FREEDOM OF

THE HUMAN
PERSON
 Explain: One’s freedom ends where one’s toe
begins.
Overview
 What is freedom? Where did it come from? Are we
all free?

 Freedom is traditionally understood as

independence of the arbitrary/personal will of
another. (1)
 Such a state is contrasted with slavery.
 A slave is constantly subject to the will of another. (2)
 By contrast a free person can do whatever he
chooses as long as he does not break the law
and infringe/violate [on] the freedom of others.
 Freedom transcends what is physical and
economic. (11:T)
 Example: a student can be young and poor but he
still has the freedom to pursue his dream of
becoming a doctor
ARISTOTLE: The Power of Volition
(4)
 Thepower of using one’s will
 What is free will? Where does it come from?
 “Free Will” is a philosophical term of art for a
particular sort of capacity of rational agents to
choose a course of action from among various
alternatives. 
 The concept of free will is very closely connected to
the concept of moral responsibility (being
responsible for one's action)
 According to Aristotle, the judgment of our rational
self (practical intellect) is meaningless without WILL
(5)

 Reason can legislate and decide, but only through will

can its legislation be translated into action

 The task of practical intellect is to guide will by

enlightening it.
 The (FREEDOM) will of humanity is an
instrument of free choice. (12:F)
 it is in the power of everyone to be worthy or
worthless, to be good or to be bad.

 Moral acts are in our power and we are responsible

for them.
 Character and habit is never an excuse for immoral
conduct
 Example: cutting classes is from one’s free will
therefore one is responsible for its consequences
 Thehappiness of every human being is in his
own hands, to preserve and develop, or to cast
away
Consequentialism
 Consequentialism (or Teleological Ethics) is an
approach to Ethics that argues that the morality of
an action is contingent on the
action's outcome or consequence. Thus,
a morally right action is one that produces a good
outcome or result, and the consequences of an
action or rule generally outweigh all other
considerations (i.e. the ends justify the means).
 Saint Thomas Aquinas: Spiritual
Freedom (10)
 He was one of the major proponents of
Christianity along with St. Augustine of Hippo
 According to him, human beings have the unique
power to change themselves and the things around
them for the better for they are the moral agents.
(6)
 This means therefore that human beings have a
transcendental destiny. They can rise above their
ordinary beings to a highest being or self. (13:T).

 The power of change, however, cannot be done by

human beings alone, but is achieved through
cooperation with God.

 Change should promote not just any private

advantage but the good of the community
 The common good is believed to be ensured through the
existence of laws. (14:F)
 However, St. Thomas Aquinas proposed Love rather
than Law to bring about the transformation of humanity.
 Law commands while love only calls and invites. Hence, it
is in agreement with human’s free nature.

 What should be the driver of change according to st

aquinas (7)
 Jean Paul Sartre: Individual
Freedom (3)
 Sartre is a representative of existentialism. (8)

 According to him, the human person exists as a

being which has a sufficient ground in itself. No
one/nothing is there to guide him.

 The human person therefore builds the destiny of

his/her choosing; he, himself, is the creator.
 Sartre’s
existential view stems from this principle:
Existence precedes essence (9)

 The person exists first, encounters himself, and

surges up in the world then defines himself
afterwards. He is nothing else but that what he
makes of himself.

 The person is born with a supreme authority and

freedom to give meaning to his life. While giving
meaning to his life, he also fills the world with
meaning.
 Therefore, freedom is the very core of authentic
existence. (15:T)

