Freedom of Choice and its

Consequences
 Establishing a purpose for the lesson
Imagine you won a big contest, and you
were asked to choose just one of the
following prizes:
A.a luxury car with a non-transferable contract
B. a 4-year college educational scholarship at any school in
the Philippines
C. a 1-month all-expense paid trip to three European
countries
• The power or right to
act, speak, or think as
you want without
hindrance or restraint is
called freedom.
 Defining Freedom of Choice and its Limits
The ability to exercise one's freedom in any manner is called freedom of
choice. By law, all human beings are entitled to make decisions for
themselves in whatever way they choose to.
•The only exception to this rule is when an absolute choice harms or delimits the self
and others.
•It can be compared to a cause and effect relationship where a decision concludes
with a corresponding effect on the person or the environment.
•Freedom of choice also includes the way one acts towards another. All forms of
action, therefore, are brought about by a person's decision to accomplish them.
•All decisions, big or small, have corresponding consequences which may be good or
bad.
FAMOUS PHILOSOPHERS THAT MADE US REALIZE THAT ALL
ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES
Aristotle: Power Of Volition or The Power Of Choosing
• He said, “If there were no intellect, there would be no will.”
• It means that the will of humanity is an instrument of free of
choice. It is the power of everyone to be good or bad, worthy or
worthless.
St. Thomas Aquinas: Love Is Freedom
• He emphasizes that love is the one to govern humanity’s life.
• For him “God Is Love”, so LOVE is the guiding principles of
humanity toward his self-perception and happiness.
• “ANG PAG-IBIG AY ANG GABAY NG PRINSIPYO NG SANGKATAUHAN TUNGO SA
KANYANG PAGKAUNAWA SA SARILI AT KALIGAYAHAN.”
 FAMOUS PHILOSOPHERS THAT MADE US REALIZE THAT ALL
ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES
St. Thomas Aquinas: Spiritual Freedom
•We are both material and spiritual that we have conscience because of
our spirituality.
Jean Paul Sartre: Individual Freedom
•From the principle existence precedes essence.
•Satre emphasizes the importance of free individual choice, regardless
of the power 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 responsible for ones life.
 THEORY OF SOCIAL CONTRACT
Social contract, in political philosophy, an actual or
hypothetical compact, or agreement, between the ruled
and their rulers, defining the rights and duties of each.
In primeval times, according to the theory, individuals
were born into an anarchic state of nature, which was
happy or unhappy according to the particular version.
They then, by exercising natural reason, formed a
society (and a government) by means of a contract
among themselves.
 THREE PHILOSOPHERS WHO HAVE GREATEST
INFLUENCE ON SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY

Englishmen Thomas Hobbes

and John Locke and the
Frenchman Jean-Jacques
Rousseau.
THOMAS HOBBES:
According to Hobbes (Leviathan, 1651), the state of nature
was one in which there were no enforceable criteria of right
and wrong. People took for themselves all that they could,
and human life was “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish 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,
who was thenceforward absolute, on the sole condition
that their lives were safeguarded by sovereign power.
JOHN LOCKE:
Locke (in the second of the Two Treatises of Government,
1690) differed from Hobbes insofar as he described the state
of nature as one in which the rights of life and property were
generally recognized under natural law, the inconveniences of
the situation arising from insecurity in the enforcement of
those rights. He therefore argued that the obligation to obey
civil government under the social contract was conditional
upon the protection not only of the person but also of private
property. Sovereigns who violated these terms could be
justifiably overthrown.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU:
Rousseau, in Du Contrat social (1762; The Social Contract),
held that in the state of nature humans were unwarlike and
somewhat undeveloped in their reasoning powers and sense
of morality and responsibility. When, however, people agreed
for mutual protection to surrender individual freedom of
action and establish laws and government, they then
acquired a sense of moral and civic obligation. In order to
retain its essentially moral character, government must thus
rest on the consent of the governed, the volonté générale
(“general will”).
 Demonstrating Prudence in All Choices
Prudence is an act of making good judgment that allows a person to avoid
risks. It is important to be prudent at all times to prevent any harm that a
decision may cause.
In making a decision, it is critical to determine the adverse effects
beforehand to avoid greater risks. Exercising prudence in choice implies that
one has already criticized all available options, and a well-thought-of choice
has been made.

֎How will you demonstrate prudence in the following scenarios?

•You do not have many friends in school, but one fraternity—known for their
hazardous activities—is recruiting you to be part of their brotherhood.
 The Consequences of Making Choices
Because making choices involves various options, it
should be realized from the beginning that some things
will eventually be given up in exchange for another.
Before coming up with a final decision, it is important to
first weigh the contributions and consequences that
may arise upon choosing a certain option. Nevertheless,
all choices result in a particular effect that you, as a
decision maker, should be ready to face.
 The Consequences of Making Choices
What consequences may arise from the following scenarios?
•deciding not to attend the institutional orientation at the
start of the school year
•playing online games instead of studying for a difficult exam
•making fun of your classmate and being caught by the
teacher
While exercising the freedom to choose is attainable by all
people, it should always be realized that decision-making is a
linear and complex task that requires accountability and
commitment.
PUMAYAG ANG MGA TAO NA MAY MAMAHALA
SA KANILA. SOCIAL CONTRACT PARA MAY
MAMUNO SA KANILA

T.H- STATE OF NATURE PARIN DAPAT.

NEGATIVE. WALANG PAKI KUNG SINO ANG
MAMUMUNO ANG IMPORTANTE MERON.

JJR- SIYA ANG DAHILAN KUNG BAKIT SUMIKAT

ANG SOCIAL CONTRACT. POSITIVE SIDE SA SC.
SIYA ANG NAG PASIMULA NG DEMOCRATIC.
EDSA REVOLUTION. GUSTO NG MGA TAO NA
MAYMUNO SA KANILA NA MAY KALIDAD.