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STS Week 5-6 Human Person Flourishing in Terms of S&T PDF
STS Week 5-6 Human Person Flourishing in Terms of S&T PDF
Human being is a culture-bearing primate classified in genus Homo and species sapiens,
anatomically similar and related to great apes but distinguished by more highly developed brain
and capacity for articulate speech and abstract reasoning. (Encyclopedia Britannica)
What is a Person?
A person is a human being that has reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and
part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property,
or legal responsibility. (Wikipedia)
What is a Person?
A person is a human being that has reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and
part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property,
or legal responsibility. (Wikipedia)
What is a Human Person?
Vitruvian Man
A human person is a rational being composed of the corporeal element (soma) and the psyche
(soul), a microcosmos of the inanimate cosmos. (Raji, 2011)
What is a Human Person?
Vitruvian Man
A human person has a natural desire and capacity to know and understand the truth, to pursue
moral excellence, and to instantiate their ideals in the world through action. (Aristotle)
Instantiation of Ideals
3. Causa finalis or the final cause – the purpose or the primary use of the material
4. Causa ffficiens or the efficient cause – the agent that has caused for the material to come about
Philosophical Views on Technology
Technological Pessimism
The comforts and advantages of technology are
like addictions that hooks us.
Jacques Ellul
It is better to live without technology and cherish our days without technology
Philosophical Views on Technology
Technological Optimism
Technology gives rise to powerful enabling factors.
Martin Heidegger
Technology is the highest danger, risking us to only see the world through technological thinking.
Heidegger: The Question Concerning Technology
Reading Material in Human Flourishing
Number of people living in poverty on less than $5 (Php 250) a day has increased by more than
1.1 billion (17 times the population of Britain)
Hard truth: global crisis is due almost entirely to overconsumption in rich countries
Our planet only has enough resources for every individual to consume 1.8 global hectares
annually. US and Canada consume about 8 hectares per person, while Europeans consume
4.7 hectares.
Reading Material in Human Flourishing
In the US, life expectancy is 79 years and GDP per capita is $53,000 (Php 2.65 M). But many
countries have achieved similar life expectancy with a mere fraction of this income. Cuba has a
comparable life expectancy to the US and one of the highest literacy rates in the world with GDP per
capita of only $6,000 (Php 300k) and consumption of only 1.9 hectares – right at the threshold of
ecological sustainability. Similar claims can be made of Peru, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and
Tunisia. (In the Philippines, life expectancy is 69 years old2, GDP per capita is $3,485 or around Php
174k3, and consume 1.1 global hectares per person4).
Reading Material in Human Flourishing
Reading Material in Human Flourishing
Reading Material in Human Flourishing
Reading Material in Human Flourishing
70% of people in middle- and high-income countries believe overconsumption is putting our planet
and society at risk. A similar majority also believe we should strive to buy and own less, and that
doing so would not compromise our happiness.
What is certain is that GDP as a measure is not going to get us there and we need to get rid of it.
Either we slow down voluntarily, or climate change will do it for us. We can’t go on ignoring the laws
of nature.
What is Human Flourishing?