INTRODUCTION TO

PHILOSOPHY OF
THE HUMAN
PERSON
 CHAPTER 5:
THE FREEDOM OF THE
HUMAN PERSON
CONTENT:
I. Pan-Determinism’s View of Freedom as
an Illusion
II. Human Person as Self-determining
Being
III. Human Person as a Being Condemned
to be Free
IV. Freedom and Responsibility
LEARNING COMPETENCIES
▪Evaluate and exercise prudence in choices;
▪Realize that: choices have consequences
and some things are given up while others
are obtained in making choices; and
▪Show situations that demonstrate freedom
of choice and the consequences of their
choices.
 Lesson 1:
Pan-Determinism’s
View of Freedom as
an Illusion
 Pan-determinism is “the view
which disregards [the human]
capacity to take a stand toward
any conditions whatsoever.”
Specifically, it states that a
human person is not free
because his/her decisions,
actions, and behavior are
determined by his/her
biological, psychological, and
sociological conditions.

PAN-DETERMINISM’S VIEW OF
FREEDOM AS AN ILLUSION
A. Biological Determinism
• Humans are biologically pre-
disposed to decide, act, or behave
in a certain way.
• What humans are and what they
will be is determined by their
biological make-up.
• This explains why some humans
are naturally calm, kind, friendly,
and sociable; others have the
opposite traits.

PAN-DETERMINISM’S VIEW OF
FREEDOM AS AN ILLUSION
B. Psychological Determinism
• He was born in 1856 in Frieberg, Moravia
but lived and worked in Vienna, Austria.
• He is considered as the father of the
school of psychoanalysis.
• He is known for his concepts of the three
aspects of human personality (id, ego,
superego) and the three levels of the
mind (consciousness, subconsciousness,
and unconsciousness).
Sigmund Freud
PAN-DETERMINISM’S VIEW OF
FREEDOM AS AN ILLUSION
 • Human actions are not free.
They may appear free, but
they are nothing but a
manifestation of the various
mental states, which humans
are not aware of.
• These mental states, in turn,
govern human decisions,
actions, and behaviors.
Sigmund Freud
PAN-DETERMINISM’S VIEW OF
FREEDOM AS AN ILLUSION
Three Levels of Mind:
• Conscious Mind contains all of the thoughts, memories,
feelings, and wishes of which the person is aware at any
given moment.
• Pre-conscious Mind contains all of the thoughts, memories,
feelings, and wishes of which the person is not currently
aware at any given moment. However, this can be brought to
the present awareness easily by the process of
remembering.
• Unconscious Mind contains all of the fears, motives, sexual
drives, wishes, urges, needs, and past experiences that the
person is not currently aware of and which cannot be easily
brought to the conscious mind.

PAN-DETERMINISM’S VIEW OF
FREEDOM AS AN ILLUSION
Freud likened his concept of the
mind to an iceberg.
• The top of the iceberg represents
the conscious mind;
• The part of the iceberg that is
submerged below the water, but
still visible, is the pre-conscious
mind; and
• The bulk of the iceberg that lies
unseen beneath the waterline
represents the unconscious mind.

PAN-DETERMINISM’S VIEW OF
FREEDOM AS AN ILLUSION
C. Sociological Determinism
• He is an American psychologist and
social philosopher.
• He is known for his defense of
behaviorism, a view claiming that human
behavior is conditioned. He refers to his
version of behaviorism as radical
behaviorism and calls his approach
operant conditioning.
• He published books such as Walden
Two and Beyond Freedom and Dignity. Burrhus Frederic Skinner

PAN-DETERMINISM’S VIEW OF
FREEDOM AS AN ILLUSION
• There is no autonomous agent in
humans that determines their actions.
Human behavior is shaped by external
conditions (the surrounding environment)
and not by the so-called inner self.
• Actions that produce good consequences
are reinforced; conversely, actions that
yield negative effects have the tendency
not to be repeated.
• Human actions, then, depend on their
consequences and not on deliberate
choices.
Burrhus Frederic Skinner

