Introduction to Philosophy of the Human Person

CHAPTER V - FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN PERSON

INGRID T. MOSURA
Hannah Emmanuelle M. Montelijao STEM 11-A

OUTLINE FORMS OF FREEDOM

➔ POSITIVE FREEDOM - control and mastery over self
I. Hunger for Power
and so has the strength and confidence to do what is
II. Questions on Human Freedom
good.
III. Forms of Freedom
➔ NEGATIVE FREEDOM - The absence of interference
IV. B.F. Skinner: Freedom in Control
or coercion– something that is intentionally imposed
A. Ideas on Freedom and Behavior
on a person.
V. Aristotle: The Power of Volition
A. Ideas on Freedom “I am negatively free ‘to the degree to which no
VI. St. Thomas Aquinas: Spiritual Freedom human interferes with my activity, to the extent that I
A. Fourfold Classification of Law enjoy unimpeded and uncoerced choice”
1. Eternal Law - Pettit, 1997:17
2. Divine Law ❖ One is free to do whatever they want to the
3. Natural Law point no person can dictate or interfere with
4. Human Law their goal and there is no influence to one’s
B. Ideas on Freedom choice.
VII. Jean-Paul Satre: Individual Freedom
A. Existences Precedes Essence PERSPECTIVES ON FREEDOM
VIII. Thomas Hobbes: Theory of Social Contract ❖ B.F. Skinner - Freedom in Control
A. Law of Nature as Means of ❖ Aristotle - Intellectual Freedom
Self-Preservation ❖ Thomas Aquinas - Spiritual Freedom
IX. Jean-Jacques Rosseau: Theory of Social Contract ❖ Jean-Paul Sartre - Individual Freedom
A. Ideas of Rosseau’s Work ❖ Thomas Hobbes - Special Contract
X. Synthesis ❖ Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Special Contract
B.F. SKINNER: FREEDOM IN CONTROL
HUNGER FOR POWER The problem is to free human beings not from control but
➔ Domination over nature extended further to the from certain kinds of control, not by escaping entirely from
systematic domination of fellow human beings the environment but by changing the nature of dependency
❖ Shown in the recent century’s World Wars to it.
➔ Humans use their powers and capabilities towards the
destruction of their own kind Readings from Ramos (2016)
❖ Lies in our understanding of human freedom ➔ control might not be something you can directly
associate with freedom.
➔ For Skinner, freedom lies in the controllability of our
“Freeing yourself was one thing, claiming ownership of that
behaviors.
freed self was another.”
- Toni Morrison, Beloved
❖ Being physically free is different from being free IDEAS ON FREEDOM AND BEHAVIOR
from the ghosts of the past ➔ Behavior is shaped and maintained by its
❖ One can truly be free if they let go of the traumas consequences.
they experienced (from raum’s notz) ❖ e.g. Repeat behaviors that are rewarded and
avoid those that are punished.
➔ The environment can be manipulated and redesigned.
QUESTIONS ON HUMAN FREEDOM
➔ Our struggle for freedom is due to certain behavioral
Human Freedom - One’s capacity to do whatever they want processes characteristic of the human organism, the
without hindrance and limitation chief effect of which is the avoidance of or escape
“do anything I want” from “aversive” features of the environment.
❖ Should freedom be absolute? ❖ e.g. No longer participate in class because you
❖ If freedom should be limited, what would be its limits? were humiliated in the past.
❖ Who or what should determine the limits of freedom? aversive - causing strong dislike or disinclination.
(Positions of power)
