Lesso “All Actions Have

n1 Consequences”
Freedom and the human person have been at the center of philosophical,
theological, moral, and political debates since the origins of western tradition.
Contemporary discourse betrays the multiplicity of these roots, the necessary
historical perspective for evaluating them is almost always lacking, even in
scholarly studies. The two words "freedom" and "person" carry such
overwhelming force in the modern world that the critical distance required for
grasping what is at stake in using them is extremely hard to gain.

Contributors and philosophers treat approaches to freedom and the human

person in ancient Greek, biblical, medieval, and modern sources, although the
major emphasis is on the thought of leading philosophers (Plato, Boethius, Aquinas,
Ockham, Machiavelli, Locke, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Husserl, et al.). It has been
noted that their essays had brought profound contrasts in how freedom and
personhood have been grounded and characterized, notably the contrasts between
groundings in natural reason and in supernatural revelation, between premodern
teleological thinking and modern thinking on self-sovereignty without teleology, and
within modern thought between positions favoring individual autonomy and others
securing freedom and its exercise in communal or traditional life.

What’s In

My Own Freedom!

TASK 1. Browse on your pictures saved on your phone. Find a picture which shows
a feeling of freedom.
TASK 2. What emotions and ideas can be derived from the picture which signify
freedom? Explain your answer.
TASK 3. Why is having freedom the ultimate happiness of Human Person?

Picture Analysis
Directions: Why do so often associate freedom with a bird escaping its cage?

Concept Webbing
Directions: Think of words that are connected or synonymous to the word
“FREEDOM”. After completing the diagram, make a generalization using the
words used.

FREEDOM

What is Freedom? What is the essence of freedom?

- The ability to make choices and perform those choices.
- The ability to be what we want and to decide and create oneself.

Two concepts that will help us fully understand freedom:

1. Freedom itself
“Freedom is generally defined as having the ability to act or change
without constraint-Wikipedia” Someone or something is “free” if he/it can do or
change anything effortlessly and responsibly. A person or an animal has the
freedom to do things that will not, in theory, or practice, be prevented by other
forces. However, freedom has its particular limitations beyond himself
because he is bound by the consequences of his actions either to promote
goodness or destruction to himself or other persons.
 Example: Your teacher gave you a pen and paper. The goal here is to make
these two items useful for you. You can either use the pen to write a letter or draw
something on the paper. You can also transform the paper into a paper airplane,
write a message on it and throw it in the air until it finally lands on another person’s
lap. Using your freedom as an instrument to create action without constraint is its
true meaning.

2. Free will
Free will is the ability to choose different courses of action without
restrictions. If we exercise our free will, we get to decide on things that will lead to
results, either good or bad, beneficial or not. The actions that we do depend on the
values we uphold and the acceptance and expectations of the community we live
in, including family members and friends that we care about.

To be precise, free will is our ability to choose things according to our

moral reasoning, which can also be related to our previous lesson on self-
determination or the ability to select what is right and wrong, that a person’s action
determines what kind of person he or she becomes.

KINDS OF FREEDOM
Physical Freedom (Right to Travel)
Physical freedom refers to the absence of any physical
restraint. The person has the freedom of mobility to go where
he or she wants to go. He or she is not impeded in his or her
actions by any physical force. Granted that the person has natural
limitations, physical freedom enables him or her to act and move in a
determined manner. You cannot be everywhere at once, but your
freedom allows you to move from one place to another and to go
whenever you want to go.
Psychological Freedom
Psychological freedom is also called freedom of choice. The
person is free to perform actions that he or she considers right and
wise. A person is also free to act or not to act. Psychological freedom
is innate and cannot be denied to a person. No outside force or
influence can compel a person to take action against his or her will.
Moral Freedom
Moral freedom refers to using freedom in a manner that
upholds human dignity and goodness. Freedom is not an object
that a person may use in whatever way he or she pleases. A person
must use his or her freedom to grow as a person. A person becomes
freer when he or she uses freedom well but becomes less free when
he or she uses it in a wicked way. Humans have a natural
inclination for what is right and moral, and when a person
uses his or her freedom to do acts that violate human dignity
and goodness, he or she dehumanizes himself or herself and
effectively negates human freedom.
There are two elements that define freedom:

1. Voluntariness
It is the ability of a person to act of his or her own free will and self-
determination. A person may decide to do things or not to do it according to his
own free will. It also means that even though she/he is not required to do such
things he/she could still do it or take action on it.

