Behavior, Freedom, and Responsibility in Human Existence
Behavior, Freedom, and Responsibility
Behavior of Living Things
Types of Behavior
- Tropism: Plant behavior, reactions to environmental stimuli (e.g., plants growing towards light).
- Taxis: Movement of living organisms towards or away from a stimulus.
- Reflexes: Immediate, involuntary, and inherited nervous system responses to stimuli.
- Instincts: Inherited behavior patterns common to a species (e.g., birds building nests).
- Conscious Conduct: Human behavior characterized by conscious decision-making and innovation.
Consciousness and Freedom
Consciousness implies autonomy and forms the foundation of freedom.
Alienation, Oppression, and Coercion
Alienation
Karl Marx studied alienation in 19th-century factories, where workers were exploited. Their work served the employer’s needs, not their own, reducing their lives to mere subsistence.
Oppression and Coercion
Totalitarian regimes disregard individual freedoms, subjecting societies to oppression and coercion. Even under such conditions, individuals retain responsibility for their actions, as they have the freedom to choose, even if consequences are severe.
Responsibility
Responsibility involves making conscious choices and accepting the consequences. It requires freedom and conscience. Only those in control of their actions are held responsible. Factors diminishing self-control reduce responsibility. Responsibility implies trust and commitment to the community.
Philosophical Perspectives on Responsibility
- Friedrich Nietzsche: Humans are domesticated, forced into conformity. Concepts like guilt enforce this submission. Nietzsche advocates self-accountability, where freedom means answering only to oneself.
- Jean-Paul Sartre: “Nothing can be good for us unless it is good for all.” Every free act considers the ideal human prototype. Responsibility encompasses humanity.
- Max Weber: Introduced the “ethics of responsibility” for politicians, emphasizing the consequences of their actions. Principles alone are insufficient, leading to fanaticism or legitimizing anything.
- Hannah Arendt: Connects responsibility with education. Educating children means introducing them to the world. Adult authority stems from responsibility. The crisis of authority signifies adults refusing responsibility for the world children inherit.