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 ➔ The problem is to free human beings not from control FOURFOLD CLASSIFICATION OF LAW
but from certain kinds of control, not by escaping
entirely from the environment but by changing the ETERNAL LAW
nature of dependency on it. ➔ the mind of God.
❖ e.g. The teacher shows appreciation to any ➔ promulgated (applied and communicated) by God to
student who participate in class rather than human beings.
humiliate those with wrong answers. ➔ has an unchanging nature and all the other laws are
Use of reward and punishment may have been based on it.
“miscalculated”
- Yelon, 1996 DIVINE LAW
➔ The environment should not be an excuse to escape ➔ came from the Eternal Law but it is historically
responsibility revealed through the Scripture.
➔ There must be added awareness that he did it ➔ Ten Commandments as the Old Law
“independently”, “oh his own initiative. ➔ teachings of Jesus as the New Law.
❖ The absence of external power expresses itself in ➔ the law with regards to our transcending nature.
the well-known feeling that one could have acted
otherwise.” (Ramos, 2016) NATURAL LAW
➔ applies to human beings.
ARISTOTLE: INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM ➔ “good must be sought and evil avoided.”
Reason can legislate, but only through will can it legislation ➔ We are inclined to do acts of self-preservation.
be translated into action. ❖ e.g. the human tendency to avoid fire when
burning heat is felt
➔ believes in the existence of moral acts. ➔ The will of humanity is an instrument of free choice.
➔ it is within our power to choose certain actions which ➔ The person is nothing else but that what he makes of
may be good or bad. himself.
➔ believes in free will.
Power of Volition - the power to act beyond simple, HUMAN LAW
automatic responses.
➔ application of the natural law.
➔ employed for the common good.
IDEAS ON FREEDOM AND BEHAVIOR ➔ devised by human reason, adapted to particular
➔ Will may be borne out by our inner awareness to do geographical, historical and social circumstances
right or wrong, the common testimony of human ❖ e.g. labor laws, traffic rules, Philippine constitution,
beings, etc. Intellect or reason is meaningless without etc.
the will.
➔ Reason can legislate, but only through will can its IDEAS ON FREEDOM
legislation be translated into action.
➔ Human beings have the unique power to change
➔ Will is based on reason or is rationally dominated.
themselves and the things around them for the better.
❖ e.g. You chose to help the old lady crossing the
➔ Through our spirituality, we have a conscience. It is
street.
our responsibility whether we choose “good” or “evil.”
➔ It is in our power to do good or bad, worthy or
➔ The human being has a supernatural, transcendental
worthless. Therefore, reason, will and action always go
destiny. He can rise above his ordinary being or
together.
(mortal) self to a highest being or (immortal) self if he
➔ Reason is our divine gift to understand morality and
lives a virtuous and righteous life. The power to
make sense of the world around us.
change can only be achieved in cooperation with God.
➔ Love rather than the Law brings about the
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: SPIRITUAL FREEDOM transformation of humanity.
Human beings have the unique power to change themselves ➔ God’s love is the guiding principle toward man’s
and the things around them for the better. self-perception and happiness—his ultimate destiny.

