From a first look, one can say that moral principles restrict in a way a persons' freedom since

he/she must act with some norms. But then, this would mean that the person is not actually

ethical. An ethical person accepts the norms set by the society in which he lives. Freedom can be

the underlying assumption of all the various schools of ethical thought, both secular and

religious. Freedom is what we need to have—or, at the very least, must suppose we have—if

we’re to make meaningful moral decisions. Even if one believes that there is no such thing as

free will, it is essential to the well-being and stability of society that people are treated as if they

have the freedom to make moral choices. Freedom is necessary. You cannot be who you are

without freedom. Freedom on planet Earth doesn’t exist. We are just programmed to believe that

we are free. Total freedom means that you can do anything and that there is nothing that limits

you. We make lots of irrational choices driven more by instinct and feeling than anything else.

One might argue that our emotions have a rational foundation that is our evolutionary heritage.

But I look at rationality as being distinct from emotion. If you are not free to choose otherwise

without coercion, then you are just being forced to follow orders. People will always have

different views on what proper morals are. The key is that one has the freedom to make their

own choice. Another key is that one should study that choice, see where it might lead them.

Examine the others who have made that choice and see where it has led them. It is an elusive

concept. We ordinarily believe that we make hundreds of choices each day. when we begin to

look more closely at freedom itself, considering what it is, how we can have it, and where it

comes from, it quickly slips out of view, behind the causal laws that we use to organize our

understanding of events and beneath all of the easily identifiable reasons that we have for acting

one way rather than another. The concept of freedom is most often invoked in ethical literature,

by those who hold that moral responsibility cannot be imputed to any agent unless she is
conceived as free. Even if a moral concept of freedom can be established, this may not be

enough to explain belief that progress, either individual or societal, is possible. Furthermore,

such a concept of freedom might not be enough to ground the normative values that ground

scientific research or the kind of freedom that is implicit in human creativity. The concept of

freedom can be understood both strategically and visionary and very often the two aspects are

entangled. Freedom as a value of practice contains the strategically aspect and the visionary

aspect as well. As a strategic concept freedom is applied as a tool and a means in the formation

and transformation of children and students into human beings which conform to democratic and

societal ideals. For example, are self-determination, responsibility and autonomy examples of

images of the self which conform to democratic ideals. Deliberation and reflection are ways of

thinking and action which are understood as democratic tools. As a visionary concept freedom is

part of human self-understanding and is applied as a tool in visions of schools. Freedom seems to

be a concept which has a vague and imprecise definition in educational contexts. According to

this understanding freedom is an idea and a tool, in order to emphasize how freedom is loaded

with value which are expressed both in terms of strategies and visions I defined freedom as a

value of practice. Ethical values are to be defined as values which are results of personal choice

due to reflection and deliberation. They are values which a person either has adopted rejected or

is deliberating on and which are incorporated in the identity and personal policy of the person.

This building up a personal policy of morality is a lifelong task which continuously is developing

through experience. It is often claimed that being a moral person entails being a free person

because being a moral person presupposes being a free person. What is important is that ‘being

free’ in relation to moral and ethical learning is constantly deliberated and reflected regarding
how it is understood as an aim and how it is understood and put into function as a means, tool

and value of practice.