L 7-9

• Freedom/Liberty


  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


  • From a person taking control of his or her own life fulfilling one's potential
  • Free from internal restraints, expresses the rationality of the true soul that is uncovered when internal restraints are removed
• Negative Liberty


  • From external restraint, barriers, and other interference 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
• Human Agency


  Refers to the capacity of a person to act and exert control over his or her behavior
• Human Freedom


  • Free Will - based on rationality. The freedom to make choices for yourself
  • Free Action - capacity to act without obstacles
• Faculties Model


  • Free will as the use of our mental faculties
• Hierarchical Model


  • Free will is based on human wants and needs
• Reasons-responsive View


  • Free will to act or not act upon
• Prevents from exercising our freedom

  • Free Actions - Prohibitions, Laws, Other social controls imposed, Disability/sickness, Coercion exerted by another person, Weather, poverty, or accidents
  • Free Will - Manipulation, Brainwashing, Coercion against one's will
• Determinism


  A philosophical view that believes that every event in the world is brought about underlying causes or factors
• Moral Responsibility


  A person's status of deserving praise and reward, or blame and punishment for an action
• Natural Rights


  Rights which are innate in the person, God-given and can never be taken or even given away
• Legal Rights


  Rights based on society's customs and laws are enacted by legislation and enforced by the government
• Control and Regulation are necessary elements in the responsible exercise of freedom
• Interactions with other people in society is also an important influence in the proper exercise of freedom
• Existentialism and phenomenology


  Major philosophical branches that devote much discussion on the concept of interpersonal relations
• Egocentric perspective


  Defines how the individual perceives and relates to reality
• Existentialist Perspective


  Interpersonal relations as the "self" being aware of the "other"
• "Other"


  Refers to objects outside personal experience, often used to refer to other individuals apart from the self
• Intersubjectivity


  Relates to the interaction between the self and the other, shared awareness and understanding among persons, evident in everyday social interactions, the ability of humans to agree and cooperate
• Stages of self-other awareness


  • First - simple awareness of the existence of the other
  • Second - awareness of the self as being seen by others. One is aware of another significant (stranger looking at you)
• Self-consciousness


  A defining characteristic of the self-other relationship
• Seeming


  Our self-presentation (proposed by Martin Buber)
• Dialogue


  Happens when one person views another person as important
• Alienation


  The state of isolation that happens when we cease to look at other people as significant and authentic
• Empathy


  One's capacity to understand other people's situation
• Availability


  A mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a given person's mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method or decision
• Ethics of Care


  Our responsibility to look at the needs of other people and see how they are doing
• Christianity's view on interpersonal relations

  Considers human relations in the context of community, God's relation with mankind began with the Creation, Jesus Christ has redefined God's covenant through His death and resurrection
• Society


  A large, independent, and organized group of people living in the same territory and sharing a common culture and heritage, interactions are often governed by written and unwritten rules that reflect the shared ideas, views, and values of the members
• Types of Society


  • Hunting-and-gathering societies (primitive societies)
  • Agricultural Society - economy based on producing and maintaining crops and farmland
  • Industrial Society - technologies of mass production used to make goods in factories
  • Modern Society - based on expansion of education, technology, industry and urban life
  • Virtual Society - social form where people do not have to live, meet, or work face to face
• Social Philosophy


  Focuses on studying society and its influence on the human person, including Social Ontology, Social Ethics, Democracy, Human rights, Equality, Justice
• Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean Jacques Rousseau


  Prominent social theorists who tackled the origins of human society, imagined humans as living in a "Natural State"
• Thomas Hobbes' view


  Man in his natural state is governed by his desires and these often lead to conflict with his fellowmen, individuals who establish societies enter into a social contract, authority's role is to meet the needs of members of society, ensuring its survival
• John Locke's view


  Man in his natural state as more cooperative and reasonable, society is formed through the consent of the individuals that organized it, a concept known as the consent of the governed, members of the society enter a covenant to cooperate and share the burden of upholding the welfare of society
• Jean Jacques Rousseau's view


  Society is formed through a contract among its members, the government is empowered to act on behalf of the people, advocated the concept of the "general will"