Human

UNIT
Living
II

1
FREEDOM OF
THE HUMAN
PERSON
Lesson 5
Introduction
To be free is a part of humanity's authenticity, a
part of our transcendence. Freedom consists of going
beyond situations whether physical constraints or
economic struggles.

For example, some students may be young or

poor, but they can still pursue their dreams of becoming
a doctor, a teacher, or a stage actor.
Realize That “All Actions Have
Consequences”

The Power of Volition

 Apart from will, the imperative quality of a
judgment of practical intellect is meaningless. Reason
can legislate, but only through will can its legislation be
translated into action.

Practical intellect guides the will by enlightening

it. Will, in fact, is to be understood wholly in terms of
intellect. Will is linked to the intellect. This is obvious
from the way in which will is rationally denominated.
 The will of humanity is an instrument of free
choice. It is within the power of everyone to choose
from courses of action. This is borne out by:

Our inner awareness of an

The rewards and penalties
01 aptitude to do right or 03 by rulers; and
wrong;

The common testimony of Delivering of praise and

02 all human beings; 04 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.

Example:
Attending class is a student's responsibility. If a
student cut class, then he or she is responsible for the
consequences of his or her actions such as an
accident or low grades.
 For Aristotle, a human being is
rational. Reason is a divine
characteristic.

As shown in the Figure

5.1., reason, will, and action
drive each other. Figure 5.1. Aristotle’s Intellectual
Freedom
Realize That “All Actions Have
Consequences”

Love is Freedom
 Of all creatures of God, only we have the unique
power to change and improve ourselves and the things
around us. As St. Thomas Aquinas claimed, we are moral
agents.
The unity between both the spiritual
and material elements helps us to
understand our complexity separating us
from animals. Because we have a
conscience, to be "good" or "evil" becomes
an exercise of moral responsibility.
 However, change cannot be accomplished by human
beings alone but with the cooperation from God. Since there
is an infinite gap between humanity and God, only God can
bridge this gap through His power.

Perfection by participation is a union of humanity with

God. Change should promote not just the individual
advantage but the welfare of the community.
 Aquinas gave a fourfold classification of law: eternal
law, natural law, human law, and divine law.

Human beings, as rational

beings, have laws that should not
only be obeyed but also be obeyed
voluntarily with understanding, as in
following the traffic rules.
 NATURAL LAW
The natural law, then, in its ethical sense, applies only
to human beings. The first principle and precept of the natural
law is that good is to be sought after and evil avoided (this is
the instruct of self-preservation).

For instance, if there is fire,

and its burning heat is felt, then, it is
but a human tendency to avoid it.
 Since the law looks to the common good as its end, it
is then conceived primarily with external acts and not with
interior disposition.
For example:
If someone does not lie to his or her
parents just to increase his or her
allowance, then the reason of his or her
goodness is not because he or she does
not want to lie because of the reward; but
rather, the act of lying will hurt his or her
parents.
 The same goes with government
officials who use full media coverage when
they help their constituents so that people
would vote for them.

A person, thus, should not be judged

through his or her actions alone but also
through his or her sincerity or motives
behind his or her acts.
 For Aquinas, both natural and human laws are
concerned with ends determined simply by humanity's nature.

However, since a human being is in fact ordained to an

end transcending his or her nature, it is necessary that he or
she has a law ordering him or her to that end. This is the
divine law or revelation.
 DIVINE LAW
- It also gives human beings the
certitude where human reason unaided
could arrive only at possibilities. It
deals with interior disposition as well
as external acts and it ensures the final
punishment of all evildoings. Neither of
which is possible for human law.
 DIVINE LAW
- it is divided into the old
(Mosaic) and the new (Christian) that
are related as the immature and
imperfect to the perfect and complete.

Since this rests on reason and

experience alone, the analysis of the
divine law is the function of theology.
 ETERNAL LAW
- is the decree of God that
governs all creation. It is such "That
Law which is the Supreme Reason
and cannot be understood to be
otherwise than unchangeable and
eternal”.
 NATURAL LAW
- is the human "participation" in the eternal law and is
discovered by reason. Natural law is based on "first
principles."
As discussed in the previous
lessons, the principle of sufficient
reason states that nothing exists
without a sufficient reason for its being
and existence.
 St. Thomas points to a higher form
of happiness possible to humanity beyond
this life, and that is perfect happiness that
everyone seeks but could be found only in
God alone. He chose love rather than law
to bring about transformation of humanity.
AQUINAS

For love is in consonance with humanity's

free nature, while law commands and complete;
love only calls and invites. Since God is love, it
follows that love is the guiding principle of
humanity toward his or her self-perception and
happiness.
Realize That “All Actions Have
Consequences”

Spiritual Freedom
 Figure 5.2. God and Spiritual Freedom

This figure illustrates God’s love and conscience

results in action.
Realize That “All Actions Have
Consequences”

Individual Freedom
 For Sartre, 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).
There are no guideposts along the road of life. The
human person shapes his or her own destiny of his or her
choosing.

