KATHERINE GRACE D.

FRONDA
Licensed Professional Teacher
Introduction to Philosophy
of the Human Person
Module 5: Freedom of the
Human Person
WHAT IS FREEDOM?
Group Activity

Each group will

brainstorm on the terms
and simple definition of
Freedom.
MAN IS A RATIONAL
BEING
FREEDOM

• Is the ability to choose

between two alternative
options.
• Freedom is the power or
right to act, speak or
think as one, without
hindrance or restrain.
• Freedom is always
associated with free
will.
 TRUE OR FALSE

• Freedom is doing
whatever you want to
do. .
Your freedom ends
when the freedom
of other person
begins.
3 TYPES OF
FREEDOM
 freedom from

a freedom from the

constraints of society
 freedom to

a freedom to do what
we want to do
 freedom to be

a freedom, not just to do

what we want, but a
freedom to be who we
were meant to be
 LESSON 1
“All Actions Have
Consequences”
A. Aristotle- The Power of Volition

The imperative quality of

judgment of practical
intellect is meaningless,
apart from will. Reason can
legislate, but only through
will can its legislation be
translated into action.
The task of practical intellect is
to guide will by enlightening it.
Will is to be understood wholly in
terms of intellect for there is no
intellect if there is no will. The
will of humanity is an instrument
of free choice.
Will is borne out by:

• inner awareness of an aptitude to do right or wrong.

• the common testimony of all human beings.

• the rewards and punishment of rulers

• the general employment of praise and blame.

 Moral acts are in our power, and we are
responsible for them. Character or habit is no
excuse for immoral conduct.

ACTION

REASON
WILLL
B. St. Thomas of Aquinas: Love is
Freedom

St. Thomas Aquinas

considers the human
being as a moral agent,
being both a spiritual
and body element, the
spiritual and material.
The unity between both elements indeed
helps us to understand our complexity as
human beings. Our spirituality separates
us from animals; it delineates moral
dimension of our fulfillment in an action.
Through our, spirituality, we have a
conscience. Whether we choose to be
"good" or "evil" becomes our
responsibility.
A human being, therefore, has a
supernatural, transcendental destiny,
rising above his ordinary self to a
highest self. If a human being
perseveringly lives a righteous and
virtuous life, he transcends his mortal
state of life and soars to an immortal.
St. Thomas gives a fourfold classification of law:

eternal law human law

natural law divine law

Natural Law
• applies only to human
beings; good is to be sought
after and evil avoided
For Aquinas, both natural and human laws
are concerned with ends determined
simply by humanity's nature. However,
human being is ordained to an end
transcending his nature, it is necessary
that he has a law ordering him to that
end, and this is the divine law or
revelation.
Divine Law
• deals with interior disposition as
well as external acts and it
ensures the final punishment of
all evil doing.
Eternal Law
• the decree of God that
governs all creation
C. St. Thomas of Aquinas: Spiritual
Freedom
He establishes the
existence of God as a
first cause. Of all God's
creations, human
beings have the unique
Power to change
themselves and things
around them for the
better.
 ACTIONS
(GOOD or EVIL)

CONSCIENCE

GOD’S LOVE

FIGURE #2
SPIRITUAL
FREEDOM
D. Jean Paul Sartre: Individual Freedom

The human person is the

desire to be God the desire
to exist as a being which
has its sufficient ground in
itself. The human person
builds the road to the
destiny of his/her choosing;
he/she is the creator.
Principle of Sartre’s Existentialism

• The person, first, exists,

encounters himself and surges up
in the world then defines himself
afterward. The person is nothing
else but that what he makes of
himself.
Principle of Sartre’s Existentialism