PAN-DETERMINISM’S VIEW OF
FREEDOM AS AN ILLUSION
Reinforcement
Reinforcement states that behavior is driven by its
consequences. It is used to increase the probability that a
specific behavior will occur in the future by delivering or
removing a stimulus immediately after a behavior.
• Positive Reinforcement – occurs by presenting a motivating/
reinforcing stimulus to the person after the desired behavior is
exhibited, making the behavior more likely to happen in the
future.
• Negative Reinforcement - occurs when a certain stimulus
(usually an aversive stimulus) is removed after a particular
behavior is exhibited. The likelihood of the particular behavior
occurring again in the future is increased because of
removing/avoiding the negative consequence.

PAN-DETERMINISM’S VIEW OF
FREEDOM AS AN ILLUSION
Examples:
• A mother gives her son praise for doing homework.
• The little boy receives ₱1,000.00 for every 95 he earns
on his report card.
• A father gives his daughter candy for cleaning up toys.
• Bob does the dishes in order to stop his mother’s
nagging.
• Joe presses a button that turns off a loud alarm.

PAN-DETERMINISM’S VIEW OF
FREEDOM AS AN ILLUSION
Punishment
Punishment is a process by which a consequence
immediately follows a behavior which decreases the future
frequency of that behavior.
• Positive Punishment – occurs by presenting an aversive
consequence after an undesired behavior is exhibited, making
the behavior less likely to happen in the future.
• Negative Punishment – occurs when a certain reinforcing
stimulus is removed after a particular undesired behavior is
exhibited, resulting in the behavior happening less often in the
future.

PAN-DETERMINISM’S VIEW OF
FREEDOM AS AN ILLUSION
Examples:
• A child picks his nose during class and the teacher
reprimands him in front of his classmates.
• A child touches a hot stove and feels pain.
• A person eats spoiled food and gets a bad taste in his/her
mouth.
• A child kicks a peer, and is removed from his/her favorite
activity.
• A child yells out in class, loses a token for good behavior on
his/her token board that could have later be cashed in for a
prize.
• A child fights with her brother and has her favorite toy taken
away.

PAN-DETERMINISM’S VIEW OF
FREEDOM AS AN ILLUSION
• To sum up, if human behavior is
determined by its consequences,
reinforced if it has pleasant
consequences and not reinforced if it has
unpleasant consequences, then it is
externally determined.
• If human behavior is externally
determined, then it makes no sense to
claim that a human person is free.
• To claim that a human person is free is to
posit an autonomous agent in the human
person that decides independently of
human behavior. Burrhus Frederic Skinner

PAN-DETERMINISM’S VIEW OF
FREEDOM AS AN ILLUSION
 Lesson 2:
The Human Person as
Self-Determining Being
 • He is an Austrian philosopher,
neurologist, and psychotherapist.
• He was born on March 26, 1905 in
Vienna Austria where he practiced as a
neurosurgeon and psychotherapist
before he was imprisoned in
concentration camps during the
Holocaust.
• After his three-year incarceration, he
published many books including the
best-selling Man’s Search for Meaning,
an autobiography of his life in the
concentration camps.
Viktor E. Frankl • He died on September 2, 1997.

PAN-DETERMINISM’S VIEW OF
FREEDOM AS AN ILLUSION
 • All persons are biologically,
psychologically, and sociologically
destined.
• While the pan-determinists are
correct in pointing this out, for
Frankl, they are wrong in claiming
that human behavior is nothing
except what is pre-determined by
these factors.
Viktor E. Frankl

PAN-DETERMINISM’S VIEW OF
FREEDOM AS AN ILLUSION
• Human freedom does not exist in a vacuum. To be free
means to be free from. Freedom always presupposes a
condition or a restriction.
• Human freedom is destined freedom.
• To speak freedom is to speak of condition from which a
person seeks to be free.
• A human person is self-determining, the innate capacity to
determine his/her decisions and actions amidst constraining
conditions.
• The human person has the power to transcend all the
factors that condition human freedom.

