Freedom of the human person

FREEDOM OF THE
HUMAN PERSON
# R O M

•This lesson highlights freedom
from the intellectual, political,
spiritual, and economic aspects.
To be free is a part of
humanity`s authenticity.

REALIZE THAT
“ACTION HAVE
CONSEQUENCES.”
A R I S TOT L E

•The power of Volition (the
power to make your own choice
or decisions) – The imperative
quality of a judgement of
practical intellect is
meaningless, apart from will.

•Reason can legislate (control),
but only through will can its
legislation be translated into
action.
•If there is no intellect, there
would be no will.

•The will of humanity is an
instrument of free choice. It is
within the power of everyone to
be good or bad, worthy or
worthless. This is borne out by:

•Our inner awareness of an
aptitude to do right or wrong;
•The common testimony of all
human beings;
•The rewards and punishment of
rulers

•The general employment of
praise and blame.

•Moral acts, which are always
particular acts, are in our power
and we are responsible for
them. Character or habit is no
excuse for immoral conduct.
(e.g. cutting classes)

For Aristotle, a human being is
rational (based on facts or
reason and not by emotion).
Reason is divine characteristic.
Humans have the spark of the
divine. If there were no intellect,
there would be no will.

•Our will is an instrument of free
choice. Reason, will, and action
drives each other.

ST. THOMAS
AQUINAS
L O V E I S F R E E D O M

•Of all creatures of God, human
beings have the unique power
to change themselves and the
things around them for the
better.

•A human beings therefore, has
a supernatural transcendental
destiny. This means that he can
rise above his ordinary being or
self to highest being or self.

•This is in line with the idea of St.
Thomas that in the plan of God,
a human being has to develop
and perfect himself by doing his
daily tasks.

•Hence, if a human being
perseveringly lives a righteous
and virtuous life, he transcends
his mortal state of life and soars
to an immortal state of life.

•The power of change, however,
cannot be done by human
beings alone, but is achieved
through cooperation with God.
Between humanity and God,
there is a gap, which God alone
can bridge through His power.

•For love is in consonance with
humanity`s free nature, for law
commands and complete; love
only calls and invites. St.
Thomas emphasizes the
freedom of humanity but
chooses love in governing
humanity`s life.

•Since God is love, then love is
the guiding principle of
humanity toward –self-
perception and happiness his
ultimate destiny.

ST. THOMAS
AQUINAS
S P I R I T U A L F R E E D O M

ACTIONS
(GOOD OR EVIL)
CONSICENCE
GOD`S
LOVE

•St Thomas Aquinas establishes
the existence of God as a first
cause of all God`s creations,
human beings have the unique
power to change themselves
and things around them for the
better.

•As humans, we are both
material and spiritual. We have
a conscience because of our
spirituality. God is Love and
Love is our destiny.

JEAN PAUL
SARTRE
I N D I V I D U A L F R E E D O M

•Sartre`s philosophy is
considered to be a
representative of existentialism.
The human person is desire to
be God. The human person
builds the road to the destiny of
his/her choosing; he/she is the
creator.

•Sartre emphasizes the
importance of free individual
choice, regardless the power of
other people to influence and
coerce our desire, beliefs, and
decisions.

•To be human, to be conscious,
is to be free to imagine, free to
choose and be responsible for
one`s life.

JEAN JACQUES
ROUSSEAU
S O C I A L C O N T R A C T

•He is the most famous and
influential philosophers of the
French enlightenment in the
18th century. In his book The
Social Contract. He elaborated
his theory of human nature.

•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.

•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 believes that a human
being is born free and good.
Now, he is In chains and has
become bad due to the evil
influence of society, civilization,
learning, and progress.

•Because of this human being
lost his original goodness, his
primitive tranquility of spirit.

•In order to restore peace, bring
his freedom back, and as he
returned to his true self, he saw
the necessity and came to form
the state through the social
contract whereby everyone
grants his individual rights to
the general will.

•The term social contract is a
certain way of looking at a
society of voluntary collection
of agreeable individuals.

•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).

EVALUATE AND
EXERCISE
PRUDENCE IN
CHOICES
C A R E F U L G O O D J U D G E M E N T T H AT
A L L O W S S O M E O N E TO AV O I D D A N G E R O R
R I S K S .

•Skinner maintains that behavior
is shaped and maintained by its
consequences.

•Yelon accepted that behavioral
psychology is at fault for having
overanalyzed the words reward
and punishment. We might
have miscalculated the effect of
the environment in the
individual.

•There should be a balance in
our relationship with others and
the environment.

