LESSON 8: PROBLEM IN THE ENVIRONMENT

This TOPIC introduces the concept of environmental philosophy which pertains to a

branch of philosophy that is concerned with the natural environment and human’s place
within it. It seeks answers to crucial questions about human environmental relations
such as what we mean when we talk about nature; how should we respond to
environmental challenges such as environmental degradation, pollution and climate
change, etc.
Environmental philosophy includes environmental ethics, environmental aesthetics
(beauty), ecofeminism, and environmental theology. Some of the main areas of interest
for environmental philosophers are definition of the environment and nature; how to
value the environment; moral status of animals, plants and endangered species;
environmentalism and deep ecology; the aesthetic value of restoration of nature;
consideration of future generation; and contemporary issues.

What did you notice with the comic strip on the left? How can you relate to this act?
Why?
Mahatma Gandhi once said, “The world has enough for everyone's need, but not
enough for everyone's greed.” This is scientifically true for all the resources we have in
this world is sufficient enough to provide our basic needs in order for us to survive. The
Great Designer of this world devised a proper and well-coordinated distribution of
energy sources from plants up to the alpha species as well as the number of each
species to produce their offspring. Unfortunately, it is being reinvented by man, thus
distorting the nature’s way of cycle. The given MELC by the Department of Education
conveys that “things have turned to chaos and need to be organized.”
The world since in the beginning had been organized by the Great Designer and given
each species their respective role for life sustainability. The best example of such is the
water cycle and the cycle of life where dead materials will be degraded by the
decomposers. Insects reproduce fast and in great numbers to suffice the need of the
animals, and animals with tamed and food for the top of the food chain reproduce such
a great number for them while the top of the food chain like the big mammals and beast
produce a significant number to control the biodiversity. All these things are ruined
when man disrupted this order.

Environmental ethics is an established field of practical philosophy which reconstructs

the essential types of argumentation that can be made for protecting natural entities
and the sustainable use of natural resources.
Ethics concerns how we ought to live. Ethical questions are about what actions we ought
to perform, what policies we ought to adopt, what kind of people we ought to be, and
what sort of society we ought to have. The need for ethics arises from the fact that we,
individually and collectively, confront multiple possibilities.
The central questions of environmental ethics are:
What is the proper way to understand the relationship between ourselves and the non-
human environment including the organism that populate it
What values emerge from the relationship or are possessed by environmental entities
such as species, ecosystems, organism, and landscapes?

What principles, rules, or other forms of guidance regarding action, characters and
policy do those environmental value justify
Philosophy of Environment
Ecofeminism - derived from the portmanteau of Ecology (environment) and Feminism
linking the two as the same path of their experiences in terms of harassment and
slavery. Ecofeminism according to Eaubonne (1974) is a framework that seeks to
combine, re-examine, and augment the environmental and feminist movements.
Value Hierarchical Thinking is simply the notion that cultures establish certain groups as
inherently more valuable than other groups. For example, they view women in machismo
as an object that they used whatever they want and if they seem it is not useful to them,
they easily thrown it away and find another women.

B. Dualism, on the other hand, are ways of understanding certain social and cultural
binaries (like Yin Yang, black & white, water & oil) which treating the two sexes not only
as different with each other but totally opposite. This tends to give more credit to one side
rather than the other and is expressed through language.

C.Anthropocentrism (Antro means “man”) believes that man is the most important
species in the planet and considered to have a moral status or value higher than that of
other animals.
Ecocentrism views that humans are a part of ecosystem rather than separate from nature.
This also believes that humans are not the center and most vital part of this planet but a
co-equal in rights in accessing the environment.