Freedom of the

Human Person
Lesson 5
Definition of Freedom and It’s Kind

•WHAT IS FREEDOM?
• When I heard the word FREEDOM, it talks
about___________________.
• What about you __________________?
A fifteen‑year‑old boy became an atheist because he did not
believe anymore that God existed. He was sad that life was
meaningless and that death would mean the end of him
forever. For a while, he was consoled by the thought that
because there was no God, there also was no moral law and
he could do anything he wanted. The ironic thing he
discovered was that nothing seemed to be worth doing
anymore.
What is freedom?

• The ability to make choices and perform

those choices.
• The ability to be what we want and to
decide and create oneself.
Freedom for Immanuel Kant

•Kant's definition of freedom is the

right to control one's actions based
on reason, not desire.
True freedom

•True freedom is not doing whatever

you want but doing what you ought.
 Two concepts that will help us fully understand freedom:

• 1. Freedom itself
• “Freedom is generally defined as having the ability to act or change without constraint-Wikipedia”
Someone or something is “free” if he/it can do or change anything effortlessly and responsibly.
• A person or an animal has the freedom to do things that will not, in theory, or practice, be prevented
by other forces. But freedom has its particular limitations beyond himself because he is bound by
consequences of his actions either to promote goodness or destruction to himself or other persons.
 Example
• Your teacher gave you a pen and paper. The goal here is to make these two
items useful for you.
• You can either use the pen to write a letter or draw something on the paper.
• You can also transform the paper into a paper airplane and write a message
on it and throw it in the air until it finally lands to another person’s lap.
• Using your freedom as an instrument to create action without constraint is its
true meaning.
 2. Free will

• Free will is the ability to choose different courses of action without

restrictions. If we exercise our free will, we get to decide on things that
will lead to results, either good or bad, beneficial or not. The actions that
we do depend on the values we uphold and the acceptance and
expectations of the community we live in, including family members and
friends that we care about.
• To be precise, free will is our ability to choose
things according to our moral reasoning, or the
ability to select on what is right and wrong, that a
person’s action determines what kind of person
he or she becomes.
 KINDS OF 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. Granted that the person has natural
limitations, physical freedom enables him or her to act and move in determined
manner. You cannot be everywhere at once, but your freedom allows you to move one
place to another and to go whenever you want to go.
• 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.
 3. 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. A person becomes freer when he
or she uses freedom well but becomes less free when he or she uses it in a wicked way.
• Humans have a natural inclination for what is right and moral, and when a person uses his or her

freedom to do acts that violates human dignity and goodness, he or she dehumanizes himself or herself
and effectively negates human freedom.
 Read and reflect on the situation below:
• Bert was on his way home from school
• Imagine that you when unknowingly, he stumbled upon a
are in his wallet. It appears to be full of cash as well
Take the money and as several Identification Cards of the
situation. Turn-in the wallet spend it on the things
to the nearest owner.
• Which among the you
police station and need and want • Bert knows he was short on the budget he
situations tell them what
needed to complete the school project he
pictured below happened
was working on and he could also spend
will be your most Leave the wallet alone
some on new shoes.
and continue walking
truthful action? home
• Freedom gives us the choice to undertake one of these possible
actions. It also enables us to come up with new choices. For
example, some may take some of the cash before reporting it to the
police to purchase their needs. The essence of freedom is that it
does not confine our actions to those do set or expected by others;
we can imagine you actions and decide to undertake them.
• Now recall your answer and ask yourself why you chose to take that action.
• Reflecting upon your actions will enable you to know yourself better as a
person. Your actions also determine to uphold human dignity and freedom.
Having freedom, however, also entails certain responsibilities. It is possible
for a person to diminish or deny a freedom through the choices that he or
she makes.
• Freedom requires a degree of control from the person who
exercises it. A person becomes freer when he or she
exercises control over himself or herself.
• On the other hand, a person becomes less free when he or
she is no longer in control of himself or herself and is
instead controlled by other forces.
• For example, persons suffering from addiction are less free
because they are overpowered by their addiction to certain
substances and can barely control themselves when presented
with these things. People who act solely based on their emotions
are also less free because they allowed themselves to be
controlled by their feelings without any regard for ethical
considerations. To lose control of oneself diminishes human
freedom and dehumanizes the person.
• “We are who we are because of the choices we make.” Life
is a long journey, and, in this journey, we would likely face
the same situations again and again. Every repeated choice
that we make in the same scenario can develop into a habit.
If this habit continues, it becomes one of your character
traits.
 Elements of Freedom
1. Voluntariness
It is the ability of a person to act of his or her own free will and self-determination. A person may decide to do
things or not to do it according to his own free will. It also means that even though she/he is not required to do
such things he/she could still do it or take action on it.
Voluntary acts are free acts which can be assigned a corresponding moral value. One must always remember that
in every action we make, in every choice we make there is an equivalent consequence. These consequences affect
not just the individual who does the decision but also other people in their surroundings. With that, one must
always accept the consequences that results from his or her choices or actions and take responsibility for them.
 Let us analyze the following scenario and figure out how
voluntariness was expressed in the situation.
• Freddy was on vacation in a resort prior to graduating senior high school. He was relaxing
on the poolside when he noticed two kids playing near the pool without their parents. He
did not mind them since he knows there is an on-standby lifeguard in the area. After a
short while Freddy heard a splash. When he looked, he saw both kids struggling to grasp
for air desperately wailing their hands on the air to call for help. He immediately got up
and headed for the Lifeguard tower but to his dismay, no one was there. Freddy knows he
is not an expert swimmer, but he decides to rescue the children himself. He successfully
secured both to the side of the pool.
• Reflect on the actions and choices that were made in that situation. Why did
the children play near the pool unsupervised? Why was the Lifeguard not
there? Why did Freddy save them? Did Freddy have to save the two children
whom he did not know at the expense of his own life? One can argue that he
does not have the responsibility to save them since he is not a lifeguard. If he
did that, what would be the result of his inaction? Would it be possible for
other people to be heroic just like he did? What can you say about Freddy’
actions? What do you think will be the result of his actions?
• Whenever we decide to act, this results in a certain
consequence. All human actions have consequences, and this
affect not only the person who commits the action, but also
other people in our surroundings. As a free being, the person
must accept the consequences of his or her actions to take
responsibility for them.
 2. Responsibility

