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; t he 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 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 t hinks it may be best preserved. (Look for Social Contract by Thomas Hobbes)
F.
Jean – Jean – Jacques 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. w ill. 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)
