Human Behavior > Man as Free, Responsible and Dynamic Being
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Man as Free, Responsible and Dynamic BeingMan as Free, Responsible and Dynamic Being
 Man is capable of living responsibly and in freedom
The humanistic school of thought places so much emphasis on man's freedom that it denies the authority of any external determinants as far as human behaviour is concerned. Man and man alone determines what he wishes or ought to do. Thus, man becomes wholly the divine master of his own life. Freedom is no more than a gift granted to mankind to enable it to fully attain its humanity. It is merely a means to an end and not an end in itself. Man can never be known and understood as a completely autonomous entity. Freedom is freedom to living responsibly. Therefore man is only free to live because and insofar as he lives within his physical and ethical boundaries. Thus freedom is a freedom to accept our destiny within time in a responsible manner, to live positively in the world in harmony our fellow human beings and nature. Man can never be set free from responsibility. Freedom has the capability to execute free will in making choices is clearly associated with our psychological makeup as human beings. Like freedom (i.e. the condition under which man can realise his vocation), free will as psychological function of the human inner self has not been lost. Any theory which accepts that human behaviour is determined by external factors thereby places restrictions on man's freedom. Freud can be cited as an example in this instance. Freud's idea that human behaviour is determined by natural urges or drives would imply that we are unable to control those urges and therefore cannot be held responsible for our actions. In Functional Intelligence the client must be taught to understand him or herself in the light of individual circumstances and their influence on the person. However, these circumstances may never be used to explain his or her behaviour in the sense that it is seen as the final determining factors thereof. People must always be made aware of the fact that they can rise above their circumstances. In the counselling situation clients will also have to be helped to take note of the fact that freedom (in the psychological sense) is a gift, given to us so that we can realise our true freedom, namely a positive relationships with our fellow men and with creation in the realm of time. Accordingly, clients will have to be taught to apply their positive abilities. |