➔ believes that humans are moral beings or agents.

➔ Ideas are influenced by Christianity.
➔ known for his Fourfold Classification of Law.

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 JEAN-PAUL SATRE: INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM ❖ e.g. If one agrees to give up his right to punch
you, you give up your right to punch him./ You
The person is provided with a supreme opportunity to give
agree to not touch another person’s property
meaning to one’s life.
given that the other party will do the same.
Third Law of Nature
➔ existentialism
➔ that human beings perform their covenant made.
➔ Existence precedes essence
➔ When a covenant has been made, to break it is
unjust.
ELABORATION ON PRINCIPLES
➔ The person, first exists, encounters himself and surges ❖ According to Hobbes, there is no justice or injustice
up in the world then defines himself afterward. until the commonwealth is established, until a coercive
➔ The person is provided with a supreme opportunity to power has been established which will compel human
give meaning to one’s life. beings to perform their covenants.
➔ In the course of Freedom, is therefore, the very core ❖ Human beings must form a commonwealth by
and the door to authentic existence. Authentic conferring all their power and strength upon one
existence is realized only in deeds that are committed human being or assembly of human beings which may
alone, in absolute freedom and responsibility and reduce their wills, the plurality of voices, unto one will
which, therefore, the character of true creation. (Garvey, 2006)—that is the sovereign
➔ The person is what one has done and is doing. ❖ For instance, people appointing someone to be a
➔ The human person who tries to escape obligations and king in an absolute monarchy.
strives to be en-soi (i.e., excuses, such as “I was born
this way” or “I grew up in a bad environment”) is acting COMMONWEALTH BY COMMONWEALTH BY
on bad faith (mauvaisfoi). INSTITUTION ACQUISITION
En-soi - being-in-itself
established through the The sovereign power has
covenant of every member of been acquired by force.
THOMAS HOBBES: THEORY OF SOCIAL CONTRACT a multitude with every other
member.
We enter a social contract to avoid a state of war.
They subject themselves to a Human beings fear for death
➔ Recognized the Law of Nature in Leviathan sovereign from fear of one or bonds of the one who
another. holds power over their lives
➔ Law of Nature as a means for self-preservation
and liberty.
➔ Gives way to the adherence of people to a social
➔ The sovereign can be replaced if conquered in war or
contract
it no longer possesses effective power due to internal
discord.
CONCEPTS IN DETAIL
Law of Nature JEAN-JACQUES ROSSEAU: THEORY OF SOCIAL
➔ a precept or general rule established by reason CONTRACT
➔ by which a person is forbidden to do that which is
To restore peace, bring his freedom back, and return to his
destructive of his life or takes away the means of
true self, there is a need to form the state through the Social
preserving the same; and to omit that by which he
Contract, whereby everyone grants his individual rights to
thinks it may be best preserved.
the general will.
State of Nature
➔ Where we should get out of
➔ one of the most famous and influential philosophers of
➔ a hypothetical world of chaos because there is no
the French Enlightenment.
established government yet. In order to get out of
➔ elaborated his theory of human nature in the Social
this, we must seek peace.
Contract
Second Law of Nature
➔ believes that the state originated from the social
➔ Where seeking peace leads to
contract freely entered into by its members.
➔ we mutually divest or deprive ourselves of certain
❖ In terms of absolute democracy or individualism.
rights (such as the right to take another person’s life)
so as to achieve peace (Garvey, 2006 as cited in
Ramos, 2016)
Contract
➔ Mutual transferring of rights.
➔ the basis of the notion of moral obligation and duty
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 IDEAS OF ROSSEAU’S WORK ● The School of Life. (2017, October 17). Do We Have
Free Will or Are We Predetermined? [Video file].
➔ A human being is born free and good. He has a
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/
primitive tranquil spirit.
watch?v=HYWiIWpcCIM
Primitive - belonging to or characteristic of an early stage of
● Notes ni Raum
development
Tranquil - calm, quiet, and peaceful
➔ He is in chains and has become bad due to the evil
influence of society, civilization, learning and progress
which led to dissension, conflict, fraud and deceit.
➔ To restore peace, bring his freedom back, and return
to his true self, Rosseau saw the necessity to form the
state through the Social Contract, whereby everyone
grants his individual rights to the general will.
➔ The Social Contract is not an actual historical event
but a certain way of looking at a society of voluntary
collection of agreeable individuals.
➔ Events that manifest the presence of the Social
Contract:
❖ The Constitution and the Bill of Rights which
show an actual agreement signed by the people or
representatives.
❖ The 1986 EDSA Revolution where people
gathered to voice out their disenchantment
peacefully and through mutual effort, successfully
ousted Marcos (dasurb)

HOBBES ROSSEAU
Nature of Man Man is evil Man is good
State of Nature Chaos Peaceful
Social Contract Absolute monarchy Absolute democracy
From Raum

SYNTHESIS
The exercise of freedom is a social act
➔ Exercised before another person whose
presence/gaze gently prods us into a lifelong
commitment to utilize our freedom
➔ Not simply the assertion of one’s preferences, but of
one’s preferences with a view to the consequences
this has on oneself and to others
➔ If we commit to a genuine and responsible exercise of
freedom we gain our self, we strengthen our self and
we become an authentic self