• Responsibility refers to the person being accountable for his or

her action and their consequences. Taking responsibility can
mean either you take responsibility to your doing 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 accountable for
it.
• Taking responsibility can either mean a person will voluntarily
taking responsibility for his or her own actions or being held
responsible by other people. Whenever you know you committed
a bad action, you can either voluntarily confess to it or other
people will point it out and hold you responsible. Responsibility
can also have a positive or negative meaning, and it goes hand in
hand with voluntariness in determining the morality of an action.
• The realization of voluntariness and responsibility in
the exercise of our freedom give our actions and
experiences a whole new meaning. We can now reflect
on our actions to better understand them and guide us
towards making the best possible decision.
• Another reality that we must face as we exercise our freedom is the fact
that freedom is experienced through the path of making choices. Although
human freedom gives us the ability to think of countless decisions and
possible actions, we only get to choose one of these possible actions or
decisions. Having the ability to choose and to enact a course of action does
not automatically mean that we should act every time. It is also possible
that the choice not to take action may be an acceptable and moral choice in
a given situation.
• When we make the choice to do a particular action, we can never
go back and redo our actions and make another choice. Real life is
not a movie where we can stop and get a second take on the
situation. Therefore, it is very important that when confronted
with choices, we exercise caution and prudence and reflect on our
possible courses of action.
There are significant factors to consider in the
exercise of freedom
 1. Prudence
• Prudence is the ability to govern and discipline oneself with the use
of reason; it is having caution and giving good judgments in
making decisions. Making hard choices is an exercise of freedom.
But freedom should also be based on truthful knowledge and wise
reasoning. Hence, we should practice self-reflection on every
decision we make.
 2. Self-reflection

• Self-reflection allows each person to analyze his life both in small and big
details in terms of the decisions, actions and choices he make Browning, G
(2009). It is a deeper form of learning where if practiced with higher sense
of wise judgement and keen perception, the experiences he makes are more
meaningful and serve as guide for improved and informed decisions,
actions and choices.
HUMAN ACTS AND VOLUNTARINESS
•We have human dignity because we are intelligent and
free persons, capable of determining our own lives by our own
free choices.
•We give this dignity to ourselves by freely choosing to
shape our lives and actions in accord with the truth; that is, by
making good moral choices.
•Such choices are in turn dependent upon true moral
judgments.
•These choices performed as free persons are called human
acts.
ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES
ACTIONS AND
CONSEQUENCES
•All our actions (spoken and physical) have
consequences. Some are good (positive) and some bad
(negative).
• Consequences are a result or an effect.
•It is important to try to behave in a way that
has positive consequences.
ACTIVITY 1 : Write possible consequences (on the right
column) to the actions mentioned on the left column.
ACTION
CONSEQUENCES

My brother hit me really hard...

