Freedom for Wadell, Dante, & Rahner
Wadell: freedom is dangerous; “only freedom as attached to the good”
Dante: freedom is eternal
Rahner: freedom is difficult
freedom
condition for the possibility of ethics; human ability of self-determination
negative freedom
space to act; opportunity (may I?)
power to act; ability (can I?)
setbacks
structural
self-sin, vice: patterns of sin; vice
development
we are born with a capacity [of freedom] that can develop into a virtue
AAA definitions of virtue
Aristotle: disposition to behave in the right way
Augustine: perfect love of God
Aquinas: a good, operative habit
theological virtues
faith, hope, charity
cardinal virtues
prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance
faith
believing in what you don’t see
hope
trust in divine assistence for obtaining happiness
charity
friendship of the human person for God
prudence
relationship with our minds; right reason for things to be done
justice
relationship with other people; render unto each their due
temperance
relationship with good that surrounds us; reasonable pursuit of legitimate bodily goods
the mean between excess & deficiency
fortitude
deals with our internal state; courage, balance between being a coward & being stupid; remaining steadfast in the face. of fear
models of freedom
Ita Ford, Welles Crowther, Thomas Merton
freedom according to IF, WC, TM
Ita Ford: freedom is finding your meaning in life
Welles Crowther: freedom is built up throughout your life; spontaneity
Thomas Merton: freedom knowing & discovering yourself & requires sacrifice
continence
when you know the right thing, struggle to do it but end up doing it
incontinence
when you know the right thing but don’t do it
vice
bad operative habit
spontineity
“the fruit of being single-hearted”
what you love determines your decisions
Rahner’s freedom
transcendental: ever-present, unthematic, unfolding, yes or no to God
Categorical: thematic, concrete choices that embody (without full capturing) the transcendental
God & freedom
Ground, source, & goal
Freedom only as ability to say yes to the very source of our freedom
Welles Crowther
“What would you do with the last hour of your life?”
Wears red bandana, went to BC, #19 lax, wanted to be a firefighter, from Nyack, working in twin towers, on 9/11 helped people get out & kept going back up to help more
Wallace`
Atheism is not real b/c everyone believes in something; same experience can mean 2 different things based on their own beliefs, blind certainty, no such thing as not worshipping, will eat you alive
Freedom: not a virtue, freedom of choosing-> we get to decide how we see it, attention, awareness, discipline, freedom of choice
Education: learning how to exercise control over what you think, teaching how to think isn’t the capacity to think, but the choice of what to think about, how to keep from going through your life dead
Talks about: boring day-in day-out routine of life, work of choosing, I am the center of the universe (ex: he’s in MY way)
Freedom for Merton
True freedom is openness, availability, and a capacity for gifts
Education for Merton
Education is at the core of teaching us who we are and discovering our true selves, which opens up to a life of freedom