Understanding Freedom: Human Action, Conditions, and Possibilities

Posted on Mar 30, 2025 in Philosophy and ethics

Understanding Freedom: Human Conditions and Possibilities

What is Freedom?

Freedom means having different alternatives from which to choose. Freedom of action refers to actions carried out as we decide, without anyone preventing us. External freedom exists in the legal and political arena. Freedom of choice means that our choices may not be given voluntarily. Inner freedom relates to the field of morality.

Is Man Free?

This is a subjective belief. We inevitably conduct certain actions, but there are factors that can influence our conduct. However, in the last instance, we choose between several alternatives.

Possible Attitudes

  1. Determinism: Denial of freedom. Freedom is an illusion caused by unknown causes that make our actions true and inevitable. The way we act is the only possible response to a strict causal order.
  2. Indeterminism: Affirmation of freedom. You can choose between different options.

Can the Existence of Freedom Be Proven?

  1. Freedom as Evidence: Some philosophers consider freedom an essential and clear feature.
  2. Freedom as Belief: Other philosophers consider freedom not provable, but argue that if freedom does not exist, action loses moral sense. It justifies moral effort.

What Leads to Freedom in Humans?

It is not certain instincts. There is a biological indeterminacy. Even if society is powerful, we are not entirely determined. This lack of determination allows human beings to consider the correct decision.

In a deterministic vision, our actions are the result of complex factors. In an indeterminist vision, human beings have dominion over these factors, being able to select priorities and produce different results.

Limitations to Human Freedom

  1. Biological Conditions:
    • Genetic: Behavior determined by our genes.
    • Psychological: Elements of unconscious character and instinct.
  2. Cultural Policies:
    • Social
    • Economic
    • Religious

Types of Determinism

  1. Theological Determinism: Ancient Greek and Roman religions believed in destiny or fate. The Protestant Reformation (sixteenth century) also denied freedom, introducing the idea of human predestination. God is omniscient and knows everything, so what has happened was already established.
  2. Physical Determinism: Submits humans to the same physical laws that govern nature, which is designed following a deterministic order. Its consequence is the denial of freedom from scientific presuppositions, represented by mechanistic materialism.
  3. Reductionist Determinisms: Factors influencing human conduct or condition, considering one crucial above all others. This man is determined by their genes (genetic determinism), his or her unconscious responses to pleasant stimuli (psychological determinism), economics (economic determinism), the education received (educational determinism), or the society and culture in which they live (social determinism and cultural determinism, respectively).

Freedom and Responsibility

What Does It Mean to Be Responsible?

It means being capable of responding to one’s own acts and facing others, with the desire to do so. We are responsible when our actions are conscious and free. If an action is voluntary, with unpredictable and involuntary consequences, or coerced, we are not responsible.

Before Whom Are We Responsible?

  1. Ourselves
  2. Society
  3. Ethical principles of ethics and responsibility

Ethics and Principles

Ethics and principles defend freedom and democratic rights. The welfare state provides a set of basic services to the population. The ethics of responsibility include citizenship duties, public education, and assimilation duties.