What is freedom? What is the essence of freedom?

Freedom is an intrinsic and essential property of the person. This

means that the human person by nature is a free being and that it is in his
or her nature to seek freedom. An important indication of human freedom is
the ability to make choices and perform actions. Our freedom to act sets us
apart from other beings. Let's compare how animals and human persons
behave to get a better understanding of freedom. We see some animals
behave like human beings because they seem to perform actions in
response to commands. A well-trained dog can perform certain tasks on
command such as "stay" or "fetch" because it has been trained and
conditioned to perform them. The same cannot be said about human
beings. You cannot just approach a stranger, toss him or her a ball, and say
"Fetch!" Surely, you will be met with curious and suspicious stares. A person
will not respond automatically to the command to "Fetch!" because he or
she is not conditioned to obey like the dog.
The human person does not experience the world in the same way that
animals do. Animals act instinctively, meaning, their actions are more like
predetermined responses to certain stimuli. A person, on the other hand,
can choose the course of action to take when given a stimulus or
faced with a certain situation. You expect your dog to always respond in
the same way to your commands. With us humans, our inherent freedom
makes us very dynamic creatures and our actions do not necessarily follow
a set pattern or a pre-determined course. Your mother may ask you to clean
your room one day and you will follow her instruction. The following week,
however, you may decide not to clean your room when told because you
feel lazy. The week after, you may decide to clean your room without even
being told. These varied actions indicate that you are exercising your
freedom.
Freedom is also understood as the power to be what you want to be
and the ability to decide and create yourself. You may have a good
idea of your personal identity at this point in your life. Though we have
certain inherent traits such as physical attributes and temperament, many
of the characteristics that define our personality are often a product of our
choices. Our talents, for instance, are developed to their fullest only if we
choose to dedicate time and effort to improve them. Our preferences and
views are other aspects of our personality that we freely adopt. You may
have also imagined yourself as a successful professional in the future. Your
nature as a human person gives you the ability to imagine that future. Your
freedom, meanwhile, gives you the ability to strive to achieve that goal.
Freedom is rooted in the human person's self-determination and the
exercise of intellect and free will. This means that a person's every action is
freely determined and these actions define him or her. We can freely choose
to be a good person and to act in a good way. A good act makes a person
better while its opposite has a negative impact on him or her as a person.
This is the nature of self-determination: that a person's actions determine
what kind of person he or she becomes.
Freedom gives us the choice to undertake one of these possible
actions. It also enables us to come up with new choices. For instance,
some may laugh at Samuel, but decide to help him later. The essence of
freedom is that it does not confine our actions to those set or expected by
others; we can imagine new actions and decide to undertake them.
Now, recall your answer and ask yourself why you chose to take that action.
Reflecting upon your actions will enable you to know yourself better as a
person. Your actions also determine if you uphold human dignity and
freedom. Having freedom, however, also entails certain responsibilities. It is
possible for a person to diminish or negate freedom through the choices and
actions that he or she makes.
Freedom also requires a degree of control from the person who exercises it.
A person becomes more free when he or she exercises control over himself
or herself. On the other hand, a person becomes less free when he or she is
no longer in control of himself or herself and is instead controlled by other
forces. For example, persons suffering from addiction are less free because
they are overpowered by their addiction to certain substances and can
barely control themselves when presented with these things. People who act
solely based on their emotions are also less free because they allow
themselves to be controlled by their feelings without any regard for ethical
considerations. People who behave impulsively and erratically are more
similar to animals than persons. To lose control of oneself diminishes human
freedom and dehumanizes the person.
Persons who are denied their freedom by other individuals, groups, and
institutions are also dehumanized. Slavery is a dehumanizing act because a
person is forced to work for life without the possibility of ever leaving a life
of bondage. A person who is imprisoned is also dehumanized because he or
she is
denied his or her freedom and is confined to prison life. That same person,
however, also dehumanized the person whom he or she wronged.

Kinds of Freedom
1. Physical Freedom
Physical freedom refers to the absence of any physical restraint. The
person has the freedom of mobility to go where he or she wants to go. He or
she is not impeded in his or her actions by any physical force. Granted that
the person has natural limitations, physical freedom allows him or her to act
and move in a determined manner. You cannot be everywhere at once, but
your freedom allows you to move from one place to another and to go
wherever you want to go.
2. Psychological Freedom
Psychological freedom is also called freedom of choice. The person is
free to perform actions that he or she considers right and wise. A person is
also free to act or not to act. Psychological freedom is innate and cannot be
denied a person. No outside force or influence can compel a person to take
action against his or her will.
3. Moral Freedom
Moral freedom refers to using freedom in a manner that upholds
human dignity and goodness. Freedom is not an object that a person
may use in whatever way he or she pleases. A person must use his or her
freedom to grow as a person. A person becomes more free when he or she
uses freedom well, but becomes less free when he or she uses it in a bad
way. Humans have a natural inclination for what is true and good, and when
a person uses his or her freedom to do acts that violate human dignity and
goodness, he or she dehumanizes himself or herself and effectively negates
human freedom.

