CHAPTER 2

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

AND THE HUMAN
CONDITION

ASST. PROF. AMELIA D. COMIA

A. The Human Person
Flourishing in Terms
of Science and
Technology
“The essence of
technology is by
no means
anything
technological.”

Martin Heidegger
Martin Heidegger
Biography
Description
 German philosopher and a seminal thinker in the
Continental tradition of philosophy
 best known for contributions to phenomenology,
hermeneutics, and existentialism 
 Born: 26 September 1889, Messkirch, Germany

 Died: 26 May 1976, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

 Spouse: Elfride Petri (m. 1917–1976)
 Influenced by: Friedrich Nietzsche, Immanuel Kant, MORE
 Education: University of Freiburg (1914–1916), 
Berthold-Gymnasium (1906–1909)
 Children: Hermann Heidegger, Jörg Heidegger
According to Heidegger:
 HUMAN FLOURISHING is defined as an effort to
achieve self actualization and fulfillment within
the context of a larger community of
individuals, each with the right to pursue his or
her own such efforts.
 It encompasses the uniqueness, dignity,
diversity, freedom, happiness, and holistic
well-being of the individual within the larger
family, community, and population.
 Achieving human flourishing is a life-long
existential journey of hopes, achievements,
regrets, losses, illness, sufferings, and coping.
Karl Marx
 A revolutionary socialist, posits that
in our daily lives we take decisions
that have unintended consequences,
which then combine to create large-
scale social forces that may have an
utterly unpredicted effort.
 He states that humans are naturally
social beings, and therefore, society
is the essential “unity of man in
nature.”
 The decisions we make as a society
should take into account the nature
of social relations and the potential
consequences.
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)
 Is the fountainhead behind every
achievement of science, technology,
political theory, and aesthetics,
especially romantic art in today’s
world.
 He explains that the purpose of life
is earthly happiness or flourishing
that can be achieved via reason and
the acquisition of virtue.
 Human beings have 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.
Technology as a Way
of Revealing
“Technology is therefore
no mere means. It is a
way of revealing. If we
need to this, then
another whole realm for
the essence of
technology will open
itself up to us. It is the
realm of revealing, that
is the truth.”

-Martin Heidegger
 Heidegger wrote an essay “The Question
Concerning Technology”, which addresses modern
technology and its essence as an instrumental way
of revealing the world.
Heidegger’s understanding of technology was based
on its essence.
1. The essence of technology is not something we
make; it is a mode of being or revealing.
2. Technology even holds sway over beings that we
do not normally think of as technological, such as
gods and history.
3. It is primarily a matter of modern and industrial
technology.
4. Modern natural science can understand nature in
the characteristically scientific manner only.
 Two characteristics of Modern Technology as
a Revealing Process
1. CHALLENGING
 Mode of revealing nature could be sharply contrasted to
“Physis”, which is the arising of something from itself, a
bringing forth or poieses.
 The revelation has its own autonomy, and at best, man
can only witness.
 New world ordering - best described as “artificial” in
contrast to “natural ordering ”
- sees as nature as an object of manipulation and not
anymore as an autonomous reality demanding respect and
admiration
2. EXPEDITING
 - to hasten the movement of something
 - process of revealing inasmuch as it “unlocks” and
“exposes” something
For Heidegger,
En-framing - the “essence” of modern
technology
- putting into the frame of modern
technology everything in nature

“Frame” of modern technology – the network

or interlocking things standing in reserve
- world centered on man’s caprices and
demands
 HUMAN FLOURISHING
“Every man must
decide whether he
will walk in the
light of creative
altruism or in the
darkness of
destructive
selfishness.”

-Martin Luther, Jr.

 HUMAN FLOURISHING
Eudaimonia (Greek: εὐδαιμονία [eu̯dai̯moníaː])
-sometimes anglicized as eudaemonia or
eudemonia /juːdɪˈmoʊniə/,
- Greek word commonly translated as happiness or
welfare
_ "human flourishing or prosperity" and
"blessedness" have been proposed as more
accurate translations
For both Plato and Aristotle, it means not only good
fortune and material prosperity but a situation
achieved through:
 Virtue
 Excellence
 Knowledge
 Learning to be human - central to Confucianism
humanism and its “creative transformation” of
the self through an ever-expanding network of
relationships encompassing the family,
community, nation, world, and beyond

REPUBLIC- a Socratic dialogue, authored

by Plato around 375 BC, concerning justice , the
order and character of the just city-state, and the
just man
Three motivating parts of soul and mind
1. rational

2. spirited or emotional

3. appetitive
HUMAN FLOURISHING
 Nicomachean Ethics - a philosophical inquiry into the
nature of the good life for a human being. 
Aristotle, in the Nichomachean Ethics
-states that Eudaimonia is constituted by honor or
wealth power but by rational activity in accordance
with excellence in the virtues of character, courage,
honesty, pride, friendliness, and wittiness as well as
mutually beneficial friendships and scientific
knowledge, particularly of things that are
fundamental and unchanging
According to Aristotle- all humans seek to flourish
4 Aspects of Human Nature
1. Physical 3. Social
2. Emotional 4. Rational
HUMAN FLOURISHING
 also known as personal flourishing
 involves the rational use of one’s individual
potentialities including
• talents
• Abilities
• Virtues (in the pursuit of his freely) and
• Rationally chosen values and goals
B. THE GOOD LIFE
“The purpose
of life is a life
of purpose.”

