Freedom of the Human Person PDF

**FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN PERSON** **Freedom** - Intrinsic and essential property of the person - Power to be what you want to be and the ability to decide and create yourself - Rooted in the human person's self-determination and the exercise of intellect and free will - Experience...

**FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN PERSON** **Freedom** - Intrinsic and essential property of the person - Power to be what you want to be and the ability to decide and create yourself - Rooted in the human person's self-determination and the exercise of intellect and free will - Experienced through the act of making choices. **Kinds of Freedom** 1**. PHYSICAL FREEDOM** -absence of any physical restraint. Freedom of mobility to go where he or she wants to go. **2. PSYCHOLOGICAL FREEDOM** -***freedom of choice.*** Freedom to perform actions that he or she considers right and wise. -innate and cannot be denied as a person. Example: 1. Freedom to choose your friends. 2. Freedom to choose your partner. 3. Freedom to choose your course in college. **3. MORAL FREEDOM** -using freedom in a manner that upholds human dignity and goodness. Example: 1. Doing charitable works. 2. Participating on outreach activities. 3. Being sensitive to the needs of other. Nature of Human Freedom 1. **JEAN PAUL SARTRE (Individual Freedom)** "Man is nothing but what he makes of himself" - assumes the idea of radical freedom, that man is condemed to be free that man has a choice in every aspect of his life. - For Sartre, the human person builds the road to the destiny of his/her choosing; he/she is the creator. - **FREEDOM-** when one is making his choices and is the agent that is taking full responsibility in planning his life, and in the process, planning and budgetting his actions for some future outlook or goals. - **OBLIGATION-** is construed as one's duty to himself to exercise this freedom as a rational moral being. 1. **VOLUNTARINESS** - refers to the ability of a person to act his or her free will and self-determination. - decisions are made out of his/her own free will. It also means that a person may act even if he/she is not required or called to take action. - refers to the person being accountable for his or her actions and their consequences. - Means that freedom requires degree of control from the person who exercises it (e.g. addiction, impulsive behavior) **DETERMINISM: UNDERMINING FREE CHOICE** - Determinism- opposes the notion of free will. The world is governed by (or is under the sway of ) determinism if and only if, given a specified way things are at a time, the way things go thereafter is fixed as a matter of natural law. **1. CAUSAL DETERMINISM** -incompatible with the notion of free will because it can undermine free choice if past events will be revealed as the cause of future actions and not really chosen by the individual as a free agent. -It is the concept that events within a given paradigm are bound by causality in such a way that any state (of an object or event) is completely determined by prior states. **2. PHYSICAL DETERMINISM-** claims that since the body is physical, every event involving the body is determined. 3\. **PSYCHOLOGICAL DETERMINISM** - Human actions, according to Sigmund Freud, are not free. - **Mind has three levels:** a. ID- represents our primal instinct and desires, driven by pleasure principle. b. Ego- reality principle, mediates between the id's demands and the constrainsts of the external world. c. Superego- internalized moral compass, strives for perfection. *According to freud, these three forces are constantly in conflict, and their interplay shapes our behavior. Freud believed that these unconscious forces, shaped by our early experiences, exert a powerful influence on our actions, often without our conscious awareness. He argued that free will is an illusion, and our actions are driven by these unconscious forces, making us ultimately not in control of our own choices.* **The nature of choices we make** **The act of making a choice** - The concept of weighing the reasons explained that when you are choosing, the act involves not only weighing the reasons but giving weight to reasons. - After you have chosen each alternative, you will realize that some considerations carry more weight than the others. That is why you choose one alternative and disregard the other. **Robert Nozick (Philosophical Explanation)-** the act of making a choice involves evaluating the reasons and giving weight to reasons. One alternative is chosen because the reasons behind such alternative have more weight than the others **CHOICES:** Freedom comes with great responsiblities. - It is an absolute understanding that all actions have consequences. Freedom involves choice and it gives you the ability to strive to achieve goal.