What makes us free? How does freedom shape our experiences?

There are two elements that define freedom. Voluntariness refers to the
ability of a person to act out of his or her own free will and self-
determination. This means that a person may decide to act or not to act,
and these decisions are made out of his or her own free will. Voluntariness
also means that a person may act even if he or she is not required or called
to take action. Voluntary acts are free acts which can be assigned a
corresponding moral value.
Whenever we decide to take action, this results in a certain consequence.
All human actions have consequences, and these affect not only the person
who commits the action, but also other people and our surroundings. As a
free being, the person must accept the consequences of his or her action
and take responsibility for them. The second element of freedom,
responsibility, refers to the person being accountable for his or her actions
and their consequences.
Taking responsibility can either mean a person voluntarily taking
responsibility for his or her own actions, or being held responsible by other
people. Whenever you know you committed a bad action, you can either
voluntarily confess to it or other people will point it out and hold you
responsible. Responsibility can also have a positive or negative meaning,
and it goes hand-in-hand with voluntariness in determining the morality of
an action.
Let's go back to the situation presented earlier. If Mang Lito was able to
rescue the boy from being hit by the car, he could take responsibility for his
heroic action. The people who saw his act may regard him as a hero and
express admiration for him. On the other hand, if Mang Lito was unable to
save the boy in time, the taxi driver could be held responsible for hitting the
boy. Mang Lito could even hold himself responsible for failing to save the
boy.
Voluntariness and responsibility go hand-in-hand in determining a
person's freedom. In any situation where a person is forced to do an action
against his or her will, it follows that he or she cannot be held responsible
for his or her involuntary actions. A person who is forced by bank robbers to
open the safety vault in a bank may not be held fully responsible for the
crime of robbery, since he or she acted without much voluntariness. On the
other hand, a person who had no awareness of the effect of his or her
actions can be considered as acting with diminished freedom. One example
may be a person who tried to scare his or her friend by jumping out of a
corner wearing a scary mask. The surprised friend decided to run away but
in his or her panic, he or she hit a wall and was injured. It was not the
intention of the person who committed the prank to get his or her friend
hurt, but it happened because he or she did not fully consider the
consequences of his or her actions. Without these two elements, human
freedom is diminished, and the person makes imperfect actions and unwise
decisions which may have negative effects on the self and others. The
realization of voluntariness and responsibility in the exercise of our freedom
gives our actions and experiences a whole new meaning. We can now
reflect on our actions to better understand them and guide us toward
making the best possible decision.