•The person is provided

with a supreme
opportunity to give
meaning to one's life
Principle of Sartre’s Existentialism
•Sartre emphasizes the importance of free
individual choice, regardless of the power
of other people to influence and coerce
our desires, beliefs, and decisions. To be
human, to be conscious is to be free to
imagine, free to choose and to be
responsible for one’s life.
E. Thomas Hobbes- Theory of Social
Contract
Law of Nature (lex naturalis) a
precept or general rule
established by reason, by
which a person is forbidden to
do that which is destructive of
his life or takes away the
means of preserving the same;
and to omit that by which he
thinks it may be best
preserved.
"The fundamental law of nature
seeks peace and follows it, while
at the same time, by the sum of
natural right, we should defend
ourselves by all means that we
can.”
The laws of nature are unable to
achieve the desired end by
themselves alone; that is, unless
there is coercive power able to
enforce their observance by
sanctions.
Hobbes developed
social in favor of
absolute monarchy.
F. Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Rousseau interpreted
the idea of social
contract in terms of
absolute democracy
and individualism.
Rousseau and Hobbes believe that human
beings must form a community or civil
community to protect themselves from one
another, because the nature of human beings is
to wage war against one another, and since by
nature, humanity tends toward self-preservation,
then it follows that they must come to a free
mutual agreement to protect themselves.
Rousseau believes that a human
being is born free and good. But
human has become bad due to the
evil influence of society, civilization,
learning, and progress. human being
lost his original goodness, his
primitive tranquility of spirit.
There must be a common
power or government which
the plurality of individuals
(citizens) should confer all
their powers and strength into
(freedom) one will (ruler).
 Sovereign/Ruler
(State)

Freedom
(General will or
mutual
transferring of
rights)
Citizens
(Individual
rights)
 ACTIVITY # 1.
Directions. Answer the following questions. Explain your answers in
4-5 sentences only.
1. How do you define being free?
2. Do you have as much freedom as you want in your life?
3. In your view, what consist of ‘free choice’? Cite examples in the
current situation.
4. Why is weighing reasons important in making a choice?
5. If your actions are casually determined, should you be taken as
responsible for any of your actions? Why or why not?
 MODULE 5
LESSON 2:
PRUDENCE IN
CHOICES
WHAT IS PRUDENCE?

•a behavior that is
careful and avoid
risks .
Freedom
involves
choice.
 Humanity without the
capacity to choose is a
pawn to whoever or
whatever nature allows to
happen.
 If human beings are
determined, life seems to be
futile or even absurd, because
they live to simply go with the
flow, with that the law of nature
dictates.
 Humanity without the
capacity to choose is a
pawn to whoever or
whatever nature allows to
happen.
WHAT IS FATALISM?

• a view that states that one

is powerless to do
anything than what he
wants to do.
“To act in bad faith is to
allow others to choose
for you or for chance to
take its lead.”
 If a person has the
capacity to choose, then
that person can be held
responsible over the
consequences of his
actions.
.
B.F. SKINNER- Consciousness of Freedom

Believes that morality is a

conditioned response
impressed on the child by
society. There must be added
awareness that humans did it
"independently," "of his own
initiative “, having knowledge
about acting on one's own
desires.
PLATO
Believes that the
soul of every
individual possesses
the power of learning
the truth and living in
a society that is in
accordance with its
nature.
 Choices have
consequences and some
things are given up while
others are obtained in
making choices.
Individualism is lined in family
dependency because Easterners
believe that the individual needs
the community and vice versa.
Filipinos' holistic and interior
dimensions stress a being-with-others
and sensitivity to the needs of others
that inhibits one's personal and
individual fulfillment.
• "give-and-take“ • loyalty

• Self-sufficiency
• hospitality

• respect to • camaraderie
authority
 MODULE 5
LESSON 3: Freedom of
Choice and the
Consequences
THE ACT OF MAKING
CHOICES
ROBERT NOZICK
A renowned American
philosopher explains in his
1981 book, Philosophical
Explanations, that making a
choice seems to feel like there
are various reasons for and
against doing each of the
alternative actions or courses
of action one is considering,
and it seems, and it feels as if
one could do anyone of these
alternatives.
INTRINSIC VALUE

is the value that has in

itself apart from or
independent of its
consequences.
INSTRUMENTAL VALUE

is the function and

measure of the intrinsic
value that it leads to
ORIGINATIVE VALUE

introduces new values

to the world.
CONTRIBUTORY VALUE

focuses on the value

contribution that a
human action effects
 END OF
MODULE 5