Man and Freedom

Important Notes on Free Will

There is freedom because there is the feeling of freedom.

The object of the will is good.

However, only unconditional good can stop the freedom of the will.

Absolute freedom due to ignorance nullifies freedom of choice Ex. Deception

How can we exercise freedom? Reflective Analysis

1. Self-possession

2. Freedom of Choice

Questioning

Distancing oneself

Valuing

Total Determinism

Reinforcement can mold one’s behavior.

Structures influence my choice Genetic, Biological, and

Physical structures

Environmental Structures Culture, psychological dev’t

External forces demanding the creation of needs and values

B.F. Skinner (1904-1990)

Historicity

“surface freedom”

Being able to ‘do what you

want’

Being free to act, and

choose, as you will

BUT: what if ‘what you will’

is not under your control?

Why is freedom important? We need to be free in order to be responsible for our

actions; our practices of praise and blame presuppose

that we are free

Sociological Determinism

Something is wrong with society which causes bad

behavior

Example: the abuse excuse, media violence, rock

lyrics, and different cultural mores

Theological Determinism

The “all-knowing” characteristic of God contradicts the idea

of human free will.

If God knows everything, then every choice and every

consequence of that choice was already known

Psychological Determinism

This pertains to the belief that actions are pre-determined

based on one’s most urgent need.

Stealing due to poverty or extreme hunger.

Limitations of Historicity

I can question my own

environmental structures. I

can revolt.

I can achieve distance from

the external demands and

forces. I can hesitate,

reflect, challenge.

Absolute Freedom

For Jean-Paul Sartre, man

is…

Structureless

For-itself

Transparent

Continuously projecting it-self

“Man does not exist first in order to be

free subsequently; there is no difference

between the being of man and his

being free.”

Sartre Against Determinism

Existence is resistance; Freedom is the struggle against what is given

Man is not tied down by his past or the choices he made in his past.

There is no limitation to one’s identity; my own identity, my own essence.

I have an ability to question, to negate, to achieve a distance from necessity - No structure, no misery, no pain.

Structured Freedom

Skinner

•Historicity

•Structure

Sartre

•Free Questioning

Freedom Within One’s Humanity and

Historicity

Structures are offerings of the world; I may or may not take them.

I can question my Self, myself as a Knower, myself as a Lover due to my values/structures

Through structures, I can create structures to share to the world: My life project

Man is a freedom within structure.

On Freedom and Anxiety Alone in a forbidden room

At the end of all freedom is a court sentence.

There’s no escape

Every moment holds thousands of possibilities but we can choose only a single one of these; all the others we have condemned, damned to non-being and that too, for all eternity