Introduction to The Philosophy of the Human Person Freedom as a Political Concept

Lesson 5: Freedom of the Human Person • Being political animals, humans were able to establish their
society
What is freedom?
• Filipinos adhere to the principle of democracy where
• Is synonymous to liberty or Independence freedom in all its functions and extensions is very much
• Freedom is associated with freedom of expression enjoyed by the people
• Is also associated with the freedom of speech • Freedom is one’s fundamental right

Notions of Freedom Two Concepts of Liberty (Isaiah Berlin) - is one of the most
important pieces of post-war political philosophy. It was originally
Political Freedom - Is the right and capacity of citizens to decide given as a lecture in Oxford in 1958 and has been much discussed
their own courses of actions in the society since then. In
Physical Freedom - The possibility for a person to go where he/ she Negative freedom is, roughly, a matter of which doors lie open to
wants and do what she/he wants. you, it is concerned exclusively with opportunities.
Freedom of Thought - One is forever free to think Positive freedom is a question of whether or not you can go
The Significance of Freedom through the doors, whether you are master of your life. Berlin
points out that historically the concept of positive freedom has been
G.W.F Hegel - According to Hegel, people’s concept of freedom used to control and repress individuals in the name of liberty
plays a significant role in their lives. The improvement in the
understanding and interpretation of freedom does not only Lesson 6: Intersubjectivity
positively affect the discipline of philosophy, but also the lives of the Intersubjectivity
people in terms of how they establish and build their societies.
• refers to interhuman encounter it also
Determinism • entails one's acceptance of the individuality of an entirely
• Is viewed as everything determined by previously causes different person. (Acceptance)
• viewed as how people interact with others & how others
• This theory is often called metaphysical view of the nature
influence them to become someone in the truest &
of things
sincerest sense of word
• Construed as something that rules out free will
Edmund Husserl - Intersubjective plays a significant role in the
Free Will
framework of a person as both an objectively existing &
• Asserts that there are things in the universe which do not experiencing subject. He also argued that interhuman experience is
have antecedent causes an empathic experience.
• Rejects the concept of determinism
Martin Buber - He believes that our relationships with others
Freedom of Existentialism identify who we are. A person is never an isolated atom, but always
a person in relation. Explained the two types of relation: I-it & I-thou
• Is a kind of philosophy that highlights human existence,
human freedom, and choice. I-it
• The core of this philosophy is anchored on the question of • I relate to others as it/thing/means but not an end
human existence
• Limited, fragmented, distant, partial
Existentialist I-thou
• Believes that a person is free and should take full • A relationship of togetherness
responsibility for his/her own doings. • No distance or wall.
• Holds the contention of complete rejection of determinism
Karol Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II)
Jean-Paul Sarte - A known existentialist who explores the true
meaning of freedom and viewed it as the ability to choose. He • Participation is not just interaction; it is related to one's
associated essence to human nature. Claims that a person is not an experience of acting together with other persons.
object, but is a subject. • When people act together with others, they consider a
common purpose as a good that is common to all – the
Choices and Consequences common good. (I-We)
“If, however, it is true that existence is prior to essence, man is Accepting Other People's Differences
responsible for what he is. Thus. The first effect of existentialism is
that it puts every man in possession of himself as he is, and places People naturally have different orientations in viewing cultures
the entire responsibility for his existence squarely upon his own apart from their own.
shoulders, And, when we say that man is responsible for himself, we
Ethnocentric - views his/her own culture as the center of all
do not mean that he is responsible only for his own individuality,
cultures.
but that he is responsible for all men.”
Xenocentric - who sees his/her culture as inferior to another.
- Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism is a Humanism
Tolerance & dialogue are musts in the quest for accepting other
Choice
people's differences.
• In Sartre’s essay “Existentialism is a Humanism,” he says
Nicomachean Ethics - is to determine how best to achieve
that all human beings, having consciousness and free will,
happiness. This study is necessarily imprecise, since so much
have freedom of choice.
depends on particular circumstances. Happiness depends on living
• there is no fixed human nature; only human conditions.
in accordance with appropriate virtues. Virtue is a disposition rather
Consequence than an activity.

