REMINDERS!

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• Please pay attention to the whole class discussion. Be in a place
where you can focus. Avoid distractions.
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if you would like to share something in the class.
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 THE HUMAN
PERSON AND THE
ENVIRONMENT
LEARNING TARGETS
•Notice that things that are not in their proper
place and organize them in an aesthetic way

• Show that care for the environment contributes to

health, well-being and sustainable development by
doing actions like planting, etc.

• Demonstrate the virtues of prudence and frugality

towards environments
• The belief that a person is a steward of God’s creation
seems to be just a myth today. Because of human activities,
the environment is facing destruction which, in turn, puts
the whole of humankind to its greatest challenge to date—
survival. Humans and their environment are expected to
coexist. At this point, the challenge for people is to prevent
their own kind from facing extinction. It is hoped that
people will realize that if they are the cause of the problem,
they too can provide the solution.
ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
• also known as environmental philosophy, deals with the ethical
relationship between a person and his/her environment. This
discipline also takes into consideration the ethical responsibilities of
a person in as far as his/her natural environment is concerned.
• was developed out of the growing awareness of the effects on the
environment of the factors such as technology, industry, population,
and even economic expansion.

• has the primary task of outlining or defining of one’s moral

obligations in the face of the worsening environmental concerns.
ENVIRONMENTAL VALUE SYSTEMS
• refers to how a person sees and values environmental
concerns and is classified into three major categories:
ecocentrism, anthropocentrism, and technocentrism.

1. Ecocentrism – based on the principle that the natural world has

inherent value. Advocates of this view wish to lessen the impact of
human influence to the environment by reducing and lessening the
consumption of natural resources.
ENVIRONMENTAL VALUE SYSTEMS
1. Ecocentrism – based on the principle that the natural world has
inherent value. Advocates of this view wish to lessen the impact of
human influence to the environment by reducing and lessening the
consumption of natural resources.
• Two Types
• 1. Land Ethic – focus on human responsibility towards the natural world. They are
said to be nature-centered and are putting so much premium on the rights of nature as
compared to the rights of humanity. It was first advocated by Aldo Leopold in the late
1940s and implied the responsibility of human beings for natural communities.
• 2. Deep Ecology – a newer concept in ecocentric philosophy. This value system
intensively inquires about a person’s set of values and lifestyles that cause serious
environmental problems.
ENVIRONMENTAL VALUE SYSTEMS
2. Anthropocentrism – a philosophical perspective which puts human needs
and interests to be of highest value and importance. This viewpoint is human-
centered and believes that the natural world exists for him/her alone; hence,
concern for nonhuman entities is limited to those having value to people.
There are anthropocentrism philosophers who advocate the cornucopian
point of view, which claims that environmental resources are unlimited and
the rapid increase in human population does not lead to scarcity in natural
resources. Cornucopian philosophers argue that the possibility of resource
scarcity and population explosion is a mere exaggeration. They believe that
future technology will be invented and developed to address such issues.
ENVIRONMENTAL VALUE SYSTEMS
3. Technocentrism – with values centered on technology, this type of view
believes that it can provide solutions to all environmental problems. It
believes that the nature is present to benefit human beings. It stresses that
environmental problems can be solved through science and technology, and
holds that technology is a key ingredient in improving the standard of living.
Advocates of this vies downplay the effects of environmental problems, such
as global warming and illegal logging. They contend that scientific and
technological expertise are the answers to the growing problems in the
environment.
• The popular belief that one is a steward of the
environment has given humans the chance to interpret it in
such a way that would benefit the humankind. Because of
this, people believe that they live outside of the
environment and in no way that they are a part of it.
• People’s strong alliance with technology and glued
partnership with science have fuelled their desires to alter
the environment’s natural state. In turn, they created trees,
made of cement, mountains of skyscrapers, and rivers of
plastics and chemicals. Environmental philosophy is,
therefore, tasked to align human perspectives with the
efforts to preserve the natural environment.
LEARNING ACTIVITY
SHEET (OFFLINE
ACTIVITY)