Understanding Human Action: Causes, Consequences, and Freedom
The term action is reserved for the things we do consciously and voluntarily. The word “action” designates the activity of a responsible being, in opposition to the concepts of inertia and passivity. The concept of action is essential when talking about practical philosophy. Action requires the intervention of consciousness and has moral connotations of good and evil deeds.
Causes of Action
A cause is what makes something occur; it is the source of action. Cause is a universal concept. When a cause acts, an effect follows. A cause helps explain why an effect occurs. Cause maintains a link with prediction: from a cause, we can predict an effect, and from an effect, we can trace it back to a cause. An action that makes complete sense is something done under a deliberate decision. In contrast, a reaction is the effect of something without the intervention of the will.
Reasons for Action
A reason is a force or an impulse that brings us to do something; it moves us to action. It is a factor that explains human behavior and a tool to guide and direct it.
The Meaning of Action
When we act based on a clear purpose of which we are aware, our actions acquire meaning. The meaning of an act is what allows us to understand what happened and how it has come to be. Things by themselves are meaningless; it is we who give them meaning.
Consequences of Action
We should consider the good that will affect others, not only the good that will affect ourselves. You should also consider the harm that will affect others, not only the harm to yourself. Consequences may be related to the issue of responsibility and good or evil.
Responsibility for Action
Who is responsible for an action? Only those who are responsible for predictable actions.
Freedom and Responsibility
Freedom is tied to liability. Only free people can and should answer for their actions. Freedom is a concept that is highly dependent on specific situations and different contexts.
External Freedom
External freedom is freedom from the physical environment, psychological factors, social pressures, legal constraints, and political limitations. It consists of the freedom that allows us to act without any impediments coming from outside.
- Negative freedom: Freedom understood as the absence of coercion. It understands that a free person has no impediments, interference, or obstacles.
- Positive freedom: This implies the possibility of autonomy for the individual. It gives the opportunity to choose how we can make our wishes come true.
Internal Freedom
Internal freedom is the freedom to choose and refers to the area of morality.
Real Liberty
- Security in the sense that there is a structure of rights and freedoms.
- The agreed possibility that everyone can make some decisions to create their own life.
- The opportunity to carry out personal projects.
Formal Freedom
Formal freedoms are those that are regulated by law and are typical of democratic states.
- The possibility of physical freedom to move freely without political restrictions.
- The possibility of exercising political rights, meaning that citizens have civil liberties.
- The exercise of rights that are protected by a community.
- The freedom to express one’s religious beliefs.
- Freedom of expression, which can be expressed orally or in writing.
Determinism
Determinism argues that freedom does not exist and that everything that happens has a cause. Determinists think that freedom is just a word that conceals our ignorance about the causes that determine behavior.
- Physical determinism: A person, as a being, is subject to the natural laws of physics and cannot escape them.
- Social determinism: This argues that the social environment affects human behavior as a social piece of gear.
- Theological determinism: This says that everything is pre-written, as if we are toys predetermined by the force of nature or God.
- Genetic determinism: This believes that the genes we inherit from our parents make us who we are.
- Psychological determinism: This denies the existence of the will and believes that our actions are products of the strongest motive.
Indeterminism
Indeterminists argue that humans are free. Humans deliberate and decide on their actions.
- Personal experience: The feeling of freedom.
- Laws and punishments would be absurd if humans were not free.
- The existence of the will: Freedom is an essential condition of human beings.
- A range of sciences accepts indeterminism in the prediction of phenomena.