Freedom of The Human Person

Introduction to the Philosophy of
the Human Person
Seth G. Trinidad
Person
Two boxers are in a match scheduled for 12
rounds. One of the boxers gets knocked out after
six rounds, yet no man throws a punch. How is
this possible?
Both boxers are female.
A man was walking in the rain. He was in the middle of
nowhere. He had nothing and nowhere to hide. He
came home all wet, but not a single hair on his head was
wet. Why is that?
The man was bald.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has a long one. Michael J.
Fox has a short one. Madonna does not use hers.
Bill Clinton always uses his. The Pope never uses
his. What is it?
Surname
What word becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?
Short
I am the beginning of sorrow and the end of
sickness. You cannot express happiness without
me yet I am in the midst of crosses. I am always in
risk yet never in danger. You may find me in the
sun, but I am never out of darkness.
The letter ‘S’
Person
Objectives
1. Realize that “all actions have consequences”
2. Evaluate and exercise prudence in choices
3. Realize that:
a. Choices have consequences
b. Some things are given up while others are
obtained in making choices
4. Show situations that demonstrate freedom
of choice and the consequences of their
choices
To be
Intellectual is f ree
pa rt
Political of hum
a n it y
Spiritual ’s
a
Economic uthen
t i c it y
ALL ACTIONS
HAVE
CONSEQUENCES
ALL ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES
1. Aristotle
2. St. Thomas Aquinas
3. Jean-Paul Sartre
4. Thomas Hobbes
5. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
ARISTOTLE
ARISTOTLE
The Power of Volition

• Will = Volition
• Reason can govern ideas, but only through
will can these be translated into action.
• Will is not desire. Will is the capacity to act
decisively on one’s desire
ARISTOTLE
The Power of Volition

The will of humanity is an instrument of free
choice.
It results from:
1. Inner awareness of an aptitude to do right and
wrong
2. Common testimony of all human beings
3. Rewards and punishments
4. Employment of praise and blame
ARISTOTLE
s o n
re a
WILL act c e s
e n u
s e q
c o n
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
LOVE IS FREEDOM
Human Person = Moral Agent
Of all the creatures of God, human beings have the unique power
to change themselves and the things around them. We can
choose to be good or choose to be evil.
Change should promote COMMON GOOD.

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
LOVE IS FREEDOM
LAW, by nature, is directed towards the common good.
FOURFOLD CLASSIFICATION OF LAW

1. Eternal Law Identical to the mind of God as seen by God Himself.
2. Divine Law
It is the unchangeable decree of God that governs all
3. Natural Law
creation to the fulfillment of their purpose.
4. Human Law
It is comprised of the scientific (physical, chemical,
biological, psychological, etc.) 'laws' by which the universe
is ordered.“
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
LOVE IS FREEDOM

1. Eternal Law It is concerned with those standards that must be
2. Divine Law satisfied by a human being to achieve eternal
3. Natural Law salvation.
4. Human Law
Divided into two: 1) Old Law (Mosaic)
2) New Law (Christian)
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
LOVE IS FREEDOM

1. Eternal Law
2. Divine Law The first principle is SYNDERESIS
3. Natural Law - the instinct of self-preservation (do
4. Human Law good and avoid evil)
- judging and willing the right in accordance
with the original righteousness
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
LOVE IS FREEDOM

1. Eternal Law
2. Divine Law
3. Natural Law
Laws promulgated by men for the society
4. Human Law
to follow
St. Thomas
Aristotle
Aquinas
L AW
The purpose of the human The purpose of human person
person is to be happy and live is to be in perfect happiness
a virtuous life here on earth. which can only be found in
God.
Human Person’s
freedom should be
governed by LOVE
JEAN-PAUL SARTRE
JEAN-PAUL SARTRE
Individual freedom
Sartre maintains that human beings are necessarily free, always,
and it is impossible for a human to fail to be free.
Human beings do not have the freedom of choosing whether or

not they are free—they simply are, essentially, free.
“we are condemned to freedom [...], thrown into freedom.”

(Sartre, 1984)
JEAN-PAUL SARTRE
Individual freedom
Through freedom, we continually choose our goal and it is this
choice that controls the way that we interpret the objects that we
deal with in everyday life.
Every choice of man reveals what he thinks a man should be.
“I am what I do”
Every act has an inescapable consequence

THOMAS HOBBES
THOMAS HOBBES
Leviathan (1651)
THOMAS HOBBES
THEORY OF SOCIAL CONTRACT

State of Nature – a condition prior to a government.
- a state of perfectly private judgment
“each decides for herself how to act, and is
judge, jury and executioner in her own case whenever
disputes arise”
- emphasizes our animal nature.
Humans are selfish, distrustful of one another,
competing for gain, safety, and glory. Humans are wolves to one
another.
THOMAS HOBBES
“A state of nature is a state of

war"
- a way of life that is certain to
prove "solitary, poor, nasty,
brutish, and short."
THOMAS HOBBES

Out of fear of chaos, people started to
create governments. This means the
transfer of right and the authorization of
the sovereign power.
He desired monarchy.
THOMAS HOBBES

Hobbes argues that the sovereign should have unlimited
rights – absolute authority. There is no judge above him
or power to punish him and so he is above the law.
THOMAS HOBBES

Liberty of the people is luxury. There is no liberty
bestowed on the people except those allowed by the
sovereign. They are called subjects and not citizens.
THOMAS HOBBES

He reserves to subjects the liberty of
disobeying some of their government’s
commands.
He argues that subjects retain a right of
self-defense against the sovereign power,
giving them the right to disobey or resist
when their lives are in danger.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU

Man - NOBLE APE-LIKE SAVAGE.
- no ability for rational
thinking. They are not moral
but they are harmless and
compassionate. They
are social but not selfish. They
are incapable of doing war.