Voluntary acts are free acts that can be assigned a corresponding moral
value. One must always remember that in every action we make, in every choice we
make there is an equivalent consequence. These consequences affect not just the
individual who makes the decision but also other people in their surroundings. With
that, one must always accept the consequences that result from his or her decisions
or actions and take responsibility for them.

2. Responsibility
Responsibility refers to the person being accountable for his or her
action and their consequences. Taking responsibility can mean either you take
responsibility to your action voluntarily or other people will hold you responsible.
For example, if you made a bad action, it’s either you take responsibility of it or
other people will hold you responsible for it.

Example of Voluntariness and Responsibility

Michael invited Ken to a party club. At the club, Ken was very surprised to see his
former classmates and some acquaintances. It was very lively, people were dancing, singing
and others were drinking and smoking. But there is something that caught Ken’s attention, a
group of people in the corner doing something unusual. And to his surprise, Michael was one
of them. He came near to them and Michael immediately offer him a methamphetamine
(shabu). At first, he refused knowing that the use of it is illegal. However, with the persistent
effort of Michael, Ken tried it. Unexpectedly, police officers came to raid the club. Ken was
abducted.

Based on this situation, voluntariness was manifested by Ken’s personal acceptance

of the illegal drug because he uses his own freewill. Responsibility comes with Ken’s choice
of action. Meaning, he had to accept his fate to be in the prison cell as a consequence of his
freewill.
 There are important factors to consider in the exercise of freedom. These are
Prudence and Self-reflection.

Prudence is the ability to govern and discipline oneself with the use
of reason; it is having caution and giving good judgments in making
decisions. Because once we make 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 is very important in exercising freedom.

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 certain things. As free beings, exercising our
freedom responsibly is very important. Thus, it requires us to reflect on the actions
that we are going to take by considering its possible effects and the benefits it has
to the people affected by it.

Philosophical Thinkers on the Power of Freedom

A. Aristotle- The Power of Volition

The imperative quality of judgment of practical intellect is meaningless, apart
from will. Reason can legislate, but only through will can its legislation be translated
into action. The task of practical intellect is to guide will by enlightening it. Will is to
be understood wholly in terms of intellect for there is no intellect if there is no will.
The will of humanity is an instrument of free choice.

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 punishment of rulers; and
• the general employment of praise and blame.

Moral acts are in our power and we are responsible for them. Character or
habit is no excuse for immoral conduct.

Example: Attending class is a student’s responsibility. Should the student cut

class, then he/she is responsible for the consequence of his actions. As a result,
he/she must be held responsible for any accident or failure in grades that will befall
him/her. The student may regret what he/she had done, but all the regrets in the
world will not call it back. The point is the student should not cut class in the first
instance. When the matter is sifted down, the happiness of every human being’s
soul is in his own hands, to preserve and develop, or to cast away.
 For Aristotle, a human being is rational. Reason is a divine characteristic.
Humans have the spark of the divine. If there were no intellect, there would be no
will. Reason can legislate, but only through will can its legislation be turned into
action. Our will is an instrument of free choice. Reason, Will, and Action drive each
other.

B. St. Thomas of Aquinas: Love is Freedom

Of all creatures of God, human beings have the unique power to change
themselves and the things around them for the better. St. Thomas Aquinas
considers the human being as a moral agent, being both a spiritual and body
element; the spiritual and material. The unity between both elements indeed helps
us to understand our complexity as human beings. Our spirituality separates us
from animals; it delineates moral dimension of our fulfillment in an action. Through
our spirituality, we have a conscience. Whether we choose to be "good" or "evil"
becomes our responsibility.

A human being, therefore, has a supernatural, transcendental destiny, rising

above his ordinary self to a highest self. If a human being perseveringly lives a
righteous and virtuous life, he transcends his mortal state of life and soars to an
immortal.

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 an
infinite gap, which God alone can bridge through His power. Perfection by
participation here means that it is a union of humanity with God. Change should
promote not just any purely private advantage, but the good of the community.

St. Thomas gives a fourfold classification of law: the eternal law, natural law,
human law, and divine law.

Natural Law applies only to human beings; good is to be sought after and
evil avoided (instruct of self-preservation). There is inherent in every human being
an inclination that he shares with all other beings, namely, the desire to conserve
human life and forbids the contrary.

Since the law looks to the common good as its end, it is then conceived
primarily with external acts and not with interior disposition. Example: If someone
does not lie to his parents so they will increase his allowance, then the reason for
his goodness stems not because he does not want to lie but because he knows that
there is a reward for being so.

For Aquinas, both natural and human laws are concerned with ends
determined simply by humanity's nature. However, a human being is ordained to an
end transcending his nature, it is necessary that he has a law ordering him to that
end, and this is the divine law or revelation.