REFERENCES
● Ramos, C.C. (2016). Introduction to the Philosophy
of the Human Person. Manila: Rex BookStore, Inc.
● C. S. Lewis on suffering and what it means to have
free will in a universe of fixed laws. Brain Pickings.
https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/07/25/c-s-lewis-p
roblem-of-pain-free-will/
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 Introduction to Philosophy of the Human Person
CHAPTER VI - INTERSUBJECTIVITY
INGRID T. MOSURA
Hannah Emmanuelle M. Montelijao STEM 11-A

➔ There is person-to-person, subject-to-subject relation

OUTLINE
or acceptance, sincerity, concern, respect, dialog and
I. On Intersubjectivity care (mutual sharing of selves).
A. Martin Buber ➔ The human person is not just being-in- the-world but
1. I-You Relation being-with-others or being-in-relation.
2. I-It Relation
B. Karol Wojtyla or St. Pope John Paul II I-IT RELATION
1. We-Relation
➔ A person to a thing, subject to an object that is merely
C. Gabriel Marcel
experiencing and using; lacking directness and
1. Being “With”
mutuality (feeling, knowing, and acting).
2. To Be with the Other
❖ Example: Using a pen
3. To Be is to Be With
D. Emmanuel Levinas
1. My Fellow Subject Resisting KAROL WOJTYLA OR ST. POPE JOHN PAUL II
Totalization ➔ 1920-2005
2. Being a Neighbor to the Other ➔ Born in Wadowice, Poland
II. Authentic Dialog: We Are a Conversation ➔ Elected to the Papacy on October 16, 1978 (264th
A. 7 Ways to Create Cherished Connections pope)
III. Appreciating Differently-abled Persons and the ➔ criticized the traditional definition of human as “rational
Underprivileged Sectors of Society animal. [encyclical letter Fides et Ratio]
A. On PWDs/Differently-abled Persons ➔ The human person is the one who exists and acts
1. Parental Acceptance ❖ (conscious acting, has a will, has
2. Categories of PWD self-determination).
B. Dimensions of Poverty
1. Income WE RELATION
2. Health
➔ Through participation, the person is able to fulfill one’s
3. Education
self.
4. Empowerment
5. Working Condition No human being should become an end to him/herself. We
C. Women’s Rights are responsible to our neighbors as we are to our own
actions
- St. Augustine of Hippo
ON INTERSUBJECTIVITY \

We participate in communal life (We). Our notion of

interchange of thoughts and feelings, both conscious and “neighbour” and “fellow member” is by participating in the
unconscious, between two persons or ‘subjects,’ as humanness of the other person (I-You).
facilitated by empathy - St. Pope John Paul II
- Edmund Husserl (1859-1938)
Edmund Husserl - study of phemonology
GABRIEL MARCEL
MARTIN BUBER
➔ 1889-1973
➔ 1878-1965 ➔ Intersubjectivity is a state in which one recognizes
➔ Jewish existentialist philosopher one’s being as a being-with-others.
➔ conceives the human person in his/ her wholeness,
totality, concrete existence and relatedness to the BEING “WITH”
world. [I and Thou (Ich and Du) in 1923]
“the realm of existence to which the preposition ‘with’
properly applies”
I-YOU RELATION
- Marcel, 1950: 180
➔ The human person experiences his wholeness not in
virtue of his relation to one’s self, but in the virtue of
his relation to another self.
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 With’ doesn’t simply mean being together. Dehumanization - any treatment of the person as a beast,
➔ The presence of one passenger with another leads to a cry for justice; for it does violence to the dignity
passenger is NOT a co-presence. and essence of a human person.
Whoever finds its life will lose it, and whoever loses his life
WITH for my sake, will find it.
➔ often followed by a person; - Matthew 10:39
➔ applies to the realm of persons, of subjects, not
objects.
➔ does not properly apply…to the purely objective world. TO BE IS TO BE WITH
\

