
HUMAN PERSON AND DEATH
Death
● End of bodily functions which signals the end of
a person’s life.
● It also refers to the separation of the body and
the spirit.
● The body, being material, is bound by the laws of
time and space and is subject to growth, death,
and decay.
● The spirit, being immaterial, will continue to exist
even after the body has passed
PHENOMENOLOGICAL NOTION ABOUT DEATH
Martin Heidegger
German philosopher and existentialist who is the heir
apparent of phenomenology, which aimed to
describe as exactly as possible the phenomena and
structures of conscious experience without appeal to
philosophical or scientific preconceptions about their
nature, origin, or cause
According to Martin Heidegger in his book Being and
Time, death is:
● Certain
● Indefinite,
● One’s property,
● Non-relational
● Not to be outstripped
PERSPECTIVES OF DEATH
● SOCRATES
○ Death can be two possibilities
i. Death is a dreamless sleep
ii. Death is a passage to another life
○ Recommended spending your life looking
after your mind, cultivating that part of you
that you’ll get to keep forever - if there’s an
afterlife
○ If you do that, you’d see death as a benefit,
because you wont be troubled by bodily
things, while your mind will be in top form
● EPICURUS
○ Death is a cessation of a sensation
○ Good and evil only makes sense in terms of
sensation
○ Death is neither good nor evil
○ Things are only evil or bad, if they feel bad
● ZHUANGZHI
○ Why fear the inevitable
○ Death is not about dying, but being left
behind
○ Celebrate the death of a person