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Unit Ii: An Embodied Spirit Coexisting With The Environment: Check Point: Manifest Truth (MT) or False (F)
Unit Ii: An Embodied Spirit Coexisting With The Environment: Check Point: Manifest Truth (MT) or False (F)
Maurice Merleau- Ponty Check Point: Manifest Truth (MT) or False (F)
1. According to Karl Jaspers, human being is self-
“The body is our general medium for having a world”
regulating will being.
Albert Einstein 2. Jose Rizal affirms that human reason makes a
“A human being is a part of the whole called us universe, person wonder about his/her existence.
a part limited in time and space…” 3. Guilt does not lead human being to a greater
knowledge of himself/herself.
CHAPTER 1: THE SELF IN QUESTION 4. Immanuel Kant believes that human being is lost
Lesson 1: Discovering the Self: “Who Am I?” in total determination.
5. Karl Jaspers claims that human being is more
Karl Jaspers than what she/he can know of himself/herself.
Man is always more than he knows about himself
A. Human Being’s Understanding of Himself/ Herself
B. Human Being’s Encounter with Existential Limit
The question deals with his/her concrete and Situations
specific historicity, a question that encompasses In existence, human being is always in concrete
his/her self-being. situations, and he/she is always confronted with
Jose Rizal various situations.
The relationship between my body and I reveals an The role of family relationship is crucial in forming a self-
encounter with other subjectivity or I. image and character of a person.
It is an exoerience of remembering; but in the act of A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity,
remembering, the past becomes alive in the present. stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong
when it tends otherwise.
Human being is the vessel of encounters among the
kinds, levels, and dimensions of realities in human A. Human Being’s Perspectives on Environment
existence.
Human being sees and considers the environment as an
The interpersonal events and experiences of the past, erratic and disorderly thing that needs to be analyzed,
present, and future are harmonized in human being. reformed and reshape through the cultural tools of
science and technology in the service of the human self.
For Marcel, such situations help human being establish
his/her unique being. B. Human Being’s Approaches on Environment
The society possesses system of categories or structure This kind of relationship between the human self and the
categories like language, beliefs, worldviews, and even environment has led the emergence and development of
collective character or consciousness that aid human the various approaches to Nature such as instrumental
being in creating and actualizing his/her self-identity and approach, axiological approach, anthropological
personhood. approach, utilitarianism, natural law ethics, virtue ethics,
and Buberian approaches.
List three vital expression of presence that affect a
human being’s decision and historicity Instrumental Approach
Enumerate two boundary situations that a human In this approach to environment, human being affirms the
being encounters in existence. protection of environment as long as it possesses value or
importance for human being. The problem with this
approach is that when a human being can no longer
Chapter 3: Harmony with Nature
recognize the value of environment.
Aldo Leopold
Axiological Approach
“We abuse land because we see it as a commodity
In this approach to environment, human being recognizes
belonging to us. When we see our land as a community to
the intrinsic value of the environment. Beauty can be
which we belong. We begin to use it with love and
seen the external expression of such intrinsic value.
respect.”
Anthropological Approach
The human being and the evolution of his/her
consciousness as a thinking being have been unfolding in The primary concern of human being is to unveil his/her
a concrete context, the environment: our physical being as human or what being human ought to be.
community. Human being does not recognize that the environment
has its own consciousness and inherent system.
The environment enables human being “to exist and act
together with others” (Karol Wojtyla 1979, 276) Utilitarianism
Human action reveals the inward being of human being. This approach focuses on the consequences of human
action, whether it is wrong or right. Our action is ethically
Karol Wojtyla believes that human action “ought to be
right when it produces greatest happiness for the greater
helpful in the cognitive actualization of the potentiality”
number of people, otherwise the action is ethically
of human being
wrong.
As human beings acts, it affects the movements and
Natural Law Ethics
activities including the consciousness of the environment.
There is goodness in human nature to do good in which is
Karol Wojtyla
rooted in the goodness of God; the God who created
He believes that man is a dynamic subject, who is able to everything according to His Divine plan. This goodness of
fulfill himself by fulfilling acts God in human being can be seen and manifested through
the expression of the human intellect and reason.
Lesson 5: Human Being’s Encounter with the
Environment TOL: Craft your stand about this claim: “Since we,
humans, are the apex of creation, we have all the right to
Aldo Leopold
control and manipulate the environment for human and
economic development?”
RZ: You observed that almost all people in your country is created after the image and likeness of the Divine
are lacking in awareness on how to manage their waste. Creator (Gen 1:6)
There are no waste containers on the main streets, and Emmanuel Levinas
people throw their waste into the river. What will you do
to make the people become aware of their responsibility He believes that human beings action is for the good for
to respect and take care of the environment? the “other”, and not for his/her own good.
St. Augustine
Virtue Ethics Perspective Also known as Augustine of Hippo, he is considered as
one of the most important figures in the development of
The development of our virtue of care and respect for the Christianity.
environment habitual performance of caring and
respecting non-human beings. Emmanuel Levinas
C. Sacredness of Environment He is an existentialist who puts morality a “Human Face”.
It means that human face is more primordial than any
The recognition of the sacredness of environment is claims to philosophical arguments and doctrines, and that
based on the creation of all things. The environment as before we hear the voice of any reason and
part of creation poses an affirmation of a Creator, who is commandment, we see the other person when we
the uncaused and cause, who caused everything that encounter his/her human face, and we see mutuality in it.
exists (Buenaflor 2006).