How can I exercise my freedom in a responsible and beneficial

manner?
You may have heard the saying: "My freedom to swing my fist ends where
your nose begins." This simple statement points to the fact that human
freedom, though essential, is not absolute. Human freedom should be
exercised with control and a recognition of reasonable limits. We set limits
to our own freedom and learn to moderate or control our thoughts,
emotions, and actions depending on the situation. A person can even
choose to limit his or her own freedom or even surrender it entirely
if it will result in greater benefits. A person may choose not to enter the
jeepney first despite being first in line to give way to an elderly woman. A
young professional may choose not to speak up in a meeting regarding
serious concerns about a worker, but instead directly confront the person
concerned in private. You may be very angry at your teacher for scolding
you in front of the entire class but you refrained from answering back at him
or her since it will be considered a disrespectful act. Citizens may be angry
about corruption in the government but they do not go to the streets and
engage in violence just to express their anger. Instead, they find other more
reasonable and lawful means to express it.
Limiting our personal freedom requires us to sacrifice certain self interests
and accept certain realities that are beyond our control. You may have the
freedom to pursue a degree in medicine but, realizing that your parents do
not have the means to send you to medical school, you decide to take a less
expensive course. Our sense of right and wrong guides us in recognizing
and deciding on the limitations to our freedom.
Another reality that we have to face as we exercise our freedom is the fact
that freedom is experienced through the act of making choices.
Although human freedom gives us the ability to think of countless decisions
and possible actions, we only get to choose to enact one of these possible
actions or decisions. Having the ability to choose and enact a course of
action does not automatically mean that we should take action every time.
It is also possible that the choice not to take action may be an acceptable
and moral choice in a given situation.
When we make the choice to do a particular action, we can never go back
and redo our actions and make another choice. Real life is not a movie
where we can stop and rewind events and get a "second take" on the
situation. Therefore it is very important that when confronted with choices,
we exercise caution and prudence and reflect on our possible courses of
action.
Self-reflection is vital in the proper exercise of human freedom. As persons,
we cannot allow ourselves to be slaves to sudden emotions and moods
whenever we act. As free and rational beings, we must recognize the
importance of exercising freedom responsibly. This requires us to reflect on
our actions, consider their effects, and make the proper choices regarding
the most beneficial decisions or actions.
Our society also imposes restrictions on our individual freedom. From
determining the places where we can cross a street to controlling our
actions through laws and regulations, society implements reasonable
restrictions to personal freedom in order to maintain order and harmony and
uphold the welfare of the public.
Freedom should also be exercised with regard for knowledge and
truth. As rational beings, it is natural for us to think before we act. We use
our freedom to act and acquire more knowledge, and we use this knowledge
in order to come up with decisions and courses of actions when confronted
with difficult situations. To correctly answer a multiple choice item in an
exam, a student should study and prepare beforehand to know the correct
information needed to answer the test. Otherwise, he or she will be unable
to answer the test correctly.
The ability to acquire information and truthful knowledge regarding a
particular situation is very important, since it aids us in making wise and
informed choices. For instance, in voting for officials in your student council
elections, some students may choose to vote for candidates they know and
like, or even candidates that they find attractive or appealing. More
discerning students, however, will choose to find out each candidate's views
on important school issues and cast their vote based on their judgment of
who is the better candidate to address these concerns. A courtroom judge
has the freedom to make any decision on any case. But if he or she wishes
to uphold justice and render proper judgment, he or she must carefully
study the facts of the case in order to arrive at correct conclusions regarding
the issues. Truthful knowledge is also needed for people who wish to invest
in business ventures to determine if they are getting into legitimate
transactions or are just being deceived into participating in a scam.
Determining the proper information needed before we choose the best
course of action is not easy, but it is a necessary step to ensure that our
choices, decisions, and actions are proper, reasonable, and just. If we make
a choice and act on false or incomplete information, we may end up making
decisions which will bring harm to ourselves and others. It is therefore
necessary to cultivate the intellectual virtue of prudence to be our guide in
making sound choices.
As human persons, our nature drives us to uphold human dignity and
goodness. In exercising our freedom, we should also recognize and
uphold not only our individual freedom but also the freedom of
others. This view has led to the assertion that freedom is a recognized and
guaranteed right for all persons. Many societies identify certain freedoms
that should be enjoyed by all, as these contribute to the quality of life of the
individual and the welfare of society. These include the freedom to live and
determine one's identity; freedom from slavery and other constraints;
freedom of speech; and freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.
Freedom should be exercised with due regard for the welfare of other
persons and one's freedom should be exercised not as a tool to restrict the
freedom of others, but as a means to enable others to fully enjoy their own
freedom.
•Freedom is an intrinsic and essential property of a person. The
human person is by nature free and seeks freedom. Our freedom to act sets
us apart from other beings.
•Freedom is also understood to be the power to create and define oneself. It
is also rooted in the person's self-determination and the exercise of intellect
and free will.
•Having and exercising freedom entail certain responsibilities. Human action
can either uphold or diminish freedom. A person becomes less free when he
or she does not exercise control over his or her actions. Actions that
diminish freedom also dehumanize a person.

•There are three kinds of freedom. Physical freedom refers to the

absence of physical restraint. Psychological freedom is the freedom of
choice. Moral freedom refers to the responsible use of freedom which
upholds human dignity and goodness.
•The two important elements of human freedom are voluntariness and
responsibility. Voluntariness refers to the ability of the person to act out of
his or her own free will and self-determination. Responsibility refers to the
person being accountable for his or her actions and their consequences.
•Freedom is experienced through the act of making choices. It is therefore
important for persons to exercise caution and prudence and reflect on
possible courses of action in making decisions or doing actions.
• Freedom should be exercised in a responsible and beneficial manner.
Individuals must exercise control over their actions and recognize
reasonable limits to their freedom. Freedom should also be exercised with
regard for knowledge and truth, and each choice or action must be made
after careful thought and reflection. Finally, it is our responsibility as persons
to uphold not only our individual freedoms, but also the freedom of others.