technology,

and society and

human
condition
 Human
Flourishing
 Key Concepts!!!
 Human Being – a man, woman, or child of the specie
Homo Sapiens, distinguished from other animals by
superior mental development power of articulate
speech, and upright stance.
 Society – an organization or aggregate of people
living together with common interests or purpose or
activity.
 Happiness – a mental or emotional state of well-
being which can be defined by, among others,
positive or pleasant emotions ranging from
contentment to intense joy.
HUMAN FLOURISHING
is defined as being “ good
spirited ”
(EUDAIMONIA), to describe the
pinnacle of happiness that is
attainable by humans. -
ARISTOTLE
 What is your own
definition of the
word ‘human’?
REFLECT – RETHINK – REEXAMINE
#hugotSTS
Definition of Human
† Human being is an individual person
that makes up the society and is
responsible for the researches and
innovation available today.

† Aristotle: “Man is a rational animal”

 Because he can think and use reason
consistently.
Definition of Human
† He is a creature whose destiny is to
live in the spiritual world and physical
world.

† He is made up of a material body and

a spiritual soul, with a belief on the
existence and to live in the kingdom
Example scriptures…
† 1 Corinthians 15: 42-44
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is
perishable, it is raised imperishable; 
43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is
raised in power; 
44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural
body, there is also a spiritual body.

† Deuteronomy 30:15
“See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and
adversity;

† Philippians 3:20
My home is in Heaven. I’m just traveling through this world.
Definition of Human
† Different beliefs, religions, doctrines on the
existence of God have been explained by a
man to satisfy his needs in the spiritual world.

† On the other hand, he is destined to live in

the physical world as he is part of it together
with other living organisms. With this, science
and technology can be used to satisfy man’s
material world.
Definition of Human
† Aristotle: “The way human beings do
things is by making rational
choices.”

 Individuals choose specific actions or scientific

investigations that are most in line with their
personal preferences, hence the introduction
of Rational Choice Theory (Ley, 2001) which is
to model human decision making.
 Characteristics of
Humans that Evolved
Over Time
- Human characteristics evolved
over time brought about by several
factors, like changes in the
environment, increased knowledge
and culture adaptations. These
characteristics include:
1. Walking Upright
† The changes in the physical
characteristics of humans were brought
about by adaptation to the changing
environment.
† changes in human body
2. Use of different tools
† As humans need to survived, their
various activities such as forging,
hunting, and fishing to provide a
wide range of food supply led to
3. Use of language and symbols
† During the ancient times, people
communicated with each other using
languages, symbols or sounds.
 E.g. pigments, paintings, and carvings

† Our ancestors used jewelry and other

personal adornments to reflect their
identity.
 Adornments may have presented membership in a
group or someone’s age, sex, social status.
4. Domestication of Animals
† They raised animals for clothing,
medicine, and shelters.

† The animals to be domesticated

were:
† goat, sheep, chicken, oxen ,horse
5. Complexity of the brains
† As humans evolved, the brain size tripled,
and became the larger and most complex of
any living primate
† The ability of an organism to process
information about its environment is a
driving force behind evolution.

 The more information the brain receives and the faster

it can process the information, the more adequately it
will be able to respond to environmental challenges
and the better will be its chances of survival.
6. Social Life
† Early humans depended on social life
to help them survive the different
challenges in the changing
environment.

† Family: a socially recognized group

(usually joined hood, marriage,
cohabitation, or adaptation) that
forms an emotional connection and
6. Social Life
† Society: a group of people who share
common economic, social, and
industrial infrastructures.

† It is a system of human organizations

generating distinctive cultural patterns
and institutions usually providing
protection, security, continuity, and a
motional identity for its members.
6. Social Life
† Societies have the ff.
importance:
A. Support for each other
B. Formation of social groups
C. Formation of a culture
D. Regulation of policies and
standards
 REFLECT – RETHINK – REEXAMINE
#hugotSTS

“No man is an island, entire

of itself; every man is a piece
of continent, a part of the
main.”
 What is happiness?
What/Who makes you happy?


