Freedom of The Human Person
Freedom of The Human Person
Freedom of The Human Person
II
Activity: Choice mo, Choosy mo!
1. Mcdo or Jollibee?
2.Doing it now or later?
3. Watching a movie or reading a book?
4. Studying or Working?
5. Love or Career?
6. Someone you love or someone who
loves you?
What did you notice
from the activity?
What is
freedom?
• In philosophy and religion,
freedom is sometimes associated
with free will, without undue or
unjust constraints on that will,
such as enslavement. It is an idea
closely tied with the concept of
negative liberty.
Freedom
•It is referred to the power
or right to act, speak, or
think as you want without
hindrance or restraint.
How do you evaluate
and exercise prudence in
choices?
•When you are prudent, you
are not taking unnecessary
risks, and not saying or doing
things that you might later
regret.
Let’s take this!
Quiz 1
TRUE OR FALSE.
Write True if the statement is correct, and False if it is
incorrect.
______ 1. Freedom is the ability to do whatever we want.
______ 2. Freedom is the power we have over our own
actions.
______ 3. As human beings, we are responsible for all our
actions under allcircumstances.
______ 4. Freedom is absolute.
______ 5. As rational beings, it is natural for us to think before
we act.
Aristotle
•Aristotle defined man as
being a rational animal.
According to this
definition, rationality is
what separates man from
all other animals; it is
what makes them unique.
This means that we are endowed with
certain cognitive powers
•Intellect and reason, that
enable us to engage in
various cognitive operations,
such as concept formation,
judging, or reasoning
The power of volition
•The imperative quality of a judgment
of practical intellect is meaningless,
apart from will. Reason can legislate,
but only through will can its
legislation be translated into actions.
•If there is no intellect
there is no will
• Free will is not the same as freedom of action.
Freedom of action refers to things that prevent a
willed action from being realized. For example,
being in prison means you are not free to paint the
town red. Being in a straitjacket means you are not
free to wave hello. Being paralyzed means not
being able to move your limbs. These are not
issues of free will. Free will means being free to try
to escape (or not), to try to wave (or not), to try to
move your limbs (or not).
• if there is no intellect there is no will
Activity
St. Thomas Aquinas
• What is St Thomas Aquinas
philosophy?
• Thomas Aquinas, a
medieval Roman Catholic
scholar, reconciled the
political philosophy of
Aristotle with Christian
faith. In doing so, he
contended that a just ruler or
government must work for
the "common good" of all.
•What does
this quote of
Jean Paul
Sartre mean?
•J. P. Sartre believes
that man is free to
choose and
whatever choice he
makes, he must be
responsible for the
outcome.
Some choices in life
•Examples include decisions about a career
change, moving, buying or selling a house,
ending or beginning a relationship, placing
loved ones in a full-time care facility,
adopting a child, retirement and many
more. Just pondering those examples can
bring thoughts of tension and confusion.
Question
s to
ponder
•What are your prior considerations
for making those decisions?
•How do choices, consequences,
and responsibility relate with each
other?
•Why should human persons act
responsibly with their freedom?
Activity
Directions: Explain the statement in 10 sentences
only.
•Essay Writing
Major key concepts
•State of Nature
•Social Contract
•Sovereign
Jean Jacques Rousseau
•He believed
that humans possessed
a natural goodness and
that caring properly for
oneself did not exclude
concern for the welfare
of others.
According to
Rousseau
•Human beings are good by
nature but are rendered corrupt
by society.
•“Man was born free,
and everywhere he is
in chains”
•Social contract theory says
that people live together in
society in accordance with
an agreement that
establishes moral and
political rules of behavior.
•Some people believe that if
we live according to a
social contract, we can live
morally by our own choice
and not because a divine
being requires it.
Three stages described by Rousseau, are
investigated:
• (a) the state of nature, where man is free
and independent, (b) society, in which man
is oppressed and dependent on others, and
(c) the state under the Social Contract, in
which, ironically, man becomes free
through obligation; he is only independent
through dependence on law.
John Locke
What is John Locke's theory of
law?
-Harry Browne