PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

FREEDOM OF CHOICE AND ITS

CONSEQUENCES
 OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson you should be able to:
 Define freedom and explain the freedom of the
human person.
 Prove that all actions and choices have
consequences.
 Evaluate and exercise prudence in choice
 Realize that some things are given up while
others are obtained in making choices
 Show situations that demonstrate freedom of
choice and the consequences of their choices
Imagine you won a big
contest, and you were
asked to choose just one
of the following prizes:
 A luxury car with a non-transferable
contract.
 A 4-year college educational scholarship
at any school in the Philippines.
 A one-month all-expense paid to three
European countries.
• Which prize will you choose?
• What factors made you come
up with that decision?
Let us find out the
answers !
Learn about it!
In the previous example, you were asked to
choose just one prize.

Seemingly all of them are great prizes.

However if you will weigh the pros and cons

of each, you will easily realize that one
maybe better than the other
Luxury Car
Status symbol, but there is high cost of
maintenance and the burden of Gasoline

European Trip
Fun but impractical

4-yr Scholarship
Best choice. It is long term and useful.
In choosing which prize to get, you have
already exercised your freedom to make
decisions.

HOWEVER,

It is important to realize that the choices

you make have corresponding
consequences.
The power or right to act,
speak, or think as you
want without hindrance
or restraint is called
FREEDOM.
The ability to exercise
one’s freedom is called
FREEDOM OF CHOICE.
By law, all human beings are entitled to
make decisions for themselves in whatever
way they choose to.
The only exception to this rule is when one’s
absolute choice harms or delimits the self and
others.

Freedom of choice also includes the way one acts

towards another.

All forms of actions, therefore, are brought about

by a person’s decision to accomplish them.

All decisions, big or small, have corresponding

consequences which may be good or bad
Two concepts of FREEDOM
(Isaiah Berlin)

NEGATIVE FREEDOM
-Freedom from interference or restrictions
- Freedom from control by others

POSITIVE FREEDOM
- Freedom to control oneself
- to be one’s own master
- Man is positively free only when the higher
self is in command
FREEDOM AND CONSCIOUS
SELF - AWARENESS
SELF-AWARENESS
- knowledge of one’s own existence and
one’s environment.
- “knowing that you know”
-Determines whether a particular being is
free or not.
- It is what separates us from animals.
SELF - AWARENESS
Due to self awareness
• We are aware that we are aware of
something
• We are able to judge if our choices
are good or bad, advantageous or
disadvantageous.
SELF - AWARENESS
Without self awareness
• We would not recognize the value of
our decisions
• We will be consigned to an existence
that is fully determined by our
environment
• We would not feel remorse for our
failures.
• We would not hope for future
ambitions.
SELF - AWARENESS
Importance to Human Freedom
• Self awareness gives us the capacity
to imagine possibilities and
alternatives to our present conditions

• These possibilities and alternatives

are the reasons why we have choices
to make.
FREEDOM and AUTONOMY
AUTONOMY
Autos – self Nomos - law

• The ability to choose in accordance with

one’s own motivation.
• the capacity to be one's own person, to live one's life
according to reasons and motives that are taken as
one's own and not the product of manipulative or
distorting external forces.
• To be autonomous is to have the FREEDOM to act in
accordance with one’s own values, beliefs and
principles
FREEDOM and LIMITATIONS
NATURAL LIMITATIONS
• Being Human, Growing old, Diseases, Death, Form
of your body, Our existence,
INTERPERSONAL LIMITATIONS
• Parents, Family, Personality, Friends, Body Type,
Height, Skin color,
SOCIO-HISTORICAL EVENTS
• Time of Birth, Language,Culture, Society, Religious
beliefs, Technology

Things you can no longer change

Does our Freedom
have limits?
Of course our freedom is limited.
FIRST, we are limited by our own human
abilities and the physical laws to which
we are subjected.
We cannot fly like a bird, regardless of how hard we
try.
Second, some actions are explicitly
prohibited, or sometimes mandated, by
the laws to which we are subjected.
As a Filipino citizen, I have to pay my taxes; I cannot
commit murder in the first degree; and so on.
Now, it is worth asking:

How are these limits?

Is it an exercise of freedom, properly

speaking, to indulge into fantasies like
flying like a bird, or to murder someone?

Or is it delusional or beyond the realm of

freedom proper?
If I know what is possible and what is not
possible;
what is within my power to control and
what is out of it;
then I can adjust my mind to that, and
make decisions that shall never be met
with contradiction.
Hence I shall be absolutely free.
FREEDOM
ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY

Your freedom affects others.

Your decisions affect other people’s lives!

In making decisions and exercising freedom

of choice, determine the adverse effects
(short-term or long-term) beforehand.

Exercise Prudence in your choices!

SUMMARY
• Self-awareness provides us with
AUTONOMY and RESPONSIBILITY
• Our past and other external forces in our
environment influence our behavior but
they cannot fully determine our choices.
• Our choices and decisions are based on
our own motivations.
• We are accountable for our own choices in
life.
SUMMARY
• Genuine freedom involves our
responsibility towards others.
• Being Free requires prudence in our
choices
• To develop prudence is to develop our
ability to carefully consider the short and
long term consequences of our actions.