Evardone, Primadonna 13 November 2019

11608072 INTFILO V24

Insight Paper

In the seminar The Big Lectures: Bridging Thoughts and Actions, the first talk was led by Mr.

Cadz Malbaros, he emphasized that we, as human beings, do things for a reason. His big idea is closely

related to the discussion of freedom in our INTFILO class, wherein we do things because we think that

we are free or we are not free. Mr. Malbaros stated that human beings are complex beings. They are

complex because humansare rational. Just like what was discussed in the class, Starse’s stance that the

human’s existence precedes essense, with the use of the word essence, it seems to say that human beings

are rational animals or imago Dei meaning image of God (Crowell, 2015). Relating this to my situation, I

have often believed that God has brought me to earth with a purpose. But with the perspective that

existence precedes essence, I am then led to believe that I may have not actually had a purpose in the first

place as I was born into the world. I was merely put into this world to find my own path and my own

purpose with the decisions that I have made. With these decisions, I have rationally thought out what my

choices would lead to. Whether my actions were to bring me essence that I wanted or did not want at all.

Although, with the main point that human beings act and think certain ways for a reason, I then think that

despite thinking that I have a purpose, I think of the purpose I want to have for myself through these

rational thoughts for my decisions.

Mr. Malbaros also discussed about Aristotle and that actions, choices, and deliberations are

voluntary. Just like in the class discussions, it is saying as if we are free but then we limit ourselves with

the choices we make and the actions we take. With the different philosophies of legal, political,

psychological and ethical philosophy, we are then integrated with these variations of philosophies such as

responsibility, authority, rationality, and moral responsibility. Although we are not equally on par with

our stances of these different aspects of philosophy. He also discussed the importance of knowing what is

right and what is good. These knowledge of what is right and good affects our decisions and actions,
which then shows that we are free, yet we set limits for ourselves through our moral responsibility.

Lastly, another point of Aristotle for Mr. Malbaros is that choice is a form of voluntary action that

involves deliberation or reasoned thought. Once again, emphasizing that our choice being voluntary

means that we freely choose what actions to take through thinking and deliberating with a reasoned

thought. This discussion, when applied to our situation is asking ourselves if it was worthwhile to go to

the talk. Even before attending the talk. We have an internal deliberation if the talk is worth going to,

despite the date being a weekend or a U-break, we still make a choice whether we actually want to go or

not.

Another one of Mr. Malbaros’ main ideas was that we, as human beings, have practical reasoning

and intentional actions. We think of questions such as “what ought I do?” and the desirability of the value

of an action. With the concept of freedom, we then think of our choices, we then are able to freely

deliberate on what action we would like to take, but we also further filter our choices by thinking of what

the value of a certain action would be. Mr. Malbaros further went in depth with practical reasoning by

asking “does practical reasoning conclude in an action or does it conclude to a mental state that can lead

to an action?” This starts a confusing discussion on practical reasoning. Something that seemed so simple

that practical reasoning leads to actions is then put into two aspects. One being that with practical

reasoning, we then act on whatever was though from it. Although, the other aspect focusing on the idea

that practical reasoning puts us into a mental state of these reasoning and with further deliberations. After

having this mental state, we then end up choosing an action that took root from the practical reasoning

and went through a process in our mental state.

According to Wallace (2014) “Practical reason is the general human capacity for resolving,

through reflection, the question of what one is to do.” So what is practical reason really? What is are the

necessary and sufficient conditions for practical reason? A first condition could be that a person has

practical reason if and only if that person chooses actions by deliberating on the choice. Another

condition would be if the person considers the consequences of his or her actions. Lastly, another
condition would be if and only if through practical reason the person is then led to take an action. From

the definition of Wallace, we can imply that humans have practical reason in order to resolve decisions

and conflicts through reflection. Through this process, humans are then able to take an action from the

reasoning that he or she has undergone.

Mr. Malbaro then quotes Dancy (2018) in the seminar that “practical reasoning is a reasoning

whose conclusion is an action.” Thus again, implying that there needs to be an action taken after the

reasoning. This then shows what practical reasoning is and how it was done. Through the process of

reflection and thinking of the different reasons and consequences, we realize that this deliberation leads

the human individual to take an action. If all this reasoning does not lead to an action, it is not practical

reasoning. The different actions are being able to do something, or even choosing to do nothing. These are

actions that are accomplished through the practical reasoning. Even after all the reflection and

deliberation, ending up with no choice is still a choice for the human individual. Closing his talk, the

audience clapped, he then followed up that the audience was clapping not because they were motivated,

but because it was the norm.

Closing his talk with motivation and norm. This lets us think, what are our motivations? Do our

motivations lead us to accomplish all our actions? Or does our motivation only affect part of our

decisions? With the norm of society being nearly inescapable. Is our practical reasoning affected by this

norm which leads us choose certain actions over another? Although, what is a norm? A norm is a set of

standards set by the society, that when the norm is not followed it focuses on that certain individual or

thing that does not follow the norm. Although, are we motivated to have practical reasoning? Do we have

practical reasoning because it was motivated or do we have practical reasoning because of the norm, or is

it both?

Applying all these ideas to our discussions in class. With practical reasoning being aligned with

wonder, knowledge, and freedom. Wonder is then related to this kind of reasoning because of the

different ideas that are thought of during the process of practical reasoning. This lets us have an in-depth
practical reasoning because of the wonder we need to possess when thinking of different actions and

solutions to different situations. With knowledge, our practical reasoning is then balanced out with

wonder because despite letting ourselves wander more on the thoughts and ideas we then possess the

knowledge to understand how each reason is. Whether these reasons are practical or lead to the proper

consequence that we would expect. With practical reasoning, we need to ensure that while thinking of so

many actions to take and what the underlying consequences of these actions are, we should be

knowledgeable enough to know what these consequences are and if they are worth it to take. Lastly, with

freedom, we have the choice to deliberate on whichever action we would want to take. Considering that

we have thought of everything with our knowledge and wonder, we then deliberate with our freedom of

what we would like to do. Our freedom and choices then seem to be greatly affected by external forces.

Such as norms, norms of the society when it comes to certain decisions or certain actions. Other forces

would be internal forces, the attitude that has shaped us to who we are today.

References:

Crowell, S. (2015, March). Existentialism. Retrieved from

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/

Wallace, R. J. (2014, March). Practical Reason. Retrieved from

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/practical-reason/