INTRODUCTION TO THE

PHILOSOPHY OF THE
HUMAN PERSON
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
 Lesson 1:
Definition of
Freedom and It’s
Kind
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 What is Freedom? - The
ability to make choices and
perform those choices.
 - The ability to be what we
want and to decide and
create oneself.

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Two concepts that will help us fully
understand freedom:
1. Freedom itself
According to Merriam Dictionary, it is the
quality or state of being free. It is our capacity
to choose of what we wanted and an inner
awareness of what is right and wrong that is
traced to our free will according to Aristotle. It is
also an intrinsic and an essential property of a
human person which basically means, it is a
part of our human nature
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 Example:
Think of yourself as a student, your teacher
told you to study your lessons for the day for you
will have a long quiz the next meeting. However,
as you reached home you find yourself having a
good time doing Facebook and online chatting
with your friends. Using your freedom, you can
either choose to follow your teacher’s advice to
study your lessons for your quiz the next morning
or continue doing the thing which you find
enjoyable.
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2. Free will
Our free will allows us to decide on
things we do depending on the
situation. It is our ability to choose
between two different possible courses
of action, independently. Simply put it,
free will is our ability to choose things
according to our moral reasoning.
 To sum it all, our freedom then could trace down in a
person’s exercise of his rationality/intellect and free
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will. Simply that individual actions as it is freely
chosen by an individual it then defines who and what
kind of person one is. We all are free to choose, to be
good person and act on it accordingly or be a bad
person and act in a bad way. As our actions and
choices reflects us doing what is good and acting on
it is what makes you a good person while on the
other hand doing the negative will also give a
negative impression to an individual. We are aware
that self-determination or the ability to choose on
what is right and wrong, that a person’s action
determines what kind of person he or she becomes.
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 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 determined
manner. You cannot be everywhere at once, but
your freedom allows you to move one place to
another and to go whenever 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 to a person. No
outside force or influence can compel a
 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 freer 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 violates human dignity and goodness, he or
she dehumanizes himself or herself and effectively
negates human freedom.
Activity:
My Reflection.

 . Write your reflection in a ½
sheet of paper. Take a look at
the pictures. What can you say
about the pictures? Have you
been in this kind of situation?
What are the things you
considered in making choices?
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

 Lesson 2: Elements
of Freedom
There are two elements
that define freedom:
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 1. Voluntariness
It is the ability of a person to act of his
or her own free will and self-
determination. A person may decide to
do things or not to do it according to
his own free will. It also means that
even though she/he is not required to
do such things he/she could still do it
or take action on it.
 Voluntary acts -

are free acts which can be
assigned a corresponding moral value. One
must always remember that in every action we
make, in every choice we make there is an
equivalent consequence. These consequences
affect not just the individual who does the
decision but also other people in their
surroundings. With that, one must always
accept the consequences that results from his
or her decisions or actions and take
responsibility for them.
2. Responsibility

 Responsibility

refers to the person
being accountable for his or her action
and their consequences. Taking
responsibility can mean either you
take responsibility to your action
voluntarily or other people will hold
you responsible. For example, if you
made a bad action it’s either you take
responsibility of it or other people will
hold you responsible for it

 Michael invited Ken to a party club. At the club, Ken was very
surprised to see his former classmates and some acquaintances. It
was very lively, people were dancing, singing and others were
drinking and smoking. But, there is something that caught Ken’s
attention, a group of people in the corner doing something unusual.
And to his surprise, Michael was one of them. He came near to them
and Michael immediately offer him a methamphetamine (shabu). At
first, he refused knowing that the use of it is illegal. However, with
the persistent effort of Michael, Ken tried it. Unexpectedly, police
officers came to raid the club. Ken was abducted. Based on this
situation, voluntariness was manifested by Ken’s personal
acceptance of the illegal drug because he uses his own freewill.
Responsibility comes with Ken’s choice of action. Meaning, he had
to accept his fate to be in the prison cell as a consequence of his
freewill.
There are important factors to
consider in the exercise of freedom.
These are Prudence and Self-
reflection. 
 Prudence- is the ability to govern and
discipline oneself with the use of reason; it
is having caution and giving good
judgments in making decisions. Because
once we made a decision there is no
turning back, there is no rewind, so we
should always reflect first on the possible
outcomes of the choices that we are going
to make. Self-reflection is very important in
exercising freedom.


Self-reflection allows us to be more rational
in making choices, because sometimes
human beings tend to be slaves by their
emotions and moods whenever they act
certain things. As free beings, exercising our
freedom responsibly is very important. Thus,
it requires us to reflect on the actions that we
are going to make by considering its possible
effects and the benefits it has to the people
affected by it.

 Recall a situation in your life
where you apply prudence
in making a choice. How
does this decision create an
impact in your life?
Exercising Freedom in a
Responsible and Beneficial
Manner

 Freedom should be exercised
with control and reasonable
limits. As humans, we enjoy
freedom, but we need to
understand that it is not
absolute. Meaning, we should
exercise our freedom with
control and reasonable limits.
Examples


1. A student may be first in line in a grocery store
but chooses to give way to an elderly woman next
to her.
 2. You may be very upset to a friend for losing a
thing she borrowed but refuses to confront her
because you already know that she already feels
bad of herself for the thing she had done.
 3. You may be very angry with your teacher for
scolding you in front of the entire class, but you
refrained from answering back at him/her since it
will be considered as disrespectful act

 Giving limits to our personal
freedom simply means sacrificing
certain self-interest and accept
that there are things beyond our
control. Our ability to think and
know what is right and what is
wrong serves as guide in
recognizing and deciding the
Freedom should be exercised
with regard for knowledge and
truth.

 As a rational beings, it is natural
for us to think before we act.
We use our freedom to acquire
knowledge, which in turn are
useful in making right and
sound decisions essential in
dealing with our life situations.
Example

 To correctly answer a
multiple-choice item in an
examination, a student has
to study his/her lessons.
Otherwise, he/she cannot
answer the test

 We should also be equipped
with the ability to acquire
information and truthful
knowledge because it will aid
us in making wise and
informed choices.
Example

 In casting our votes during SSG
election, we will not vote to a
candidate because of she/he is
attractive or appealing but
because she/he is knowledgeable
on the important school issues.
Freedom should be exercised
to uphold the freedom of
others

 Freedom is recognized and
guaranteed right for all persons.
Meaning, freedom should be enjoyed
by all. But it is important to remember
that 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.
Example

 A teacher doing his/her class
discussion under the Narra tree
instead of having it inside the
classroom.
 You shared your hard-earned
money to cater the needs of your
friend who is in dire needs of it for
the realization of his/her school
Activity: Reflection

 Reflect on your past experiences and
identify a moment when you believed
you had “no choice” regarding your
action or decisions, or you made a
choice that you eventually regretted.
Reevaluate the situation and how
important is it to apply prudence in
making a choice.

 Reflect on a problem you are
currently facing. Create a
graphic organizer outlining the
possible choices you can make
and their corresponding
consequences.
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