•Skinner thinks that the problem is
to free human beings not from
control but from certain kinds of
control, and it can be solved only
if we accept the fact that we
depend upon the world around us
and we simply change the nature
of dependency.

•We do not need to destroy the
environment or escape from it.
What is needed, according to
skinner, is to redesign it.

•Life is full of paradoxes, nobody
could nor should control it. We
have to be open to life, learn to
accept and live with paradoxes.
Learning with contradiction is
not the same as living
contradiction.

•In the spirituality of
imperfection, we learn to accept
that life, our environment is
both evil and good. We learn to
be flexible and adaptable.

•Indeed, the theory of freedom
has negative and positive tasks.
Our lives should not merely
controlled by rewards and
punishments.

•According to Yelon, punishment is
an educative measure, and as such
is a means to the formation of
motives, which are in part to
prevent the wrongdoer from
repeating the act and in part to
prevent others from committing a
similar act.

•Indeed, the environment plays a
significant part in our lives. Since
the stone age, we had proven that
we are not completely under its
mercy. We have and shall continue
to tame and adapt to the changes
in the conditions of the
environment.s

•As Plato believes, the soul of
every individual possesses the
power of learning the truth and
living in society that is
accordance to its nature.

C H O I C E S H AV E
C O N S E Q U E N C E S A N D
S O M E T H I N G S A R E G I V E N
U P W H I L E O T H E R S A R E
O B TA I N E D I N M A K I N G
C H O I C E S

•20th century gave rise to the
importance of the individual,
the opposite of medieval
thought that was God.

•For Ayn Rand, individual mind is
the tool for economic progress,
since the mind is important, the
sector that molds it should not
be controlled by the
government.

•Rand believes that thinking is
volitional. A person has the
freedom to think or not.

Rand cited the right to gain,
to keep, to use, and to
dispose of material values.
Most developed countries
have disposed their toxic
wastes developing countries.

•Filipinos embraced family and
political parties. For the
Filipinos, one does not only
fulfill reasons of the mind but of
the heart and personal
involvement as well.

•Filipinos look at themselves
as holistic from interior
dimensions under the
principle of harmony.
•It aspires harmony with
others and nature to be in

•Filipinos loob is the basis of
Christian value of sensitivity
to the needs of others and
gratitude. It encompassed
give and take relationship
among Filipinos.

•As such, repaying those who
have helped us is a
manifestation of utang na loob
or debt of gratitude. Loob
prioritized family, relatives, and
even non-kinsmen (male
relative).

•It bridges individual differences
and is the common factor
among human beings

•The concept of Rand`s
free individual and
Filipino`s view of the free
human being may have
differences but can be
overcome.

•The potential of the Filipino
should be able to grow so that
he will be aware of his
uniqueness. Children should be
brought up to the identity of
the members of the family and
simultaneously with that of the
nation.

•Self-sufficiency (kasarinlan)
should recognize human worth
and dignity.

•Kagandahang loob, kabutihang
loob and kalooban are terms
that show sharing of one`s self
to others. Loob puts one in
touch with his fellow beings.

S H O W S I T U AT I O N S T H AT
D E M O N S T R AT E F R E E D O M
O F C H O I C E A N D T H E
C O N S E Q U E N C E S O F
T H E I R C H O I C E S

•According to Rand, individual
freedom should be aligned with
economic freedom. The Filipino
harmony can be a helping value
to the full development of
Filipino if it opens up to
embrace the whole Philippine
society.

•There are cases where the Filipino
may adversely affect the social and
financial status of the one moving
upward the social ladder. For
instance, the more well-off
members of a family share their
gains with their relatives and
friends in need.

•Sometimes, the beneficiaries of
the monetary assistance (utang
or loan) just use the money for
non-essentials. Where there are
more important concerns that
should be prioritized.

•As leader or manager with
“magandang kalooban” is not
passive but plays active role in
economic development. Leaders
should not just focus on the
impact of job performance but
treats every individual worker as
persons and not as objects.

•“kasarinlan” promotes
entrepreneurship which
minimize foreign control of
Filipinos.

•Individualism should be tied
with social responsibility and
should not be just “tayo-tayo”
or “kami-kami”. Our own
individuality should be interact
with others.

•As individuals who are free,
Filipinos should recognize their
own brand of uniqueness,
instead of copying foreign
cultures.

•For Aristotle and Rand, reason
and will or volition is part of our
being human. In relation to this,
Filipinos had proven matured
thinking, pertaining to EDSA
revolution.

•The decision Is based on the
Filipinos` belief in freedom.
They also voluntarily risked their
lives as they face danger. Again,
the EDSA Revolution is one
example of social contract as
discussed earlier in this lesson.

Freedom of the human person

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Freedom of the human person