LORD’S ANGELS MONTESSORI SCHOOL, INC.

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E-mail add: senior.hs@mylams.edu.ph

INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

MODULE NO. 8
I. INTRODUCTION
So far, we have discussed how Philosophy may help us find the truth, and how the search for the truth enriches
the human spirit. We learned that, according to philosophers, we are more than flesh and bone, which entails that we
have a higher responsibility. In this module, we discuss our role in the maintenance and care of the environment, and
how Philosophy plays a role in our understanding of its value.
II. OBJECTIVES
At the end of the module the learners should be able to:
1. observe things that are not in their proper place and organize them in an aesthetic way
2. show that care for the environment contributes to health, well-being and sustainable development
3. demonstrate the virtues of prudence and frugality towards environments.

III. PRE-TEST: (5 pts)

“ What is the greatest environmental issue we are encountering right now? “
IV. DISCUSSION
Philosophy and the Environment
On the outset, you might wonder how concepts of truth and the spirit relates to environmental concerns. But
remember, Empedocles and many other philosophers believed that all living things possess a soul, and are striving
towards a form of understanding the truth. Even St. Thomas Aquinas mentioned that animals have souls, possessing two
of the three divisions. As the species considered to have the highest “form” of the soul, it is therefore our responsibility
to help create an environment suitable for all living things to thrive in. Which brings us to the discussion of
Environmental Ethics, the part of Philosophy that deals with the ethical relationship between a person and their
environment. Environmental Ethics believe that humans are part of society together with other living creatures,
including plants and animals. These other creatures are a very important part of the world, and are considered to be a
functional part of human life. Thus, it is essential that every human being respect and honor this, and use morals and
ethics when dealing with these creatures.
The primary task of Environmental Ethics is to outline or define one’s moral obligations in the face of worsening
environmental concerns. Look at the world we live in now: rivers are drying up or getting polluted, mountains are being
stripped down, forests are being flattened, and the sea levels are rising. As human technology and need develops, we
have unfortunately been careless in the consumption of these natural resources, which in turn caused problems that we
and other living things on Earth experience in increasingly disturbing amounts. To address this, there are two
fundamental questions we need to answer:
 What duties and responsibilities do a person have to the environment?
 Why must they fulfill such duties and responsibilities?
To answer these questions, one must realize the evolutionist perspective that every person is a creation of the
environment and not the other way around, and that every person owes everything to the environment, making them
duty-bound to take care of it. Because of these, environmentalists have been doing their best to address the issue on
environmental degradation. They have made use of various materials, most recently social media, as platforms for their
campaigns and advocacies in saving the environment. As common people, we can help by propagating environmental
awareness through various cooperative and individual efforts; we can sort our garbage, recycle, use environmental-
friendly products, and so on.
The Environmental Value System (EVS)
The EVS refers to how a person sees and values the environment. Our perspective will relate to how we respond to
environmental concerns, as it dictates how we envision our role in the propagation and control of these concerns. The
EVS can be classified into three major categories:
 Econcentrism (Greek “oikos” - house and “kentron” - center) is a holistic world view based on the principle that
the natural world has inherent value. This term is used in ecological political philosophy to denote a nature-
centered, as opposed to human-centered, system of values. Under Ecocentrism we have:
o Land ethic focuses on human responsibility towards the natural world. It focuses more on nature rather
than even human rights, and implies that human beings are responsible for natural communities

1|P a g e SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL // Prepare/ Revised by: Mrs. Madelyn Marcelino/ Mr. Jairus Edward Fenix INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY // MODULE 8
 o Deep ecology is a newer concept which intensively inquires about a person’s set of values and lifestyles
that cause serious environmental problems
 Anthropocentrism (Greek “Anthropos” - human being, “kentron”) is the belief that considers human beings to
be the most significant entity of the universe and interprets or regards the world in terms of human values and
experiences. Allegedly, anthropocentrism considers that non-human natural entities should be protected so that
they may fulfill the demands of human utility, and are therefore contingent on the demands of human welfare
(nature should be protected because it is useful to humans).
 Technocentrism is a value system that is centered on technology and its ability to control and protect the
environment. This system sees science and technology as solutions to environmental problems, and that such
solutions are the key to improving the standard of living of everyone. Technocentrism contends that scientific
and technological expertise are the answers to the growing problems in the environment.
Regardless of the category one may find one’s self in, we can agree that we are facing similar environmental issues,
such as: global warming, climate change, deforestation, pollution, among others. Each category has its own
understanding of these issues, and how to deal with them.

