Does the freedom of one end or does it begin where that of the other begins? The genitus as the original relationship of the human person

Abstract

“My freedom ends where yours begins”: it is an assumption we are used to listen to often and often. The aim of this presentation is to answer one simple question: is it possible to identify the relation among subjects as an alternative to individualism? The observations proposed lead us to consider the origin of the relation with the other.

The empirical analysis leads to one conclusion: every living organism is generated. The relation with the origin is not available: life is always received. Once brought into the world, the living being then has its own independent vital capacity: the passivity of the genitus generates the autonomous activity of the vivens. The etymology of the term “nature” refers to both the ability to generate and the generated being.

The person is generated by the relation with the origin. Man’s freedom is necessarily that of a “relational agent”. The other is not then a limit to the exercise of the individual’s free action but it is an helps to exercise his freedom in respect of his own nature.