REFLECT – RETHINK – REEXAMINE

#hugotSTS
 Human Flourishing
† Defined as an effort to achieve self-
actualization and fulfillment within the context
of a larger community of individuals, each with
the right to pursue his or her own efforts.

† It encompasses the uniqueness, dignity,

diversity, freedom, happiness, and holistic
well-being of the individual within the larger
family, community, and population.
 Human Flourishing
† Achieving human flourishing is a life-long
existential journey of hopes, achievements,
regrets, losses, illness, suffering, and coping.

† The physical changes in the human body, use

of different tools, languages and symbols,
and social responsibility as a human all led to
satisfying human needs.
Aristotle † Student of Plato
(“The mind of the
Academy”)

† Tutor to Alexander
the Great

† Polymath, proto-
scientist
According to Aristotle…
† There is an end to all
the actions that we
perform which we
desire for ourselves.
 According to Aristotle…
† Flourishing is the highest good of human
endeavors.

† The good is what is purposeful, goal-directed

entities.

† He defines the good proper to human beings as

the activities in which the life functions specific
to human beings are most fully realized.
Five Pillars
(under human
flourishing)
1. Positive Emotion
† This includes pleasure, rapture, ecstasy,
warmth, comfort, and other emotions that
contributes to the “pleasant life”.

† These are based on emotions that later could

fade away when emotions are gone.

† Emotion is an affective state of consciousness

in which joy, sorrow, fear, hate, or the like, is
experienced, as distinguished from cognitive
and volitional states of consciousness
2. Engagement
† Being fully engaged means doing
everything with enthusiasm.

3. Relationships
† The feeling of satisfaction,
flourishing, or well-being can be
experienced when we are in a
relationship or with other people.
4. Meaning
† Human beings want a “meaningful life,”
like belonging and serving something that
you believe is bigger that you are.

† Philosopher Thomas Nigel believes in

cosmic significance – that man does not
affect the universe, but only man’s
immediate environment.

† A meaningful life is based on man’s value or

5. Accomplishment
† defined as something that is successful, or that
is achieved after a lot of work or efforts.

† The “achieving life” is dedicated to

accomplishment for the sake of
accomplishment.

† Accomplishment (or achievement) is often pursued for

its own sake, even when it brings no positive emotion,
no meaning, and nothing in the way of positive
relationships.
 REFLECT – RETHINK – REEXAMINE
#hugotSTS

HAPPINESS IS NOT HAVING

WHAT YOU WANT, BUT
WANTING WHAT YOU HAVE…
 SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY
AND HUMAN FLOURISHING
• Human flourishing is deeply
intertwined with goal setting
relevant to science and
technology.
• Science and technology and
human flourishing are related, in
that the GOOD is inherently
SCIENCE AS METHOD AND
RESULTS…
• OBSERVE
• DETERMINE THE PROBLEM
• FORMULATE HYPOTHESIS
• CONDUCT EXPERIMENT
• ANALYZE
• CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
NOTE: VERIFICATION THEORY – interpreted in the event of an alternative hypothesis is being
accepted.
FALSIFICATION THEORY – asserts that as long as an idea is not proven to be false it is
accepted.
SCIENCE AS A SOCIAL
ENDEAVOR
-- benefits the society
SCIENCE AND RRESULTS
-- able to produce results
SCIENCE AS EDUCATION
-- preference of science –
REFLECT – RETHINK – REEXAMINE
#hugotSTS

HUMAN FLOURISHING
DON’T COST A THING…
 HAPPY
LEARNING… 

Teaching is a work of
heart
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING…
1.IS OUR REVERENCE OF SCIENCE
JUSTIFIED? EXPLAIN.
2.WERE WE SUCCESSFUL SO FAR IN
TRYING TO TIE DOWN
TECHNOLOGY WITH WHAT WE
CONCIEVED AS HUMAN
FLOURISHING?
3.WHAT DO YOU THINK