UNDERSTAND THE

HUMAN PERSON’S
FREEDOM
EVALUATE AND EXERCISE PRUDENCE IN CHOICES.
REALIZE THAT:
A. CHOICES HAVE CONSEQUENCES.
B. SOME THINGS ARE GIVEN UP WHILE OTHERS ARE OBTAINED IN
MAKING CHOICES.
OBJECTIVES:

• Evaluate and exercise prudence in one’s choices; and

• Realize the consequences and responsibilities of one’s
actions.
 ACTIONS IN THEIR CONSEQUENCES
THE POWER OF VOLITION
• IT IS THE INSTRUMENT FOR OUR DECISIONS, REVEALING OUR POWER
TO CHOOSE. IT EXPRESSES OUR WILLINGNESS OR UNWILLINGNESS:
“WE WILL” OR “WE WON’T.” WITHOUT IT, MAN IS REDUCED TO AN
AUTOMATON.
• HUMANITY’S CAPACITY TO MAKE CHOICES, ALSO CALLED FREE WILL,
IS AN INSTRUMENT OF FREE CHOICE.

ARISTOTLE 385-323 BC
“He who has overcome his fears will truly be free.”
THE POWER OF VOLITION

• MAN HAS THE CAPACITY TO BE GOOD OR BAD, WORTHY OR WORTHLESS.

A. OUT INNER AWARENESS OF AN APTITUDE TO DO RIGHT OR WRONG;
B. THE COMMON TESTIMONY OF ALL HUMAN BEINGS;
C. THE REWARD AND PUNISHMENT OF RULERS; AND
D. THE GENERAL EMPLOYMENT OF PRAISE AND BLAME.

The happiness of every human being’s soul is in his own hands,

to preserve and develop, or to cast away.
LOVE IS FREEDOM

• Humans have the aspiration to become beings.

- to achieve the highest level of human fulfillment and happiness.
- have the power to change.
St. Thomas Aquinas believes, or rather assumes, that the will is free.
“The highest manifestation of life consists in this: that a being governs
its own actions. A thing is always subject to the direction of another is
somewhat of a dead thing.”
ST.THOMAS AQUINAS – 1225 - 1274
 SPIRITUAL FREEDOM

• For Aquinas, the Good itself is God, and knowledge

of the Good is attainable only in the beatific vision after
death. In this situation, we will voluntarily the Good, but
not do it freely.
• This point on knowledge is the fundamental
foundation of freedom.
ST.THOMAS AQUINAS – 1225 - 1274
 FREEDOM

•Freedom for St. Thomas is the manner

which intellectual beings seek universal
goodness. It is a condition of the will
arising from our nature being in the kind of
world that we inhabit.
ST.THOMAS AQUINAS – 1225 - 1274
 INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM

• “Existence precedes essence”

- Man is born with no essence. He is responsible to determine his own essence. One’s
essence is a “constituted essence” because it is the “I” (self) who defines its own being.
Man is given his or her freedom to define himself/herself through experiences from the
society and people. It is a self-discovery (inwardness) where the person and his/her choices
are the agents whether he/she chooses to be in his/her being (personality as example).
- “Live your life and identify your own essence.”
- “I am my liberty.” Human person have the choice to act freely upon their
personality since these are not determined from birth. If one chooses to become an artist
he/she has the freedom to constitute its being an artist.
JEAN PAUL SARTRE – 1905 - 1980
 INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM

• Being for Itself and Being in Itself.

- “Man is given the capacity to define who he or she is through his or
her own choices.
- Man in consciousness can change and discover. (Being for Itself)
- Material objects have no capacity to define their existence because they
have no consciousness. (Being in Itself). A chair cannot realize its purpose of
its existence because it has a fixed self-identity.
JEAN PAUL SARTRE – 1905 - 1980
 FREEDOM

• “Freedom is not the right to do what you want to do nor is it right to do what you must
do; rather it is the right to do what you ought to do”.
• Freedom is to act from a sense of what is morally just.
• “The worst thing in the world is not sin, it is denying that we are sinners. Sinners who
deny that there is sin, deny thereby the remedy of sin, and thus cut themselves off forever
from him who came to redeem.”
• “To destroy evil (sin), God would have to destroy our freedom.” If there was no evil in
the world, then everyone of us would go to heaven, but he wants us to make the right
decision based on our freedom to choose, as to whether we go to heaven or hell.
• It’s our choice: not to sin and to get to heaven, or to sin and to end up in hell.
FULTON SHEEN – 1895-1979
 FREEDOM IS RESPONSIBILITY

• “to be free is to be bound to one’s essence.”

