Lesson 5 - Freedom of The Human Person

Department of Education
NEW GENERATION INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

PHILOSOPHY
Topic 5 - Freedom of the Human Person

Ederlyn D. Santos
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Emailngisshs@gmail.com
Email Address: Address: ngisshs@gmail.com EDUCATION WITH THE CULTURE OF THE HEART
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
/ 419-1982 NGIS
OBJECTIVES
 Identify freedom and it’s concepts
 Determine the kinds of freedom
 Identify the elements and the concepts of freedom
 Identify the kinds, elements and views of freedom
 Three main philosophical positions on the possibility of
human freedom
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
/ 419-1982 NGIS
Freedom
 The ability to make choices
and perform those choices.
 The ability to be what we
want and to decide and create
oneself.
 The power or right to act,
speak or think as one wants
without any form of hindrance
or constraint in the choice of
action.
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
/ 419-1982 NGIS
Freedom entails the following
 Self Reflection
 Self Possession
 Self Determination
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
/ 419-1982 NGIS
Self Reflection
 The mediation, assessment
and deliberation of our
thoughts and actions
 The contemplation or serious
thought about one’s strength,
integrity, actions and motives.
 The glimpse on the reflective
consciousness SELF
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/ 419-1982 NGIS
Self-Possession
 The full command of one’s
faculties, feelings and
behavior
 The control of one’s feelings
and responses particularly
when under stress
 Presence of mind
 Composure
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/ 419-1982 NGIS
Self Determination
 Freedom to live as one
chooses
 Free choice of one’s own acts
or states devoid of external
compulsion
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
/ 419-1982 NGIS
Self Determination
 The attributes of the
individual that leads them to
make choices and decisions
based on their own
preferences and interests
1. Freedom
2. Free Will
3. Choice
4. Consequence
5. Responsibilities
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
/ 419-1982 NGIS
Two Concepts Freedom
1. Freedom itself
 it is the quality or state of
being free. It is our capacity to
choose of what we wanted and
an inner awareness of what is
right and wrong that is traced
to our free will according to
Aristotle.
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
/ 419-1982 NGIS
1. Freedom itself
 It is also an intrinsic and an
essential property of a human
person which basically means,
it is a part of our human
nature.
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
/ 419-1982 NGIS
2. Free will
 Our free will allows us to decide
on things we do depending on
the situation.
 It is our ability to choose between
two different possible courses of
action, independently. Simply put
it, free will is our ability to choose
things according to our moral
reasoning.
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/ 419-1982 NGIS
KINDS OF FREEDOM
2. Free will
 refers to the absence of any physical restraint.
 The person has the freedom of mobility to go where he or she
wants to go. He or she is not impeded in his or her actions by
any physical force. Granted that the person has natural
limitations, physical freedom allows him or her to act and
move in determined manner. You cannot be everywhere at
once, but your freedom allows you to move one place to
another and to go whenever you want to go.
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
/ 419-1982 NGIS
KINDS OF FREEDOM
3. Moral Freedom
 Moral freedom refers to using
freedom in a manner that
upholds human dignity and
goodness.
 Freedom is not an object that a
person may use in whatever way
he or she pleases.
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
/ 419-1982 NGIS
KINDS OF FREEDOM
3. Moral Freedom
 A person must use his or her
freedom to grow as a person. A
person becomes freer when he or
she uses freedom well, but
becomes less free when he or she
uses it in a bad way.
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
/ 419-1982 NGIS
There are two elements that define freedom
1. Voluntariness
 It is the ability of a person to act
of his or her own free will and
self-determination. A person may
decide to do things or not to do it
according to his own free will.
 It also means that even though
she/he is not required to do such
things he/she could still do it or
take action on it.
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
/ 419-1982 NGIS
Voluntary acts
 are free acts which can be
assigned a corresponding moral
value. One must always
remember that in every action
we make, in every choice we
make there is an equivalent
consequence.
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/ 419-1982 NGIS
Voluntary acts
 These consequences affect not
just the individual who does the
decision but also other people in
their surroundings. With that,
one must always accept the
consequences that results from
his or her decisions or actions
and take responsibility for them.
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/ 419-1982 NGIS
2. Responsibility
 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
action voluntarily or other people
will hold you responsible.
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/ 419-1982 NGIS
2. Responsibility
 For example, if you made a bad
action it’s either you take
responsibility of it or other
people will hold you responsible
for it.
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
/ 419-1982 NGIS
Important factors to consider in the exercise of freedom
1. Prudence
 is the ability to govern and
discipline oneself with the use of
reason; it is having caution and
giving good judgments in making
decisions. Because once we made
a decision there is no turning
back, there is no rewind, so we
should always reflect first on the
possible outcomes of the choices
that we are going to make.
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
/ 419-1982 NGIS
2. Self-reflection
 is very important in exercising
freedom.
 Self-reflection allows us to be
more rational in making choices,
because sometimes human
beings tend to be slaves by their
emotions and moods whenever
they act certain things.
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/ 419-1982 NGIS
2. Self-reflection
 As free beings, exercising our
freedom responsibly is very
important. Thus, it requires us to
reflect on the actions that we are
going to make by considering its
possible effects and the benefits
it has to the people affected by it.
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/ 419-1982 NGIS
DIFFERENT VIEWS ON FREEDOM
1. B. F. SKINNER (1904-1990)
 “Man is absolutely determined,
therefore not free due to his
historicity”
 A very prominent behavioral
psychologist from Harvard, and
one of those who probed the
essence of human freedom.
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/ 419-1982 NGIS
1. B. F. SKINNER (1904-1990)
 He appeared to uphold that man is
not at all free as others claim for the
reason that
 All existing and current behavior is
structured and constrained by
previous behavior and
 All behavior has motivational causes
which are necessitating/compelling
causes. It may either be a purpose
or a motivation.
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/ 419-1982 NGIS
2. JEAN PAUL SARTRE (1905-1980)
 “Man is not defined and determined;
he defines and determines himself”
 French philosopher of the 20th