 Authentic existence is realized only in deeds that

are committed alone, in absolute freedom and
responsibility.
____________________________________________
 Sartre emphasizes the importance of free individual
choice, regardless of the power of other people to
influence our desires, beliefs and decisions..
 Finally,according to Sartre, to be human, to be
conscious, is to be free to imagine, free to choose
and be responsible for one’s life.
Thomas Hobbes: The Leviathan
 He wrote this book in 1651.
 Hobbes started this book by arguing that men are
naturally equal in mind and body.
 Strength of the body: the weakest has enough
strength to kill the strongest either secretly or by
allying himself with other for this purpose.
 Wisdom: it is only a matter of time and experience
but everyone can acquire this
 This natural equality of men is the principal
source of freedom and misery.
 Since men have equal faculties and they are all
equally free in the state of nature, they also
cherish the same hopes and desires.
 If two men desire the same thing, which they cannot
both obtain, they become enemies and aim to destroy
each other
 Inthe state of nature, therefore, men are in a
condition of war.
 War of every man against every man.
 The nature of this war consists not in actual fighting,
but in the known disposition thereto (it is inherent
in every man to wage war with another)
 Force and fraud, the two greatest virtues of war,
flourish in this condition of never-ending fear and
conflict
 The three main psychological causes of this are:
competition, uncertainty/insecurity, and glory
(praise)
 In this condition, there is no industry, no
navigation, no trade; no arts and letters; no
society; no civilized living; and worst of all, there
is continual fear and danger of violent death,
and the life of man is solitary (lonely), poor,
nasty, brutish (savage), and short.
 Although Hobbes may seem a bit pessimistic, he
believes that men have the ability to overcome
their condition in the state of nature.
 The fear of death inclines men to peace.
 The attractions of power and glory gives way to
the desire for securing, at the minimum, life.
 According to him, once man realizes that his fear
of death is due to brutal competition, resulting in
the perpetual war of all against all, reason will
show him the way out
 To accept the principle of not doing that to another
so they will not do the same to you.
 Why not have a mutual agreement to stop this
brutal competition?
 According to Hobbes, a covenant among men is not
enough because is desire for power and glory may
tempt him to break this pledge unless there is a
restraining power to stop him from doing so because
“a covenant without sword, are but words, and of
no strength to secure a man at all”
 To stop the perpetual state of war, a sovereign- one
man or assembly of men- must be created, to whom
all power must be surrendered. (THE SOCIAL
CONTRACT)
 The social contract of Hobbes is made between
subjects and subjects, and not between subjects
and sovereign
 The sovereign is not a party to the contract but
its creation, therefore he cannot be accused of
committing any breach
 By participation in the creation of the sovereign,
the subject is the author of all that the ruler does
and must therefore not complain of the sovereign’s
actions
 He is the author of his own death
 The sovereign can never commit injustice. He
cannot be accused of acting illegally because he
determines what is just and unjust, his action is
the LAW
 Hobbes considers absolute monarchy as the best
form of government because it suffers less from
competition for office and power than
democracies.
 It is also easier for one than for many to act
resolutely and consistently
 Hence, in the social contract, there is no division of
power. POWER IS ONLY IN THE SOVEREIGN
 According to Hobbes, there is a danger in the
liberty of the subject to challenge the legality of
the sovereign’s actions
 He advises against:
 The formation of groups;
 Religion;
 Superstition.
 When the sovereign loses the possession of
effective power, the subjects will return to the state
of nature and a new contract can be set up.
 When they are conquered, the subjects will
become subjects of the victor.
 John Locke: Two Treatises of
Government (1690)
 Like Hobbes, Locke also starts out with the state
of nature.

Difference?
 Hobbes: pessimistic; there is no natural law only
natural right-each individual is doing what he sees
fit for the preservation and enhancement of his
power
 Locke:optimistic; men are in a state of perfect
freedom wherein men can act freely towards other
men and their possession as they see fit, within the
bounds of the law of nature
 A state of equality wherein all power is reciprocal;
no one is having more than another
 Unlike Hobbes, his conception of men in the state of
nature is not far from men in an organized society.
How?
 The state of nature has a law of nature (reason) to
govern it
 The law of nature obliges everyone to not harm
another’s life, health, liberty and possessions.

 It defines what is right and wrong.

 If violation of the law of nature occurs, the penalty

is put in every man’s hands wherein one has the
right to punish the transgressors. The injured party
is authorized to be the judge in his own case.
 Locke has noticed 3 deficiencies in the law of the
state of nature:
1. The law is not very clear. If all men are guided by
pure reason, they would see the same law but they
are guided by self-interest thus can mistake these
interests for general law;
2. There is no third party judge who has no
personal stake in disputes. Men who judge their
own conflict are apt to be carried away by revenge
3. The injured party is not always strong enough
to execute the just sentence of the law
 Being in an ill condition while they remain in the
state of nature, men are driven into society.
 The purpose of the social contract is to establish
organized law and order so that the uncertainties in
the state of nature will be replaced by the
predictability of known laws and impartial
institutions
 Once a society is set up by contract, a government
is set up not by contract but by fiduciary trust
(one this trust is broken, citizens can impeach
whoever is in power)
 In Locke’s government, the legislature is the
supreme power, to which all other powers must be
subordinate.
 However, the legislature is only supreme among
organs of the government.
 The people are still higher than it.
 Since the legislator only has a fiduciary power in
Locke’s government, there are only two parties to
the trust:
 The trustor and the beneficiary: people
 Trustee: the legislature
 The principal characteristic of a trust is the fact
that the trustee assumes primary obligations rather
than rights.
 The purpose of the trust is determined by the
trustor and the beneficiary and not by the will of
the trustee.
 The trustee is a little more than the servant of the
trustor and the beneficiary and the trust can and
must be forfeited once the trustee neglects his duty
or acts contrary to the will of the beneficiary and
the trustor
Limitations of the Legislative Power
 Laws must apply equally to all, rich and poor
 Laws must not be arbitrary/subjective and
oppressive but must be designed for the good of
the people
 The legislature must not raise taxes without the
consent of the people or their representatives
(property is the ultimate end)
 The legislature must not transfer its law-making
power to anybody else.
The Right to Rebel
In the Lockean society, people still have retained
their freedom and rights and among those is the right
and freedom to rebel against the government on the
ff. conditions:

 When there is unjust and unlawful force imposed

upon them, and;

 The right of civil disobedience may not be

exercised by one man or a small group of citizens
who feel oppressed but only by the majority who
have suffered from injustice and oppression
End