LESSON 5

INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

Freedom of the Human

Person
Prepared by: Carmina Jane G. Domantay 01
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Responsible or Not?
• Instead of buying a new dress for a party she is going to
attend, Sheena decides to borrow a dress from her sister.
• Knowing that her classmate will be humiliated by the photo
she took, Mika still posted the photo in their class group chat.
• Despite his classmate's friends threatening him, Mark decided
to tell his teacher that his classmates stole a test paper for their
final examination.

FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN PERSON

 SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

What is freedom?
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The Power of Volition
ARISTOTLE

• For Aristotle, a human being is

rational.
• If there were no intellect, there
would be no will.

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The Power of Volition
ARISTOTLE

• Reason can legislate, but only

through will can its legislation
be turned into action.
• Reason, Will, and Action drives
each other.

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The will of humanity 06

is an instrument of
free choice. It is
within the power of
everyone to be good
or bad, worthy or
worthless.

FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN PERSON

Moral acts, which are always particular
acts, are in our power and we are
responsible for them.

FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN PERSON

 St. Thomas Aquinas
LOVE IS FREEDOM
• St. Thomas Aquinas considers
the human being as a moral
agent, being both a spiritual and
body elements; the spiritual and
material.

• Freedom for St. Thomas is the

manner in which intellectual
beings seek universal goodness.

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 St. Thomas Aquinas
LOVE IS FREEDOM

• Through our spirituality, we have a conscience. Whether we

choose to be ‘good’ or ‘evil’ becomes our responsibility.

• “The law of divine love is the standard for all human actions.”

• Since God is Love, then Love is the guiding principle of

humanity toward his self-perception and happiness – his
ultimate destiny.

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 St. Thomas Aquinas
LOVE IS FREEDOM

• Of all creatures of God, human beings have the unique power

to change. themselves and the things around them for the
better.

• The power of change cannot be done by human being alone,

but is achieved through cooperation with God.

• Change should promote not just any purely private advantage,

but the good of the community.

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 St. Thomas Aquinas
LOVE IS FREEDOM

• He gives the fourfold classification of laws namely;

• Eternal Law
• Natural Law
• Human Law
• Divine Law

• Human beings, as being rational, have laws that should not

only be obeyed but also obeyed voluntarily and with
understanding

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Eternal Law
• God’s rational purpose and plan for all things. And
because the Eternal Law is part of God’s mind then it has
always, and will always, exist.

• Aquinas thinks that something is good in as far as it

fulfils its purpose/plan.

• Is God’s perfect plan.

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Natural Law
• Human beings use reason to lead their lives.
• The master principle of natural law was that "good is to be
done and pursued and evil avoided.“
• Aquinas stated that reason reveals particular natural laws
that are good for humans such as self-preservation,
marriage and family, and the desire to know God.
• Reason, he taught, also enables humans to understand
things that are evil such as adultery, suicide, and lying.

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Human Law
• could vary with time, place, and circumstance.
• Aquinas defined this last type of law as "an ordinance of
reason for the common good" made and enforced by a ruler
or government.
• It is not always morally acceptable to follow secondary
precepts. It is only morally acceptable if they are consistent
with the Natural Law. If they are, then we ought to follow
them, if they are not, then we ought not.

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Divine Law
• Are the rules given by God which we find in scripture.

• Example of it are the Ten Commandments.

• This guides individuals beyond the world to ‘eternal

happiness’ in what St. Augustine had called the “City
of God”.

FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN PERSON

 JEAN PAUL SARTRE
INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM
• The human person is the desire
to be God: the desire to exist as
a being which has its sufficient
ground in itself (en sui causa).
• The human person builds the
road to the destiny of his/her
choosing; he/she is the creator
(Srathern 1998)

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Types of Being
1. Being-in-itself – refers to things that are not conscious,
such as rocks, chairs, or can-openers. These things are
defined by what it does.

2. Being-for-itself - can define its essence above and

beyond what it simply is. A person is both a being-in-
itself and a being-for-itself.

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FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN PERSON

"Man is condemned to be free;

because once thrown into the world,
he is responsible for everything he
does." 18
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Principle of Sartre’s Existentialism
• The person, first, exists, encounters himself and surges up in
the world then defines himself afterward. The person is
nothing else but what he makes of himself.

• The person is provided with a supreme opportunity to give

meaning to one’s life.

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Principle of Sartre’s Existentialism
• The person is what one has done and is doing. On the other
hand, the human person who tries to escape obligations and
strives to be en-soi (being-in-itself) is acting on bad faith.

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FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN PERSON

Jean-Paul Sartre touted money as the one

factor that restricts a person's freedom. The
need of money, he reasoned, is the excuse
people give themselves when they shut down
the idea of exploring unconventional life
choices. 22
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“We do not know what we want and yet we

are responsible for what we are — that is the
fact.”
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 EXISTENCE
PRECEDES
ESSENCE
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 THOMAS HOBBES
THE SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY

• Law of Nature is a precept, or

general rule, found out by
reason, by which a man is
forbidden to do that which is
destructive of his life, or takes
away the means of preserving
the same; and to omit that by
which he thinks it may be best
preserved.

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 JEAN-JACQUES
THE SOCIALROUSSEAU
CONTRACT THEORY

• He believes that a human

being is born free and good.
But human has become bad
due to the evil influence of
society, civilization, learning,
and progress. Human being
lost his original goodness, his
primitive tranquility of spirit.

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 Thank you…
Any questions?
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FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN PERSON

Make a timeline of major decisions in your

life and write the consequences of these
decisions.
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