Freedom, Ethics, and Morality: A Deep Dive

Freedom and Responsibility

In ancient times, freedom was understood as the ability of humans to act despite the constraints that nature imposed. Humans are free but may require responsibility for their actions. Then, freedom was a divine law. In modern times, freedom is a consequence of accountability. Individual freedom is the foundation of modern political and economic forms, and self-choice human beings have by right.

Ethics and Morality

Morality is related to action, while ethics is the reflection on morality. They have a relationship but are distinct. Morality deals with the set of rules and customs that are accepted as appropriate in one place. Ethics is a critical view of morality, rules, and consequences resulting from human action. It aims at establishing whether an action may be moral or not.

Moral Action

Moral actions have basic features: they are social actions that arise in our relationship with others and are driven by them. To be a moral norm, there must be a pre-critical reflection on the extent of the consequences of the action and a universal desire to do good. This must be done under moral law. According to the motives that drive human beings to act, two types of ethical theories are developed:

• Theological theories (end-based)
• Deontological ethics (duty-based)

Theological ethics states that standards should try to resolve conflicts between competing interests. The rule and moral action should pursue happiness and justice. Deontological ethics is the ability human beings have to follow the same rational standards.

Types of Foundations

External

The origin of the rules is outside the subject (e.g., natural laws), commonly accepted standards without further questioning since they are unquestionable truths (Theological ethics).

Internal

The foundation of standards is the individual himself, a being endowed with reason and free will. The individual himself can choose between good and evil (ethics of duty).

Intersubjective

It refers to discourse and the public use of reason. The rules are made by consensus of the subjects.

Types of Freedom

Freedom is the ability to make decisions and take actions without external constraints. There are two types:

• Positive freedom: the capacity to act.
• Negative freedom: the absence of external constraints, limited only by one's own body.

Legal Freedom

It belongs to the realm of law. Law and compliance are mandatory. It is the right of humans to act in compliance with the laws.

Freedom of Action

Carrying out what everyone wants to do.

Individual Freedom

In a society, there is a recognition that humans are born with intelligence and free will.

Moral Action

It has a set of rules or moral codes. In these, there is no rule without exceptions, and there are rules that conflict with each other.

• Ethical Indeterminists: They postulate human freedom and claim it is necessary to perform moral action.
• Determinists: They deny the possibility of human freedom and argue that all events are linked by a relationship between cause and effect.