❖ With a pencil - grammatically correct but “Human living” is “living of something other than itself
conceptually wrong. - Marcel: 171
❖ With my best friend - grammatically and
➔ The center of human life is outside of itself.
conceptually correct.
➔ Life is human as it is propelled or directed towards
people talking without speaking, people hearing without something other than itself.
listening… ➔ We find meaning outside of ourselves – in the other.
- The Sound of Silence, Simon and Garfunkel (accg to Marcel)

When does a jeepney turn into a realm of EMMANUEL LEVINAS

intersubjectivity?
➔ The other becomes present to us when we are MY FELLOW SUBJECT RESISTING TOTALIZATION
available to them and, in turn, they are available to us.
The Other is “rigorously the other” that is, far more radically
different than we would normally appreciate and accept in
our everyday lives
- Levinas, 1969:39
TOTALIZATION
➔ a denial of the other’s difference
➔ the denial of the otherness of the other
➔ occurs whenever I limit the ‘other’ to a set of rational
categories
➔ Experience shows us that another person will always
escape your attempt to fully grasp or understand them.

The Other
➔ the “Stranger who disturbs being at home with oneself.
➔ The feeling of familiarity prevents a genuine
encounter with each other.
➔ The human person is a dynamic and moving
individuality as it is constantly opened up by
possibilities. (Transcendent)
Over him I have no power. He escapes my grasp…The
Other remains infinitely transcendent, infinitely foreign…
- Levinas
TO BE WITH THE OTHER
➔ Signifies co-presence, an openness of my presence to THE TENDENCY TO TOTALIZE
the presence of the other person 1. Due to the fear of uncertainty
Mystery - to open oneself to the being of the other; the 2. We are afraid of the possibility of losing.
human being is removed from the category of things, or of 3. We are afraid of the possibility of being killed first/
“having being harassed.

Intersubjectivity - to mutually respect each other as

subjects
Objectification - any treatment of the person as a mere tool THE FACE
that can be manipulated
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The Face resists possession, resists my powers. In its 4. Stop trying to guess what people are thinking.
epiphany, in expression, the sensible, still graspable turns Assumptions will only lead to misunderstanding and
into total resistance to the grasp. miscommunication.
- Levinas 5. Have a heart for service. Make time for the needs
of others instead of just your own.
-
6. Make the most out of every conversation. Find
Magkahawak ang ating kamay at walang kamalay-malay na the value in everyday interactions and don’t take
tinuruan mo ang puso ko na umibig ng tunay. them for granted.
- Ang Huling El Bimbo, Eraserheads 7. Be your true authentic self. The connection is only
true if they get to know the real you.
BEING A NEIGHBOR TO THE OTHER
➔ we are persons facing another person in need of help People say they love you. But they only love how you make
beyond social categories. them feel good about themselves.
“Nobody or Outcasts” - To the Bane
- seem to be more open, more welcoming of others
because they are not trapped within their own
APPRECIATING DIFFERENTLY-ABLED PERSONS AND
categories. Hence, they are more available and
THE UNDERPRIVILEGED SECTORS OF SOCIETY
freer to help those in need
The people do not complain because they have no voice; ON PWDS OR DIFFERENTLY-ABLED PERSONS
do not move because they are lethargic, and you say that
PARENTAL ACCEPTANCE
they do not suffer because you have not seen their hearts
bleed. ➔ The process of suspecting, recognizing, and
- J. Rizz identifying the handicap for parents will include
feelings of shock, bewilderment, sorrow, anger, and
guilt.
AUTHENTIC DIALOG: WE ARE A CONVERSATION ➔ Isolation of affect may occur when parents
intellectually accept for instance, the deafness of their
Humankind is a conversation—not an idle talk but a dialog.
child.
- Martin Heidegger
Isolation of Affect - Avoiding the experience of an emotion
Conversation associated with a person, idea, or situation.
➔ creative, poetic, and deep that allows humanity to Example: parents taking care of their disabled child without
exist as more than entities. feelings of sorrow/pain
➔ attempts to articulate who and what we are, not as ➔ Feelings of ambivalence/ impotence occur (e.g. Asking
particular individuals but as human beings who care “why me?”)
about more than information and gratification. Ambivalence - the state of having mixed feelings or
contradictory ideas about something or someone.
A life of dialog is a mutual sharing or inner selves in the Impotence - inability to take effective action; helplessness.
realm of the interhuman ➔ Some parents turn to religion and consider “heaven
- Martin Buber sent blessing in disguise.
❖ denies the real implications of the disability
There is mutual awareness of each other as persons;
(Mapp, 2004).
avoiding objectification.
➔ Parents worry how the disability of the child will affect
➔ There is affirmation of the other as a person who is
his/her productivity, or become a lifelong burden.
unique and has a distinct personality.
➔ Parents have to let go of their “dream child.”
➔ There is the acceptance of the person unfolding the
other to actualize himself/herself. CATEGORIES OF PWD
❖ Specific learning disability (SLD)
7 WAYS TO CREATE CHERISHED CONNNECTIONS ❖ Other health impairment
1. Approach conversations with curiosity. Show ❖ Autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
genuine interest in the interests of others. ❖ Emotional disturbance
2. Set aside judgment. Don’t close the door on new ❖ Speech or language impairment
people and unfamiliar situations too quickly. ❖ Visual impairment
3. Be the catalyst for a genuine conversation. Don’t ❖ Hearing impairment
be afraid to make the first move.

