HUMAN FREEDOM

All of us seem to be at
least experientially aware
of freedom in choice.
In fact, it is difficult to comprehend most of human
activities without the immanence of freewill.
“I do this”,
“She thinks that…”
“They choose this”,
“You admit that”
“ I want this…”
“You accept this…”
With just knowing that
we are doing/thinking
something, and that
we are conscious that
we are doing/thinking
such, we can say that
there is in what we
think/do an element of
responsibility we put
to ourselves.
Consequently, we
don’t have anyone
than ourselves to be
blamed or praised
because of our action.
 It has often
been
maintained,
therefore, that
this universal
experience of
freedom
provides the
greatest proof
for its own
existence.
 However, it is this primary universal
experience of freedom that has been called
into question by philosophers, theologians,
psychologists, and even historians.
 B.F. Skinner, an extremely influential behavioral psychologist
from Harvard, is one of those who questioned the very
existence of human freedom. He seems to affirm that man is
not free because (a) all present behavior is controlled by
previous behavior and (b) all behavior has motivational causes
which are necessitating causes.

In other words, man is not free because he is determined by

his historicity.
Nevertheless, there are also people who
believed otherwise. One of them was Jean-
Paul Sartre, an existentialist philosopher of
the contemporary period. His position
seems to be one of absolute indeterminism
or total freedom. He believed that man has
no historicity. All he has are future
possibilities the possession of which he
absolutely holds. He is not defined and
determined; he defines and determines
himself.
Abraham Maslow, on the
other hand, seems to
offer a compromise
position. On the one
hand, he agrees that man
has historicity which
colours his identity and
action. On the other
hand, he denies that this
historicity impedes
man’s freedom. Rather, it
gives man opportunities
wherein he can exercise
his freedom. For him,
human freedom is a
structured freedom.
Freedom &
“Freedom is not worth
having if it does not
include the freedom to
make mistakes
-Mahatma Gandhi
”
What does
FREEDOM
mean to
you?
There are plenty definitions of
FREEDOM
Freewill Freedom of Speech

Liberty Freedom of Choice

Rights Autonomy
FREEDOM
 Internal Self
Freedom Freedom

External Political
TYPES OF
Freedom FREEDOM Freedom

Collective Spiritual
Freedom Freedom
 Internal Freedom
• the greatest personal intimacy and
secrecy, indeed it is the hidden
core of our being and unknowable
by others.
• The first and most basic type of
freedom is embodied by the fellow
in jail. He has all his internal
freedom, but no liberty. All normal
human beings are born and
remain free in the most important
sense that they are forever and at
every conscious moment freely-
choosing beings.
• It distinguishes human beings
from the animal kingdom, and
from each other, and is the basis
on which we are able to become
moral - or a-moral, or immoral -
beings.
 Internal Freedom
Some people call this
moral freedom. But this
kind of freedom is not in
itself moral. Rather, it is the
unique capacity we have to
become moral or immoral
according to how we use our
freedom.
Moral freedom. Moral
freedom is not the right to do
what you want—it is the
strength to do what is right.
 Self Freedom
• The sense of learning how
to escape the ever-present
danger of enslavement by
our own passions and
ignorance.
• Self-freedom had to do with the
practice of self-control,
restraint, and balance to
achieve the admired master-
slave relationship of soul over
body that they were certain is
essential for the good life.
• The goal of this kind of freedom
is therefore often expressed as
the need “to find my self”
 External Freedom
• This refers to the normal
and common freedoms
expected in daily life, in
most countries, throughout
history.
• Sometimes called “freedom
from...”
• It implies immunity from
excessive interference by
authority, especially by
government.
• It is also sometimes called
“negative freedom,” meaning
freedom to do anything not
forbidden by the laws.
 Political Freedom
• Sometimes called
“freedom to...”
• Has to do with
establishing certain rights
of action and limits to
government power that
help to guarantee the
practice of those rights.
 Political Freedom
• The most common
political freedoms are:
 right to speak freely
 to associate with people of
your choice
 to own property
 to worship
 to leave and re-enter your
country
 to vote in elections.
 Collective Freedom
• Sometimes called
“freedom for…”
• based on an ideology of
collective unity that
prescribes distinct social
and moral values and
objectives for all.
• example, often under this
ideal of freedom the state
is allowed to control the
production of all basic
citizen needs, thus giving
them freedom-from-
want.
 Spiritual Freedom
• In its purest form this type
of freedom comes from
striving for a complete
identification with God to
arrive at a condition of soul
that transcends the
confusion and disharmony
of the self and the material
world.
• For this type, strict control
if not denial of the
allurements of the body
leads to complete freedom
of the spirit.
“
With great power comes

”
great responsibility

-Spiderman
What does
RESPONSIBILITY
mean to you?
RESPONSIBILITY
 RESPONSIBILITY
CONTEXT
LEGAL MORAL
• what can be • what the person
established in a actually did (truth,
court on the basis discovery)
of evidence. • Subject to further
• Subject to moral criteria
additional legal
criteria
 RESPONSIBILITY
CONTEXT
LEGAL MORAL
 RESPONSIBILITY AND
JUSTICE
A distinction between the objects of justice:
“Goods” “Bads”
• The traditional • The traditional
concern of concern of theories
distributive of punishment
justice. (“retributive
• e.g. wealth, justice”)
income, liberty, • poverty,
rights, happiness. deprivation,
constraint, ill-
treatment, misery
 RESPONSIBILITY AND
JUSTICE
An asymmetry in desert:
• Deserving a “good” need not entail
responsibility (mugging victim deserves
compensation; patient deserves medical
care; everyone deserves respect; even a
criminal deserves a fair trial)
• Deserving a “bad” does seem to require
responsibility (as in punishment)
Four Kinds of
Responsibility
Role Responsibility
The duties one has for doing various things which
come with occupying a certain role in society

Causal Responsibility
What caused something to happen

Liability Responsibility
Who is liable for something’s happening

Capacity Responsibility
The capacity of a person to be held liability
responsible for their actions
 The Relata of
Responsibility

The Party the

The Agent of The Object of Agent is
Responsibility Responsibility Responsible
to
“ Responsibility is the

”
price of freedom

-Elbert Hubbard
 THANK YOU FOR
LISTENING !

Citation:
http://homepages.ed.ac.uk/wpollard/responsibility.pdf
http://www.williamgairdner.com/journal/2006/7/4/six-kinds-of-
freedom.html