Lesson 7: Freedom

Cards (27)

  • Freedom or Liberty is a social and political concept which has great significance in how people participate in society
  • Freedom of an individual from oppression, compulsion, or coercion from other persons, an authority figure or from society itself.
  • Positive Liberty is from person taking control of his or her own life and fulfilling one’s potential
  • Negative Liberty is from external restraint, barriers, and other interferences from other people
  • Liberalism upholds the preservation of individual rights and stresses the role of the government protecting these civil liberties.
  • Libertarianism believes that the individual, not the government, is the best judge in upholding and exercising rights.
  • Socialism considers freedom as a freedom to acquire economic resources and the ability to work and act according to one’s desire.
  • Two Types of Rights: Natural and Legal
  • Natural Rights which are innate in the person
  • Legal Rights based on society’s customs and laws and are enacted by legislation and enforced by government
  • Philosophers relate human freedom to the concept of human agency, which refers to the capacity of a person to act and exert control over his or her behavior.
  • Human freedom is expressed in two ways: free will and free action
  • Free Will is the capacity to choose different set of options or
  • Free Action is the capacity to act upon a decision or a
  • Can prevent us from excercising our freedom: Constraints on free actions and Constraints on free will
  • Constraints of Free Actions: Prohibitions, Laws, Other social controls imposed, disability/sickness, coercion exerted by another person, weather, poverty, or accidents
  • Constraints on Free Will: Manipulation, Brainwashing, Coercion against one's will
  • Determinism is a philosophical view that believes that every event in the world is brought about by underlying causes or factors.
  • We can effectively exercise freedom in our life by Concept of moral responsibility, Free will, Control and regulation, Our interactions with other people in society
  • Concept of moral responsibility refers to a person’s status of deserving praise and reward, or blame and punishment for an action.
  • Free will is necessary.
  • Control and regulation are necessary elements in the responsible exercise of freedom.
  • Our interactions with other people in society is also an important influence in the proper exercise of freedom.
  • Faculties model is that we have the free will to act because we have mental faculties that includes rationality
  • Hierarchical Model is that free will is viewed as a step by step process in achieving our wants
  • Reason-response view is that we have the free will to act upon base on reason whether we do things or not to do things
  • 3 Concept of Liberty: Liberalism, Libertarianism, and Socialism