FREEDOM

ANALYZE THE FOLLOWING QOUTES

I am free, no matter what

rules surround me. If I found
them tolerable, I tolerate
them, if I find them too
obnoxious, I break them. I
am free because I know that I
alone am morally responsible
for everything I do.
Robert A. Heinlein
 The really important kind of
freedom involves attention, and
awareness, and discipline, and
effort and being able truly to care
about other people and to sacrifice
for them, over and over, in myriad
petty little unsexy ways, every day.

• David Foster Wallace

Freedom or Liberty is
a social and political
concept which has great
significance in how
people participate in the
society.
The concept of freedom
emerged as an
important philosophical
issue in the 18 century
th

Europe during the Age

of Enlightenment.
 Enlightenment thinkers believed
that early man existed in a “natural
state” and had absolute freedom.
However the establishment of
societies required people to
surrender some of their freedoms in
order to live in harmony with
others and ensure the survival of
the society.
Inestablishing a society,
people entered into a
“social contract” which
defined the freedoms that
they will be enjoying as
members of a society and
the state.
Freedom in a political and
social context means the
freedom of an individual from
oppression, compulsion or
coercion from other persons,
an authority figure, or from
society itself.
`
 Political freedom consists of two
types of liberties.
 Positive Liberty- refers to a person
taking control of his on her own life
and fulfilling one’s potential.
 Negative Liberty- on the other
hand, is freedom from external
restraint, barriers, and other
interferences from other people.
The development of a
number of political
ideologies was
influenced by varied
ideas on human
liberty.
Liberalism-upholds the
preservation of
individual rights and
stresses the role of
government in
protecting these civil
liberties.
Libertarianism- on
the other hand, believes
that the individual, not
the government, is the
best judge in upholding
and exercising rights.
Socialism- considers
freedom as the freedom
to acquire economic
resources and the ability
to work and act
according to one’s
desires.
 Freedom also entails the
recognition of certain rights and
entitlements of persons.
 Natural Rights refers to the rights
which innate in the person such as
the right to life.
 Legal rights are rights that are
based on society’s custom and laws,
and are enacted by legislation and
enforced by a government.
 WHAT MAKES US
FREE? HOW DOES
FREEDOM SHAPE OUR
EXPERIENCE?
Freedom, in its simplest sense,
is the freedom to make choices in
life.
Philosophers relate human
freedom to the concept of
human agency, which refers to
the capacity of a person to act
and exert control over his or her
behaviour.
 HUMAN FREEDOM EXPRESS IN
TWO WAYS:

FREE WILL- which is the

capacity to choose from
alternative program courses
of action or program.
FREE ACTION- the
freedom to perform an action
without any obstacles or
hindrances.
 FACULTIES MODEL
Refers to free will as the use
of our mental faculties. It
assumes that we have free
will due t0 our intellect and
that each human action is
based on rationality and
sound judgement.
 HIERARCHICAL MODEL
Argues that free will is based
on human wants and desires.
An individual is faced with
various wants and desires
that need to be met. A person
exercises free will when he or
she identifies one desire as
acceptable and decides to act
on it.
REASONS-RESPONSIVE
VIEW
Believes that man has
free will because he or
she is able to entertain
reasons not to enact a
certain decision and act
upon them when the
need arises.
WHAT CAN PREVENT US
FROM EXERCISING
FREEDOM?
Constraints
Determinism
 HOW CAN
EFFECTIVELY
EXERCISE FREEDOM
IN LIFE?
Moral responsibility
Control and Regulations
Social Contract