Sartre's existentialism stems

from this principle: existence
precedes essence.
• The person is provided with a supreme opportunity to
give significance to one's life. In the course of giving
meaning to one's life, one fills the world with meaning.

• Freedom is, therefore, the very core of authentic

existence. Authentic existence is determined only by
the actions of the individual, in absolute freedom and
responsibility and which therefore the character of true
creation.
• 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 (i.e.,
excuses such as "I was born this way" or "I grew up in
a bad environment") is acting on bad faith (mauvais
foi).
 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 choose, and be responsible for one's life.
Realize That “All Actions Have
Consequences”

Theory of Social
Contract
 A Law of Nature (lex naturalis) is
a precept or general rule established by
reason. A person is forbidden to do that
which is destructive of his or her life or
that which takes away the means of
preserving the same; and to omit that by
which he or she thinks it may be best
preserved.
Given our desire to get out of the state of nature,
and thereby preserve our lives, Hobbes concludes that we
should seek peace. This becomes his first law of nature.
 The reasonableness of seeking peace
immediately suggests a second law of nature,
which is that we mutually divest ourselves of certain
rights (such as the right to take another person's life)
so as to achieve peace.

That a person be willing, when others

so too (this is necessary for peace-building)
to lay down this right to all things and be
contented with so much liberty against other
people, as he or she would allow other
people against himself or herself.
• The mutual transferring of these rights is called
a contract and is the basis of the notion of moral
obligation and duty. If one agrees to give up his or
her right to punch you, you give up your right to
punch him or her. You have then transferred these
rights to each other and thereby become obligated
not to hurt each other. From these selfish reasons
alone, both are motivated to mutually transfer
these and other rights; this will end the dreaded
state of war.
 The third law of nature is that human beings
perform their covenant made. Without this law of nature,
covenants are in vain and but empty words; and the right
of all human beings to all things remaining, we are still in
the condition of war.
Further, this law is the fountain of justice. When
there has been no covenant, no action can be unjust.
However, when a covenant has been made to break, it is
unjust.
Realize That “All Actions Have
Consequences”

The Social Contract

 Rousseau is one of the most
famous and influential philosophers of the
French Enlightenment in the eighteenth
century.

In his book, The Social Contract,

he elaborated his theory of human
nature. In Rousseau, a new era of
sentimental piety found its beginning
• The "1986 EDSA Revolution" is an example, though
an imperfect one, of what the theory of Social
Contract is about, where people gathered to voice
their disenchantment peacefully and, through mutual
effort, ousted Ferdinand Marcos.
• Specifically, the EDSA Revolution is an evidence of
Filipinos' exercise of reason and political will. They
ousted Marcos, proving their political maturity.
Miranda (1987) viewed the EDSA Revolution as a
redeeming event and not as fate. The Filipinos'
concept of kasarinlan (self-sufficiency) recognizes
human worth and dignity.
 According to Hobbes and
Rousseau, the state owes its origin to
a social contract freely entered into by
its members. The two philosophers
HOBBES differed in their interpretations.
Hobbes developed his idea in favor of
absolute monarchy, while Rousseau
interpreted the idea in terms of
absolute democracy and individualism.

ROUSSEAU
 Both Rousseau and Hobbes
have one thing in common, that is,
they believed that human beings have
to form a community or civil community
to protect themselves from one
ROUSSEAU another, because the nature of human
beings is to wage war against one
another, and since by nature, humanity
tends toward self-preservation, then if
follows that they have to come to a
free mutual agreement to protect
HOBBES themselves.
 Hobbes thought 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.
On the other hand, Rousseau believed 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.
• In order to restore peace, bring his or her freedom
back, and as one returned to his or her true self, he
or she saw the necessity and came to form the
state through the social contract whereby everyone
grants his or her individual rights to the general will.
SOCIAL CONTRACT
• The term "Social Contract" is a certain way of
looking at a society of voluntary collection of
agreeable individuals.

• The Constitution and the Bill of Rights

constituted, as an instance of a social contract,
however, is not a metaphor but an actual
agreement and actually "signed" by the people or
their representatives.
 The 1986 EDSA Revolution is an example of people
who gathered to voice their disenchantment peacefully, and
through mutual effort, ousted Marcos.
Hobbes and Rousseau: Political Freedom

Sovereign/Ruler
(State)

Freedom
(General will or mutual
transferring of rights)

Citizens
(Individual Rights)

Figure 5.3. Hobbes and Rousseau on Political Freedom

There must be a common power or government which the plurality
of individuals (citizens) should confer all their powers and strength (freedom)
into one will (ruler).
Evaluate and Exercise Prudence in Choices
For B.F. Skinner, the environment selects which is
similar with natural selection. We must consider what the
environment does to an organism not only before, but also
after it responds. Skinner maintains that behavior is shaped
and maintained by its consequences. Behavior that
operates upon the environment to produce consequences
(operant conditioning) can be studied by arranging
environment in which specific consequences are contingent
upon it. The second result is practical; the environment can
be manipulated.
 THANK YOU FOR
LISTENING!

Joven Olaso Tataro joventataro@gmail.co 0938-601-8826

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