As a being with intelligence and reason, human being
Human being should recognize its sacredness; it is a must use environmental resources with love and care.
manifestation of the Creator’s goodness, divinity, and This is a responsibility, and it shall be infinite.
perfection.
TOL: Do you agree with the statement, “Ang basurang
Leonardo Mercado itinapon mo ay ibabalik sa ‘yo” or not? Explain.
Mercado asserts that human being can encounter the RZ: As you are walking around your community, you
Divine in the environment. observe that there are many young people throwing
Lesson 6: The Influence and Effects of Human Activity garbage along the road. You are convinced that this
toward Environment practice of the young people would have a negative result
on the environment, what would you do to help stop
David Abram
such practice of young today?
A human community that lives in a mutually beneficial
relation with the surrounding earth is a community, we
might say, that lives in truth. Lesson 7: The Complementarity between Human Being
and Environment
A. The Spirit of Stewardship
Marcus Aurelius
Human being is part of creation. According to Timbreza,
human being has the responsibility to take care, protect, What is good and just for man is to live in harmony with
and cultivate his/her potentialities faculties, and nature.
functions.
A. The Spirit of Noncoexistence
As part of creation, human being’s choice and action the
The noncoexistence between human being and the
unfolding of phenomena in the environment. The
environment when one is being objectified by the other
potentialities of the environment may be realized
one makes the other as an object.
through human action.
A human being does not recognize the consciousness and
The Lorax
systems that set natural movements and occurrences in
Human being must take care of the environment so that the environment.
the environment will take care of him/her.
The problem with noncoexistence between human
B. Human Being as the Summit of Creation beings and environment is not coming from the
environment, but from the human being.
Rationality makes human being different from other
created things. The capacity to think unveils the inherent Another source of the problem of noncoexistence
nature of human being as the peak of creation for he/she between human beings and environment is when a
human being focuses on development and progress at Human being in the I-Thou relation treats the
the expense of the environment. environment as a Thou, as a subject and not a mere
object, in its wholeness.
B. The Spirit of Coexistence
The “basic word I-Thou can be spoken with one’s whole
The spirit of coexistence between human being and the
being” (Bubber 1970, 54)
environment is shown every time human being
recognizes his/her dependence upon the latter. Human relates with a Thou (You) to attain self-realization.
Human being should recognize the inherent In this relation, human being touches the Thou of the
consciousness and wisdom that pervade the whole environment which leads to the touch of “breath of the
creation. human life” (Bubber I-Thou)
CP: Moreover, for Bubber, in this kind relationship between
human and the environment, characterize by a genuine
1. What happens when man does not consider the
dialog, human existence is fully realized.
environment as a community?
2. According to Fr. Mercado, what consequence of C. Human Being’s Ethical Responsibility toward the
seeing forests or rivers as brothers or sisters? Environment
TOL: What is your opinion concerning the conversion of The relationship between the self and the other depends
agricultural lands into subdivisions, recreational parks, on how human interprets the other. If the other
malls, high rise buildings and condominiums, and the interprets the other as an it, the relationship between the
like? self and the other will be an I-It relationship; and if the
self-interprets the other as Thou, the relationship
RZ: The life of indigenous people depends on the richness
between self and the other will be an I-Thou relationship.
of their agricultural lands. If you were the leader of the
country, how would you help them protect and sustain I-It and I-Thou relationships come into being when the
their agricultural lands without depriving them of the human interprets and sees the environment either as it (a
advantages of technological development? thing) or as a Thou.
Lesson 8: Dialogical Relation between Human Being and In the I-It attitude, the human being does not interpret
Environment the other as having any possibilities beyond those which
he/she has determined for it.
David Abram
In I-Thou attitude, a human being recognizes that the
We experience the sensuous world only by rendering
environment has the possibilities of its own beyond those
ourselves vulnerable to that world.
which he/she expects or imposes on it.
A. Environment as an Object of Human Being’s
Bubber
Existence
The main focus of this I-Thou relation, between human
In I-it relation human beings sees the environment
being and the environment, is not deed of posture of an
through the lens of his/her own needs and perception.
individual being but the reciprocity of being itself – a
Human being alone is active and the environment is
reciprocity that has nothing except being.
considered as a mere object to be experience and used;
the environment is seen as mere commodity. TOL: Some people believe that urbanization is inevitable.
Indeed, it is inevitable and continues to unfold because
Human being does not recognize an experience
human beings allow it to happen. But in the name of
environment as a bio-community where he/she belongs,
urbanization, trees are being cut for subdivision and
lives, and where his/her character is built. The progress of
malls, hill and ridges are converted into recreational
modern technology has contributed to the widespread of
parks. What is your stand concerning such situations?
the I-it attitude towards the environment. The
relationship between human being and environment RZ: You observed that your place is lacking of trees, and
becomes superficial and manipulative. every time heavy rains come, it flood the whole area. As a
young and concerned citizen, what would you do to
B. Environment as an Subject of Human Being’s
address such concerns of the community?
Existence
Men and women have both the natural desires to TOL: Are humans really political by nature? Explain.
propagate their species for they “have a natural desire to
leave behind them an image of themselves,” (Aristotle
1920, 26)
The first human community, therefore, is marriage
between a man and a woman. From this natural
relationship is born the family, which “is the association
established by nature for the supply of men’s every-day
wants,” (Aristotle 1920, 27)
A state or political society, may therefore, be defines as a
self-sufficing community of people existing for the sake of
good life of all its members.
State
It is the self-sufficing community of people existing for
the sake of good life.
B. The Second Argument
Aristotle (1920) states that humans have the capacity for
speech. This capacity does not exist in vain. It implied