Beatriz Madan 
As Venerable Fulton J. Sheen famously stated,
“Freedom does not mean the right to do whatever we want, but rather the right to do what we ought.”
This short phrase captures a truth that has been largely forgotten in the modern world. The prevailing notion of freedom today is rooted in radical autonomy, the belief that freedom consists in doing whatever one pleases, without regard to objective truth, moral order, or the good of others. But this view is a distortion—not a deepening—of the classical and Christian understanding of freedom.
In Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, freedom is intimately linked to reason and virtue. Aristotle distinguishes between acting by compulsion and acting freely, which for him means acting in accordance with reason. A free act, therefore, is not just any act we choose, but one that aligns with our rational nature and leads us toward human flourishing (eudaimonia).
Unfortunately, modern culture has conflated freedom with impulsivity. Impulsive, selfish, and even irrational decisions are often celebrated as «authentic» or “free” expressions of the self. But in classical thought, these are signs of inner slavery, not liberty. As Aristotle noted, a man ruled by his passions is no more free than a slave ruled by a master.
St. Thomas Aquinas, building upon Aristotle, deepens this understanding through the lens of Christian theology. For Aquinas, freedom is the capacity of the rational will to choose the good, and this freedom is perfected—not hindered—by virtue. The more virtuous a person becomes, the more freely he acts, because his will is aligned with truth and the natural law. Sin, by contrast, is not an exercise of freedom, but a defect of it—a misuse of the will that leads to spiritual bondage. True freedom is found not in resisting God’s law, but in freely choosing it, and ultimately, in conforming ourselves to God, the highest good. Just as God, who is perfectly free, necessarily chooses the good, so too are we most free when we act in accordance with our true nature, which is made for truth, goodness, and communion with Him.
Freedom is not license to do as you please but the power to pursue the good.