PAN-DETERMINISM’S VIEW OF
FREEDOM AS AN ILLUSION
 A. Against Biological Determinism
• If we are nothing more than our biological endowment,
how can we explain the triumphs in life of those persons
who suffer from physical disabilities, and failures of
those who got what it takes to succeed in life?
• If biological determinism is true, then how can we explain
also the lives of identical twins who are said to have the
same genetic make-up but who turn out to have different
attitudes, behaviors, and personalities?
• Physically challenged individuals can go far beyond what
their biological conditions permit them to do.

THE HUMAN PERSON AS SELF-

DETERMINING BEING
 • He was born without arms and legs. As a
child, he struggled with life, experienced
loneliness and depressions, had ups and
downs and questioned the purpose of his
life.
• The child who attempted to commit
suicide at the age of ten is now one of the
world’s most popular evangelical and
motivational speakers spreading the
power of love, hope, faith, and will power.
• His life is a powerful testimony against the
claim of biological determinism.
• Given the positive mental attitude, a huma
person, just like Nick, can transcend
his/her physical condition in order to
succeed in life.
Nick Vujicic
THE HUMAN PERSON AS SELF-
DETERMINING BEING
 B. Against Psychological Determinism
• Freud is correct that there exist mental states such as
instincts and drives, hopes and wishes, past frustrations
and successes. But these mental states do not govern
our decisions, behaviors, and actions.
• Human person can control, process, and direct his/her
mental states for whatever purposes; use them to
his/her advantage rather than being driven by them.

THE HUMAN PERSON AS SELF-

DETERMINING BEING
 B. Against Sociological Determinism
• Frankl negates the idea that the human person’s
attitudes, perspectives, values, and beliefs are nothing
but a product of social condition.
• While it is true that a person is unavoidably influenced
by his/her environment, the environment does not
completely determine his/her behavior.
• He/she cannot be reduced into a mere mechanical
object completely determined by the outside world.

THE HUMAN PERSON AS SELF-

DETERMINING BEING
 • A human person is not a mere mechanical object;
he/she ultimately self-determining.
• What becomes of a person is a product of his/her
decisions and creations.
• A person determines his/her own thoughts and actions,
and the surroundings are not capable of taking this
capacity away from him/her.

THE HUMAN PERSON AS SELF-

DETERMINING BEING
 Lesson 3:
The Human Person as
Being Condemned to be
Free
 A. Existence Precedes Essence
• He was a foremost existentialist,
novelist and playwright whose
works emphasize freedom and
responsibility.
• He was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1964 but refused to
accept the award.
• He published his magnum opus,
Being and Nothingness, in 1943.
Jean-Paul Sartre

THE HUMAN PERSON AS BEING

CONDEMNED TO BE FREE
 • Existence refers to the totality of how a person has
lived his/her life. It refers to his/her life from the day
he/she was born to the day he/she died.
• Essence refers to the nature or the whatness of a
human person. That which makes a person ‘person,’
that which makes him/her distinct from other beings
constitutes his/her essence.

THE HUMAN PERSON AS BEING

CONDEMNED TO BE FREE
 Existence comes before essence:
• A human person does not have a pre-given
nature, meaning, purpose, and value;
• There is no universal human nature, meaning,
purpose, and value;
• Individual human nature, meaning, purpose, and
value are created by each and every person
depending on how he/she lives his/her life.

THE HUMAN PERSON AS BEING

CONDEMNED TO BE FREE
 B. Abandoned to be Free
• We are abandoned to be free according to Sartre. We
are abandoned in the sense that we did not choose to
be free.
• We are free, but we did not choose freedom; it is a
human condition we are thrown into.
• This is the price of freedom – abandonment: the
existential condition of being thrown into one’s existence
with nothing to cling as guide.
• The path of life is not ready-made; it is for us to create.

THE HUMAN PERSON AS BEING

CONDEMNED TO BE FREE
 C. Freedom in Despair
• We are not just free; it is our responsibility to create
the kind of life we want.
• However, while we are free to create our own lives, our
lives do not always turn out to be what we want them to
be. Reality is not always compatible with what we want.
• We are free, but we exercise this freedom in despair.

