Module 2. The Consequence of Choosing
Module 2. The Consequence of Choosing
Republic Act 8293, section 176 states that: No copyright shall subsist in
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Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
Quarter 2 – Module 2 The Consequence of Choosing
OBJECTIVES
At the end of this module, you should be able to:
VOCABULARIES
Now, here are some words you have to remember:
CHOICE. The fundamental element of freedom and the
capacity to determine or selecting a decision when there are
two or more possible options.
CONSEQUENCE. The result of a given action.
FREEDOM. the quality or state of being free: The absence of
necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action; liberation
from slavery or restraint or from the power of another : the quality
or state of being exempt or released usually from something
burdensome
General Instruction. Please prepare a sheet of paper where you would write
your answers to the quizzes or questions posted.
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Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
Quarter 2 – Module 2 The Consequence of Choosing
LEARNING ACTIVITY 1
A. Picture Analysis: In three to five sentences, answer the following
questions.
Source: http://www.depedrovcatanduanes.com/files/11-Intro-to-Philo-AS-v1.0.pdf
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Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
Quarter 2 – Module 2 The Consequence of Choosing
LEARNING ACTIVITY 2.
LEARNING TASK 3. My Time Line. As a Senior High School student, you have
made some important life decisions in the past. Make a timeline of major
decisions on your life and below the line then write down the consequence of
those particular decisions.
LIFE DECISIONS
a. a. a.
b. b. b.
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Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
Quarter 2 – Module 2 The Consequence of Choosing
a. a. a.
b. b. b.
Processing Questions:
1. Are you happy with the decisions you have made and its consequences?
Why?
2. Are you satisfied with the outcome of your decisions? Why?
DEEPENING
A. Philosophical Perspective
Perhaps the three most important concepts in philosophical work on free
will are free will, moral responsibility, and determinism.1
The notion of free will is treated as distinct from several other concepts
associated with human agency. Traditionally “free will” is defined as a kind of
power or ability to make decisions of the sort for which one can be morally
responsible.
Important to many discussions of free will is the idea of moral
responsibility. In the context of discussions of free will, moral responsibility is
often understood as a kind of status connected to judgments and/or practices of
moral praise and blame. This meaning is distinct from another; perhaps more
commonly used the sense of responsibility: responsibilities as obligations (for
example, when we talk about what responsibilities a parent have to a child).
The problem of free will arises whenever people lead to suspect that their
actions might be determined or necessitated by factors unknown to them which
are beyond their control. Moreover, when people doubted whether their actions
are determined by Fate or by God, by the laws of physics or the laws of logic, by
heredity or environment, by unconscious motives or hidden controllers,
psychological or social conditioning, and so on.
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Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
Quarter 2 – Module 2 The Consequence of Choosing
Suppose a young man is on trial for an assault and robbery in which his
victim was beaten to death. Let us say we attend his trial and listen to the
evidence in the courtroom. At first, our thoughts of the young man are filled with
anger and resentment. His crime was heinous. But as we listen daily to how he
came to have the mean character and perverse motives he did have – a sad
story of parental neglect, child abuse, sexual abuse, bad role models – some of
our resentment against the young man is shifted over to the parents and others
who abused and mistreated him. We begin to feel angry with them as well as with
him. (Note how natural this reaction is.) Yet we aren’t quite ready to shift all of the
blame away from the young man himself. We wonder whether some residual
responsibility may not belong to him. Our questions become: To what extent is he
responsible for becoming the sort of person he now is? Was it all a question of
bad parenting, societal neglect, social conditioning, and the like, or did he have
any role to play in it? 2
The questions are crucial to the concept of free will because they are
questions about what may be called the young man’s ultimate responsibility. We
know for a fact how parenting, society, and upbringing, have influence on what
we become and what we are. The big question is what were these influences
entirely determining or did they “leave anything over” for us to be responsible
for?
At the heart of the situation, whether this young man is merely a victim of
bad circumstances or has some responsibility for being what he is. The bigger
question is that, of whether he became the person he is of his own free will or
whether he is determined to be like that.
On the other hand, the people who are convinced that there is a conflict
between free will and determinism are called incompatibilists about free will.
They believe free will and determinism are incompatible. If incompatibilists also
believe that an incompatibilist free will exists, so that determinism is false, they
are called libertarians about free will.
