| dc.description.abstract | Even beyond the intellectual level, the idea and feeling of
freedom is inherent in the life of normal human beings. Man feels
that he is in command of his choices and their realizations. But
although the same person feels and is able to talk about free choices,
more often than not, the content and limits of these choices are too
vague almost to a point of being incomprehensible, hence the need of
a clarification. But a clarification of the term free will or freedom
of choice cannot be done sufficiently without at the same time
considering the doctrine of determinism.
Accepting the premise that human beings are the result of their
biological and environmental influences, we could still intelligently
claim that they have (human beings) freedom of choice or as it were
psychological freedom. Freedom of choice should not be construed
to mean that 'free choices' are those actions that have no reasons as
causes behind them (uncaused events). Thus, while free actions and
unfree actions have to be seen within the general 1mv of causation,
still free actions are felt to be emanating within man's bio-psychical
structure. And that man is aware of these free actions as his actions.
It is then within this freedom of choice that we tend to capture
the concept of moral responsibility. The concept of moral responsibility
in man forms our basis for judging human actions either as morally
right or morally wrong. Consequently, morally right actions are
praised while morally wrong actions are blamed. Praises are supposed
to encourage morally right actions while blames are supposed to deter
morally wrong actions. But in the process of judging human actions
the society is faced with two basic problems. First, the distinction
between free actions (where man was aware of actions as his deliberations)
and unfree actions is not always clear-cut. Second, even
when it is known that the actions were free in the way defined, it
would still be difficult to identify what type of blame is the most
effective as a means of behaviour modification for the man whose
actions we have disapproved. Thus, faced with the above uncertainities,
punishment as a form of blame could only be justified if and only if
it is the best means of behaviour modification in a particular
occasion. On the same vein the aim of moral education in schools has
to do with the enhancement of freedom of choice that is subsumed
under the students' biological and environmental determinants.
Equally important, moral education has to provide some form and
socio-ethical directions to the students. These objectives could be
accomplished, I hope, through understanding and discipline of the
teachers and the students respectively. | en |
