Lesson 5 of the subject Introduction to the Philosophy of Human Person (IPHP)

2. ESSENTIAL TOPICS that Ensure the Development of
Primary Skills in LearnersCONTENT ESSENTIAL TOPICS
Doing Philosophy Partial vs. Holistic Perspective
Methods of Philosophizing Opinion vs. Truth
The Human Person as an Embodied Spirit Limitations vs. Possibilities for Transcendence
The Human Person in Their Environment Disorder vs. Order in an Environment
Freedom of the Human Person Choices and Consequences
Intersubjectivity Authentic Dialogue and Accepting Differences
The Human Person in Society Dialect of Individual and Society
Human Persons as Oriented Towards Their Impending
Death
Death and the Meaning of Life

3. Draft a “ LIFE-PLAN
Proposal” that entails
critical analysis of the
circumstances to respond
to the demands and
challenges of life in the 21st
century.

4. LEARNING COMPETENCIES:
5.1. Realize that “all actions have consequences.”
5.2. Evaluate and exercise prudence in choices
5.3. Realize that:
a. Choices have consequences
b. Some things are given up while others
are obtained in making choices
5.4. Show situations that demonstrate freedom of
choice and the consequences of their choices

5. TOPIC:
The Human Person and
Freedom

6. QUESTIONS:
1. When was the time you felt
most free?
2. When was the time you felt
unfree?

7. LISTEN:
WHAT THE
HELL
by Avril Lavigne

8. Human Beings have a deep desire
to be free, but freedom is an often
abused term.

9. QUESTIONS:
What truly is freedom?

11. THE NATURE OF FREEDOM
Does freedom means:
- The ability to choose our own
government
- Being able to live our own personal
lifestyle.
- Being safe and secure from evils that
threaten us like disease, poverty, and
political expression.

12. MEANING OF FREEDOM
Freedom is a word with many meanings.
There is:
 Political
 Economic
 Social
 Emotional
 spiritual

13. QUESTIONS:
Does freedom mean the ability to
do whatever we choose? Or is it
the ability to do what we ought to
do?

14. FREEDOM OF CHOICE
 Deals with freedom of thought
 Freedom of will

15. REAL FREEDOM
 Are we really free?
 We have to deal with freedom
of choice or freedom of will

16. ROBERT FROST (The Road not Taken)
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I
I took the road less travelled by
And that has made all the difference

17. CHOICES
R
E
A
S
O
N
S
OBJECTIONS
Religious Objection
Psychological Objection
Biological Objection

18. PROBLEM OF FREEDOM AND
NECESSITY
 There is a conflict between our feeling of
freedom and the many reasons that seem to
suggest that our actions are not free.
 REWARD vs. PUNISHMENT

19. There are basically three views on this issue
between free will and necessity:
 Determinism
 Libertarianism
 Compatibilism

28. COMPATIBILISM: Arguments and
Objections
 Libetarianism vs. Determinism on the meaning of
free will are mutually exclusive, logically
incompatible and irreconcilable.
 For compatibilism to be valid, it must define
freedom in a different way.

29. Compatibilists therefore says that, for an
action to be free, there must be these three
things:
1. There must be no compulsion external or outside of the one
performing the action.
2. The immediate cause of an action is because of an internal,
psychological cause within the person, that is, the action is performed
because of a wish, motive, or desire within the person.
3. In a given situation, the person, if he or she wanted, could have acted
differently.

30. The compatibilist believes that an action that meets
those criteria is free.
The person is responsible for the action because if the
person had wanted something else, he or she could have
done differently.
The action is free even though the action has a
sufficient cause.

31. According to William Hasker, solution is an
illusion
 Example is Max’s story
 Sufficient Condition:
o Proximate Cause and
o Prior Cause

32. THESE PRIOR EVENTS AND CIRCUMSTANCES ARE THE
SUFFICIENT CONDITION FOR HIS STEALING THEM.
PROXIMATE CAUSE- The Proximate Cause Is The Immediate Set Of Events
And Circumstances That Made Max Steal.
 His Desire To Have New Hubcaps
 His Belief That He Could Not Get Them In Any Other Way.
Prior Cause- According To Determinists The Previous Causes Include Events In
Max's Life.
 Things That Max Said
 Things That Max Did
 Things That Other People Said To Him
 Things That Other People Did To Him

33. Proximate Cause
 Immediate set of events and circumstances that
made Max Steal. (subjective)
Prior Cause
 The previous causes include events in Max’s life.
(objective)

34. ANALYSIS OF THE SITUATION
 Max’s Responsibility
 Max’s Freedom

35. max's responsibility
- we need to ask a few questions about max's responsibility.
is max responsible for the prior cause?
how could he be responsible when the events and circumstances
happened before he even existed?
is max responsible because if the prior cause happens, then max's theft
of the hubcaps must also happen?
is max therefore responsible for the stealing of the hubcaps?

36. DETERMINISM: Arguments and Objections
Misconceptions
 The problem with the determinist position is not in the
experience of choosing but in the interpretation of choice.
(alternatives)
 The difference between the libertarian and the determinist is
not in the experience of choosing but in the interpretation of
the experience.

37. DETERMINISM: Arguments and Objections
Arguments
 Wilhelm Leibniz, the eighteenth century philosopher, put forth
the “principle of Sufficient Reason”
 When applied to human choice it is called PSYCHOLOGICAL
DETERMINISM.

38. DETERMINISM:
Arguments and
Objections
Arguments
 See Buridan’s Ass by
Jean Buridan

39. DETERMINIST: modern science seems to
reinforce those arguments.
 From Physics
 Biology
 Freudian Psychoanalysis
 Psychological Behaviorism
 Sociology

40.  According to these views, we are all part of
a universal cosmic and causal order, so the
case for determinism seems to be strong.
However, there are objections.

41. OBJECTIONS
1. The argument of the determinists that the methods of science
favour their view seems invalid.
2. Physics, in particular, has been the main support of the
determinists.
3. The determinist view would be all the more difficult to prove
in the biological sciences, since these deals with human
beings.
4. There is no support for the determinist’s claim that
psychologically, “we always act on the strongest motive”

42.  The determinist then has only one option:
to identify the strongest as that will lead to
action.

43. LIBETERIANISM (Free Will)
Misconceptions
 Sometimes, libertarians are accused of believing that “free choice” is a
chance or random event. Libertarians believe that a free choice is a
choice.
 A libertarian does not deny that there are motives to human choices.
 A libertarian does not also deny that certain motivations, like rewards or
punishments, influence actions.
 A libertarian denies that “we always act on the strongest motive”

44. Authentic Freedom
 Asks questions regarding the nature of freedom
 Is not an opposite of discipline, they can coexist.
 It has rootedness.

45. Freedom in Community
 Human life is a shared life. It is life in communion
and communication with others. In order to know
anything, including ourselves, we need others.

46. The Double Danger
 Individualism vs Globalization

47. Jurgen Moltmann mentions three dimensions
of human freedom
1. Freedom as domination
2. Freedom as a free community
3. Freedom as the creative passion for the possible

48. THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS
1. Pride
2. Greed
3. Envy
4. Sloth
5. Wrath
6. Gluttony
7. Lust

49. THE CARDINAL VIRTUES
1. Prudence
2. Temperance
3. Justice
4. Fortitude

50. ACTIVITY:
SKIT:
potraying one or more deadly sins
(3-5 minutes)

51. FILM VIEWING:
Cry Freedom

52. ACTIVITY:
Reflection Paper
guided with question:
How do you see
freedom now as a
whole?
Rubrics, pg. 45 of TG