Human Person in the Environment

EASTERN SAGES PROBED NATURE’S DEPTHS INTUITIVELY THROUGH THE EYES OF SPIRITUAL SAGES,
WHILE GREEK THINKERS VIEWED NATURE THROUGH COGNITIVE AND SCIENTIFIC EYES

Eastern sages probed the depths of nature through the eyes of the Spirit (intuition) while Greek thinkers
viewed nature through cognitive and scientific eyes (reason).

WEST
Modernity was the beginning of the new science. There was the exploration and discovery on one hand
and enriching the horizon and giving the new scope to the thoughts on the other. Developments in art
and literature had their part to play, and the religious reforms as well.
Exploration - Christopher Columbus
Printing Press - Johannes Kloppenburg
Reformation - Martin Luther
Galileo’s proclamation of Heliocentric
Modern Philosophy – Descartes – “Cogito ergo Sum” (I think therefore I am)
From the anthropocentric model, human beings are superior to the universe but in the eco-centric
model the ecological integrity of the people provides the meaning to morality and values.

Human being is holistic and transcendental. We do not only value the concept of the person per
se but also we consider the moral, political, ethical, cultural and ecological aspects of the person.

If the human body needs an Aesthetics, it is also applicable to environment. The environment
also needs beauty, appreciation, sense of wonder and mystery, care, relaxation, serenity, social
interaction and self-understanding.

THEORIES TO SHOW CARE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Deep Ecology

For this theory, ecological crisis is an outcome of anthropocentrism. 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.

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 ecologists call for small-scale societies, which recognize that humanity is linked with the
well being of the natural world in which human life depends.

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. Domination works by forcing the
other to conform to what is superior. Nature must be tamed, ordered, and submit to the will of the
superior. For the adherents of this view, freeing nature and humanity means removing the superior vs
inferior in human relations.

These theories value the care, conservation, preservation of nature and humanity. Our search
for the meaning of life must explore not just our own survival but calls for a new socio-ecological order.
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.

For Fromm, as human beings, our biological urge for survival turns into selfishness and
laziness. Fromm argues that as humans, it is also inherent in us to escape the prison cell of selfishness.

The human desire to experience union with others is one of the strongest motivators of human
behaviour and the other is the desire for survival. From these two contradictory strivings in every
human being, it follows that the social structure, its values and norms, decides which of the two
becomes dominant. Cultures that foster the greed for possession are rooted in one human potential.
Cultures that foster being and sharing are rooted in the other potential. We must decide which of these
two potentials to cultivate.

Fromm proposed a new society that should encourage the emergence of a new human being
that will foster prudence and moderation or frugality toward environment.

PRUDENCE- SKILL AND GOOD JUDGEMENT IN THE USE OF RESOURCES

FRUGALITY-CHARACTERIZED BY OR REFLECTING THRIFTY AND EFFICIENT USE OF RESOURCES

Some functions of Fromm’s envisioned society:

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 growth of oneself and of one’s fellow beings as the supreme gaol of
living
5. Not deceiving others, but also not being deceived by others; one may be called
innocent, but not naïve.
6. Freedom that is not arbitrariness but the possibility to be oneself, not as a bundle of greedy
desires, but as 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 not attain has 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.

THEORY OF SOCIAL CONTRACT

NATURAL LAW (LEX NATURALIS)

 A precept or general rule established by reason, by which a person is forbidden to do that which
is destructive of his life or take away the means of preserving the same; and to omit that by
which he thinks it may be best preserved.

 Given our desire to get out of the state of nature, and thereby preserve our lives, Hobbes
concludes that we should seek PEACE (THOMAS HOBBES)

3 NATURAL LAWS

 Everyone should seek peace when it is possible to attain; if not, we can engage in war

 We should be willing to transfer our natural right to all things in the state of nature to a
sovereign power, when others are willing to do so too, for the sake of peace and defense of our
security.

 Human beings perform their covenant made.

CONTRACT - The mutual transferring of rights and is the basis of the notion of moral obligation and
duty.
  The laws of nature are unable to achieve the desired end by themselves alone; that is, unless
there is coercive power able to enforce their observance by sanctions.
 Therefore, it is necessary that there should be a common power or government backed by force
and able to punish.
 The plurality of individuals should confer all their power and strength upon one assembly of
human beings, which may reduce all their wills, by plurality of voices unto one will (Garvey 2006)

2 KINDS OF COMMONWEALTH

Commonwealth by Institution
Commonwealth by Acquisition

The subjects of a sovereign cannot either change the form of government or repudiate the authority of
the authority: Sovereign is inalienable
If the sovereign is conquered in war and surrenders to the victor, his subjects become the subjects of
the latter.

JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
Rousseau is one of the most famous and influential philosophers of the French Enlightenment in the
18th Century. In his book, The Social Contract, he elaborated his theory of human nature. In Rousseau,
a new era of sentimental piety found its beginning.

 Not an actual historical event. It is a philosophical fiction, a metaphor, and a certain way of
looking at a society of voluntary collection of agreeable individuals. A contract where everyone
grants his individual rights to the general will. (Rousseau on Social Contract)

 HUMAN BEING IS BORN FREE AND GOOD. UNFORTUNATELY, HE IS IN CHAINS AND HAS BECOME
BAD DUE TO THE EVIL INFLUENCE OF SOCIETY, CIVILIZATION, LEARNING, AND PROGRESS.

 HENCE, FROM THESE COME DISSENTION, CONFLICT, FRAUD, AND DECEIT. Therefore, A HUMAN
BEING LOST HIS ORIGINAL GOODNESS, HIS PRIMITIVE TRANQUILITY OF SPIRIT.

What does Rousseau mean when he says people should be “forced to be free”?

 1. By entering into civil society people gain civil freedom, which is unavailable to them in the
state of nature. This freedom is characterized by an ability to be rational and moral. According to
Rossaeu, this freedom is only possible by agreeing to the social contract, becoming a part of the
sovereign, and obeying the general will as expressed in the laws. People who break the law or
violate the social contract are violating the very institution that has made their freedom possible. By
forcing people to obey the social contract and the laws, the state would only be forcing people to be
hold on to the civul freedom that makes them fully human. In other words, the state would be
forcing criminals to be free.
THOMAS AQUINAS

Aristotle’s Influence:

Similar to Aristotle, Aquinas believed that there is a strong connection between law and reason.
(Aquinas says that reasoning ultimately results to good and avoids the bad)

Plato’s Influences:

Similar to Plato, Aquinas believed of the example of refusing to restore goods held in trust to an
owner who intended to use them in a revolt against the state.

St. Thomas Aquinas confirmed that doing good and avoiding evil is the first rule from which all
others derive. He says that all the order of rules of natural law accords with natural human
inclinations to preserve human life, to reproduce, to educate offspring, to know the truth about
God, to live society, to shun ignorance, and to avoid offending others.

Aquinas was concerned with Eternal, Natural and Human law. He said that eternal law is the eternal
government that is followed by the divine will of God. The natural law was the imprinting of eternal
law on humans. Lastly, human law was view as training and habituating to become virtuous.