Divine Law deals with interior disposition as well as external acts and it
ensures the final punishment of all evildoing. It gives human beings the certitude
where human reason unaided could arrive only at possibilities. This divine law is
divided into old (Mosaic) and new (Christian) which are related as the immature and
imperfect to the perfect and complete.

Eternal Law is the decree of God that governs all creation. It is "That Law
which is the Supreme Reason cannot be understood to be otherwise than
unchangeable and eternal.

For Aristotle, the purpose of a human being is to be happy. To be happy, one

has to live a virtuous life – to develop to the full their powers—rational, moral,
social, emotional, and physical here on earth.

For St. Thomas, human is to be happy that is perfect happiness that everyone
seeks but could be found only in God alone. St. Thomas wisely and aptly chose and
proposed Love rather than to bring about the transformation of humanity. Love is in
consonance with humanity's free nature, for Law commands and is complete; Love
only calls and invites. He also emphasizes the freedom of humanity but chooses
love to govern humanity's life. Since God is Love, then Love is the guiding principle
of humanity toward his self-perception and happiness his ultimate destiny.

C. St. Thomas of Aquinas: Spiritual Freedom

He 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, have a conscience
because of our spirituality. God is Love and Love is our destiny.

D. Jean-Paul Sartre: Individual Freedom

The human person is the desire to be God the desire to exist as a being which
has its sufficient ground in itself (en sui causa). The human person builds the road
to the destiny of his/her choosing; he/she is the creator (Srathern 1998).

Principle of Sartre’s Existentialism

o The person, first, exists, encounters himself and surges up in the world
then defines himself afterward. The person is nothing else but what he
makes of himself.
o The person is provided with a supreme opportunity to give meaning to
one's life. In the course of giving meaning to one's life, one fills the world
with meaning.
 o Freedom is, therefore, 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, is the character
of true creation.
o The person is what one has done and is doing, On the other hand, the
human person who tries to escape obligations and strives to be en-soi is
acting in bad faith (mauvais foi).
o Sartre emphasizes the importance of free individual choice, regardless of
the power of other people to influence and coerce our desires, beliefs,
and decisions. To be human, to be conscious is to be free to imagine, free
to choos,e and to be responsible for one’s life.

E. Thomas Hobbes- Theory of Social Contract

Law of Nature (lex naturalis) is a precept or general rule established by

reason, by which a person is forbidden to do that which is destructive of his life or
takes away the means of preserving the same; and to omit that by which he thinks
it may be best preserved.
o "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.”
o 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.
o 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).
o Hobbes developed social in favor of absolute monarchy.
o 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 mutual consent.

F. Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Rousseau interpreted the idea of social contract in terms of absolute

democracy and individualism.
o 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.
 o 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.
o 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.
o The Constitution and the Bill of Rights constituted as an instance of a
social contract.
o This is an actual agreement and actually "signed" by the people or their
representatives (Solomon & Higgins 1996).
o There must be a common power or government in which the plurality of
individuals (citizens) should confer all their powers and strength into
(freedom) one will (ruler).

Picture Analysis
Directions: Look at the two images below. Relate them to a person’s journey to
life. Make a reflection by answering the questions that follow the pictures.

Image 1 Image 2

Source: freepik.com/free-vector/vectorjuice

1. What can you say about the pictures?

Image 1. ______________________________________________________________________
Image 2. ______________________________________________________________________

2. Have you been in this kind of situation? Expound your answer.

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3. What are the things that you considered in making choices?
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Lesso
Prudence in Choices
n2
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.
If human beings have no capacity to choose, which means that they are
determined, then this seems to reduce the value and dignity of man, because it
shows that man cannot control the situations around him. Humanity without the
capacity to choose is a pawn to whoever or whatever nature allows to happen.
When 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.
If human beings are determined, life seems to be futile or even
absurd, because they live to simply go with the flow, with what the law of
nature dictates. Whatever action they “choose” is not really a choice but
it is what nature dictates. This is fatalism, a view that states that one is
powerless to do anything other than what he actually wants to do.

Personal Life Decisions

Directions. As a Grade 11 student, you have made some important life decisions in
the past. Write down the consequences of those particular decisions in the line
provided.

Guide Questions:
1. What can you say and feel about this activity you made?
2. What instances in your life have you had regrets and maintained your
actions?

