THE HUMAN FREEDOM

1. Differentiate the two perspectives of freedom briefly.

2. Enumerate the Three (3) positions of freedom and discuss each.

3. Is human freedom absolute?

ANSWERS:

1. Isaiah Berlin's essay "Two Concepts of Liberty" (1958) is typically acknowledged as the first to
explicitly draw the distinction between the two perspective of freedom which are positive and
negative.

POSITIVE FREEDOM

- Positive freedom is the possession of the power and resources to act on one's free will in the
context of placing limitations on a person's ability to act.
- It seems that it is more about who is governing. Positive freedom picks up on the idea that we
don't want to be objects (controlled).
- Allow individuals to become their OWN masters.
- "Freedom to..."

NEGATIVE FREEDOM

- Negative freedom is freedom from interference by other people. It is primarily concerned with
freedom from external restraint
- It means having no masters.
- "Freedom from..."
2. The Three (3) positions of freedom are human is absolutely free, human is absolutely
determined, and human is situated.

HUMAN IS ABSOLUTELY FREE

- According to Sartre, man is free to make his own choices, but is “condemned” to be free,
because we did not create ourselves. While the conditions of our birth and upbringing are
beyond our control, he reasons that once we become self-aware, we must make choices which
will then define our very 'essence'.

HUMAN IS ABSOLUTELY DETERMINED

- It was B.F Skinner who claims that “man is absolutely determined”. He believes that the
freedom of is absolutely determined and shaped cause by external factors and stimuli like
genetics, biological background, physical structures, environmental structures, culture,
nationality, and religion.

HUMAN IS SITUATED

- Merleau-Ponty used situated freedom as a term to explain the center between extreme
freedom and absolute determinism. He believed that there was no determinism and absolute
choice but the nature of human being who lives in this world. Though humans cannot easily
 change their situations conditions, humans have the capacity to change their views and
perspectives in every different situation.
3. Human being is free but not absolutely free. No one can be completely free. For example,
without laws, everything will achieve a sense of absolute freedom, but the security, rights and
other external factors will be at risk. Everything without limitations are bad, therefore human
beings are not and will never be absolutely free.