St. Thomas Aquinas, philosopher, and theologian, put forward the idea
that the human person is an individual whose will is considered a fundamental
part of human nature. He sees the exercise and development of the will as an
essential part of human perfection. This is so because God created us in his
image, with intellect and will.
St. Thomas Aquinas' thoughts about the
will are a complex of three powers of the
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Thus, the intellect and will are engaged in a dynamic, complex interaction,
with multiple stages between an initial perception and cognition by the intellect to
the final action of the will, with occasional interruptions or overrides by the
passions.4
The election (choice) is most often identified with the liberum arbitrium the
free decision or judgment. Aquinas used this term rather than free will (libera
voluntas).
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Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
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C. Theological Perspective
Ma. Christina Astorga’s Notion of Freedom
The article of Astorga, Culture, Religion, and
Moral Vision: A Theological Discourse on the Filipino
People Power Revolution of 1986 systematically
reflects on the Filipino People Power Revolution of
1986 under the illumination of theology. It contends
that there can be no liberation apart from the beliefs
and values of a people, with religion as their deepest
source. The struggle against injustice and oppression
must be united with a people's consciousness of their
cultural rootedness, at the heart of which is their
religion. The dynamics of culture and religion and its bearing on moral vision
made the Filipino People Power Revolution possible and was the source of its
nonviolent spirit. 14
Pierre Marchand, head of the Alfred Nobel Foundation and the Center for
Global Nonviolence, spoke last February 25, 2001, to commemorate the
anniversary of the People Power Revolution of 1986 the following words at the
awards ceremony: 15
.
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Astorga adds that culture, religion, and moral vision constitute the place for
theologizing for the Filipino People Power Revolution of 1986. This means that
culture intersecting with religion is the shaping of moral vision that offers rich
material for theological reflection. She demonstrates how the dynamic
relationship between culture and religion and their bearing on moral vision as
manifested in the Filipino nonviolent struggle for justice and freedom. Thus, the
quest for justice and freedom is embedded in the hearts and minds of the Filipino
people that the people are shaped by its religiosity.
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Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
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Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
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did not bring him any success in life, he cannot blame his failure to the career
itself or to anyone or do anything but solely himself.
APPLICATION
Practice Task 1. Situational Analysis: “What Would You
Have Done?” Analyze the situations using the ICED
format. It is useful for identifying one’s alternatives and how
to select the best one when faced with a difficult choice. The
format is as follows:
Create
constructive
alternatives
Evaluate the
alternatives
Situation 2. Ana has been feeling depressed lately. Nothing seems to be going
right in her life. She is always fighting with her mom, her boyfriend is treating her
bad and she thinks he is going to break up with her, she doesn’t have any close
girlfriends to talk to, and her grades at school have been slipping. Ana is starting
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Quarter 2 – Module 2 The Consequence of Choosing
to think that killing herself might be the answer. What are Ana’s options and what
should she do?
Situation 3. Gie has been smoking a little weed with her friends lately and likes
getting high. Her parents have no idea what she is doing, its fun, and so far
everything is going fine with school and in her social life. This weekend she and
some friends are going to a party where there will be plenty of weed and, she has
heard there will be crack there too. She is trying to decide if she will try some.
Just trying it once is no big deal – right? What are Gie’s options and what should
she do?
Situation 4. Jen’s friends try to talk Monica into going with them to get a tattoo.
Monica’s friends say it will be cool; everyone in the group can get a tattoo.
Monica is considering it, but is concerned about her parents’ reaction and
whether she really wants a tattoo. She does like the idea of doing something that
connects her with her friends.
Practice Task 3. Given the following actions on the left column, identify the
possible consequences and write them on the right column.
ACTION CONSEQUENCE/S
a student studying his or her lesson
a driver observing traffic lights
athletes practicing in the gym
a person taking illegal drugs
a student practicing conservation of
natural resources
a student coming to school late
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Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
Quarter 2 – Module 2 The Consequence of Choosing
POST-TEST
TRUE OR FALSE: Write A if statement a is TRUE, B if only
statement b is TRUE, C if statements a and b are TRUE, D
if statements a and b are FALSE.
_________1. a. The notion of free will is treated as distinct
from several other concepts associated with human agency
b. In the discussions of free will, it is always coupled with
the idea of moral responsibility.
_________2.a. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the will have three powers of
the human soul, which can be described as the intellect, the will and
passions or feelings. b. Incompatibilists are also called libertarians
about free will.