Ponder Me!
Directions. Read and analyze properly the words presented as logo. Explain the
line of not exceeding 5 sentences. Use life experiences as examples. Write your
answer on the blanks provided below.
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What is It
The act of choosing or the ability to choose is valuable because it
gives the human person the reason to make deliberate actions out of
motives that reveal his autonomy as an agent or as an individual. As what
Sartre said? “To act in bad faith is to allow others to choose for you or for chance to
take its lead.” Chance and choosing are not incommensurable.
If a person has the capacity to choose, then that person can be held
responsible for the consequences of his actions. If the choice lies in his own hands,
he would take considerable time before acting on something because he knows that
if the consequence is not what he intends to happen, he gets the blame. Hence, the
person becomes prudent with the choices he makes.
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.

Reflection
Directions. Answer briefly and substantially the following questions and
statements. Write your answer in the space provided.
1. Despite our genetic defects, are we free? Defend your answer.
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2. To what extent does the environment affect our choices? Cite examples.
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3. Explain: “To be free individual is to be responsible not only for oneself but also for
all.”
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4. How can Filipino values such as utang na loob either promotes or hinders
freedom?
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Comprehension check!
Directions. Read and explain the scripture inside the box briefly and substantially.
Write your answer on the space provided.

“So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall”
1st Corinthians 10:12

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Lesson Consequences of Choices

3
In this lesson, we learn that a potential solution to this issue can be found in
humanity's terrible misinterpretation of the idea of human freedom. Most people
define freedom as having the freedom to do whatever we choose, without
restrictions. Freedom is frequently seen as having complete freedom. True
freedom, however, is always accompanied by responsibility due to the
consequences it brings.

Freedom is Exercised through Choices

Freedom as self-determination is an essential attribute of being human,
rooted in the human spirit. Hence, the quest to understand freedom cannot be
pursued within the parameters of the physical or natural universe. Freedom is
spiritual, intuitive mode of being, for which reason Karol Wojtyla has insisted on an
ontological, metaphysical foundation for the study of the human person.

Sacred Scripture also makes clear that human person has free will and can
choose one’s course of action, what to do or not to do, good or evil (Gen 4:7, Sir
15:11-20; 17:1), thus there is the ethical and moral content of human action. The
will orient to something apprehended by reason to realize or achieve an end or
good. The issue is why that sound chosen and is, therefore, a free action, commonly
it is thought that God determines only what is good and evil, which he
communicates to the person who, in turn, has to obey. Certainly, God is creator and
ground of all being in whom every creature participates for its very existence. If the
human person only follows, of what use is free will? Nor do moral laws and norms
arise because God wills them, for them obedience would be voluntarism in which
the will act with the total autonomy from the intellect or reason.

Freedom must order to the truth about God, the self, other human-beings,
and creations so that the individual realizes and constitute who and what he or she
is. One can choose to act contrarily to this truth, but this is to deform what one is,
namely, the divine image.

The truth of what a person is, what is good and evil, right or wrong, is not
arbitrary; directly and ontologically it is related to the very nature of the one under
consideration, apprehended objectively and subjectively. Thus, the basis of freedom
is constituted in reason precisely because the relations of freedom to the truth; it is
the truth that makes one free, and God is Truth (John 8:32; 14:6). Thus, the moral
law of God is not imposed, but offered as the way to self-actualization in truth; this
is the way to authentic freedom with its infinite possibilities. To act outside this
truth is false freedom which harms and destroys.

Actions Have Consequences

All actions have consequences, this is the Law of Cause and Effect or
simply known as Karma. Everything we think and say and do has some level of
consequences for ourselves and for others. Like ripples on a pond, our actions
spread out and affect others as the consequence of our actions, because everything
is interconnected.

We will not always foresee the consequences of our actions and trying to be
100% sure that we are doing the right thing 100% of the time will only lead to
Mental anxiety and chronic indecisiveness and self-doubt. However, we can resolve
to try to choose those actions that lead to true alignment with our inner core, and
avoid Self-actions, and to intend to choose Service to Others actions that have more
beneficial consequences for all. These are actions set upon with the intention to
promote greater connection, unity, and harmony for all involved. Our intent,
consent and authority is the key to align to our highest expression in the moment,
and to act from the intention of harmlessness.

Choices Have Consequences

Everything we do and experience is a product of choices. Either they
are choices made by us or by someone else. Many of us don’t realize that our
choices have far greater consequences than what we simply see in the physical.
There is a spiritual world behind the scenes that not only influences our choices but
uses those choices to set in motion things beyond our understanding or perception.
That’s why God puts such weighty choices between life and death, blessings, and
curses in the Bible, to jolt us into taking personal responsibility in the battle for our
lives. He wants us to understand the power of our choices and the consequences
that come with them.

Lesso
Freedom and Responsibility
n4