-Robert Byrne
 WHAT IS A GOOD LIFE?
 One of the main themes of a “good life”
- being connected and contributing in a
meaningful way to the communities you value
 Big part of good life
It is how you participate in different places such as:
• Place of worship
• Work
• Part of the neighborhood
• Friendship
• Affiliation
 THE GOOD LIFE
 In its simplest form, a good life is a series of
never-ending satisfaction that only grows more
powerful as time goes on.
• Ex. Wanting to get out of the bed every morning,
excited to take on whatever each day has in store for
you.
 It has nothing to do with the material possessions
or artificially induced sensations.
 The good life is based on:
• Compassionate deeds you perform
• Personal goals you strive to achieve
• Legacy you decide to leave behind as a result
of the mark you have made on the world
around you.
 MASLOW’S HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
SOCRATES - a classical Greek
philosopher credited as one of the
founders of Western philosophy, and
as being the first moral philosopher
of the Western ethical tradition of
thought
 “the unexamined life is not worth

living.”
 did not endorse a life of private self-

reflection; which means that “an

individual become a master of
himself”, using his reason to reign in
his passions, as well as doing what
he can to help promote the stability
of his community
 THE TEN GOLDEN RULES
by Michael Soupios and Panos Mourdoukoutas

1. Examine life, engage life with vengeance;

always search for new pleasures and new
destinies to reach with your mind.
2. Worry only about the things that you are in
control, the things that can be influenced and
changed by your actions, not about the things
that are beyond your capacity to direct or
alter.
3. Treasure Friendship, the reciprocal
attachment that fills the need for affiliation.
 THE TEN GOLDEN RULES
by Michael Soupios and Panos Mourdoukoutas

4. Experience Treasure Pleasure.

5. Master yourself.
6. Avoid Excess.
7. Be a Responsible Human Being.
8. Don’t be a Prosperous Fool.
9. Don’t Do Evil to Others.
10. Kindness toward others tend to be
rewarded.
3
3 Elements
Elements
in
in the
the Soul
Soul
Five qualities through which the mind
achieves truth in affirmation or denial
Art or Technical Skill

Scientific Knowledge

Prudence

Wisdom

Intelligence
 All art deals with bringing something into
existence.
-To pursue an art means to study how to bring
into existence a thing that may either exist or not,
and the efficient cause of which lies in the maker
and not in the thing made.
 Scientific knowledge- can be communicated by
Whatwhat
teaching, and that is Public
is Good?
scientifically known
must be learned
 Prudence - an excellence or virtue, not an Art
 Wisdom - a combination of intuition and scientific
knowledge, involving a deep understanding of the
natural world
Sophia- Greek word for wisdom which in
philosophy literally means “lover of
wisdom”.
Wisdom- the highest of all intellectual
virtues because it involves a profound
understanding of the eternal truths of
the universe.
WHAT IS HUMAN EXISTENCE?
Why we are here?
What is life all about ?
What is the purpose of existence?
Meaning of life – derived from its
philosophical and religious contemplation,
and scientific inquiries about
 existence
 societies
 consciousness and
 happiness.
PLATO – pupil of Socrates
-one of the earliest , most influential
Philosophers
-his reputation comes from his
idealism of believing in the existence
of universals
-His Theory of Forms proposes that
universals do not physically exist, like
objects, but a heavenly forms

Platonism – the meaning of life is

attaining the highest form of
knowledge, which is the Idea (Form) of
the Good, from which all good and just
things derive utility and value.

.
ARISTOTLE - teaches that man’s life
has a purpose and that the function of
one’s life is to attain that purpose
- explains that the purpose of life is
earthy happiness or flourishing that
can be achieved via reason and the
acquisition of virtue
-states that each human being should
use his abilities to their fullest potential
and should obtain happiness and
enjoyment through the exercise of
their realized capacities
- human beings have 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
 WHAT IS PUBLIC GOOD?
 It is a product that one individual can consume without
reducing its availability to another individual, and from
which no one is excluded.
 Almost all public goods are considered to be:
◦ Nonrivalry goods – any product or service that does not
reduce availability as people consume it.
◦ Nonexcludability goods – any product or service that is
impossible to provide without it being available for many
people to enjoy.
A public good must be available for everyone and not be
limited in quantity.
Quasi public goods- goods and services that have
characteristics of being nonrivalrous and nonexcludable
but are not pure public goods
Ex. roads
ROLANDO GRIPALDO
- Filipino philosopher
- argues that the
concept of the public
good carries largely
the politico-ethical
sense, which
subsumes the politico-
economic sense
 Human flourishing – personal flourishing

– an effort to achieve self-actualization and

fulfillment within the context of a larger
community of individuals, each with the right to
pursue his or her own such efforts
- involves the rational use of one’s individual
human potentialities, including talents, abilities,
and virtues in the pursuit of his freely and
rationally chosen values and goals
- the reward of the virtues and values, and
happiness is the goal and reward of human
flourishing
Self-direction involves the use of one’s reason
and is central and necessary for the possibility
of attaining human flourishing, self-esteem, and
happiness.