SOCIETY AND ENVIRONMENT: A DEBATE REGARDING THE QUESTION OF THE HUMAN INTERVENTION ON THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE NATURAL CATASTROPHES (original) (raw)
Human Ecology. An Outline of the Concept and the Relationship between Man and Nature
2013
The concept of human ecology comprises a full and integral, scientific view of the human person and their natural environment. It is a theory which protects the person from various reductionisms. On the other hand, however, it allows perceiving the dangers which result from these incomplete views. We clearly name these threats and point out how to prevent or, in case they exist, counteract them. The theory also allows noticing the natural dependencies which link people to their environment. Besides noticing these, it also points to the way to care for and develop these natural ties. The essential thesis of this concept is to value society as an important element of the natural human environment. This comprises a unique novum in the description of this environment.
The Environment and the Background of Human Life. Nature, Facts and Values
in Facts and Values. The Ethics and Metaphysics of Normativity, eds. Giancarlo Marchetti, Sarin Marchetti, New York – London, Routledge, 2017
From where is it that our concern for the natural environment comesthe concern which is expressed in the fear that magnificent landscapes, majestic trees, snowy peaks, ecosystems, animal species and local climates will all disappear forever? Advances in knowledge and technology have spurred on reflection on these matters, as also have certain shifts in morality. Ominous signs of the human impact on the planet over the last halfcentury have in fact become inescapable. It has become evident to what extent the growth of developed societies entails the destruction of the environment, through the use of polluting technologies, fossil fuels, and life-styles based on cars, meat-eating, heating and cooling systems, and so forth. At the same time moral concepts have changed. There is greater awareness of the value of nature, in all its forms, which is increasingly seen as something precious to be protected. In this awareness different sentiments and attitudes come together, both nature-oriented-an appreciation of nature's independence with regard to human interventionand human-oriented-an aesthetic appreciation of natural landscape, an interest in the equilibrium of ecosystems in which the human species can prosper, breathing clean air, for example.
Ecosophy and the relationship between man and nature in contemporaneity
2020
Among its functions, Philosophy allows us to understand reality and, in view of today's environmental issues, Ecosophy consists of the study of the relationship between nature and human beings, proposing discussions between the environment, man and social relations in modern times. This work aims to reflect on the relationship of man with the environment through the principles of Ecosophy. The Ecosophy proposed by Guattari (2009) addresses our understanding, as part of the environment in which we live, and how we learn and act on the environmental issue, based on the three ecologies: that of the environment, that of social relations and that of human (mental) subjectivity. Thus, it is possible to understand that Ecosophy is more than a reflection on ecology, nature and man-nature relationship, it is a search forconcrete actions, taking into account man's interaction with the environment. In this way, Ecosophy stimulates a broad environmental awareness, making it possible to extract from the field of learning and knowledge the potential to become capable of understanding what our planet needs and reviewing our actions.
ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS OF MODERN SOCIETY
IRASA International Scientific Conference - SCIENCE, EDUCATION, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION - SETI III, 2021
In this paper, the author deals with environmental risks from the sociological aspect, which, along with political and economic risks, represent the greatest danger of modern society. Modern society embodied in neoliberalism represents its paradigm, carries with it certain risks, which seem to be hard to deal with it. Many experts and movements whose activities are closely related to environmental protection warn of possible consequences if something is not done about this issue. On the other hand, multinational corporations, advocates of neoliberalism, are not overly troubled by the fact that the environment is in danger as they actively continue to annihilate nature. It is clear there is a profit behind everything. However, the human factor also bears a great responsibility because its (un)conscious action significantly contributes to the ecocide. By destroying natural resources for profit and our irresponsibility, we are endangering the planet Earth and the survival of the human race. Man is a being who must live with nature and not against it.
This essay examines the crises of opinion regarding the nature and character of environmental problems in the world today. The essay examines two philosophical positions in the debate on environmental degradation-the position of persons commonly referred to as ecological pessimists and that of persons commonly regarded as ecological optimists, thereafter, the study proceeds to adopt the position of ecological optimists, who trust in human and technological ingenuity in resolving any environmental problem. Next, study attempts a philosophical gaze at the debate arguing in consequence that due to the glaring, deplorable state of the environment, it is wiser
PHILOSOPHICAL ROOTS OF OUR ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS
International Journal of the Asian Philosophical Association, 2021
Human knowledge is so powerful because of which humans are very distinct from other animals. This knowledge is generated in many ways, but philosophy is attached to every step. From the ancient world to this postmodern world philosophical perception of nature has been working as a root cause of our present environmental degradation. The present paper tries to expose what this philosophical perception of nature is and how this works for environmental problems. It also examines other potential causes of environmental destruction discovered by scholars and investigates their arguments. With a critical analysis of the causes of environmental degradation, the paper aims to draw the attention of the present philosophers for thinking about a new worldview of the environment.
