FREEDOMS

• The concept of freedom has emerged as an important philosophical issue in the 18th century in Europe during the age of enlightenment. 
• Enlightenment thinkers believed that early man existed in a “natural state” and had absolute freedom.
• . In establishing a society, people entered into a “social contract” which defined the freedoms that they will be enjoying as members of a society and the state.
• Freedom in its simplest sense is the autonomy to make choices in life.
• human agency, which refers to the capacity of a human person to act and exert control over his or her behavior
• Human Freedom in 2 ways:

  • Freewill - the capacity to choose from alternative courses of action or decision.
• Political freedom consists of two types of liberties 

  (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2016):

  Positive liberty refers to a person taking control of his or her own life and fulfilling one’s potential.

  Negative liberty is freedom from external restraint, barriers, and other interferences from other people.
• Freedom is consisting of three main philosophical positions on the possibility of human freedom:

  Libertarianism: believes that the individual is the best judge in upholding and exercising rights.

  Hard Determinism: believes that all every event that happens is caused by previous events and conditions together with the laws of nature.
• Compatibilism: believes that free will and determinism are incompatible ideas and that it is possible to believe in both without being logically inconsistent
• or Thomas Aquinas, the point of freedom is to choose one’s way to real happiness, the highest and the most enjoyable good of all.
• True freedom means choosing the ways and means that will bring authentic and lasting happiness of a human person.
•  For Aquinas, deep within every human person’s heart is a process of interaction, a kind of dialogue among knowledge, love, intellect, and will.
• Aquinas’ Stages of Human Acts

  1. Simple Volition
  2. Intention
  3. Consent and Deliberation
  4. Decision
  5. Election
  6. Command
  7. Use
• Simple Volition: spontaneously seeing the goodness of something and wishing something. Wishes and intentions are totally separated. When a wish arises in our will, it confronts a host of circumstances and limits including other intentions or pre-commitments you might have. The intellect apprehends a situation and determines that a particular end is an appropriate good for the given circumstances. The will approves a simple volition for that end (or can reject, change the subject, etc.).
• Intention: making a resolution to pursue an end. The intellect determines that the end can be achieved is within the power of the agent. The “will” will be intended to achieve the end through some means.
• Consent and Deliberation: inquiring after and approving/disapproving different means. The intellect does the counseling. It determines the various means to achieve the end. The will accepts these means (or asks for more means).
• Decision: an act of the intellect in judging the best means by which to 

  fulfill an intention. The intellect determines the best means for the given circumstances. The will select or choose the means that the intellect proposes as best.
• Election: choosing to pursue a particular means. The intellect chooses the best means for the given circumstances. The will agree to the particular means among others.
• Command: the intellect commands external act. The intellect commands and says “Do the best means!”. The will use or exercise control over the body or mind as needed.
• Use: will execute an external act.
• The ability to exercise one's freedom in any manner is called freedom of choice
• • Free action - the freedom to perform an action without any obstacles or hindrances