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➔ Negative attitudes of the family and community toward
PWDs may add to their poor academic and vocational D. Empowerment - Extending human rights into the
outcomes. realm of foreign direct investment is also an
➔ Parents can decide to restructure aspects of their imperative. The Church, in its pro-poor stance, is
lifestyle to accommodate the communicative and constantly challenged wherein justice is being
educational needs of their child. denied for sectors like farmers, fisher folks,
➔ Community sensitivity and support are also important. indigenous people and victims of calamity and labor.
(Mapp, 2004)
E. Working Condition

DIMENSIONS OF POVERTY
DIMENSIONS OF POVERTY
➔ Poverty is multidimensional.
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712)
➔ People may be deprived in the following dimensions
➔ women should be educated to please men.
which have overlapping implications on poverty:
➔ should be useful to men, should take care, advise,
A. Income - the consumption of goods and services is console men, and to render men’s lives easy and
the most common measure of the underprivileged. agreeable.
Mary Wollstonecraft
B. Health - Globally, millions die due to AIDS, Ebola ➔ Vindication of the Rights of Women (1782)
virus, tuberculosis and Malaria as well as a number ➔ Disagrees with Rosseau; that kind of education would
of infant deaths from largely preventable causes of produce women who were mere propagators of fools.
diarrheal disease. ❖ Women must be united to men in wisdom and
❖ Families under poverty find it difficult to cure rationality.
such preventable diseases due to the lack of ❖ Society should allow women to attain equal rights
fortune. to philosophy and education given to men.
❖ Women should not just be valued until their beauty
C. Education - According to Cook, Rutt and Sims
fades.
(2014), “...deprivation has a negative impact on
❖ Men’s worth should not be based on the vanity of
educational attainment, leaving young people with
women and babies.
fewer qualifications and skills which in turn affects
❖ Women must learn to respect themselves.
future employment' (DCSF, 2009). There is a strong
statistical link between poverty and low educational
attainment.”