Challenges for Environmental Philosophy

Due to the careless march of technological development in the past, nature has been put at the losing end of our
struggle for the environment. Practices that are bad for the environment, some of which continue to this day, has
compromised nature in exchange for technological advancement and scientific discoveries. Because of the human desire
to raise their standards of living and improve their quality of life, changes and interventions on the natural courses of the
environment have become uncontrollable; deforestation, landfills, and dam construction, among other human activities,
have changed how natural resources move, and have affected the conservation and survival of such resources. The self-
centeredness of the human race, where we consider ourselves the center of the universe, and all other things are part of
our property, have now become a challenge to environmental philosophy. To overcome these challenges, we must
realize and understand the following:
 Natural beings have intrinsic value
 Humans must pay respect to the environment, not because they benefit from it, but because it is the right thing
to do
 The environment and everything in it shall cease to exist if humans will not change their attitude toward the
environment
 Humans must realize that the survival of the environment is also their survival
 We must define our place in the environment, because we are an integral part of nature
 We must use science and technology, not to alter the environment’s natural state, but to ally and integrate
ourselves with it
 We must align our perspective with efforts to preserve the natural environment

NAME SECTION
DATE:
: :
ANSWER SHEET
PRE-TEST
“ What is the greatest environmental issue we are encountering right now? “
Wind and water pollution, global warming due to carbon dioxide emission and use of non-biodegradable material are
among the main environmental challenges that we are facing today.

We have to breathe air in order for our body to get a regular supply of oxygen. When the air gets polluted with SPM
or suspended particulate matter we tend to suffer from asthma and other lung and heart problems.The atmosphere
also has a lot of infectious germs floating in it and this causes no less harm to the human body, like pneumonia and
tuberculosis.

The water in some parts of the country contains arsenic, far in excess of tolerable limits for the human body. Unless
this is checked or improved upon, people will continue to be maimed for life. The Government should work towards
supplying clean, germ-free drinking water across the country as more and more wells and ponds are becoming sources
of water not fit for human consumption.

Industrial, commercial and domestic waste must be treated and/or recycled in order to check effluents and wastes
from becoming a bigger source for human decay and death. Bio-waste and municipal waste must be tackled properly
so that they do not become a source of suffering for humanity. Stagnant water sources like pits, manholes etc must
not be kept open as they could turn out to be the ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes, who would continue to
2|P a g e SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL // Prepare/ Revised by: Mrs. Madelyn Marcelino/ Mr. Jairus Edward Fenix INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY // MODULE 8
 merrily spread diseases like malaria and dengue. Plastic and other synthetic material that are not bio-degradable
must be recycled.

POST TEST
EXERCISE (10 PTS)
_Environmental ethics__
_spíti"_______________
_Technocentrism______
_____________________
_man______________
_Environmental Ethics_
_Ecocentrism_
_Philosophy Flashcards__
_biospheric_______
__The middle___
1. This is the part of Philosophy that deals with the ethical relationship between a
person and their environment.
2. The Greek word for “house”.
3. The value system that is centered on technology.
4. The belief that considers human beings to be the most significant entity of the
universe.
5. The Greek work for “human being”.
6. This focuses on human responsibility towards the natural world.
7. This denotes a nature-centered system of values.
8. This intensively inquires about a person’s set of values and lifestyles that cause
serious environmental problems.
9. This refers to how a person sees and values the environment.
10. The Greek word for “center”.

REFLECTION (5 pts)
What have you done to help conserve the environment? The problem is that the climate activists have included
“environment” into the political driven climate hysteria to sell the climate hypothesis and to make a wild idea more
trustworthy.

This make a lot of people see “environment” as a whole as a bad and extremely money consuming idea , feeling like
you have green bugs with stupid slogans all over your body.

It will be hard to separate thiose two because the climate activists and the climate industry know that the whole ting
is buildt on a weak theory .

To prove that is just to read yourself the “Climatgate” E-mails how the climate scare was constructed and the
discussion about how to do it. And make up my our own mind about mixing this stuff into the environmental work.

3|P a g e SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL // Prepare/ Revised by: Mrs. Madelyn Marcelino/ Mr. Jairus Edward Fenix INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY // MODULE 8