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No Intellect No Will

The document discusses the concept of human freedom from philosophical perspectives. It describes freedom as going beyond physical or economic situations to reach one's full potential. Philosophers like Aristotle viewed humans as rational beings who can make choices through will and intellect. Thomas Aquinas identified different types of laws and argued that love should be the standard for human actions. The document also discusses social contract theorists like Hobbes, Rousseau and the idea that humans form societies and governments by choice to protect themselves.

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Mia Jane Aguilar
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59 views3 pages

No Intellect No Will

The document discusses the concept of human freedom from philosophical perspectives. It describes freedom as going beyond physical or economic situations to reach one's full potential. Philosophers like Aristotle viewed humans as rational beings who can make choices through will and intellect. Thomas Aquinas identified different types of laws and argued that love should be the standard for human actions. The document also discusses social contract theorists like Hobbes, Rousseau and the idea that humans form societies and governments by choice to protect themselves.

Uploaded by

Mia Jane Aguilar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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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

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