Men should go into contract for self preservation, thus the
government. The government is meant to protect this
fundamental goodness of man.
He desired democracy.
General Will - a collectively held will that aims at the common

good or common interest of all the people concerned.

Human Person is born GOOD. He becomes bad due to
the influences of the society, civilization, learning, and
progress.
Self-love – centered around pride, jealousy, and vanity.

People started to compare themselves to others. People
stared to imitate others. It is the cause of societal
downfall.

Human Person is born FREE.
“Man is born free, but is everywhere in chains”

Once the state of nature is corrupted for the benefit of a
group of individuals, it is impossible for man to exist
peacefully if ‘chains’ of inequality arise in society and
power is forced and concerned with ownership and
wealth.
PRUDENCE
IN
CHOICES
PRUDENCE
It enables us "to discern our true good in every circumstance
and to choose the right means of achieving it"
It entails practical wisdom.
Prudence is well-ordered reason applied to action, so that we

not only know the right thing to do, but also how and when to
do it.
Behavior is shaped and maintained by
the environment’s consequences.
Burrhus Frederic Skinner

(1904 – 1990)
When a person wants something, he
acts to get it when the occasion arises.
Burrhus Frederic Skinner

(1904 – 1990)
It is when actions are did
“independently,” “out of
one’s initiative.”
This is the feeling of

consciousness of freedom.
2 Approaches
1. Responsibility as Duty
- The person holds certain duties
or obligations towards others
2. Responsibility as Agency
- The person is the cause of
something
- He is the one that brings about
something
Responsibility involves having
authority over one’s actions.
Accountability means you are liable or
answerable for one’s actions. In order
to be responsible, you must be
accountable and vice versa.
Deservingness of blame or
praise.
BLAME – it is what we get in choosing to perform
an action that we know to be wrong (or choosing
not to perform an action that we know is right)
PRAISE – it is what we get in choosing to perform

an action that we know to be right (or choosing
not to perform an action that we know is wrong)
2 Conditions of Accountability
1. Intentionality Condition
- The person has the intention of doing the
Incriminating
action and he performs the action to carry out
the intention. Conditions
2. Knowledge Condition
- The person knows or is capable of knowing
Excusing Conditions – the absence of incriminating conditions
that the action he is thinking of performing is
right or wrong, good or bad.
Four factors that affect degree of
accountability
1. Degree of difficulty or pressure
2. Intensity of the injury
3. Degree of one’s involvement
4. Degree of one’s knowledge of the
wrongfulness of an action
Four factors that affect degree of accountability
1. Degree of difficulty or pressure

The greater is the degree of pressure, the lesser
is the degree of accountability.
Stealing bread for family Stealing car for fun

1. Degree
2. of of
Intensity difficulty or pressure
the Injury
The greater is the degree of injury, the greater
is the degree of accountability.
Stealing from a beggar Shoplifting

3.
2. Degree of of
Intensity one’s involvement
the Injury
The greater is the degree of involvement, the
greater is the degree of accountability.
Planning and carrying out assassination

4.
3. Degree
Degreeofofone’s
one’sknowledge of the wrongfulness of
involvement
an action and relevant facts.
The more knowledge of a wrongfulness of an
act, the more accountable one is.
A car turns left on a no-turn-left zone because there was no street sign.

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Introduction to the Philosophy of

the Human Person

The man was bald.

The Power of Volition

The Power of Volition

Change should promote COMMON GOOD.

FOURFOLD CLASSIFICATION OF LAW

FOURFOLD CLASSIFICATION OF LAW

FOURFOLD CLASSIFICATION OF LAW

FOURFOLD CLASSIFICATION OF LAW

Human beings do not have the freedom of choosing whether or

“we are condemned to freedom [...], thrown into freedom.”

Every choice of man reveals what he thinks a man should be.

Every act has an inescapable consequence

THEORY OF SOCIAL CONTRACT

THEORY OF SOCIAL CONTRACT

“A state of nature is a state of

THEORY OF SOCIAL CONTRACT

THEORY OF SOCIAL CONTRACT

THEORY OF SOCIAL CONTRACT

THEORY OF SOCIAL CONTRACT

THEORY OF SOCIAL CONTRACT

THEORY OF SOCIAL CONTRACT

General Will - a collectively held will that aims at the common

THEORY OF SOCIAL CONTRACT

Self-love – centered around pride, jealousy, and vanity.

THEORY OF SOCIAL CONTRACT

“Man is born free, but is everywhere in chains”

It entails practical wisdom.

Prudence is well-ordered reason applied to action, so that we

Burrhus Frederic Skinner

Burrhus Frederic Skinner

This is the feeling of

PRAISE – it is what we get in choosing to perform

1. Degree of difficulty or pressure

Stealing bread for family Stealing car for fun

Stealing from a beggar Shoplifting

Planning and carrying out assassination

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