INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY

OF THE HUMAN PERSON

 LESSON 5:
FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN PERSON
Freedom – is the power or right to act, speak, or think
as one wants without hindrance or restraint.

To be free is a part of humanity’s authenticity.

Freedom is a part of our transcendence.

5.1 Realize that “All Actions Have Consequences”

A. Aristotle
The Power of Volition
– the power of using one’s will.
Will – the faculty by which a person decides on
and initiates action.
For Aristotle, a human being is rational. But if
there is no intellect, there is no will.

The will of humanity is an instrument of free

choice.
Ex: rewards and punishment
praise and blame

B. St. Thomas Aquinas

Love is freedom/Spiritual Freedom
St. Thomas considers the human being as a
moral agent.
Moral Agent – a being who is capable of acting
with reference to right and wrong.
If you choose to be good, you have to develop
and perfect yourself by doing your daily tasks.

If humans perseveringly live a righteous and

virtuous life, he transcends his mortal state of
life and soars to an immortal state of life.

Change should promote not just any purely

private advantage, but the good of the
community.
Fourfold Classification of Law
1. Eternal Law
- Is the decree of God that governs all creation.
- A law which is the Supreme Reason cannot be
understood to be otherwise than
unchangeable and eternal.

2. Divine Law
- Is the historical laws of Scripture given to us
through God’s self- revelation.
Division of Divine Law
a. Old Law ( Old Testament) – 10 commandments
– promised earthly rewards like social peace and
its benefits.
b. New Law ( New Testament) – the teachings of
Jesus – commands internal conduct – promises
heavenly rewards.

3. Natural Law
- States that good is to be sought after and evil
avoided.
4. Human Law
- A man-made law, an interpretation of natural
law.

C. Jean Paul Sartre: Individual Freedom

Sartre’s philosophy is considered to be a
representative of existentialism.
For him, the human person is the desire to be
God: the desire to exist as a being which has its
sufficient ground in itself.
Ex: human person builds the road to the destiny of
his/her choosing; he/she is the creator.
 Sartre’s version of Existentialism is that Existence
precedes Essence. Human beings have no predefined
pattern that we must fit into, we live our lives, and that in
return defines what we truly are, not any idealized set of
characteristics.

He believe that “Human being is free, human being is

freedom.” First, the person exists, encounters himself and
surges up in the world then defines himself afterwards. The
person is provided with a supreme opportunity to give
meaning to one’s life. In the course of giving meaning to
one’s life, one fills the world with meaning.
 Sartre emphasizes the importance of free
individual choice. To be human, to be conscious,
is to be free to imagine, free to choose and be
responsible for one’s life.

D. Thomas Hobbes E. Jean Jacques Rousseau

English philosopher-
considered to be one of the
founders of modern
political philosophy.
His book Leviathan,
expounded an influential
formulation of social
contract
one of the most famous and
influential French
philosopher in the 18th
century.
His book The Social
Contract, he elaborated his
theory of human nature
both agreed that state owes its origin to a social contract
freely entered into by its members.
Developed his idea of social Interpreted the idea in terms
contract in favor of absolute of absolute democracy and
monarchy. individualism.
Both believe that human beings have to form a community
or civil community to protect themselves from one another
Hobbes thinks that to end He believes that human
the continuous and self- being is born free and good.
destructive condition of He has become bad due to
warfare, humanity founded evil influences like society,
the state with its sovereign civilization, learning, and
power of control by means progress. He lost his original
of mutual consent which is goodness and tranquility
the SOCIAL CONTRACT. (calmness) of spirit.
 In order to restore peace, bring his freedom back,
and as he returned to his true self, they saw the
necessity and came to form the state through the
social contract whereby everyone grants his
individual rights to the general will.

Social Contract is a mutual Social Contract is agreed

transferring of rights. upon by all citizens for
their mutual preservation.
 EDSA Revolution is an example of Social Contract.
People gathered in Edsa to voice their
disenchantment peacefully and through mutual
effort, successfully ousted Marcos.

Social Contract is not an actual historical event. It is a

philosophical fiction, a metaphor and a certain way of
looking at a society of voluntary collection of
agreeable individuals.
Ex: Bill of Rights, Constitution but these are not
metaphor because these are actual agreement and
signed by the representatives
 Therefore, 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).