I stayed out later than my Mother said I

could....

I ran across the road without thinking...

Another student called me names...

FREEDOM OF THE WILL
THE POW ER OF VOLITION-
ARISTOTLE

•The will of humanity

is an instrument of free
choice.
•It is within the power of everyone to be
good or bad, worthy or worthless.
 THIS IS BORNE OUT BY :
•Our inner awareness of an aptitude to do right
or wrong
• The common testimony of all human beings
• The rewards and punishment of rulers
• The general employment of praise and blame
•Moral acts, which are always particular acts,
are in our power and we are responsible for
them.
•Character or habit is no excuse for immoral
conduct.
• Attending class is a student’s responsibility.
•Should the student cut class, then he/she is
responsible for any consequences of his actions.
•As a result, he/she must be held responsible for any
accident or failure in grades that will befall on him/her.
•The student may regret what he/she had done, but all the
regrets in the world will not call it back.
•The point is the student should not cut class in the
first instance.
•When the matter is sifted down, the happiness of
every human being’s soul is in his own hands, to
preserve and develop, or to cast away.
•For Aristotle, a human being
is rational.
• Reason is a divine characteristics.
•Our will is an instrument of
free choice.
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.
•St. Thomas Aquinas considers human being as a
moral agent.
•We are both the spiritual and body element; the
spiritual and the material.
•The unity between both elements indeed helps us to
understand our complexity as human beings.
•Our spirituality separates us from animals;
it delineates moral dimension of our fulfilment in
an action.
• Through our spirituality, we have a conscience.
•Whether we choose to be “good” or “evil”
becomes our responsibility.
•A human being, therefore, has a supernatural,
transcendental destiny.
•This means that he can rise above his ordinary being or
self to a highest being or self.
•This is in line with the idea of St. Thomas that in the plan
of God, human being has to develop and perfect himself by
doing his daily tasks.
•Hence, if a human being perseveringly lives a
righteous and virtuous life, he transcends his moral state
of life and soars to an immortal state of life.
The power of change, however, cannot be done by human
beings alone, but is achieved through
cooperation With God.
Between humanity and God,thereis an infinite gap,
which God alone can bridge through His power.
•Perfection by participation here means that it is a union
of humanity with God.
•Change should promote not just any pure private
advantage, but the good of the community.
Aquinas’ Fourfold of Classification
of Law

1. Eternal Law
2. Natural law
3. Human law
4. Divine Law
 HUMAN LAW

•It is the interpretation of natural

law in different context.
 NATURAL LAW

•Is the rational creature’s participation in

the Eternal Law. It hinges upon the
desire for God and submission to Him, as
well as upon the sense that the other is one’s
equal.
 ETERNAL LAW

•It is the decree of God that governs all creation.

•It is the Divine Wisdom of God which oversees the
common good.
•It is God’s plan to lead all creation towards
God’s eternal salvific plan to be holy and
blameless before Him through Jesus Christ.
 DIVINE LAW

•Is the historical laws of Scripture given to us through

God’s self-revelation.
•Divine law is divided into the Old law and the
New Law, which correspond to the Old and
New Testaments of the Bible.
•The Old Law, revealed by God to Moses- the Ten
Commandments.
•The New Law perfects the Old Law.
•The new Law, through the teachings of Jesus-
commands internal conduct-and reaches us
by divine love-promising love and heavenly
reward.
•The New law “is the Holy Spirit given
through faith in Christ, which heals and is
expressed through love- the Beatitude.
 FOR ARISTOTLE
•The purpose of a human being is to be happy.
• To be one, one has to live a virtuous life.
•In other words, human beings have to develop
to the full their powers- rational, moral- social-
emotional, and physical here on earth.
FOR ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
•He follows the same line of thinking, but
points to a higher form of happiness possible
to humanity beyond this life, and that is
perfect happiness that everyone seeks but
could be found only in God alone.
•St. Thomas Aquinas wisely and aptly chose and proposed
Love rather than Law to bring about the transformation of
humanity.
•For Love is consonance with humanity’s free nature, for Law
commands and complete; Love only calls and invites.
•He emphasizes the freedom of humanity but chooses love in
governing humanity’s life.
•Since God is Love, then Love is the guiding principle of
humanity toward his self-perception and happiness -
his ultimate destiny.
ARGUMENT FROM COMMON
CONSENT
•The great majority of men believe that their will is
free. This conviction is of the utmost
practical importance for the whole of human life.
•Therefore, if there is order in the world, the
majority of mankind cannot be wrong in this belief.
Hence, the will is free.
THE PSY CHOLOGICAL ARGUMENT
•We have said that most people naturally hold
that the will is free.
•Men are directly and indirectly aware of their
freedom in the very act of making a free
decision; they are indirectly aware of it because of
the many instances of the behavior which can only
be explained by admitting the freedom of the will.
THE ETHICAL
ARGUMENT
•Ifthere no freedom,there no moral
is is no virtue, no moral
obligation, no duty,
responsibility no no morality.
merit,
•The necessary connection between freedom and
the spiritual realities is quite obvious and is
demonstrated in Ethics.
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: SPIRITUAL
FREEDOM
•St. Thomas Aquinas establishes the existence of God
as the first cause.
•Of all God’s creations, human beings have the unique
power to change themselves and things around
them for the better.
• As humans, we are both material and spiritual.
• We have the conscience because of our spirituality.
• God is Love and Love is our destiny.
 J EAN PAUL SARTRE- INDIVIDUAL
FREEDOM
•For Sartre, the human person is the desire to
be God: the desire to exist as a being which has
its sufficient ground in itself.
• There are no guideposts along the road of life.
•The human person builds the road to the destiny of
his/her choosing; he/she is the creator.
 SARTRE’S PRINCIPLE: EXISTENCE
PRECEDES ESSENCE

