Philo 4th mod 1

• Freedom


  • The ability to make choices and perform those choices
  • The ability to be what we want and to decide and create oneself
• Concepts that will help us fully understand freedom

  • Freedom itself
  • Free will
• Freedom


  • The quality or state of being free
  • Our capacity to choose what we want and an inner awareness of what is right and wrong that is traced to our free will according to Aristotle
  • An intrinsic and essential property of a human person which is part of our human nature
• Free will


  • Our ability to decide on the things we do depending on the situation
  • Our ability to choose between two different possible courses of action independently
  • Our ability to choose things according to our moral reasoning
• Free will


  The ability to act at one's discretion: no one is holding you back with your choices
• Freedom


  The power or right to act, speak or do whatever you want without any constraint
• Kinds of freedom


  • Physical freedom
  • Psychological freedom
  • Moral freedom
• Physical freedom


  • The absence of any physical restraint
  • The freedom of mobility to go where one wants to go
  • Not impeded in one's actions by any physical force
• Psychological freedom


  • Also called as the freedom of choice
  • The ability to perform actions that one considers right and wise
  • The freedom to act or not to act
  • No outside force or influences can compel a person to take actions against their will
• Moral freedom


  Using freedom in a manner that upholds human dignity and goodness
• Elements of freedom


  • Voluntariness
  • Responsibility
• Voluntariness


  • The ability of a person to act according to their own free will and self-determination
  • A person may decide to do things or not to do things according to their own free will
  • Even though they are not required to do such things, they could still do it or take actions on it
• Responsibility


  • The person being accountable for their actions and their consequences
  • Taking responsibility can mean either you take responsibility to your actions voluntarily or other people will hold you responsible
• Important factors to consider in the exercise of freedom

  • Prudence
  • Self-reflection
• Prudence


  • The ability to govern and discipline oneself with the use of reason
  • Having caution and giving good judgement 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
• 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
• Ways to exercise freedom in a responsible and beneficial manner


  • Freedom should be exercised with control and reasonable limits
  • Freedom should be exercised with regard for knowledge and truth
  • Freedom should be exercised to uphold the freedom of others
• Freedom is a path you choose every day
• Philosophers and their views on freedom

  • Aristotle - The power of volition
  • St. Thomas Aquinas - Love is freedom
  • Jean-Paul Sartre - Individual freedom
  • Thomas Hobbes - Theory of social contract
  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Aristotle's view on freedom


  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 punishments of rulers, and the general employment of praise and blame
• St. Thomas Aquinas' view on freedom


  • Human beings have the unique power to change themselves and the things around them for the better
  • Human beings are both spiritual and material, have conscience because of our spirituality
  • God is Love and Love is our destiny
• Jean-Paul Sartre's view on 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 their choosing; they are the creator
  • Freedom is the very core and the door to authentic existence
  • Authentic existence is realized only in deeds that are committed alone, in absolute freedom and responsibility and which, therefore, have the character of true creation
  • The human person who tries to escape obligations and strives to be en-soi is acting on bad faith (mauvais fol)
• Thomas Hobbes' theory of social contract

  • 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
  • Plurality of individuals should confer all their power and strength upon one human being or upon one assembly of human beings, which may reduce all their wills, by plurality of voices, unto one will
  • Hobbes developed society in favor of absolute monarchy
  • Hobbes thinks that to end the continuous and self-destructive condition of warfare, humanity founded the state with its sovereign power of control by means of a mutual consent
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau's view


  • Rousseau interpreted the idea of social contract in terms of absolute democracy and individualism
  • Rousseau and Hobbes believe that human beings have to 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 have to form a community
• e desired end by themselves alone; that is, unless there is coercive power able to enforce their observance by sanctions
• Plurality of individuals should confer all their power and strength upon one human being or upon one assembly of human beings, which may reduce all their wills, by plurality of voices, unto one will (Garvey 2006)
• Hobbes developed society in favor of absolute monarchy
• Hobbes thinks that to end the continuous and self-destructive condition of warfare, humanity founded the state with its sovereign power of control by means of a mutual consent
• Rousseau interpreted the idea of social contract


  In terms of absolute democracy and individualism
• Rousseau and Hobbes believe that human beings have to 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 have to 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
• In order to restore peace, he has to return to his true self. He has to see the necessity and come to form the state through the social contract whereby everyone grants his individual rights to the general will
• The Constitution and the Bill of Rights constituted, as an instance of a social contract
• This is an actual agreement and actually "signed" by the people or their representatives (Solomon & Higgins 1996)
• 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)
• Freedom involves choice. It is man's capacity to do otherwise. As Sartre said, It is through choice that man lives an authentic human life
• When a man cannot choose, he tends to believe that he cannot be made responsible for the choices he makes because his actions are not from a deliberate act of choosing but a causal connection between events beyond his control
• Fatalism


  A view that states that one is powerless to do anything than what he actually wants to do
• In the spirituality of imperfection, we learn to accept that life, our environment, is both "evil" and ''good." B.F. Skinner believes that morality is a conditioned response impressed on the child by society
• To be responsible is when one feels responsible. There must be added awareness that humans did it "independently," "of his own initiative"; having knowledge about acting on one's own desires consciousness of freedom