FREEDOM OF HUMAN NATURE

INTRODUCTION

 To be free is a part of humanity’s authenticity. (genuine)

 Understanding freedom is part of our transcendence.
 Freedom consists of going beyond situations such as physical or economic.
 Being free is not right but privilege.

ARISTOTLE – human beings are rational

- TSoPAA
- Student of plato, teacher of alexander the great
- First university in Athens – Lyceum
- Writings cover many subjects: physics, metaphysics: ontology, theology, universal science, princples of philo,
poetry, theatre, government, politics, logic
- All knowledge comes to human beings from and through sensation

“THE POWER OF VOLITION”

Volition – power to make your own decisions or choices, purpose of striving

 The imperative quality of a judgment of practical intellect is meaningless apart from will.
o Will – desire or wish, faculty of mind that is alleged to stimulate motivation of purposeful activity
 No intellect = no will
o Will of humanity is an instrument of free choice
 reason-will-action
o three factors: reason (the moving cause), will (means by which it produces movement),
action(movement)
o being rational – desire, will is an instrument of free choice – actions
 To “will” something, one has “to know” beforehand.
o Man cannot choose or act unless he knows which is “better” good.
o When a person chooses to act according to what he knows is right – he acts freely (Human Acts)

“Human Acts vs Acts of Human”

 Human acts – actions done with will and knowledge (intentional, free)
 Acts of man – actions done under the circumstances of ignorance, fear, violence and habits (w/o proper use of
reason)

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

- From noble family from naples, ITALY

o Descendants of emperors Frederick 1 and Henry VI but considered to be lower nobility
- Joined the Dominican order against his family’s wishes
o When his family found out they felt betrayed
- Was canonized and became a saint in 1323
o Resisting the temptation of a prostitute and the discovery of Herring at night were the miracles used to
justify his sainthood
o Left arm is preserved in a 13th century Neapolitan basilica
o Levitating philosopher-saint
o Faith and knowledge both come from God
- Known as the greates Christian medieval theologian-philosopher
o Studied Aristotle works
o Works: Summa Theologica, Summa Contra Gentiles

“SPIRITUAL FREEDOM and LOVE IS FREEDOM”

 Of all creatures of God, human beings have the unique power to change themselves and the things around them
for the better.
 Human being as a moral agent
  Whether we choose to be “good” or “evil” becomes our responsibility.
 If a human being perseveringly lives a righteous and virtuous life, he transcends his moral state of life and soars to
an immortal state of life.
 Fourfold classification of law: eternal law, natural law, human law and divine law.
o Eternal law – divine reason and wisdom comprise an eternal law
 A law governing the whole creation, a law not made but eternally existing and therefore
unknowable to humans entirely, yet the source of all true law on earth.
 Comes from God and is unchanging.
o Divine law – the revealed truths such as the Ten Commandments that supplements and corrects human
fallibility and frailty.
 Divine positive law is the part of eternal law revealed through the scriptures.
o Natural law – the practical reflection or sharing in “eternal reason” that provides humans with objective,
changeless, universal rules or general principles of action for ethical and political life.
 Eternal law that can be known to humans
 Do good avoid evil
o Human law – true law that is derived from natural law. A rule of state that is at odds with natural law is
no law at all.
 Human positive law is the laws made by the state

“LOVE IS FREEDOM”

 We are both a spiritual and material elements

 God is love and love is our destiny.
 “The law of divine love is the standard for all human actions.”
o Love should be the standard of all human actions
 Each human act is considered right and virtuous when it conforms to the standard of divine love.

*Jean Paul Sartre: Individual Freedom

- Existentialism
- Human person builds the road to the destiny of his/her choosing; he/she is the creator
- The person is what one has done and is doing
- To be human, to be conscious, is to be free to imagine, free to choose, and be responsible for one’s
life.

Theory of Social Contract

- Human beings have to form a community or civil community to protect themselves from one another,
because the nature of human beings is to wage war against one another, they have to come to a free mutual
agreement to protect themselves.

- agreement between the ruled and their rulers, defining the rights and duties of each other

*Thomas Hobbes: Theory of Social Contract

- People took for themselves all they could, and human life was solitary(alone), poor, nasty(unpleasant),
brutish(cruel) and short’
- The state of nature was therefore a state of war, which could be ended only if individuals agreed (in a
social contract) to give their liberty into the hands of a sovereign
- In favor of absolute monarchy

*Jean-Jacques Rousseau

- Most influential philosophers of the French Enlightenment in the 18th century

- In his book The Social Contract, he elaborated his theory of human nature.
- (same with Hobbes)
The state owes its origin to a social contract freely entered into by its members
- Social contract in terms of absolute democracy, each individual may have a particular will differ from
the general will, but as part of the contract, the individual will be compelled to submit to the general
will.
- “man is free, but is everywhere in chains”
 - Human being is born free and good. He becomes bad due to the evil influence of society, civilization,
learning and progress
- People agreed for mutual protection (social contract) to surrender individual freedom of action and
establish laws and government, they acquired a sense of moral and civic obligation.
- Laws are binding only when they are supported by the general will of the people

EVALUATE AND EXERCISE PRUDENCE IN CHOICES

Freedom of choice

- Ability to exercise one’s freedom in any manner

- We are a result of the choices we make every day
- By law, all human beings are entitled to make decisions for themselves in whatever way they choose to.
o we can choose if we’ll reflect our environment, or if we affect our environment
o we can choose to be happy, or not
o we can choose how we react to hard times in our life, with positivity or negativity
o we can choose to take responsibility for our actions, or blame others for our failures
- The only exception to this rule is when an absolute choice harms or delimits the self and others
o Should be for the common good of many
- ALL DECISIONS, BIG OR SMALL, HAVE CORRESPONDING CONSEQUENCES WHICH MAY BE GOOD OR BAD
“All Actions Have Consequences”

Prudence

- An act of making good judgment that allows a person to avoid risks

- Prevent any harm that a decision may cause