•The person, first, exists, encounters himself

and surges up in the world then defines himself
afterward. The person is nothing else but
that what he makes of himself.
•The person is provided with a supreme
opportunity to give meaning to one’s life, one
fills the world with meaning.
•Freedom is, therefore, the very core and the door
to authentic existence. Authentic existence
is realized only in deeds that are committed alone,
in absolute freedom and responsibility and
which, therefore, the character of true creation.
•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 (i.e.
excuses, such as “I was born this way” or “I grew
up in a bad environment”) is acting on bad faith (
mauvais foi).
•Sartre emphasizes the importance of free
individual choice, regardless of the power of other
people to influence and coerce our desires,
beliefs, and decisions.
•To be human, to be conscious, is to be free
to imagine, free to choose, and be responsible
for one’s life.
 THOMAS HOBBES- THEORY OF
SOCIAL CONTRACT

•Law of Nature- is a precept or general rule

established by reason, by which a person 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.
 THEORY OF SOCIAL CONTRACT
•The condition in which people give up some individual
liberty in exchange for some common security is the Social
Contract.
•Hobbes defines contract as "the mutual transferring of
right."
•In the state of nature, everyone has the right to everything -
there are no limits to the right of natural liberty.
 J EAN-J ACQUES ROUSSEAU

According to Hobbes and Rousseau, the state owes

its origin to a social contract freely entered into by
its members.
Both have one thing in common, that is, human beings
have to form a community or civil community to protect
themselves from one another, because the nature of
human beings is to wage war against one another, and
since by nature, humanity tends toward self -
preservation, then it follows that they have to come to a
free mutual agreement to protect themselves.
Hobbes thinks that to end the continuous and self-
destructive condition of warfare, humanity founded the
state with its sovereign power of control by means
of mutual consent.
Rousseau believes that a human being is born free and
good. Now he is in chains and has become bad due
to the evil influence of society, civilization, learning,
and progress.
Finish the Sentence
 I do my best when . . .
 I struggle when . . .
 I am comfortable when . . .
 I feel stress when . . .
 I am courageous when . . .
 One of the most important things I learned was . . .
 I missed a great opportunity when . . .
 One of my favorite memories is . . .
 My toughest decisions involve . . .
 Being myself is hard because . . .
 I can be myself when . . .
 I wish I were more . . .
 I wish I could . . .
 I wish I would regularly . . .
 I wish I had . . .
 I wish I knew . . .
 I wish I felt . . .
 I wish I saw . . .
 I wish I thought . . .
 Life should be about . . .
 I am going to make my life about . . .
Analyze the following situations. Give your recommendations on
how the persons involved can exercise freedom more responsibly.
• 1. Julia’s family is well-known for being wealthy and influential.
However, her family faced hard times in the previous year. Her
father’s business closed, and they were forced to sell most of
their possessions and live a much simpler life. Julia, however,
wishes to maintain her image among her friends. She has
resorted to borrowing money from relatives to keep up with her
well-off barkada.
• 2. Mang Tony’s meat stall has been very profitable these
days. It turns out that he has been tampering with the
weighing scales and has been selling less meat at
increased prices. One time, some meat went stale and he
decided to mix it with other fresh meat so he could still
sell it.