century, was one of the key figures in
the philosophy of existentialism and
phenomenology
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/ 419-1982 NGIS
3. ABRAHAM MASLOW (1908-1970)
 “Man cannot be reduced to his
historicity, to his environment, to
determinism; nor can man be totally
divorced from them”
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/ 419-1982 NGIS
3. ABRAHAM MASLOW (1908-1970)
 He agrees that man has historicity.
The events of the past give zest to his
character and deeds. Then again he
refutes that this historicity obstructs
man’s freedom. To certain extent, it
even provides man some form of
chances or opportunities wherein he
can exercise his freedom using events
of the past as guide.
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/ 419-1982 NGIS
4. MAURICE MERLEAU PONTY (1908- 1961)
 “Man freedom is situated freedom.”
 “Freedom is interwoven in the field of
existences. Our choices are not made from
absolute zero but from its field meaning”.
Man’s freedom is always affected by past,
present and future situations. It is linked
and intertwined. We make choices not
only because we have to but because it
has some meaning to us. Further, freedom
varies with situation.
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
/ 419-1982 NGIS
THREE MAIN PHILOSOPHICAL POSITIONS ON THE
POSSIBILITY OF HUMAN FREEDOM
1. Hard Determinism
 Believes that humans are not free
 Believes in DETERMINISM which
is the view that all events that
happen in the world are caused
by previous events or conditions
along with the laws of nature.
 Determinism is correct
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
/ 419-1982 NGIS
2. Libertarianism
 Rejects determinism.
 Accepts that while certain
events in the world are caused
and thus are determined, there
are also some events that are
not.
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/ 419-1982 NGIS
2. Libertarianism
 Accepts the premise of Hard
Determinism that Determinism
and freedom are incompatible
BUT rejects its premise that
determinism is correct
 Free choices are in a way
determined but by self through
the power of its will alone
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
/ 419-1982 NGIS
3. Compatibilism (Soft Determinism)
 Rejects the premise
that determinism and freedom are
incompatible.
 Accepts the truth of
determinism but this does not
really matter as it defines freedom
in terms of the absence of
determinism.
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
/ 419-1982 NGIS
3. Compatibilism (Soft Determinism)
 Human actions 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
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
/ 419-1982 NGIS

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Department of Education

NEW GENERATION INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

Topic 5 - Freedom of the Human Person

 French philosopher of the 20th

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