THE HUMAN PERSON AS BEING

CONDEMNED TO BE FREE
 • We are, therefore, in despair according Sartre. We are
in despair when we have no control over the realization
of our plans in life.
• According to Sartre, we can only rely on those things
within our power of control and on the sum of
probabilities that made our actions possible.
• We have control over our will but we have no control
over things beyond our will. This is the condition under
which we exercise our freedom.

THE HUMAN PERSON AS BEING

CONDEMNED TO BE FREE
 Lesson 4:
Freedom and
Responsibility
A. Views on the Possibility of Human
Freedom
Philosophical
Views
Hard Determinism
Libertarianism
Compatibilism
FREEDOM AND
RESPONSIBILITY
HARD DETERMINISM

• Hard determinism believes that human actions and choices are causally
determined by forces and influences over which a person exercises no
meaningful control.
• It accepts determinism, and further believes that determinism and freedom are
incompatible – they cannot both be true.
• Determinism is the view that all events that happen in the world are caused by
previous events or conditions along with the laws of nature. It follows that if we
know the relevant conditions for an event to occur and natural laws governing its
occurrence, we will be able to predict the occurrence of this event.
• Principle of alternate possibilities for freedom states that a person is morally
responsible for what he/she has done if he/she could have done otherwise.
• In determinism, actions or choices are determined. If an event is caused by
previous events following some natural laws, this event could not have been
otherwise.

FREEDOM AND
RESPONSIBILITY
LIBERTARIANISM

• Libertarianism rejects determinism. It accepts that while

certain events in the world are caused and thus determined,
there are also some events that are not – referring precisely to
human choices.
• It accepts the premise of hard determinism that determinism
and freedom are incompatible but rejects its premise that
determinism is correct.
• It believes that it is only the self that produces these free
choices because he/she is capable of choosing to perform
these actions/ choices (will).

FREEDOM AND
RESPONSIBILITY
COMPATIBILISM

• Compatibilism rejects the premise that determinism and

freedom are incompatible. For compatibilism, even if
determinism is correct and thus all human actions are caused
by previous events or conditions along with natural laws, still
such actions can be free.
• The actions of a human person are free not because they are
not caused by previous events or conditions along with natural
laws, but because the human person is not forced, compelled,
or constrained to do actions to satisfy his/her own desires or to
carry out his/ her own intentions.

FREEDOM AND
RESPONSIBILITY
 Hard Determinism Libertarianism Compatibilism

Is freedom Yes Yes No

incompatible with
determinism?
Is determinism Yes No Yes
correct?
Are humans free? No Yes Yes

When are human When they are not When they are not When humans are not
choices/ actions free? determined by determined by forced or compelled
external factors. external factors to make these
choices or do these
actions.

FREEDOM AND
RESPONSIBILITY
B. Meaning of Accountability
• Accountability refers to our
deservingness of blame or praise
(punishment or reward) for the
actions we perform.
• It is a natural result of our
intelligence and freedom, or of
our capacities to know and
choose.

FREEDOM AND
RESPONSIBILITY
RESPONSIBILITY

• As Accountability – the deservingness of blame or praise for

the actions we perform;
• As Duty – having certain obligations by virtue of your status or
position;
• As Agency – being the cause of something or being the one
that brings about something.

FREEDOM AND
RESPONSIBILITY
C. Conditions for Accountability
Questions:

• What are the conditions for attributing moral

responsibility?
• What are the conditions for determining the degree of
one’s moral responsibility?

FREEDOM AND
RESPONSIBILITY
INCRIMINATING CONDITIONS
A person is morally accountable if the two conditions are
present:
• Knowledge condition – capable of knowing that the action is
either right or wrong.
• Choice condition – capable of choosing to perform the action.

Example:
Leo is trying to shoot John with the intention of killing him. Martin,
a security guard, upon seeing Leo trying to shoot John suddenly
decides to save the life of John by using his body to cover John’s
body. Which one of them is morally accountable?

