Freedom without virtue?

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Charlemagne_III

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“By its liberty, the human person transcends the stars and all the world of nature,” Jacques Maritain once wrote.

The case can be made that the two essential sources of tension in man that make him transcend nature are the choices he has to make between his liberty and his virtue.

The paradox is that we cannot be free without virtue; not can we be virtuous without being free.

Your thoughts?
 
If you mean that we are slaves to the senses and that we can only experience complete liberation by letting go completely of our attachment to the senses then I agree with your statement.
 
Charlemagne_III said:
The case can be made that the two essential sources of tension in man that make him transcend nature are the choices he has to make between his liberty and his virtue.
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Suggest reading:

Servais Pinckaers OP

Such as Morality the Catholic View

Sources of Christian Ethics

etc

His discussion of the freedom for excellence vs freedom of indifference.
 
Charlemagne_III said:
“By its liberty, the human person transcends the stars and all the world of nature,” Jacques Maritain once wrote.

The case can be made that the two essential sources of tension in man that make him transcend nature are the choices he has to make between his liberty and his virtue.

The paradox is that we cannot be free without virtue; not can we be virtuous without being free.

Your thoughts?
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I don’t understand the relation between virtue and freedom. Could you please elaborate?
 
STT said:
I don’t understand the relation between virtue and freedom. Could you please elaborate?
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Virtue, if it finds its essence in love and respect for others, is the requirement for freedom. For example, laws based on hatred or cruelty or exploitation of others (which is the opposite of virtue) would be intended to deny the freedom of a certain class of citizens (such as slaves, for example).

Going in another direction, a thief (who is not virtuous) steals from others, thereby limiting their freedom to be in possession of and use their own property. On the other hand, that same thief loses his freedom when he is apprehended and sent to jail.

In yet another direction, a teacher who demands that his students follow his own politically correct ideas (exploitation of students, hardly a virtue) limits the freedom of his students to enjoy the free exchange of opposing views.
 
STT said:
I don’t understand the relation between virtue and freedom. Could you please elaborate?
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Again, the reason agnostics and atheists rarely talk about virtue is that virtue is premised on free will, or the freedom to choose between good and evil. Most atheists/agnostics are also determinists, and therefore don’t believe in free will, so why would virtue be of paramount importance to them as it is to theists?
 
Charlemagne_III said:
“By its liberty, the human person transcends the stars and all the world of nature,” Jacques Maritain once wrote.

The case can be made that the two essential sources of tension in man that make him transcend nature are the choices he has to make between his liberty and his virtue.

The paradox is that we cannot be free without virtue; not can we be virtuous without being free.

Your thoughts?
Click to expand...
It is because of the inclination to sin that God gives supernatural grace. We cannot be saved without it nor oby our own human nature.
 
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