INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
ACTIVITY TITLE :FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN PERSON OBJECTIVES:
1. To Realize the consequences of one’s actions 2. To show situation that demonstrate freedom of choice 3. To evaluate and exercise prudence on one’s choices. Leaning Outcomes
This lesson highlights freedom from the intellectual, political, spiritual, and economic aspect. To be free is a part of humanity’s authenticity. In one way, understanding freedom is part of our transcendence. Freedom consists of going beyond situations such as physical or eco nomic. For instance, students can be young and poor, but they can still pursue their dreams of becoming a doctor, teacher, or a stage actor. As discussed in the last lesson, critical thinking is an important too l toward freedom and truth.
Realize that “ All Actions have consequences” A. Aristotle The power of Volition
The imperative quality of a judgment of practical intellect is meaningless, apart from will. will. Reason can legislate, but only through will can it legislation be translated translated into action. The task of practical intellect is to guide will be enlightening it. Will, in fact, is to be understood wholly in terms of intellect. If there were no intellect, there would be no will. This is obvious from the way in is rationally denominated. The will of humanity is an instrument of free choice. It is within the power o f everyone to be good or bad, worthy or worthless. This is borned out by;
Our inner awareness of an aptitude to do right or wrong
The common testimony ,of all human beings;
The reward and punishment of rulers; and
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 e xcuse for immoral conduct.
Example: Attending class is a student’s responsibility. Should the student cut the class, then he/she is responsible for the consequences of his actions. As a result, he/she must be held responsible for any accident or failure in grades that will befall on him/her. The student may regret that he/she had done but all the regrets in the world will not call it back. The point is student should not have cut class in the first instance. When the matter is sifted down, the happiness of every human beings his own hands, to preserve and develop, or to cast away.
For Aristotle, 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.
B. St. Thomas Aquinas
Love is freedom All creatures of God, human beings have the unique power to change themselves and the t hing around them for the better. He consider that the human as moral agent. A human being, therefore, has a supernatural, tr anscendental destiny. This mean that he can rise above his ordinary being of 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 tr anscends his ortal state of life and soars to an immortal state of life. The power of change, however, c annot be done by human being alone, bubt it achived through cooperation with God. Between humanity and God, there is an infinite gap, which God alone can brigde 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.
FOUR FOLD CLASSIFICATION OF LAW by Aquinas 1 . Eternal Law 2. Natural Law 3. Human law 4. Divine Laws Human beings, as rational rational, have laws that should not only be obeyed but also obeyed voluntarily and with understanding (for instance, in following the traffic rules). The natural law, then in its ethical sense, applies only to human being. The first principle and precept of the natural law is that good is to be sought and evil avoided(this is the instruct of self-preservation). There is inherent in every human being an inclination that he shares with all other being, namely, the desire to co nserve human life and forbids the contrary. For instance, if there is firee 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 it end, it is t hen conceived primarily with external acts and not with the interior disposition. A person, thus, should not be judged through his actions alone but also through his sincerity behind his acts. Both natural and human laws are concerned with e nds determined simply by humanity’s nature. Eternal Law is is a decree of god that governs all creation. It is that law which is supremereason
cannot be understood to be otherwise t han 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” . St. Thomas Aquinas wisely and aptly chose and proposed Love rather than law to bring about the transformation of humanity . For love is in co nsonance with humanity’s free nature, for law commands and complete; Love calls andinvite. Aquinas emphasizes the freedom of humanity but chooses love on governing humanity’s life. Since God is love, then Love is the guiding principle of humanity toward his self-perception and happiness-his untilmate destiny.
C. St. Thomas Aquinas: Spiritual freedom
The Spiritual Freedom
The existence of God as a first cause. Of all God’s creations, human beings have the unique power t o change themselves and things around them for the better. As humans, we are both material and spiritual. We have a conscience because of o ur spirituality. God is Love and Love is our destiny. D. Jean Paul Sartre: Individual freedom
Sartre’s Philosophy is considered to be representative o f existentialism. For him the human person is the desire to be God; the desire to exist as a being has its sufficient ground in itself (en sui causa). There are no guidepost along the road of life. The human person builds the r oad to the destiny of his/her is the creator. Sartre’s theory stem from this principle: Existence precedes essence - The person, first, exists, encounters himself and surges up un the world then defines himself afterward. The person is nothing else but that what he makes of himself. -
The person is provided with supreme opportunity to give meaning to one’s life
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Freedom is therefore, the very core and the door to authentic existence. Authentic existence is realized only in deeds that re committed alone, in absolute freedom and responsibility and which, therefore the character of true creation.
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On the other hand, the human person who tries to escape obligations and strives to be e nsoi (i.e., excuses, such as “I was born this way” or “grew up in a bad environment”) is acting on bad faith (mauval foi)
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Sartre emphasize 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 r esponsible for one’s life.
E. Theory of Social Contract
A Law of nature (lex naturalis) is a precept or general rule established by reasin, 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. (Look for Social Contract by Thomas Hobbes)
F.
Jean – Jacques Rosseau
In his book the social contract, The state owes it origin to a social contract freely enterd into by its member (ex. EDSA Revolution) The two Philosophers 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.
Sovereign/ Ruler ( state)
Freedom (General will or mutual transferring of rights)
Citizens (Individual rights)
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 wherby everyone grants his individuals rights to the general will. There must b e a common power of government which the plurality of individuals (citizens) should all their power and strength into (freedom) one will (ruler)
