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THE HUMAN PERSON FLOURISHING IN TERMS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

LESSON OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:

• identify different conceptions of human flourishing;

• determine the development of the scientific method and validity of science;

and

• critic human flourishing vis-à-vis progress of science and technology to be

able to define for themselves the meaning of a good life.

HUMAN FLOURISHING

• Eudaimonia, literally “good spirited,” is a term coined by renowned Greek

philosopher Aristotle (385-323 BC) to describe the pinnacle of happiness that is
attainable by humans.

• This has been translated into “human flourishing”

• Human flourishing is defined as being “good spirited” in the classical Aristotelian

notion.

• It arises as a result of different components such as phronesis (Greek term for

wisdom or intelligence), friendship, wealth, and power.

• In the Ancient Greek society, they believe that acquiring these qualities will surely
bring the seekers happiness, which in effect allows them to partake in the greater
notion of what we call the GOOD.

• As times change, elements that comprise human flourishing changed, which are
subject to the dynamic social history as written by humans.

• Our concept of human flourishing today proves to be different from what Aristotle
originally perceived then- humans of today are expected to become a “man of the
world”.
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• Competition as a means of survival has become out of date; coordination is the

new trend.

• Western civilization tends to be more focused on the individual

• Eastern civilization are more community-centric.

• The Chinese and the Japanese encourage studies of literature, sciences, and art,
not entirely for oneself but in service of a greater cause.

• The Greek Aristotelian view, on the other hand, aims for eudaimonia as the
ultimate good.

• Flourishing borders allowed people full access to cultures that as a result, very
few are able to maintain their original philosophies.

• It is in this regard that we would tackle human flourishing-in a global perspective

and as a man of the world.

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND HUMAN FLOURISHING

• According to Heidegger “ Technology is a human activity that we excel in as a

result of achieving science”

• The end goals of both science and technology and human flourishing are related,
in that the good is inherently related to the truth.

• The following are two concepts about science which ventures its claim on truth.

SCIENCE AS METHOD AND RESULTS

• For the most part, science’s reputation stems from the objectivity brought upon by
an arbitrary, rigid methodology whose very character absolves it from any
accusation of prejudice.

• Such infamy effectively raised science in a pedestal untouchable by other

institutions- its sole claim to reason and empiricism-garnering supporters who want
to defend it and its ways.
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General idea of how to do science:

• Observe

• Determine the problem

• Formulate hypothesis

• Conduct experiment

• Gather and analyze

• Formulate conclusion and provide recommendation

TECHNOLOGY AS A WAY OF REVEALING

• Comparing the lives of the people before and now will make anyone realize the
changes that happened in society not just in terms of culture, language, or rights
but more importantly, changes in people’s way of life due to the existence of
science and technology.

• The term “generation gap” is attributed mainly to the changes brought about by
technology.

• Although the original idea for technology is be comfortable in using the different
kinds of technology, mostly those who belong to the older generation think that
these technologies are too complicated to operate.

The Human Condition Before Common Era

• Our early ancestors’ primal need to survive paved way for the invention of several
developments.

• Gifted with brains more advanced than other creatures, humans are able to utilize
abundant materials for their own ease and comfort.

• Homo erectus have been using fire to cook and marked the era of Stone Age
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• Homo sapiens humans began to sharpen stones as one would a knife; an

example of this simple machine is wedge.

• Changes in their protective covering out of necessity, and gradually, added more
to their garments.

• What does this tell of them and their philosophies?

• Were they perhaps proud to show off their hunt and how good of a hunter they
were?

• Were they concerned with social standing and stratification?

• How about the meaning of life?

• Were they also curious on finding explanations to certain phenomena?

• It seems that they have found their answer in the person of religion through
different figures in honor of some deity.

• Different tribes have different gods.

• Nevertheless, it can be positively inferred that like the people of today, our
ancestors also found the need to explain things in a way that makes sense to them.

• They quickly realized that there are events outside of their control and attempted
to justify things as being a work of a supernatural being.

The Human Condition in the Common Era

• For a long time, humans were content with their relationship with nature.

• Earliest case of man-made extinction occurred over 12 000 years ago, possibly
brought upon by hunting and territorial disputes.

• The Holocene extinction, also called the sixth extinction or more aptly
Anthropocene extinction, occurred from as early as between 100 000 to 200 000
years up to the present.
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• It pertains to the ongoing extinction of several species-both flora and fauna- due
to human activity.

• People then had a new objective-gather as much products as possible.

• They have to turned to wealth as one of their goals as humans and ultimately as
civilizations, for they perceived that those who have many, live comfortably and
thus are generally happier than those who do not have sufficient wealth.

• Thus, they began to hunt, farm and produce things with prospect of profit.

• Humanity became more complex.

