Understanding Freedom, Responsibility, and Human Behavior

Freedom and Responsibility

Freedom is choosing between different alternatives in a given situation. For example, if a fire is declared overnight, people inside are not free to decide whether to fight the fire or not. Being free means being responsible, and responsibility is the other side of the coin of freedom. One cannot be held accountable for what does not depend on oneself or for random events.

Freedom is presented in two ways:

1. Internal Freedom

This is the ability to choose or be self-determined without external agents.

2. External Freedom

This refers to the possibility to act, which may be limited by various types of conditions:

• Physical: For instance, to be a firefighter, one has to pass certain tests.
• Psychic: Anger can undermine the ability to choose and exercise one's freedom.
• Economical: The options available to someone living in poverty are much more reduced than those with purchasing power.
• Political: A right that the state must protect for its citizens.

Sociology

This science studies the evolutionary origin of animal behaviors and human development or disappearance due to natural selection.

Behaviors

Motor responses are given by the agencies that meet external and internal stimuli. Human behavior is characterized by being intentional and projective. Observed behaviors include:

• Tropism: Specific reactions in plants to environmental stimuli.
• Taxi: Reactions of living organisms to environmental stimuli.
• Reflexes: Immediate responses of a nervous nature an organism has to a stimulus.
• Instincts: Characterized by being inherited behavior patterns shared by all members of the same species.
• Conscious Behavior: Human behavior is unlike the previous ones because it is conscious, reacting creatively. Creativity and capacity are aspects of conscious behavior choice.

Responsibility

Responsibility is, on one hand, making decisions freely, voluntarily, and knowingly, and on the other, bearing the consequences these decisions involve. The Features:

1. To be responsible is to act freely, conscientiously, and on a voluntary basis.
2. It means having to take responsibility and assume that power.
3. Responsibility implies a decisive commitment; there is a link of trust with others.
4. Responsibility involves living in community, being rooted in it, and worrying about what is around us. Compared to attitudes, one is responsible if one is accountable to all mankind.