FREEDOM AND
RESPONSIBILITY
EXCUSING CONDITIONS
A person is not morally accountable if either one of the incriminating
conditions is absent.
• Knowledge condition – action is done out of ignorance.
• Choice condition – action is not done intentionally.
Knowledge condition Choice condition
Minority – a minor is a person under 18 years of age or Defense – is the proportionate action done in response
those over 18 years of age but are unable to fully take to actual illegal attacks.
care or protect themselves from abuse, neglect, cruelty,
exploitation or discrimination because of a physical or Compulsion – compelled to act by reason of fear,
mental disability or condition. Only a minor under 13 intimidation, force, threat or some lawful cause.
years of age does not incur accountability.
Imminent Harm – acting to avoid an imminent harm,
Insanity – a total deprivation of the mental ability to causes injury or damage.
appreciate the criminality of one’s conduct.

FREEDOM AND
RESPONSIBILITY
Examples:
• Gabby, a 12 years old child, mistakes a real gun for a toy gun
and then shoot Tony, his father.
• Jesse, a factory manager, does not do or fails to do preventive
measures to protect the health of his workers from the
hazardous fumes emitted in his factory; and as a result, many of
his workers get sick seriously.
Which of the two examples can be exempted/ excused from
moral accountability?

FREEDOM AND
RESPONSIBILITY
MITIGATING/ AGGRAVATING CONDITIONS
There are reasons and circumstances that would lessen/increase
the degree of accountability; mitigating and aggravating
conditions.
Bases for determining the Degree of Accountability:
• The Degree of Difficulty/ Pressure
• The Intensity of the Wrongdoing
• The Degree of One’s Involvement
• The Degree of Knowledge

FREEDOM AND
RESPONSIBILITY
Bases for Determining the Mitigating Aggravating Examples
Degree of Accountability
Conditions Conditions
Degree of Difficulty/ A person steals a loaf of bread to feed his
Pressure starving family is less accountable
compared to a person who steals fortunes
just to amuse himself.
Intensity of Stealing 50 pesos from a beggar has
Wrongdoings greater accountability compared to
stealing a thousand pesos from a
billionaire.
Degree of One’s A person who intentionally and knowingly
Involvement assists a murderer in locating the
whereabouts of his victim is less
accountable compared to the murderer
who kills the victim himself.
Degree of Knowledge A minor who is engaged in illegal activities
is less accountable compared to an adult.

FREEDOM AND
RESPONSIBILITY
DISCUSSION QUESTION:

Let us suppose that there are two persons who are both reckless
drivers. In the case of the first driver, it happens that no person
crosses the streets on which he is driving. Consequently, his
reckless driving does not result in injuring someone. In the case
of the second driver, it happens that a person crosses one of the
streets on which he is driving, and which he hits and severely
injures.
Analyze the moral accountability of these two drivers. Do you
think that they have the same degree of moral accountability or
not? Explain your answer.

FREEDOM AND
RESPONSIBILITY
References:
• Camiloza, L.G., Garnace, E.B., Mazo, R.M., & Perez, E.D. (2016).
Philosophy of the Human Person: An Introductory Text for SHS. The Phoenix
Publishing House, Inc.
• Cherry, K. (2020, December 09). The Preconscious, Conscious, and
Unconscious Minds. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/the-
conscious-and-unconscious-mind-2795946.
• Frankl, V. (1963). Man’s Search for Meaning. Pocket Books.
• _______. (1973). The Doctor and the Soul: From Psychotheraphy to
Logotheraphy. (R. Winston & C. Winston, Trans.). Vintage Books.
• Mabaquiao, N. (2017). Making Life Worth Living: An Introduction to the
Philosophy of the Human Person. The Phoenix Publishing House, Inc.
• Prince, K. (2022, August 03). The Difference Between Positive/ Negative
Reinforcement and Positive/ Negative Punishment. Behavioral Consulting of
Tampa Bay (BCOTB). https://bcotb.com/the-difference-between-
positivenegative-reinforcement-and-positivenegative-punishment/.
• Skinner, B.F. (1971). Beyond Freedom and Dignity. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.