• The primary goal was not merely to survive, but to live the good life.

• Technology has been instrumental in all of these because in searching for the good
life, people were able to come up with creations that would make life easier, more
comfortable, and more enriching.

• Position-wise, the humans of today are much better off compared to humans
several centuries ago.

• Advancements in medicine, technology, health, and education ushered in

humanity’s best yet, and show no sign of stopping.

Below are some of the notable comparisons then and now:

1. Mortality Rate

2. Average Lifespan

3. Literacy Rate

4. Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The Essence of Technology

• Humanity has indeed come a long way from our primitive ways, and as a general
rule, it is said that we are more “developed” than we were before.

• Modern humans are reliant on technology in their search for the good life.
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• We see ways and means from nature to utilize and achieve growth- a goal that
we believe would bring forth betterment.

• It assumes that it is instrumental in achieving a goal in mind, that it is a purposeful,

deliberate craft humans steer in order to reach some greater good.

• One philosopher by the name of Martin Heidegger identify that technology can
either be perceived as first a means to achieve man’s end and second, that which
constitutes human activity. The second perspective paints technology in such a
way that each period reveals a particular character regarding man’s being.

• Rather than thinking that humans have a clear idea of what to expect in a good
life, it can be stated that technology allows humans to confront the unknown and
see how they would react.

• This is the danger presented by too much reliance on technology.

• Humans lose track of things that matter, reducing their surroundings to their
economic value.

• After all, it was science and technology that gave us explanations, which worked
for us and benefited us.

• It will be absurd to venture the dark and the unknown, but it should be done in
order for us to retrace our steps to be able to achieve the Good.
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THE GOOD LIFE

LESSON OBJECTIVES

• AT THE END OF THIS LESSON, THE STUDENTS SHOULD BE ABLE TO:

• Examine what is meant by a good life;

• Identify how humans attempt to attain what is deemed to be a good life;

and

• Recognize possibilities available to human being to attain the good life.

INTRODUCTION

• In ancient Greece, long before the word “science” has been coined, the need to
understand the world and reality was bound with the need to understand the self
and the good life.

• For Plato the task of understanding the things in the world runs parallel with the
job of truly getting into what will make the soul flourish.

• Aristotle- theoretical and practical sciences

• Theoretical disciplines includes logic, biology, physics and metaphysics

• Practical disciplines includes ethics and politics

• “Truth” is the aim of the theoretical sciences, the “good” is the end goal of the
practical ones.

• One must find the truth about what the good is before one can even try to locate
that which is good.

• What does it really mean to live a good life?

• What qualifies as a good existence?

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ARISTOTLE AND HOW WE ALL ASPIRE FOR A GOOD LIFE

• Aristotle- the first philosopher who approached the problem of reality from a
“scientific” lens as we know now, is also the first thinker who dabbled into the
complex problematization of the end goal of life: happiness.

• Plato thought that things in this world are not real and are only copies of the real
in the world of forms but Aristotle puts everything back to the ground in claiming
that this world is all there is to it and that this world is the only reality we can access.

• For Plato, change is so perplexing that it can only make sense if there are two
realities: the world of forms and the world of matter.

• Plato recognized change as a process and as a phenomenon that happens in the

world, that in fact, it is constant.

• He also claims that despite the reality of change, things remain and they retain
their ultimate “whatness”;

• Plato was convinced that reality is full of these seemingly contrasting

manifestations of change and permanence.

• For Plato, this can only be explained by postulating two aspects of reality, two
worlds if you wish: the world of forms and the world of matter.

• In the world of matter, things are changing and impermanent.

• In the world of forms, the entities are only copies of the ideal and the models, and
the forms are the only real entities.

• Aristotle disagreed with his teacher’s position and forwarded the idea that there is
no reality over and above what the senses can perceive.

• It is only by observation of the external world that one can truly understand what
reality is all about.

• Change is a process that is inherent in things.

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• We, along with all other entities in the world, start as potentialities and move
toward actualities.

• The movement entails change.

• Every human being moves according to some end.

• Every action that emanates from a human person is a function of the purpose
(telos) that the person has.

• Every human person, according to Aristotle, aspires for an end.

• This end is happiness or human flourishing.

• We all want to be happy.

• We may not realize it but the end goal of everything that we do is happiness.

• What Aristotle actually means is human flourishing, a kind of contentment in

knowing that one is getting the best out of life.

• A kind of feeling that one has maxed out his potentials in the world, that he has
attained the crux of his humanity.

HAPPINESS AS THE GOAL OF A GOOD LIFE

• In the eighteen century, John Stuart Mill declared the greatest happiness principle
by saying that an action is right as far as it maximizes the attainment of happiness
for the greatest number of people.

• Mill said that individual happiness of each individual should be prioritized and
collectively dictates the kind of action that should be endorsed.

