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Aristotle's View on Human Freedom

Human freedom and will are shaped by both internal and external forces according to philosophers Aristotle, Aquinas, Sartre, Hobbes, and Rousseau. Aristotle saw human will as the ability to choose between right and wrong, while Aquinas believed humans perfect themselves through virtuous actions. For Sartre, humans define their own essence through free will. Hobbes and Rousseau viewed the social contract and laws as establishing order while balancing individual freedom and the general will of the people.

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1K views13 pages

Aristotle's View on Human Freedom

Human freedom and will are shaped by both internal and external forces according to philosophers Aristotle, Aquinas, Sartre, Hobbes, and Rousseau. Aristotle saw human will as the ability to choose between right and wrong, while Aquinas believed humans perfect themselves through virtuous actions. For Sartre, humans define their own essence through free will. Hobbes and Rousseau viewed the social contract and laws as establishing order while balancing individual freedom and the general will of the people.

Uploaded by

Jasper Depedro
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
  • Introduction
  • Aristotle's Philosophy
  • St. Thomas Aquinas
  • Jean Paul Sartre
  • Theory of Social Contract

Freedom of the Human Person

PREPARED BY : MS. LENIE ESCARLAN


Realize that “All Actions Have Consequences”
• Aristotle- The Power of Volition
• volition or will is the cognitive process by which an individual decides
on and commits to a particular course of action.
– The will of humanity is an instrument of free choice. It is within
the power of everyone to be good or bad, worth or worthless
this is born out by:
• our inner awareness of an aptitude to do right or wrong.
• the common testimony of all human beings.
• the rewards and punishment of rulers.
• the general employment of praise and blame.
ARISTOTLE
– For Aristotle, a human being is rational. Reason is a divine
characteristic. Humans have the spark of the divine. If there were
no intellect, there would be no will.

WILL----------> ACTION---------> REACTION


• St. Thomas Aquinas- Love is Freedom
– of all creatures of God, human beings have the unique power to
change themselves and the things around them for the better.
– St Thomas said, that in the plan of God, a human being has to
develop and perfect himself by doing his daily tasks. Hence, if a
human being is perseveringly lives a righteous and virtuous life,
he transcends his mortal state of life.
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
St. Thomas Aquinas fourfold classification of law:
• Eternal Law- is the Divine Wisdom of God which overseas the
common good and governs everything.
– Eternal law is God's plan to lead all creation towards God's eternal salvation
plan to be holy and blameless before Him through Jesus Christ
(Ephesians1:4-5)
• Divine Law- is the historical laws of Scripture given to us through
God's self-revelation.
– It is divided into Old Law and the New Law, which correspond to the Old and
New testaments of the Bible.
– Old Law, revealed by God to Moses. Ten Commandments.
– New Law, perfects the Old Law. Teachings of Jesus, commands internal
conduct, and reaches us by divine love, promising love and heavenly
reward.
• Natural Law- is “the Rational creature's participation in the
eternal law”
– The 1st principle of the Natural Law is “good is to be done and
pursued, and evil avoided”
• Human Law- is the interpretation of natural law in different
contexts.
– natural law is a foundation for moral and civil law.
• St. Thomas Aquinas- Spiritual Freedom

ACTIONS
GOOD OR EVIL
• Jean Paul Sartre- Individual Freedom
– Sartre’s philosophy is considered to be a representative of
existentialism
– For Sartre, the human person is the desire to be God. The desire
to exist as a being which had its sufficient ground in itself.
– Sartre’s existentialism stems from this principle “existence
precedes essence.
JEAN PAUL SARTRE
Theory Of Social Contract

Social Contract- it is a theory that has a concern with the


legitimacy of the authority of the state over the individual.
• Thomas Hobbes- defines contract as the ”mutual
transferring of right’’.
• Jean Jacques Rousseau- argues that laws are binding
only when they are supported by the general will of
people.
THOMAS HOBBES
JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU

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