Genuine freedom requires historical perspective and perseverance, not spontaneity

Evidence

Freedom for Beauvoir is not the same as license or unfettered liberty; rather, it is the ground on which moral life is established. In exercising our freedom, we also form ourselves as moral beings. Freedom is more than spontaneity, for all spontaneity, on closer examination, is “pure contingency” (p. 25). Free moral decisions can only be made when we have the capacity to place our actions in historical perspective, and to recognize ourselves in the past and imagine ourselves in the future. Freedom requires willing and perseverance, and if the choices we make are to be genuine, “patience, courage, and fidelity” will be necessary (p. 27). — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 884

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the earlier claim that ‘Feelings accumulate from experience while emotions are immediate survival reactions’ but transposed to freedom and ethics. — connects to: Human unfinishedness makes all knowledge necessarily provisional and incomplete — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed:…, 887