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 Introduction to Philosophy of the Human Person
CHAPTER VI - THE HUMAN PERSON IN THE SOCIETY
(PowerPoint)
INGRID T. MOSURA
Hannah Emmanuelle M. Montelijao STEM 11-A

OUTLINE MARKET, STATE AND LIFEWORLD

I. Jurgen Habermas: Social Relations and their Market State Livelihood

Corresponding Interactions Social system of Social system of Everyday world of
A. Transactional and Personal Relation money power communicative
B. Market, State And Lifeworld relationships
1. Market Economic systems Political systems Family, school,
2. State religious
3. Lifeworld communities, civil
II. Emile Dukheim: Social Interaction and the society
Development of Societies
A. Material and Symbolic Reproduction ➔ Market and state relations are more transactional.
B. Development of Individual Consciousness ❖ Market = we pay someone in return for goods
1. Tribal and Feudal Society that we need to have and own.
2. Modern Industrialized Society ❖ State = some individual control others' actions in
III. Conclusion order to ensure that the peace and order is
A. Impact of Social Systems on Individuals maintained.
B. Civil Society and the Role of Individuals in ❖ Both cases = relationship cannot be fully
Social Transformation intersubjective
Medium of Money and Power - the "language" of social
systems
JURGEN HABERMAS: SOCIAL RELATIONS AND THEIR
➔ People are linked with other people through currencies
CORRESPONDING INTERACTIONS
of exchange value in the market, and through the use
So we live in two worlds: one characterized by social of dominion, or threats of sanctions in the political
exchanges and the other characterized by market system.
exchanges. And we apply different norms to these two ➔ Social systems follow a simple, value-free logic:
kinds of relationships. ❖ Economic - the logic of having and not having
❖ Politics - the logic of commanding and obeying
Moreover, introducing market norms into social exchanges, Economic (Market) - the logic of having and not having
violates the social norms and hurts the relationships. Once
❖ Having - I possess a good for selling
this type of mistake has been committed, recovering a
social relationship is difficult. ❖ Not Having - I need to possess a good hence I need
to interact with the one who has it.
- Dan Ariely, PREDICTABLY IRRATIONAL
Political (State) - the logic of commanding and obeying
Transactional Relation Personal Relation ❖ Commanding - I am in the position to control the
actions of others in order to preserve order,
Instrumental or Strategic Communicative Action
Action ❖ Obeying - I am in the position of one who follows
another possessing power over my actions.
As an object, a mean for As a fellow Subject, a fellow
attaining one's goals person (Intersubjective)
LIFEWORLD
(Subject-object)
Lifeworld - all the immediate experiences, activities, and
contacts that make up the world of an individual or
corporate life.
➔ thrive on mutual recognition
➔ We naturally assume that all who are part of our
immediate communities are persons, and must be
consciously recognized and treated as such.

1
 ➔ We uphold and respect each other as subjects, as ➔ Counts on the harmonious functioning of individuals in
embodied spirits, and as free and autonomous beings. the society without them having to sacrifice their
Cooperative Communication - marks social interaction. individual identities
➔ Through communication, we generate and develop our
culture, form, and improve our norms such as laws CONCLUSION
and policies and socialize with others as we
simultaneously develop our personal identities. IMPACT OF SOCIAL SYSTEMS OF INDIVIDUALS