• Every choice or action a person does has corresponding

consequence
Lesson 7: Society and the Human Person Elements of Social System

The Individual and Society Forms of Society

Human relations often vary depending upon a form of society
• Society is defined as a lasting social group whose members
where a person belongs.
have developed organized patterns of relationships through
interaction with one another. • Nomadic Society - Characterized by animal-hunting, fishing,
• An individual needs society for survival as his internal and plant or fruit gathering.
capacities are honed, developed, and nurtured only in • Pastoral Societies - Based on the domestication of animals.
society. • Horticultural Societies - relied on the cultivation of plants,
fruits, and vegetables.
The Individual and the Social Contract Theory - Three classical
• Agricultural Societies - Advancement of technology was
philosophers, namely Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and Jean Jacques
already utilized especially in the cultivation of crops and
Rousseau have different conceptions of this primordial “contract".
raising farm animals.
Thomas Hobbes • Industrial Societies - Bigger communities began inventing
mechanized factories for food production.
• He claims that man created a government and surrendered
• Postindustrial Societies - this era of technological
his several rights and freedom out of fear - fear of death.
advancement paved the way for the rapid development in
• Proposed the ideal state and government for man.
science and research.
• He proposed the idea of the "artificial man" where he
• Virtual Society - humans is known as the cyberspace. This
described the political entity such as a state or a nation
society was made possible by an enhanced
with reference to the human body as a model.
telecommunication system and well-advanced computer
John Locke technology.

• Conceived the idea that a person's nature is happy, Estranged Labour - Under the economic system of private
reasonable, and tolerant. ownership, society divides itself into two classes: the property
• the government was created under a social contract and owners and the property-less workers. In this arrangement, the
was given the responsibility to uphold the natural law and workers not only suffer impoverishment but also experience an
guaranteed the rights proceeding from such law. estrangement or alienation from the world.
• He developed the notion that in the direst of circumstances, Lesson 8: Life & Death
the people have a right and moral obligation to overthrow a
corrupt government. Death - the end of life, the physical cessation of life.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau Two approaches:

"Men are born free, yet everywhere they are in chains."
• Metaphysical kinds - when can we say that human person is
• The civil society did nothing to ensure the observance of dead?
equality and imposition of individual liberty which by • Existential kinds - what are the features of death as a
implication must be given to a person by virtue of the social human possibility?
contract.
Medical Views About Death
• The only legitimate government is one which was
established by the people themselves who entered into a Cardiopulmonary Approach - a person is dead when his heart and
social contract for purposes of their mutual preservation. lungs, the person’s cardiopulmonary organs, have irreversibly
• Interpreted the social contract as an answer to the ceased to function
inequalities and injustices that sprung from early societies.
Higher-Brain Approach - a person is dead when his/her upper brain
Man and Social System has irreversibly ceased to function. Ex: persistent vegetative state
and permanent coma
• A social system is the interaction of two or more individuals
in a bordered situation. Whole Brain Approach - a person is dead when his or her entire
• A certain social system operates on the basis of norms and brain (both higher brain and lower brain) has irreversibly ceased to
standard shaped by its members. function.
• Social system exist within a family, a team, a political party,
Why Is It Important to Properly Define "Death"?
or any social structure where individuals could share
common interests and sentiments. RA 7170 (Organ Donation Act) - defines death as “the irreversible
cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions or the irreversible
cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain
stem."

Religious Views About Death

Christian View on Death

Christians believe in the afterlife and in the idea of heaven and hell.
This is the reason why Christians call death as judgment day

Soul ➝ Heaven or Hell

Christians are encouraged to live by the teachings of Jesus and of
the Bible in order to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Buddhist View The Good Life - Russell’s view, “The good life is one inspired by love
Buddhism adheres to the concept of reincarnation and and guided by knowledge.” In my view, “The good life is inspired by
transmigration of the spirit (a concept where a living being is reborn desire, guided by love, and facilitated by knowledge.”
to a different physical body after death).
The Value of Philosophy - Russell holds that the primary value of
A person can be reborn in one of the six realms or worlds, namely: philosophy is not in any kind of definite answer, but exists in the
questions themselves. He concludes that, "through the greatness of
• Heaven - a world of peace and long-lasting happiness;
the universe which philosophy contemplates, the mind also is
• Humans - a world where human beings thrive; rendered great."
• Asura - a spiritual realm characterized by strife and
neverending fight;
• Hungry ghosts or spirits - also a spiritual realm
characterized by dissatisfaction and discontent;
• Animals - a realm similar to humans, except that those who
were reborn in this state are inferior to human beings and
are always hunted by the latter.; and
• Hell - which is considered as the world of eternal suffering
and pain.

Hindu View

Death in Hinduism is a journey that begins when life has already

taught the soul the lessons it needs to learn, and karma has reached
a certain level of intensity

Death is not an end in itself, but part of the natural process in the
existence of the soul as one separate entity.

Five Elements of the body:

• Air
• Water
• Fire
• Earth
• Ether - belonging to higher realm

The act of suicide is considered a chief and highest immoral act that
could be committed by a person.

“I have to die. If it is now, well then I die now; if later, then now I
will take my lunch, since the hour for lunch has arrived."

- Epictetus

Goodluck sa exam!
- Epictetus