_________3. a. Kant’s transcendental freedom is construed as “independence
from everything empirical and so from nature generally.”
b. Marx explains that bourgeois ideals such as freedom, equality,
and property do not generate from the natural phenomenon
common to all societies, but from the forms of economic life based
on capitalistic modes of production.
_________4. a. According to Freire, freedom is a gift.
b. According to Freire, freedom is a process, a dialectical creation
which he calls liberation.
_________5. a. According to Gutierrez, the Church must perform an active role –
it must fight oppressive structures and stand on the side of the
oppressed.
b. According to Choan Seng Song, to be a Christian is to be a
vanguard that has the courage to struggle for justice and freedom.
ANSWER KEY:
PreTest: 1. C 2. C 3. C 4. C 5. B
Post Test: 1. C 2. C. 3. C 4. B 5. C
REFERENCES:
1
John Martin Fischer, Four Views on Free Will, Blackwell Publishing, 2007
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Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
Quarter 2 – Module 2 The Consequence of Choosing
2
Robert O. Doyle, Information Philosopher,
http://www.informationphilosopher.com/solutions/philosophers/aquinas/
Retrieved 30 September 2017
3
Robert O. Doyle, Information Philosopher
4
Robert O. Doyle, Information Philosopher
5
St. Thomas Aquinas, On Truth, trans. Robert W. Schmidt, S.J. (Chicago: Nenry
Regnery Co., 1954), q. 24, a. 1c.
6
Robert O. Doyle, Information Philosopher
7
https://www.academia.edu/8945096/Epistemic_Freedom_in_Kant_and_Husserl
Retrieved 30 September 2017
8
Unpublished Work, Prof. Paulino, Human Freedom Article, Aquinas University
9
https://www.cpsa-acsp.ca/papers-2004/Kim.pdf Retrieved 30 September 2017
10
https://www.cpsa-acsp.ca/papers-2004/Kim.pdf Retrieved 30 September 2017
11
https://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/f/r.htm Retrieved 30 September 2017
12
Ordóñez, Jacinto, "Paulo Freire's Concept of Freedom: A Philosophical
Analysis" 1981 http://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/2208/ Retrieved 30 September
2017
13
Ordóñez, Jacinto
14
Ma. Christina A. Astorga, Culture, Religion, and Moral Vision: A Theological
Discourse on the Filipino People Power Revolution of 1986
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/004056390606700305 Retrieved 30
September 2017
15
Ma. Christina A. Astorga,
16
Pavel Chalupníček, Divine and Human Freedom in the Work of Gustavo
Gutierrez, January 2010
http://kie.vse.cz/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/WP_2_2010.pdf Retrieved 30
September 2017
17
http://saltandlighttv.org/blogfeed/getpost.php?id=49936 Retrieved 30 September
2017
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Unpublished Work, Prof. Paulino, Human Freedom Article, Aquinas University
SUGGESTED READINGS:
St. Thomas Aquinas, On Truth, trans. Robert W. Schmidt, S.J. (Chicago: Nenry
Regnery Co., 1954), q. 24, a. 1c.
http://www.hprweb.com/2011/04/the-divine-will-and-human-freedom-a-thomistic-a
nalysis/ Retrieved 30 September 2017
Picorino, P. (2000) An Introduction to Philosophy (Online Textbook)
http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/socialsciences/ppecorino/INTRO_TEXT/CONTENTS.ht
m Retrieved 30 September 2017
PICTURES:
https://www.google.com.ph/search?biw=1366&bih=613&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=edsa
+revol&
https://www.google.com.ph/search?biw=1366&bih=613&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=St.+
Thomas+Aquinas
https://www.google.com.ph/search?biw=1366&bih=613&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=Kant
https://www.google.com.ph/search?biw=1366&bih=613&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=Marx
https://www.google.com.ph/search?biw=1366&bih=613&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=Freir
e
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Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
Quarter 2 – Module 2 The Consequence of Choosing
https://www.google.com.ph/search?biw=1366&bih=613&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=ma+
christina+Astorga
https://www.google.com.ph/search?biw=1366&bih=613&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=Gust
avo+Gutierrez
https://www.google.com.ph/search?tbm=isch&q=domino+effect&chips=q:domino
+effect
https://www.ifglobal.org/en/what-we-do/world-spina-bifida-and-hydrocephalus-day
https://www.google.com.ph/search?biw=1366&bih=662&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=philo
sophy+statue
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