• The ethical is, of course, meant to lead us to the good and happy life.

• History has given birth to different schools of thought, all of which aim for the good
and happy life.
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MATERIALISM

• The first materialists were the atomists in ancient Greece.

• Democritus and Leucippus led a school whose primarily belief that is that is the
world is made up of and is controlled by the tiny indivisible units in the world called
atomos or seeds.

• For Democritus and his disciples, the world, including human beings, is made up
of matter.

• There is no need to posit immaterial entities as sources of purpose.

• Atomos simply comes together randomly to form the things in the world.

• As such, only material entities matter.

• In terms of human flourishing, matter is what makes us attain happiness.

• We see this at work with most people who are clinging on to material wealth as
the primary source of the meaning of their existence.

HEDONISM

• The hedonists, for their part, see the goal of life in acquiring pleasure.

• Pleasure has always been the priority of hedonists.

• For them, life is about obtaining and indulging in pleasure because life is limited.

• The mantra of this school of thought is the famous, “eat, drink, and be merry for
tomorrow we die”.

• Led by Epicurus, this school of thought also does not buy any notion of afterlife
just like the materialists.

STOICISM

• Another school of thought led by Epicurus, the stoics espoused the idea that to
generate happiness, one must learn to distance oneself and the apathetic (not
having or showing much emotion or interest).
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• The original term, Apatheia, precisely means to be different.

• For stoics, happiness can only be attained by a careful practice of apathy.

• We should, in this worldview, adopt the fact that some things are not within our
control.

• The sooner we realize this, the happier we can become.

THEISM

• Most people find the meaning of their lives using God as a fulcrum of their
existence.

• The Philippines, as a predominantly catholic country, is witness to how people

base their life goals on beliefs that hinged on some form of supernatural reality
called heaven.

• The ultimate basis of happiness for theists is the communion with god.

• The world where we are in is only just a temporary reality where we have to
maneuver around while waiting for the ultimate return to the hands of god.

HUMANISM

• Humanism as another school of thought espouses the freedom of man to carve

his own destiny and to legislate his own laws, free from the shackles of a god that
monitors and controls.

• For humanists, man is literally the captain of his own ship.

• Inspired by the enlightenment in seventeenth century, humanists see themselves

not merely a stewards of the creation but as individuals who are in control of
themselves and the world outside them.

• This is the spirit of most scientists who thought that the world is a place and space
for freely unearthing the world in seeking for ways on how to improve the lives of
its inhabitants.
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• As a result of the motivation of the humanist, current scientists eventually turned

to technology in order to ease the difficulty of life.

• Scientists of today meanwhile are ready to confront more sophisticated attempts

at altering the world for the benefit of humanity.

• Some people now are willing to tamper with time and space in the name of
technology.

• Whether or not we agree with these technological advancements, these are all
undertaken in the hopes of attaining the good life.

• The balance, however, between the good life, ethics, and technology has to be
attained.
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WHEN TECHNOLOGY AND HUMANITY CROSS

LESSON OBJECTIVES

• At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:

• Know the different technological advancements in society;

• Discuss the development of science and technology in the Philippines;

• Discuss the effects of the interplay between technology and humanity

through the dilemma (s) they face.

Introduction

• The ever-growing society has made people see technology as some form of
necessity.

• Technology-comes from the Greek word techne and logos which mean art and
word.

• Technology means a discourse on arts.

• It first appeared in the 17th century where the concept was only used to talk about
the arts, specifically applied arts.

• Concepts like machine and tools were also attached to the word “technology”
which is the more popular sense of the concept nowadays.

TELEVISION SETS, MOBILE PHONES, COMPUTERS AND HUMANITY

• A number of technological devices can be easily found inside the home, the most
accessible place to anyone.

• It can also be easily inferred that these technological devices are some of the most
popular and most commonly used types of devices across all age groups.

• People all over the world use these technologies every day to accomplish different
purposes.
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TELEVISION

• A product of different experiments by various people.

• Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, a German student, in the late 1800s was successful in his
attempt to send images through wires with the aid of a rotating disk.

• This invention was the called “electric telescope” that had 18 lines of resolution.

• In 1907, two inventors, Alan Archibald Campbell-Swinton who was an English

scientist and Boris Rosing who was a Russian scientist, created a new system of
television by using cathode ray tube in addition to the mechanical scanner system.

Nipkow television Swinton-Rosing television

MOBILE PHONES

• Mobile phones have a very interesting background story

• On April 3, 1973 Martin Cooper, a senior engineer at Motorola, made the world’s
first mobile phone call.

• The mobile phone used by Cooper weighed 1.1 kilograms and measured 228.6 x
127 x 44.4 mm.
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• This kind of device was capable of a 30 minute talk time.

• However, it took 10 hours to charge.

