Freedom of the Human Person

Freedom of the Human Person

 The capacity to act (or not to act) as we choose or

prefer without any external compulsion or restraint.
Ex:
 freedom to choose your strand.
 freedom express your feelings.
 freedom to choose your own religion.
Freedom of the Human Person

 Freedom is an intrinsic and essential property of a person.

 Important indication of human freedom is the ability to
make choices and perform actions our freedom to act sets us
apart from other beings.
 Human persons can choose the course of action to take when
given a stimulus or faced with a certain situation.
(ex.: task to clean your room)
Freedom of the Human Person

Perspective of some philosophers about freedom

Freedom of the Human Person
ARISTOTLE
 For Aristotle, a human being is rational. Reason is a divine
characteristic. If there were no intellect, there would be no
will.
 It is within the power of everyone to be good or bad, or
worthy or worthless.
 The happiness of every human being lies in his/her own
hands to preserve and develop, or to cast away.
Freedom of the Human Person
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
(he focus on the idea that freedom is spirituality and love)
 Freedom, for St. Thomas, is the manner intellectual being
seek universal goodness. It is a condition of the will from
our nature being in the kind of world that we inhabit.
 St. Thomas considers the human being as a moral agent.
(moral agent it is a person that has the ability to know right
from wrong and to be held accountable for his or her own
actions)
Freedom of the Human Person

Example:
You saw someone stealing money. As a
moral agent, it is your decision to report
the incident to the authority.
Freedom of the Human Person
 Our spirituality separates us from animals; it also explains
the moral dimension of our fulfillment in an action.
Through our spirituality, we have a conscience.
 St. Thomas Aquinas in his book (Summa Theologica)
establishes the existence of God as a first cause. And as
God’s creations, human beings have the unique power to
change themselves and things around them for the better.
 According to him we have a conscience because of our
spirituality.
Freedom of the Human Person
JEAN PAUL SARTE (he focuses in Individual Freedom)
 Existentialism is a philosophical movement known for its
inquiry on human existence, which means “to exist”.
 For Sarte, the human person builds the road to the destiny
of his/her choice (he/she is the creator of his/her own life).
 Sarte’s Existentialism rooted from this principle: existence
precedes essences.
Freedom of the Human Person
 Sarte emphasize the importance of free individual choice,
regardless of the power of other people to influence and
coerce our desires, beliefs, and decisions.
 For Sarte freedom also means exercising our capacity to
make decision, change our life path and direct the course of
our lives through our own steering (means we are the driver,
the pilot, and the captain of our life)
 Therefore, Freedom is something that is exercised through
our CHOICES (we must exercise our prudence in making
decision and choices in life)
Freedom of the Human Person
(Three philosophers have same idea about freedom)
THOMAS HOBBES, JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
and JOHN LOCKE (Theory of Social Contact)
 Hobbes, Rousseau and Locke define freedom of an
individual in the context of having a government to rule
them (contract), which is the basis of notion of moral
obligation and duty.
(they are trying to say that it is the moral obligation or
duty of the people to follow the contract or agreement
between them and the government)
Freedom of the Human Person

 Social contract- an agreement where individuals

sacrifice an amount of their freedom and submit to
a higher authority. Meaning to say our freedom
must have limitation. Freedom should have its
limitation to avoid inflecting your self or
inflecting harm to other people (ex. Situation
during the pandemic).
Freedom of the Human Person
 It is a necessity that we must assure for the government
and people to work as one. From this understanding also
arises certainty that we have freedom. (ex. We need to
follow the government and by following the government
we need to sacrifice a small amount or portion of freedom
but in return the task or duty of the government is to
protect and to serve us.
 this serve as Give and take situation between the
government and the people.
Freedom of the Human Person

Kinds of freedom
Freedom of the Human Person

 PHYSICAL FREEDOM – refers to the absence of any

physical restraint. The person has the freedom of
mobility to go where he/she wants to go. (ex. Freedom to
travel, which you can go where ever you want to go,
unfortunately during the pandemic people denied the
right to travel, they were denied the right to travel in
order to prevent the spread the virus therefore physical
freedom wasn't exercise during that time)
Freedom of the Human Person
 PSYCHOLOGICAL FREEDOM – this also known as
“freedom of choice”. The person is free to perform
actions that he /she considers right and wise. A person is
also free to act or not to act.
Psychological freedom is INNATE and CANOT BE
DENIED AS A PERSON.
ex.: Freedom to choose your friend
Freedom to choose your partner
Freedom to be what you want to be
Freedom of the Human Person
 MORAL FREEDOM - refers to using freedom in a
manner that uphold human dignity and goodness.
Example:
Doing charitable works.
Participating in an outreach program or activities.
Being prudent/careful on the use of social media.
Being sensitive to the needs of other.
Participating voluntary works.
Freedom of the Human Person
 MORAL FREEDOM - refers to using freedom in a
manner that uphold human dignity and goodness.
Example:
Doing charitable works.
Participating in an outreach program or activities.
Being prudent/careful on the use of social media.
Being sensitive to the needs of other.
Participating voluntary works.
Freedom of the Human Person

Concepts of freedom
Freedom of the Human Person
 Freedom itself – freedom is generally defined as having the
ability to act or change without constraints (Wikipedia).
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 or an y other
activity.
Freedom of the Human Person

Two elements of freedom

Freedom of the Human Person

 Voluntariness the ability of a person to act his or

her own free will and self- determination. A person
may decide to do things or not to do it in according
to his own free will. It is also mean that even though
she/he is not required to do such things he / she
could still do it or take actions on it.
Freedom of the Human Person

 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 actions voluntarily or other people will hold
your responsible.
Freedom of the Human Person

 The question is; Should freedom be absolute?

Definitely NO. freedom always had its
limitations.
Freedom is always coupled with
RESPONSIBILITY (if we ca not use our
freedom responsibly there will be a chaos.)