Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person PDF

INTRODUCTIO N TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN PERSON  “Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.” What are the things that you would do if you were granted absolute freedom for a day? 1. Should freedom be absolu...

INTRODUCTIO N TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN PERSON  “Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that freed self was another.” What are the things that you would do if you were granted absolute freedom for a day? 1. Should freedom be absolute? 2. If freedom should be limited, what would be its limits? 3. Who should determine the limits of freedom? An authoritarian leader? Our individual eyes? The great majority? Freedom  What is freedom? What is the essence of freedom? Freedom is an intrinsic and essential property of the person. This means that the human person by nature is a free being and that it is in his/her nature to seek An important indication of human freedom is the ability to make choices and perform actions. Our freedom to act sets us apart from other beings. Freedom is also understood as the power to be what you want to be and the ability to decide and create You have a good idea of your personal identity at this point in your life. Though we have certain inherent traits such as physical attributes and temperament, many of the characteristics that define our personality are often a product of our choices. Our talents, for instance, are developed to their fullest only if we choose to dedicate time and effort to improve them. Our preferences and views are other aspects of our personality that we freely adopt. You may have also imagined yourself as a successful professional in the future. Your nature as a human person gives you the ability to imagine that future. Your freedom, meanwhile, gives you the ability to strive to achieve that goal. 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 A person or an animal has the freedom to do things that will not, in theory, or practice, be prevented by other forces. But freedom has its particular limitations beyond himself because he is bound by consequences of his actions either to promote goodness or  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 and write a message on it and throw it in the air until it finally lands to another person’s lap. Using your freedom as an instrument to create action without constraint is its true meaning. 2. Freewill Freewill is the ability to choose different courses of action without restrictions. If we exercise our freewill, 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 To be precise, freewill 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 on what is right and wrong, that a person’s action determines what kind of Freedom is rooted in the human person's self- determination and the exercise of intellect and This means that the person's every action is freely determined and these actions define him/her. We can freely choose to be a good person and to act in a good way. A good act makes a person better while its opposite has a negative impact on him/her as a person. This is the nature of self-determination: that a person's actions determine what kind of person he/she becomes. Example: Samuel is carrying a heavy load of books along the hallway when he suddenly loses his balance and drops all the books. What will be your most truthful reaction? a. you will ignore him while he picks up his books b. you will help him pick up his books c. you will laugh at him and refuse to help Freedom gives us the choice to undertake one of these possible actions. It also enables us to come For instance, some may laugh at Samuel, but decide to help him later. The essence of freedom is that it does not confine our actions to those set or expected by others; we can imagine new actions and decide to undertake them. Now, recall your answer and ask yourself why you chose to take that action. Reflecting upon your actions will enable you to know yourself better as a person. Your actions also determine if you uphold human dignity and freedom. Having freedom, however, also entails certain responsibilities. It is possible for a person to diminish or negate freedom through the choices and actions that he/ she makes. Freedom also requires a degree of control from the person who exercises it. A person becomes more free when he/she exercises control over On the other hand, a person becomes less free when he/she is no longer in control of himself/herself and is instead controlled by other forces. For example, persons suffering from addiction are less free because they are overpowered by their addiction to certain substances and can barely control themselves when presented with these People who act solely based on their emotions are also less free because they allow themselves to be controlled by their feelings without any regard for ethical considerations. People who behave impulsively and erratically are more similar to animals than persons. To lose control of oneself diminishes human freedom and dehumanizes the person. Persons who are denied by their freedom by other individuals, groups, and institutions are also dehumanized. Slavery is a dehumanizing act because a person is forced to work for life without the possibility of ever leaving a life of bondage. A person who is imprisoned is also dehumanized because he/she is denied by his/her freedom and is confined to prison life. That same person, however, also dehumanized the person  DETERMINISM VS. FREEWILL  Determinism – everything is determined, plan or simply humans do not have a choice in life. ( life happens as it is)  Free will – humans may decide what will happen to them and the out-come of such actions are based from their power to choose. KINDS OF FREEDOM 1. Physical Freedom It refers to the absence of any physical restraint. The person has the freedom of mobility to go where he/she wants to go. He/she is not impended in his/her actions by any physical Granted that the person has natural limitations, physical freedom allows him/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 wherever you want to go. 2. Psychological Freedom Psychological freedom is also called freedom of choice. The person is free to perform actions that he/she considers A person is also free to act or not to act. Psychological freedom is innate and cannot be denied in a person. No outside force or influence can compel a person to take action against his/her will. 3. 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 A person becomes more free when he/she uses freedom well, but becomes less free when he/she uses it in a bad way. Humans have a natural inclination for what is true and good, and when a person uses his/her freedom to do acts that violate human dignity and goodness, he/she dehumanizes himself/ herself and effectively 1. How is freedom an expression of humanity? 2. How is freedom related to self- determination? 