• In 1983, Motorola made their first commercial mobile phone available to the public.

• It was known as the Motorola DynaTAC8000X (Goodwin, 2016)

COMPUTERS AND LAPTOPS

• It was Charles Babbage, a 19th century English Mathematics professor, who

designed the Analytical Engine which was used as the basic framework of the
computers even until the present time.

• In general, computers can be classified in three generations.

• Each generation of the computer was used for a certain period of time and each
gave people a new and improved version of the previous one (Steitz, n.d.)

• The first true portable computer was released in April 1981.

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• It was called the Osborne 1 (Orfano, 2011)

• A typical household owns at least four of the following devices: a mobile phone (89
%), smartphone (53 %), tablet (14 %), desktop ( 39 %), laptop or netbooks (37 %),
and smart TV (4 %) ( Philstar, 2013)

• These data prove the deep-seated fascination of Filipinos to different

technological devices.

Here are some facts about Filipinos and their use of gadgets and the Internet:

• Mobile phone subscription is at 119 million.

• Filipinos spend approximately 3.2 hours on mobile and 5.2 hours on desktop daily.

• Currently, the Philippines has one of the highest digital populations in the world.

• There are now 47 million active Facebook accounts in the Philippines.

• The Philippines is the fastest-growing application market in Southeast Asia.

Roles Played by These Technological Advancements

Television

• advertisements and information dissemination

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• recreational activity and good stress reliever

• good platform for different propagandas and advocacies

• good way to bond

Mobile Phones

• communication

• surf the internet

• take pictures

• Other applications like music player, calendar, radio and among others.

Personal computers and laptops

• Surf the internet and communication

• use for job

• play games

• watch movie etc.

Ethical Dilemma Faced by These Technological Advancements

• Most parents would argue that these devices make their children lazy and
unhealthy.

• Moral dilemma

• First dilemma, people who develop different kinds of sickness because of

too much use of technological devices.

• Second dilemma, the people in the scientific world nor the children are
blameworthy because first, the children are not yet capable of rationally
deciding for themselves what is good and what is bad. Second even the
creators of these technologies went out of their way to inform children of the
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pros and cons of these technological contributions, it would still be useless

because the children have no capacity to understand them yet.

• It was the recklessness and overconfidence of the adults that cause the
character change in children.

Robotics and Humanity

• Another great product of the innovative minds of the people is the robot.

• Robots are now widely used. Ex. There are so called service robots. These
particular robots do specific tasks but focus mainly in assisting their masters in
their everyday tasks.

• The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) and United Nations Economic

Commission for Europe (UNECE) made it their task to formulate a working
definition for service robots.

A preliminary extract of the relevant definition is (IFR, 2012):

• A robot is an actuated mechanism programmable in two or more axes with a

degree of autonomy, moving within its environment, to perform intended tasks.

• A service robot is a robot that performs useful tasks for humans or equipment
excluding industrial automation application.

• A personal service robot or a service robot for personal use is a robot used for a
noncommercial task, usually by laypersons. Ex. Domestic servant robot,
automated wheelchair, personal mobility assist robot, and pet exercising robot.

• A professional service robot or a service robot for professional use is a robot used
for a commercial task, usually operated by a properly trained operator.

Ex. Cleaning robot for public places, delivery robot in offices or hospitals, fire fighting
robot, rehabilitation robot, and surgery robot in hospitals.

• Germany was one of the first countries to develop service robots.

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• As part of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research’s “Service

Robotics Innovation Lead Initiative,” it sponsored a collaborative project called
DESIRE (Deutsche Servicerobotik Initiative-Germany Service Robotics Initiative)
which was launced on October 1, 2005.

DESIRE has the following individual objectives:

• To achieve a technological edge toward attaining key functions and components

that are suited for everyday use

• To create a reference architecture for mobile manipulation

• To promote the convergence of technologies through integration into a common

technology platform

• To conduct pre-competition research and development activities for the new

products and technology transfer in start-up enterprises in the field of service
robotics.

Some of the expected work to be performed by DESIRE are the ff:

• “Clear up the kitchen table”

• “Fill the dishwasher”

• “Clear up this room”

Roles Played by Robotics

• Used to ease the workload of mankind

• To make life more efficient and less stressful

• To entertain people

• Just like people living in the society, robots also have their own set of rules and
characteristics that define what a good robot is.
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• These laws were formulated by Isaac Asimov back in the 1940’s, when he was
thinking of the ethical consequences of robots.

• These are the following (Standford, n.d.):

• Law One: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow
a human being to come to harm.

• Law Two: A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except
where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

• Law Three: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such
protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Ethical Dilemma/s Faced by Robotics

• Safety

• Emotional component

• Partial autonomy includes active human-robot interaction

• Full autonomy excludes active human-robot interaction