• Freedom is a responsibility of any person to be himself or herself.
• Human acts should be expressed worthily.
• “Anyone can achieve their fullest potential, who we are might be
predetermined, but the path we follow is always of own choosing. We
should never allow our fears or the expectations of others to set the
frontiers of our destiny.Your destiny can’t be changed but, it can be
challenged. Every man is born as many men and dies as a single one.”

MARTIN HEIDEGGER – 1989-1976

 SOME PHILOSOPHICAL IDEAS ABOUT FREEDOM

• GEORG WILHELM FRIEDRICH HEGEL – “It is solely by risking life that freedom is
obtained;… the individual who has not staked his or her life may, no doubt, be
recognized as a Person; but he or she has not attained the truth of this recognition as
an independent self-consciousness.”
• FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE – “Freedom is the will to be responsible for ourselves. It is
to preserve the distance which separates us from other men. To grow more
indifferent to hardship, to severity, to privation, and even to life itself.”
• ALBERT CAMUS – “Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.”
 SOME PHILOSOPHICAL IDEAS ABOUT FREEDOM

• SOCRATES – “People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of

thought which they avoid.”
• JOHN LOCKE – “All men by nature are equal and that equal right that every man
hath to his natural freedom, without being subjected to the will or authority of
any other man; being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in
his life, health, liberty, or possessions.”
• EPICTETUS – “Freedom is only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things
that lie beyond our control. Stop aspiring to be anyone other than your own best
self; for that does fall within your control.”
 CITATIONS ABOUT FREEDOM FROM DIFFERENT
PHILOSOPHERS

Every choice carries a consequence. For better or worse, each

choice is the unavoidable consequence of its
predecessor. There are not exceptions. If you can accept
that a bad choice carries the seed of its own punishment, why
not accept the fact that a good choice yields desirable
fruit? – Gary Ryan Blair
 CITATIONS ABOUT FREEDOM FROM DIFFERENT
PHILOSOPHERS

Let me not crave in conscious fear to be saved, but hope for

the patience to win my freedom.” – Rabindranath Tagore

“Freedom, in any case, is only possible by constantly struggling

for it.” – Albert Einstein
 CITATIONS ABOUT FREEDOM FROM DIFFERENT
PHILOSOPHERS
“Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.” – Albert Camus

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that
matter.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make
mistakes.” – Mahatma Gandhi
 CITATIONS ABOUT FREEDOM FROM DIFFERENT
PHILOSOPHERS
“Happiness and freedom begin with a clear understanding of one principle: Some
things are within our control, and some things are not.” – Epictetus

“Be a free thinker and don’t accept everything you hear as truth. Be critical and
evaluate what you believe in.” – Aristotle

“One must look into hell before one has any right to speak
of heaven.” – Bertrand Russell
SITUATIONS THAT DEMONSTRATE FREEDOM OF
CHOICE AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR CHOICES.

MY CHOICES Uniqueness
Utilize various approaches that immerse humans to responsible
way of living.
SITUATIONS THAT DEMONSTRATE FREEDOM OF
CHOICE AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR CHOICES.

EQUAL TO

Free to choose without intrusion by

others
being independent Welfare of others
Self development
FREEDOM IS BEING MINDFUL OF ONE’S WORTH
AND OTHERS.

• Value system in one’s freedom is an opportunity to be more

aware of our capacity to harness fully our strengths and to
commit ourselves to life.
• Every individual should be aware of its own talents,
differences, and capabilities.
FREEDOM IS BEING MINDFUL OF ONE’S WORTH
AND OTHERS.

• Our own individuality (Individual freedom) should interact with

the individuality of others (Economic freedom).
• One’s given a chance to cultivate their talents that inevitably
contribute for the development of the society as consequences
of one’s choices.
 HOW TO BE FREE?
Be PRUDENT Avoid being stupid
Discern your ways Don’t panic in your actions
EXPRESS yourSELF Do not fear your mistakes
“Develop your mind that virtue will save you from many problems.”
FREEDOM IS A CHOICE, IT IS EARNED AND
PROTECTED.