Our attitude towards the Environment has been changed since Industrial Revolution because our civilization is characterized by the overconsumption of natural resources, resulting in the appearance on health problems while millions of people have also condemned into poverty. In order to change this harmful model of economy we need to change our way of thinking by realizing our unity with the Environment. In such a case it is obvious that a new model of economic growth will arise which is based on Sustainable Development. This type of development combines the protection of natural environment with the improvement of quality of life, especially for poorer countries whose population suffer from poverty.
Man and the Environment: Population, Energy Consumption and Pollution
An important aspect of man relation with the world is his attitude to the environment. Modern man is becoming aware that he has to defend the environment from his actions. Science and religion influence his correct attitude to the environment. Environmental ethics regulate man's relations in this concern. Two important aspects of this relation are population growth and energy consumption. Increase in world population and energy consumption may create great problems in the future. Energy sources are limited and must be kept for future generations. Another problem is pollution that follows from development. It can be divided into atmospheric, water and soil pollution. Man should endeavor to reach a uniform and controlled energy consumption without the present great inequalities. The link created between quality of life and energy consumption must be broken. St. Francis teaches as to look at the earth as our sister and mother. Man and the Environment Man shares with other living beings the vital space of the earth. From the evolutionary point of view, man forms a biological species among the many which constitute the tree of all living beings. However, man has special characteristics that makes him a special case different from all other living beings. This makes his relation with the natural environment to be different. In the past man considered nature as the source of resources necessary for life and at the same time also as a source of dangers, such as, wild animals, storms, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, from which he had to defend himself. This created both an attitude of dependency and respect, and of fear and defense with regard to nature. In many aspects man saw nature as a menace he has to defend himself from. Growing human population, increasing consumption of resources and scientific and technological progress has changed this attitude. Today man sees nature as the source of needed resources that are becoming scarce and as something in danger that he has to defend from his own actions. Man has become aware that he himself has become a menace of nature. Faced with the negative consequences of his actions on nature, man begins to become aware that he is not the absolute lord and master of nature. He is only its steward and must learn to respect it. Owing to the fact that many of the aggressions and assaults to the environment take their origin from the scientific and technological progress, this is an important field of consideration with serious ethical problems. Religion also influences man's attitudes toward nature. The conceptions that religions have regarding the relations between man, the world and divinity influence these attitudes. For example, oriental religious traditions identify the world with the divinity so that nature is seen as its manifestation while in the Jewish-Christian tradition God has created nature and put man in charge of it. Thus, religious attitudes are also important regarding man relation with the environment. Science, technology and religion must then be considered with regard to the problems of man's attitudes and actions with respect to other living beings and the environment. We will PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT22
Against the Environment. Problems in Society/Nature Relations
Frontiers in Sociology
The dominant manners in which environmental issues have been framed by sociology are deeply problematic. Environmental sociology is still firmly rooted in the Cartesian separation of Society and Nature. This separation is one of the epistemic foundations of Western modernity-one which is inextricably linked to its capitalist, colonial, and patriarchal dimensions. This societal model reifies both humanity and nature as entities that exist in an undeniably anthropocentric cosmos in which the former is the only true actor. Anthropos makes himself and the world around him. He conquers, masters, and appropriates the non-human, turning it into the mere environment of his existence, there solely for his use. If sociology remains trapped in this paradigm it continues to be blind to the multiple space-time specific interrelations of life-elements through which heterogeneous and contingent ontologies of humans and extra-humans are enacted. If these processes of interconnection are not given due attention, the socioecological worlds in which we-human as well as others-live cannot be adequately understood. But misunderstandings are not the only issue at stake. When dealing with life-or-death phenomena such as climate change, to remain trapped inside the Society/Nature divide is to be fundamentally unable to contribute to world reenactments that do not oppress-or, potentially, extinguish-life, both human and extra-human. From the inside of Anthropos' relation to his environment the only way of conceiving current socioecological problems is by framing them in terms of an environmental crisis which could, hypothetically, be solved by the very same societal model that created it. But if the transformation of some of the world(s)' life-elements into the environment of the Human is part of the problem, then, socioecological issues cannot be adequately understood or addressed if they are framed as an environmental crisis. Instead, these problems need to be conceived as a crisis of Western modernity itself and of the kind of worlds that are possible and impossible to build within it.
La sociobiologia a supporto della crisi ecologica e dell'emergenza ambientale
The historical-natural process training of humanity and the very nature of man are due to the biological evolution and should be studied with biological means because the biologic is a primary aspect of humanity, while the activity of the human is nothing but a ring of biological evolution, during which is the reproduction of genetic material. In the course of evolution, living organisms grow in relation to the environment in which they live; when adaptability and self-purification of the ecosystems is exceeded determines an environment emergency that connects the community in ecological crisis. In nature, a species not evolved independently of the other species with which it shares the habitat; in the mechanism of natural selection adapting or not adapting the environment is crucial for the life of an