Group 2

The Human Person

in the Environment
 Objectives:

• To probe into a distinct frame about gaining

valuable insights regarding the human person in
the environment.
• To demonstrate the virtues of prudence
and frugality toward his/her environment.

• Appreciate the beauty of nature.

INTRODUCTION
 Philosophical questions:

“What is the world made of?"

"How can we explain the process of
change?"
"How did the world come into being?"
Eastern sages probed nature's depths intuitively
through the eyes of spiritual sages, while Greek
thinkers viewed nature through cognitive and
scientific eyes (Price 2000).

Pre-Socratic philosophers represent a paradigm

shift--- a change from the mythical explanation of the
origins of the cosmos to a more rational explanation.
These philosophers were looking for the underlying
laws of nature.
Pre-Socratic philosophers do represent the
first intellectual and scientific attempt to
understand the origins of the universe.
Consider the two frameworks (Payne
2010):
Anthropocentric Model - humans are superior and central to the
universe.

Human
Culture
Individualism
Mind
Calculative
Human over / against environment
Global / technological
 Ecocentric Model - the ecological and relational integrity
of the humans, provides meaning of our morals and values.

Nature
Wild
Holism
Nature / cosmos
Body
Relational
Earth / wisdom
Ecology over / against humans
Ecological positioning occurs in the past, present and future, and their environmental settings with
regard to our identifications, relations and attachments in, about, with or for various natures (Payne
2009).
 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
concepts of nature itself.
Notice Disorder in
the Universe
The domination of humanity is linked to
the domination of nature based on the
anthropocentric model. An unfair or
unjust utilization of the environment
result to ecological crisis.
quarrying
factories
illegal logging
Current researches by Zimmerman (1994),
Elgin (2009), and Pettman (2012) to name
a few, exposed the environmental
consequence of international politico-
economic specialization for specific
countries and global regions.
Numerous concepts and indicators have
been used to understand environmental
impact such as the carbon footprint (CF).
For instance the emission of greenhouse
gases, such ad carbon dioxide, methane,
flouride, and nitrous oxide that are part of
the production goods and services
consumed in many countries.
 Carbon footprint has eight categories:

1. Construction 5. Mobility
2. Shelter 6. Manufactured goods
3. Food
7. Services
4. Clothing
8. Trade
AVERAGE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF A TWO-PERSON HOUSEHOLD

Services Goods Food

Home Travel
A study blames human activities for drastic decline in wildlife population. Due to
hunting and fishing, 52% of wildlife population deteriorated .
 Accordingly, humanity needs to develop
an "ecological conscience" based on
individual responsibility. Ecologist
challenge us to adopt a lifestyle that
involves simple living that honors the
right of all life forms to love, flourish, and
create a rich diversity of human and
nonhuman life.
 In 2004, indigenous grandmothers, representing
tribes from the Arctic Circle, Nepal and Tibet, held a
meeting to be able to preserve their community .
The 2007 United Nation's Declaration grants
the indigenous people "the right to
conservation, restoration, and protection of
the total environment and the productive
capacity of their lands, territories, and
resources, as well as the assistance for this
purpose from States and through international
cooperation".
 Notice Things that are not in
Their Proper Place and Organize
Them in an Aesthetic Way
 A. Ancient Thinkers

Early Greek philosophers, the Milesians,

regarded Nature as spatially without
boundaries, that is, as infinite or indefinite in
extent.
Anaximander
- employed the term "boundless" to convey
the further thought that Nature is
indeterminate -- boundless in the sense that no
boundaries between the warm and cold or the
moist and dry regions are originally preset
within it (Solomon and Higgins 2010).
 Creation and Destruction

According to Anaximander's sketch of the genesis

of the world (cosmogony), the evolution of the
world begins with the generation of opposites in a
certain region of Nature.
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.

Cosmophilia - love of other living being.
 Chinese Cosmic Conception

• Is based on the assumption that all that

happens in the universe is continuous whole
like a chain of natural consequences .
• All events in the universe follow a transitional
process due to the primeval pair, the yang and
the yin.
• The universe does not proceed onward but
revolves without beginning or end.

• There is nothing new under the sun; the

"new" is a repetition of the old (Quito 1991).

• Human being's happiness lies in his

conformity with nature or tao; the wise,
therefore, conforms with tao and is happy.
B. Modern Thinkers

Immanuel Kant
- In this third critique, Critique of Judgment,
Immanuel Kant expresses that beauty is
ultimately a symbol of morality (Kant 1997).

- We must ignore any practical motives or

inclinations that we have and instead
contemplate the object without being
distracted by our desires (Goldblatt and
Brown 2010).
 - Ultimately, Kant believes that the
orderliness of nature and the harmony of
nature with our faculties guide us toward
a deeper religious perspective. This vision
of the world is not limited to knowledge
and freedom or even to faith, in the
ordinary sense of term. It is sense of
cosmic harmony.
Herbert Marcuse
- Humanity had dominated nature. There
can only be change if we will change our
attitude towards our perception of the
environment.
George Herbert Mead
 - As human beings, we do not have only
rights but duties. We are not only citizens
of the community but how we react to this
community and our reaction to it, change
it.
 Show that Care for the
Environment Contributes to
Health, Well-being, and
Sustainable Development
A. Deep Ecology
For this theory, ecological crisis is an
outcome of anthropocentrism, which is
already discussed. The controlling attitude
of humankind is extended to nature, when in
fact, humanity is part of nature. Deep
ecologists encourage humanity to shift away
from anthropocentrism to ecocentrism.
B. Social Ecology
For this theory, ecological crisis results from
authoritarian social structures. Destroying
nature is a reflection wherein few people
overpower others while exploiting the
environment for profit or self-interest. Social
ecologist call for small-scale societies, which
recognize that humanity is linked with the
well-being of the natural world in which
human life depends.
C. Ecofeminism
This theory argues that ecological crisis is
a consequence of male dominance. In this
view, whatever is "superior" is entitled to
whatever is "inferior". Male traits as in the
anthropocentric model are superior as
opposed to female traits as in the
ecocentric model.
 Erich Fromm (2013)

- a German humanistic philosopher, believes

that it is about time that humanity ought to
recognize not only itself but also the world
around it.
Demonstrate the Virtues of
Prudence and Frugality
toward Environment
1. The willingness to give up all
forms of having, in order to fully
be.
2. Being fully present where one
is.
3. Trying to reduce greed, hate,
and illusions as much as one is
capable.
 4. Making the full growths of
oneself and one's fellow beings
as the supreme goal of living.
5. Not decieving others, but also
not being deceived by others ;
one may be called innocent, but
not naive.
6. Freedom that is not arbitrariness but
the possibility to be oneself, not as a
bundle of greedy desires, but as a
delicately balanced structure that at
any moment is confronted with the
alternatives of growth or decay, life or
death.
7. Happiness in the process of ever-growing aliveness, whatever the furthest point
is that fate permits one to reach, for living as fully as one can is so satisfactory that
the concern for what one might or might not attain had little chance to develop .
 8. Joy that comes from giving
and sharing, not from hoarding
and exploiting.
9. Developing one's capacity for
love, together with one's
capacity for critical,
unsentimental thought.
10. Shedding one's narcissism
and accepting that tragic
limitations inherent in human
existence.
Thank you for watching