HANDOUT IN PHILOSOPHY

CHAPTER 5 FREEDOM

- Freedom is a social and political concept which has great significance in how
people participate in society.
- Can be identified by answering the questions
o Am I doing this because I have to or because I want to?
o Even if I dont want to, am I willingly allowing people to make me do
something against my will?
- Conscious self-awareness is one of the factors in determining whether a
particular being is free or not. It is due to self- awareness that we are able to
judge our decisions in relation to various internal and external factors.
- Our actions are derived from motives. Unlike what we observe in nature, human
life is not simply determined by external physical events or base, uncontrolled
instincts. We have the capacity to plot the trajectory of our lives based on certain
principles and values that we use as guides for formulating the reasons behind
our actions
- According to Jean Paul Sartre, man is condemned to be free because human
beings are always in the process of creating himself.
- Sigmund Freud believes that freedom is an illusion because our actions are
based on past experiences
- Your present motives are never isolated from the past and future.
- Freedom is a direct corollary of his awareness or consciousness of both his past
decisions and future plans.
- Our actions are mostly based on cultural propriety in which we consider the
norms of the society
- Freedom is achieved from autonomy, being accountable and being responsible
o Autonomy- refers to the right of a country to govern itself , free from the
coercion and intervention of other nations. The freedom to act in
accordance with ones own values, beliefs and principles.
o Accountable- required explaining actions or decisions to someone. You
have to be able to take the consequences in the event things are against
the values, norms and beliefs
 o Responsible- to take care of something and to be able to be trusted in
doing things that are expected of you. You have to be responsible for the
choices that you make.
- Being free in the genuine sense of the word, means that ones decisions must
always be rationally justifiable as proportionate responses to the demands of
every situation. This includes your capacity to weigh the value of your actions in
relation to its potential repercussions.

CHAPTER 6 INTERSUBJECTIVITY

- Intersubjectivity presupposes human beings connectivity with other human

beings. It means that we share the same situations wherein we can create
shared meanings. These meanings become basis of our beliefs.
- It is also considered as a mode by which man is a being with others, exploring
the fundamental principles behind them.

1. ON DIALOGUE
- Martin Buber creates distinction between the social and the interhuman
1. Social- refers to the life of a group bound together by common
experiences and reactions.
2. Interhuman- refers to the life between and among persons. It refers
to the interpersonal relationship among others
- Buber believes in the I-Thou and I-it relationship wherein I-Thou refers to world
of encounters and relationships where there are persons while I-It relationships
refers to world of experience and sensation where there are objects.
- Human life is a mixture of an I-thou and an I-it relationship.
- There are obstacles that hinder the relationship
1. The way of seeming and
it can be contrasted to the way of being
What one wishes to seem
Artificial or contrived
An image that one desires to impress the other
2. Speechifying
Hearing without listening
Refers to ones talking past another
 Theres awareness that others are unique which allows
the human person to perceive the others wholeness in
the sense of his being and embodied spirit
3. Imposition
contrasted to unfolding
Imposition constitutes holding my own opinions, values
attitudes, and myself without regard for those of the other
Telling others how he should act, behave and respond to
things
2. ON LOVE
Love is inherent in human beings nature. As relational being, he/she
expresses love only in dialogical situation with other human beings. The love
is other-oriented.
We misunderstand love as something that we fall into because we give
more importance to being loved than to loving, We focus more on attracting
rather than giving love.
Love begins in the experiment of loneliness
One of the basic experiences of human beings because of self-awareness
Love is not only saying but doing
According to Manuel Dy, love is not only concerned with the other but also
with yourself
In loving the others one must love himself before loving others
Karl Jasper believes that love has the power to summon self-being to enter
into intersubjectivity and set things in a new perspective.