Society's most basic building block would be the Individualism and the increasing colonization of the
interaction between two individuals. lifeworld by the social systems made it difficult to form
- Habermas, 1979 solidarity among people resulting in the loss of the sense of
\ community.
Without meaningful interactions, there would not have been - Habermas
societies to begin with. Without societies, in turn, there
➔ Colonization occurs when marriage, friendship and
would not have been the development of our concept of
other relationships, in many instances, become a
individuality.
matter of gaining economically or politically.
- Mead (1934)
❖ Technology and modern science are considered
saviors to counter ignorance, underdevelopment
EMILE DURKHEIM: SOCIAL INTERACTION AND THE
and poverty but may also be the same reasons of
DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIETIES
the larger gap between the rich and poor with
➔ Justice human life needs physical and spiritual greater autonomy for those who have access.
nourishment, a society thrives and flourishes by
material and symbolic reproduction. CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE ROLE OF INDIVIDUALS ON
SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION
Material Reproduction Symbolic Reproductions
● strengthen communicative action - through the
Refers to the utilization and Refers to the transmission formation of a civil society to counter colonization (accg.
distribution of society's and renewal of cultural to Habermas)
resources for the physical knowledge, the
● civil society - comprised of informal networks such as
survival and welfare of all establishment of solidarity
individual members and cooperation and the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) where groups
formation of identities of gather together to articulate concerns in public spheres
persons through socialization ● public spheres - a place in the lifeworld where
individual voices can be heard.
DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIETIES AND INDIVIDUAL
CONSCIOUSNESS ➔ The goal is to form a strong public opinion that will
be directed against formal institutions in the systems of
TRIBAL AND FEUDAL SOCIETY economy and politics to make material reproduction
➔ Tribal leaders and monarchs had control over social just and to make symbolic reproduction unencumbered
systems (economy and politics) and symbolic by social systems.
reproduction of society. ❖ Churches and other faith-based organizations
➔ Described according to the mechanistic model of ❖ Online groups and social media communities
solidarity (Durkheim and Thompson, 2004; 24-28) ❖ Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and
which indicates that a person's individual other nonprofits
consciousness is very much aligned with the collective ❖ Unions and other collective-bargaining groups
consciousness ❖ Innovators, entrepreneurs and activists, etc.

MODERN AND INDUSTRIALIZED SOCIETIES

➔ Development of trade (mercantilism) and the
emergence of a capitalist society
➔ Political systems narrowed down to the protection of
rights of individuals and redistribution of wealth
❖ e.g. Taxation
➔ Described according to organic solidarity which
begins with a recognition of the differences of its
members with an awareness of co-dependence

2
 PHILO: ADD NOTES CHAPTER V & VI

FREEDOM

FORMS OF FREEDOM

➢ Rather it is a question of being able to take

advantage of the opportunity by being in control
of your life.
➢ Positive freedom in this example is a matter of you
having the capacity to take the rational option as
well as having the opportunity
➢ Whereas, according to a concept of negative
freedom, the opportunities that you have alone
HOBBES
determine the extent of my freedom.
➢ However, I am not free in the positive sense; I am → We enter a social contract to avoid a state of war.
not truly free, because I am a slave to my tendency → The laws of nature give the conditions for the
to be sidetracked. establishment of society and government.
➢ True positive freedom would involve seizing
control of your life and making rational choices for
yourself.
➢ Positive freedom is a matter of achieving your
potential, not just having potential.

Yelon 1996 accepted the behavioral psyhology is at fault for

having overanalyzed the word reward and punishment. We
might miscalculated the effect of the environment in the
individuals. Our relationship to others and the environment
must be balance.

Freedom still lies on acting upon certain alternatives,

INTERSUBJECTIVITY
regardless whether these alternatives may result to good or
bad consequences. EMPATHY
Volition – the faculty or power of using one’s will (power of → The ability to share emotions.
choosing/determining). → This emotion is driven by a person's awareness
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS: LOVE IS FREEDOM that the other is a person thoughts and feelings.
→ Empathy enables us to experience another
→ Freedom, for St. Thomas, is the manner person's emotions, such as happiness, anger, and
intellectual beings seek universal goodness. It is a sadness.
condition of the will arising from our nature being → Sympathy is "feeling with", while empathy is
in the kind of world that we inhabit. "feeling in"
→ St. Thomas considers the human being as a moral
agent. Intersubjectivity is a state in which one recognizes
→ Our spirituality separates us from animals; it one’s being as a being-with-others.
delineates moral dimension of our fulfillment in an
action.
→ Through our spirituality, we have a conscience.
Whether we choose to be "good" or "evil"
becomes our responsibility.