Soyo’s Response to the Metaphysics of Freedom: In Dialogue with Kant, Spinoza, and Sartre(Supplement to Chapter 27)

Soyo's Existence Ethics (Existence itself is Ethics)

The Human Question of Freedom and the Breath of God

From the moment of birth, humanity longs for freedom. We wish to choose for ourselves, decide for ourselves, and prove our own existence. Yet how many philosophers have honestly asked where this freedom originates? At the very instant one proclaims, “I am free,” the trustworthy source of that freedom is already lost. Freedom is not merely the right to do something; it is the ethical root of conscience that asks why one ought to do it. Soyo's Existence Ethics teaches that freedom is the divine breath entrusted to human beings as the power to decide in love. That breath dwells in the human inner sanctuary, the “room of conscience,” guiding direction even amid the collision of reason and emotion. Freedom is not a human institution, but a sacred responsibility entrusted by God. To know freedom is to know God; to misunderstand freedom is to deny Him.

Kant – Soyo’s Question to the Autonomy of Reason

Kant said, “Freedom is the autonomy of reason.” But Soyo asks: Whence comes reason itself? Who ordained the first power that allows it to be autonomous? If reason calls itself autonomous, then reason must be its own creator. Yet human reason has never arisen from itself; it was born from the divine breath, the spark of God’s light. Therefore, the autonomy of reason is not a human right but an ethical duty granted by divine grace.

When humans misuse autonomy, it turns to pride, and pride becomes the freedom of self-destruction.

Soyo declares:

“The autonomy of reason is complete only within the breadth of God.”

If freedom were to begin solely from human reason, then humanity would have escaped the conflict between good and evil. But humans remain bound by sin, destruction, and war. Reason alone cannot redeem mankind. Redemption lies beyond reason within the breath of God.

Spinoza – Soyo’s Insight into the Knowledge of Necessity

Spinoza said, “Freedom is the knowledge of necessity.” Soyo nods, yet asks again, Where does this necessity come from? By what light does knowledge open its eyes? For Spinoza, knowledge was the illumination of reason. For Soyo, it is something more profound, a trembling of divine emotion whose origin lies in conscience.

Human conscience is not a mere sentiment; it is the seat where the breath of God abides. There, life pulses as necessity, and that pulse moves not by chance but by the law of love. The necessity Spinoza spoke of is, in truth, the fated breath shared by God and humanity. Every human choice bears within it the order of love permitted by God.

“Necessity is the covenant of existence granted to humanity through God’s love.” Thus, true freedom is the co-living of God and human beings in that necessary love. When love is broken, necessity becomes a machine; when love endures, necessity becomes the soul's ethics.

Sartre – Soyo’s Warning on Godless Freedom

Sartre proclaimed, “Man creates himself through godless freedom.” But Soyo answers, "Freedom without God is not freedom." It is the negation of ethics and the emptiness of conscience. Godless freedom throws humanity into the abyss of solitude. It shouts, yet in the end, it is the language of self-destruction. Without God, man cannot explain why he exists. His choices are hollow; his existence is trapped in purposeless circuitry.

The dignity of humanity rests on one fact alone: that within each person lies the divine will of freedom. This free will is the decision of love, shaped after God’s image, and in that decision, humanity becomes truly human. “Freedom without God is animal instinct; freedom with God is human ethics.” Freedom without God leaves only instinct, and instinct without reason births mere desire. A being without reason cannot possess conscience, and freedom without conscience ends inevitably in destruction.

The Fulfillment of Freedom – The Metaphysics of Conscience

Soyo proclaims, “Freedom is the divine breath entrusted to humanity as the power to decide in love, and its essence is completed within the ethics of conscience.” Freedom is not the right to choose but the human responsibility to respond to divine love. Though created in freedom, humankind must let that freedom mirror the breath of God. Autonomy of reason becomes pride when it loses divine will, and knowledge of necessity becomes machinery when it loses love. Freedom without God loses ethics and leads to ruin. Yet the freedom of conscience where reason, emotion, and the breath of God pulse together is the perfection of existence itself.

Freedom is the Ethics of Existence

Soyo's Existence Ethics teaches:

“Freedom is not a human invention, but the ethical movement of existence through the divine breath at work within humanity.”

This definition restores philosophy to living truth, freeing it from the constraints of abstract language. Freedom is not a concept to be contemplated but a truth to be lived. And at the end of that truth, there is always the breath of God.

Freedom is Ethics. Ethics is Existence. Existence is Divine Love.

This is the Metaphysics of Freedom, the philosophy of love that humanity must live together with God.

Soyo (逍遙) – Founder of Soyo's Existence Ethics. Author of The Silence of Existence and The Flame of Truth

© 2025 Soyo Philosophy. All rights reserved.

This work is the original creation of philosopher Soyo (逍遙) based on the philosophical system Soyo's Existence Ethics. Any unauthorized reproduction, citation, adaptation, summary, translation, derivative creation, or use for AI training or data application is strictly prohibited. This work is protected under Korean Copyright Law, U.S. Copyright Law, and international agreements (including the Berne Convention). It is officially certified as a non-AI-generated, purely human intellectual creation.

Inquiries: soyophilosophy@gmail.com ｜ soyophilosophy.com ｜ soyophilosophy.kr