The Person in the

Environment
 Lesson Objectives
• Probe into a distinct frame about gaining
valuable insights regarding the human
person in the environment
• Demonstrate the virtues of prudence and
frugality toward his/her environment
 Key Questions

• What is the relationship of man with his

environment?

• How can human beings live harmoniously

with their environment?
 The Environment
• Philosophers in both East and West were asking
questions about the universe we live in and our
place in it.
• Eastern sages probed nature’s depths intuitively
through the eyes of spiritual sages.
• Greek thinkers viewed nature through cognitive and
scientific eyes.
• Pre-Socratic philosophers represent the first
intellectual and scientific attempt to understand the
origins of the universe.
 A change from the mythical explanation of the
origins of the cosmos to a more rational
explanation.
 The Environment
• There are different views or concepts on nature or
the environment from which debates or researches
can be framed and reframed.
 Anthropocentric model – humans are superior
and central to the universe.
 Ecocentric model – the ecological or relational
integrity of the humans provides meaning of our
morals and values.
• Our limited understanding of our environment
opens for a need for philosophical investigation of
nature, applying aesthetic and theological
dimensions, as well as appreciating our philosophical
reflections with the concept of nature itself.
 Disorder in the Universe
• The domination of humanity is linked to the domination
of nature based on the anthropocentric model.
• An unfair or unjust utilization of the environment
results to ecological crisis.
• Researches exposed the environmental consequence
of international politico-economic specialization for
specific countries and global regions as well as the
implications for both abuses of natural resources and
of the generation of waste and emissions.
• The Ecocentric model puts the ecosystem first and
assumes that the natural world has intrinsic value.
• Nature is not valued for the future survival of human
species per se, but is invaluable in itself.
 Disorder in the Universe
• Human made changes threaten the health of nature.
• Unlike changes in the evolutionary process, human
interventions have swift and even, violent effect on
nature.
• The damage is not inevitable but a consequence of
human choices, thus, humanity needs to develop an
“ecological conscience” based on individual
responsibility.
• The right to live and blossom should not just be for
human beings but must be valid to all forms of life
because humans are dependent to other forms of
life.
 Putting Order into Disorder
Ancient Thinkers
• Early Greek philosophers, the Milesians, regarded
Nature as spatially without boundaries, that is, as
infinite or indefinite in extent.
• Anaximander employed the term “boundless” to
mean that Nature is indeterminate―in the sense
that no boundaries between the warm and cold or
the moist and dry regions are originally present
within it.
• Evolution of the world begins with the generation of
opposites in a certain region of Nature that
eventually burst and formed the universe.
 Putting Order into Disorder
• Pythagoras described the universe as living
embodiment of nature’s order, harmony, and beauty
and our relationship with it in terms of biophilia (love
of other living things) and cosmophilia (love of other
living beings).
• Chinese cosmic conception, on the other hand, is
based on the assumption that all that happens in the
universe is a continuous whole like a chain of natural
consequences.
• The universe does not proceed onward but revolves
without beginning or end.
• Happiness lies in his conformity with nature or tao.
 Putting Order into Disorder
Modern Thinkers
• Immanuel Kant expresses that beauty is ultimately a
symbol of morality.
• We must ignore any practical motives or inclinations
that we have and instead contemplate the object
without being distracted by our desires.
• The beautiful encourage us to believe that nature
and humanity are part of an even bigger design – an
ultimate goal in which every aspect of the sensible
world has its place in a larger purpose – that draws
our thoughts toward a supersensible reality.
 Putting Order into Disorder
• Kant believes that the orderliness of nature and the
harmony of nature with our faculties guide us toward
a deeper religious perspective.
• Understanding our relationship with the environment
can also refer to the human beings with ecology and
nature.
• Herbert Marcuse believes that there can only be
change if we will change our attitude towards our
perception of the environment.
• For George Herbert Mead, human beings do not
have only rights but duties as well.
• How we react to the community we live in and our
reaction to it, change it.
 Caring for the Environment
• Theories that show care for the environment aside
from the ecocentric model: deep ecology, social
ecology, and ecofeminism.
Deep Ecology
• Ecological crisis is an outcome of anthropocentrism.
• Deep ecologists encourage humanity to shift away
from anthropocentrism to ecocentrism.
Social Ecology
• Ecological crisis results from authoritarian social
structures.
• 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.
 Caring for the Environment
Ecofeminism
• Ecological crisis is a consequence of male dominance.
• In this view, whatever is “superior” is entitled to
whatever is “inferior.”
• For the ecofeminists, freeing nature and humanity
means removing the superior vs. inferior in human
relations.

• The three theories mentioned value the care,

conservation, preservation of nature, and humanity.
• The search for the meaning of life must explore not
just our own survival but calls for a new socio-
ecological order.
 Caring for the Environment
• Erich Fromm believes that humanity ought to
recognize not only itself but also the world around
it.
• For Fromm, human beings have biological urge for
survival that turns into selfishness and laziness as
well as the inherent desire to escape the prison cell
of selfishness to experience union with others.
• Which of these two contradictory strivings in
human beings will become dominant is determined
by the social structure currently existing in society.
Prudence and Frugality towards
the Environment
• 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.
• Functions of Fromm’s envisioned society:
 The willingness to give up all forms of having, in
order to fully be.
 Being fully present where one is.
 Trying to reduce greed, hate, and illusions as
much as one is capable.
 Making the full growth of oneself and of one’s
fellow beings as the supreme goal of living.
Prudence and Frugality towards
the Environment
 Not deceiving others, but also not being deceived by
others; one may be called innocent but not naïve.
 Freedom that is not arbitrariness but the
possibility to be oneself, not as a bundle of greedy
desires, but as a delicately balanced structure that
at any moment is confronted with the alternatives
of growth or decay, life or death.
 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 or
might not attain has little chance to develop.
Prudence and Frugality towards
the Environment
 Joy that comes from giving and sharing, not
from hoarding and exploiting.
 Developing one’s capacity for love, together with
one’s capacity for critical, unsentimental
thought.
 Shedding one’s narcissism and accepting that
tragic limitations inherent in human existence.
• The ideals of Fromm’s society cross all party lines;
for protecting nature needs focused conservation,
action, political will, and support from industry.
 Activities
1. In your observation, how do humans regard the
environment? Explain. In what way/s are your
answers positive or negative?
2. In your opinion, how can we protect, conserve, and
restore our environment? Elaborate your answer by
planning an activity that would support it.
3. Compare the importance of nature from the ancient
to the modern era.
4. Write your thoughts regarding the following passage:
The controlling attitude of humankind is extended to
nature, when in fact, humanity is part of nature.
5. What is freedom? Relate Fromm’s view with other
philosophers discussed in previous lessons.