THE HUMAN PERSON FLOURISHING IN TERMS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Introduction:

Among the animals on earth, we, humans, identify ourselves as the ones who have higher intellectual
capacity. We have learned that things around us hold potential when combined with other things or when used
in ways that these things are innately inclined to be used. Through time, passionate search, experiment or even
accidental encounter, a lot of things were discovered, and we are determined to use, produce, and manipulate
nature. This lesson explains briefly the attributes and capacity of man and his role in relation to technology and
to society. It begins with St. Augustine’s idea that human beings were created by God, the Supreme Good, and
that He has endowed us with intellect and the freedom to choose what is good and ultimately go back to Him.
The journey towards God necessitates graces from Him in order for us, humans, to choose to do and innovate
things for each other and for everyone’s good. This lessons also establishes some philosophical considerations
on how technology can be construed as a tool for higher purposes aside from the usual idea of it being the
provider of more efficient and comfortable ways of achieving and doing things.

Technology as a Product of Human Reason and Freedom

Man is rational and with this rationality comes also his creativity. This creativity means man has the
capacity to innovate whatever are those available and “create” new things which other animals cannot.

St. Augustine and Human Freedom

Augustine thinks that human action has a purpose or an end. This end or goal is what Aristotle termed
as eudaimonia, which means being in a state where one is healthy, well, and happy. All humans desire to be
happy and to live a good life, but to live a good life means that we have to do right actions in order to attain that
good life. St Augustine sees human freedom as man’s capacity to seek and find the supreme good that would
ultimately bring happiness to him. Ideally, man’s intellect should enable him to perceive whether our actions
are good or evil. We have free will, but our desires and emotions are usually at war with our intellect. Our
intelligence is intertwined with emotions. We do not act with that mind only, but we act also with our passions.

Human Freedom to Reach the Highest Good (Augustine)

1. Freedom needs to be liberated. When we make decisions and do something, we are actually not free if
we do them based on our inclinations. If we follow what we want and not what is right, it is not freedom.
It is actually contrary to real freedom when we act on what is not good because we become slaves to
our desires and our free will is controlled by our passions. For Augustine, the Highest Good is God and
anything that leads us away from God is a slavery of sin and brings us to evil.
2. Freedom is choosing to do good and for the good. This is different from the idea that freedom is doing
whatever we want. Augustine’s emphasis is that freedom is fixated towards the good things for us and
for our fellowmen or society.

Technology and the Desire for the Good

Augustine acknowledges that the Supreme Good must be the source of happiness. Everyone wants to
be happy and to live a virtuous life. The desire for happiness and satisfaction may be expressed in the way
humans want comfort, efficiency, security, and peace of mind. This reflects in how we invent and innovate
through technology. The goal is to improve and to discover more ways to do things easier and more desirable.
Human intelligence is a gift from the Creator. We continually exercise and use this gift and express it through
technology. Our ability to use technology is a response to our inner desire to attain what is good. We are then
reminded that in order for technology to serve its purpose, our intent must be to do good.
The Nature of Technology (Martin Heidegger)

The German philosopher, Martin Heidegger, considers technology through the following:

1. He believes that technology is also that which constitutes human activity. Let’s elucidate on technology as
a means to achieve a purpose (goal-oriented). This is understandable since we daily use technology in
order to make our work easy, fast, and accurate. After all, the world today is so reliant on the
accurateness of science and the trustworthiness of the tried and tested technology.
2. Technology helps in the revelation and the unfolding of humans’ being. The unfolding character of
technology also influences the unfolding character of a human. He sees this as dangerous. The
prevailing concept of technology is that everything can be harnessed and can be used in order to achieve
the objective of technology which many times is equated to efficiency, accuracy and manipulation. If
this unfolding affects humanity’s dignity, there lies the danger. When we see all things as just standing
reserves that are waiting to be used, we see everything, including humans, as just there waiting to be
harnessed and manipulated.

But where the danger is, there is also the “saving power”. This saving power is still through enframing but
in another way, namely, the possibility of opening up a “FREE relation with technology.” Free here means not
conditioned by measure and the rigid ways of science and calculations. A free relation with technology would
thus have to happen “in a realm that is, on the one hand, akin to the essence of technology and, on the other,
fundamentally different from it.”

Calculative and Meditative Thinking

Calculative thinking is seemed favored in the modern world because of its efficiency and exact or definite
answers to questions. Calculative thinking makes our individual lives less important. It implies that there is a
way to categorize everyone and everything in the world, taking away any real free will. Calculative thinking,
then—if taken as the entire truth—makes us entirely mechanistic. It suggests that there is complete, objective
truth and order in the world. There would be no free will, because every action would fit into a greater
structure. Meditative thinking, on the other hand, is a very important type of thinking for Heidegger than the
calculative; it helps us to understand our life’s meaning, placing significance on the individual rather than the
collective.

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche on Art

Aside from the use of reason, arts unveils the truth. We have art so that we may not perish by the truth. Art
is not merely an imitation of the reality of nature, but in truth a metaphysical supplement to the reality of nature,
placed alongside thereof for its conquest. Admiration for a quality or an art can be so strong that it deters us
from striving to possess it.

Immanuel Kant on Disinterested Pleasure and Aesthetics

Therefore, a true judgment of beauty is disinterested; it is not based on any known concept, simply a
sensation of unconstrained, completely detached pleasure. Along these same lines, a beautiful object is
purposive, containing the property or quality of purposefulness, without actually having a concrete purpose.