FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN PERSON

Q2, LESSON 1
LESSON 1
Definition of freedom and its Kind

PRE-ACTIVITY: Answer the following questions.

1. When was the time you felt most free?

2. When was the time you felt unfree?

FREEDOM:

ü It is God’s most precious gift to man.

ü It is the power rooted in reason and will to act or not to act, to do this or that and so to
perform deliberate actions.
ü The ability to make choices and perform those choices.
ü 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 Facebook 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.

KINDS OF FREEDOM
1. INNER FREEDOM- freedom of our mind or our intellect, emotions, beliefs and
actions. It includes our spiritual, emotional and intellectual freedom.
2. EXTERNAL- take account the freedom of action, to move about, to speak to do
things, to work or to act on the physical world.
INNER FREEDOM
1. INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM- It is the freedom to think or intellectual freedom
which upholds every human person's right to refine one's thinking and using
his mind to think critically contributory to preservation, protection and
improvement of oneself and the society.
2. EMOTIONAL FREEDOM- to feel any emotion or the emotional freedom. All
feelings and emotions are valid thus there must be equal freedom for
everyone to express their feelings and emotions.
3. 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.
4. SPIRITUAL 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.

EXTERNAL 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.

Physical freedom – the ability to move around and control our own body.

2. 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.

Moral freedom means that individuals should determine for themselves

what it means to lead a good and virtuous life

3. ECONOMIC FREEDOM- It is the freedom to own property and to do with it

what one chooses. It is also known as the freedom to trade. This has
traditionally been expressed through owning land and being able to farm
the land and enjoy what one produces.

4. SOCIAL FREEDOM- It holds various forms of freedom like the freedom of

association which ensures that every individual is free to organize and to
form and participate in groups either formally or informally. It also take
account of the freedom of press, freedom of speech, freedom to engage in
a culture, tradition, or language.

LESSON 2 Elements of Freedom

VOLUNTARINESS- It is the ability of a person to act out of his/her own free

will and self-determination.
 It is the ability of a person to act out of his/her own free will and self-
determination.

RESPONSIBILITY- Refers to the person being accountable for his/her

actions and their consequences.

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.

HUMAN FREEDOM AND OBLIGATIONS

According to John Mothershead, freedom and obligation are two

indispensable conditions for morality to occur. Freedom is understood to be
present when one is choosing a course of action, and he or she is taking full
responsibility for consequence of his actions.

Actions and Consequences

 All our actions (spoken and physical) have consequences. Some are
good (positive) and some are bad (negative)

 Consequences are a result or an effect of an action.

 It is important to try to behave in a way that has positive

consequences.

ACTION- It is a thing or an act done.

CONSEQUENCES-It is a result or effect of an action or condition.
OBLIGATIONS-an act of making oneself responsible for doing something.

LESSON 3
Exercising Freedom in a Responsible and
Beneficial Manner

1. 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.
 2. Freedom should also be exercised with regard for knowledge and truth.

As rational beings, it is important for us to think before we act. We use our freedom to act
and acquire more knowledge, and we use this knowledge in order to come up with decisions
and courses of actions when confronted with difficult situations.

Examples:
1. To correctly answer a multiple choice in an exam, a student should study and prepare
beforehand to know the correct information needed to answer the test. Otherwise, he or she
will be unable to answer the test.

3. We should also recognize and uphold not only our individual freedom but also the freedom
of others.

As human persons, our nature drives us to uphold human dignity and goodness.

ACTIVITY 2: Summarize your ideas on freedom by completing the table.

I am free because… As a free person, I must..

ACTIVITY 3: Write possible consequences to the following actions mentioned.