3. How can the loss of freedom lead to dehumanization? Activity Little Prince: What are you doing? Alcoholic: I am drinking. Little Prince: Why are you drinking? Alcoholic: Because I like to forget. Little Prince: Forget what?  Reflection: Is the alcoholic free? Or is he enslaved by his vice of alcoholism? Performance Task 1 Directions: Explain what freedom means by the use of the letters FREEDOM. (35 points) Make this an acrostic poem. F R E E D O M  What is freedom? What is the essence of freedom? What are the three different types/kinds of freedom? What makes us free? How does freedom shape our Two elements that define freedom: 1. Voluntariness Voluntariness refers to the ability of a person to act out on his /her own free will and self- This means that a person may decide to act or not to act , and these decisions are made out of /her own free will. Voluntariness also means that a person may act even if he/she is not required or called to take action. Let us analyze the following scenario and figure out how voluntariness was expressed in the situation. Mang Lito was walking down a street when he suddenly saw a boy crossing the busy road. The boy was chasing after a ball that had bounced off into the road. The boy had his eyes on his ball and did not realize that there was oncoming traffic on the road. At the same time, a taxi was passing along the road. Its driver saw the boy suddenly cross and he quickly applied his brake to stop the car. The taxi was about to hit the boy when Mang Lito decided to take action, ran across the road, and grabbed the boy to safety. Reflect on the actions and choices that were made in that situation. 1. Why did the boy suddenly cross the street? 2. What did the taxi driver do when he saw the boy on the road? 3. What did Mang Lito do when he realized the boy was about to be hit by the car? Did Mang Lito really have to save the boy? You can argue that he had the freedom to just stand by and not get involved in the incident. If he did that, what would be the result of his inaction? Would it be possible for other people on the sidewalk to risk their lives like Mang Lito did? What do you think will be Reflect on your own experiences or actions. Have you ever made a voluntary action to address a bad situation? You may have come across some situations where you knew that something bad was happening. Did you make a voluntary action to prevent something bad from happening, or did you choose not to act? Whenever we decide to take action, this results in a certain consequence. All human actions have consequences, and these affect not only the person who commits the action, but also other people and our surroundings. As a free being, the person must accept the consequences of his/her action and take responsibility for them. The second element of freedom, responsibility, refers to the person being accountable for his/her actions and their consequences. Taking responsibility can either mean a person voluntarily taking responsibility for his/her own actions, or being held responsible by other Whenever you know you committed a bad action, you can either voluntarily confess to it or other people will point it out and hold you responsible. Responsibility can also have a positive or negative meaning, and it goes hand-in-hand with voluntariness in determining the morality of an action. Let's go back to the situation presented earlier. If Mang Lito was able to rescue the boy from being hit by the car, he could take responsibility for his heroic action. The people who saw his act may regard him as hero and express admiration for him. On the other hand, If Mang Lito was unable to save the boy in time, the taxi driver could be held responsible for hitting the boy. Mang Lito could even hold himself responsible for failing to save the boy. Voluntariness and responsibility go hand-in-hand in determining a person's freedom. In any situation where a person is forced to do an action against his/her will. It follows that he/she cannot be held responsible for his/her involuntary actions. A person who is forced by bank robbers to open the safety vault in a bank may not be held fully responsible for the crime of robbery, since he/she acted without much voluntariness. On the other hand, a person who had no awareness of the effect of his/her actions can be considered as acting with diminished freedom. One example may be a person who tried to scare his/her friend by jumping out of a corner wearing a scary mask. The surprised friend decided to run away but in his/ her panic. he/she hit a wall and was injured. It was not the intention of the person who committed the prank to get his/ her friend hurt, but it happened because he/she did not fully consider the consequences of his/her actions. Without these two elements, human freedom is diminished, and the person makes imperfect actions and unwise decisions which may have negative effects on the self and others. The realization of voluntariness and responsibility in the exercise of our freedom gives our actions and experiences a whole new meaning. We can now reflect on our actions to better understand them and guide us toward making the best possible decision. How do we examine our actions, habits, and behavior? By asking ourselves the following questions: What should I do? Why should I do it? What will happen if I do it? How will my actions or bahavior affect myself, others, and my surroundings? Will my actions or behavior be considered correct, proper, beneficial, and moral? Another reality that we have to face as we exercise our freedom is the fact that freedom is experienced through the act of making choices. Although human freedom gives us the ability to think of countless decisions and possible actions, we only get to choose to enact one of these possible actions or decisions. Having the ability to choose and enact a course of action does not automatically mean that we should take action every time. It is also possible that the choice not to take action maybe an acceptable and moral choice in a given situation. When we make the choice to do a particular action, we can never go back and redo our actions and make another choice. Real life is not a movie where we can stop and rewind events and get a “second take” on the situation. Therefore it is very important that when confronted with choices, we exercise caution and prudence and reflect on our possible courses of action. Self-reflection is vital in the proper exercise of human freedom. As persons, we cannot allow ourselves to be slaves to sudden emotions and moods whenever we act. As free and rational beings, we must recognize the importance of exercising freedom responsibly. This requires us to reflect on our actions, consider their effects, and make the proper choices regarding the most beneficial decisions or actions. 1. Why are voluntariness and responsibility important elements of freedom? 2. Is the choice of “doing nothing” a valid moral choice? In what situation is this choice acceptable? 3. How can self reflection aid you in exercising freedom and making choices? Thank You