about, with or for various natures.

(Payne 2009)
According to Payne, classrooms cannot set aside the importance of aesthetics as well
as the
environment that suggests valuing that include: aesthetic appreciation; enjoyment,
relaxation, satisfaction,
calm, peace, social interaction, growth toward holism, and self-understanding. Every
day we experience or
hear of how nature is destroyed and, thus, there are floods, flash floods and landslides,
among others.
Accordingly, this chapter helps the learner look at the multidimensional concept of
being human.
Our limited understanding of our environment opens for a need for philosophical
investigation of
nature, applying aesthetic and theological dimensions, as well as appreciating our
philosophical reflections
with the concept of nature itself. Not only should we value the concepts of other
people but to consider
carefully, the moral, ethical, political, cultural and ecological realities of where we are
situated in.
Exercise 1. In your observation, how do humans regard the environment? Explain. In
what way/s are your
answers positive or negative?
In this perspective, everything in creation is recognized as having its own rightful
place. Yahweh/God
pronounced that all His creation was exceedingly good (Gen.1:31). – Therefore,
respect for the Creator
requires respect for His creation. It is thus with a sense of respect, humility, gratitude
and obligation that the
creationist assumes his role as steward of his Master's estate and cares for God's
handiwork, not to please
himself with personal comfort, but to please his Creator and to have fellowship with
Him.
Theological views hold that mankind is intended to live in harmony with all creation.
The bible says
that God created man and granted him dominion over all creatures and tasked him to
“subdue”-pacify, calm
the earth (Gen.1:26-28). Man has a responsibility to safeguard the planet as it has
been entrusted to him by
God.
Environment is derived from the medieval French word “environnement” used to
describe the action
of surrounding and also to refer to conditions in which a person or other organism
lives and develops.
"Laudato Si” is the 2nd Encyclical Letter of Pope Francis entitled “Care for God's
Creation.”
According to some classical philosophers: Philosophy begins with a sense of wonder
and awe. But it is
something unjustifiable to wonder on nature if what we perceive and encounter is
only disorder in our
environment. Every individual must look on areas of our surroundings wherein we see
an ugly picture of our
environment, and transform it into a place wherein we can see harmony in nature.
The philosophy of art and beauty in relation to artistic taste can include nature and
environment. The
extent of environmental aesthetics has expanded to embrace not only the natural
environment but also man
made structures within the natural environment.Nature of Philosophy According to
Ancient Thinkers:
1. Anaximander said that nature is indeterminate-boundless in the sense that no
boundaries between the
warm and cold or the moist and dry regions are originally present within it. He was
the first
metaphysician.
2. Pythagoras described the universe as living embodiment of nature’s order,
harmony, and beauty. He
sees our relationship with the universe involving biophilia (love of other living things)
and
cosmophilia (love of other living beings).
3. Immanuel Kant expresses that beauty is ultimately a symbol of morality
(goodness). He believes that
the orderliness of nature and the harmony of nature with our faculties guide us toward
a supersensible
reality.
4. Herbert Marcuse says that humanity had dominated nature. There can be only
change if we will change
our attitude towards our perception of the environment.
5. Herbert Mead is a socio-environmental maker. For Mead, humans do not only have
rights, but duties
as well. According to him, the relationship between the human organism and its
environment can be
understood neither as a determinism where all the causality lies on the side of the
environment.
Humans are not just citizens of the community. We have rights as individuals but we
also have our share
of duties and responsibilities as good stewards of Mother Earth. It is time to react and
make a change to
improve our current situation. We have an obligation to fulfill.
Causes of Environmental Crisis can be classified into 4 types:
1. Physical causes refer to those causes that can in principle be studied by the
sciences. It can either be natural
or human- induced is brought about solely by the processes of