HUMAN

FLOURISHING
in Science and
Technology

Science, Technology &

Society

LSPU-San Pablo
 Objectives:

define human flourishing

differentiate people about human flourishing
cite importance of Human Flourishing
Definition:
What is HUMAN FLOURISHING?

It is a highest good of human attempt to achieve his or her

goal.
Often connected to “eudaimonia” (literally means good spirited
Eudaimonia is the term connected by renowned Greek
philosopher Aristotle to describe the peak of human’s happiness
that can be attained.
achieving the best conditions possible for a human being in every
sense
The big question is “how?” How will you achieve your
flourishing?
 Aristotle
(384 BCE-322 BCE)
son of Nicomachus
from Stagira, Macedonia, Greece
as a student of Plato he formed a love of philosophy and logic
became the tutor to Alexander of Macedon (later Alexander the
Great)
returned to Athens and established his own school- Lyceum
 Human Flourishing…
According to Aristotle, it arises as a product of
different factors: phronesis, friendship, wealth and
power
The proper function of every person is to live happily,
successfully and well.
This is done through active exercise of a person’s
distinctive capacity, rationality as he/she engages in
activities as a human being.
 Aristotle concept on Causality

1. Causa materialis (matter) – what it is made of?

2. Causa formalis (logos or form) – how it is formed
or shaped?
3. Causa efficience (process) – how it is made?
4. Causa finalis (final effect) – why it is made?
- These four causas are very much important in
studying the definition of technology.
 Aristotle’s human flourishing vs
today’s

Our concept of human flourishing today proves to be

different from Aristotle’s
Humans of today are expected to become man of the
world.
Humans are in a global neighborhood, working side by
side among institutions to reach a common goal.
Competition as a means of survival has become passé,
coordination is the new trend!
 Western vs Eastern on human
flourishing
Western- tends to be individualistic
Eastern- community-centric
Eastern philosophy is centred around the
concept of “unity” or “Collectivism”, and concentrated
around helping one another instead of oneself. Western
philosophy is centered around the
idea of “Individualism” and making decisions that
would benefit oneself instead of the whole community.
GOOD LIFE

Science, Technology &

Society

LSPU-San Pablo
 Objectives

examine what is meant by a good life

identify how human attempt to attain what is
deemed to be a good life
recognize the possibilities available to human
being to attain good life
Life here on Earth is full of challenges.
Many seek the why’s and how’s of life,
but more than answering these
questions, many still seek the meaning
of what it really meant to have a life
well-lived.
 A type of person seemed to be impossible to exist, but a
philosopher believes that this can be possibly be attained,
while rarely, they exist
 Relate the dialogue between two people
 EMRYS WESTACOTT

Professor of Philosophy
Alfred University-New York
College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION
 
Ethics, History of Philosophy
(especially19th and 20th Century),
Metaphysics

r a l Li f e Ful fi l l ed Li f e
Mo Life of Ple
asure
“What Does It Mean to Live the Good Life?”
 Moral Life

Republic - authored by Plato around 375 BC,

concerning justice, the order and character of the just
city-state, and the just man.

Gorgias is a Socratic dialogue written by Plato

around 380 BC.

Moral person- someone who is courageous, honest,

trustworthy, kind, selfless, generous, helpful, loyal, principled,
and so on
 The Life of Pleasure

Greek philosopher Epicurus was one of the first to declare, bluntly, that
what makes life worth living is that we can experience pleasure

The view that pleasure is the good, or, to put I another way, that
pleasure is what makes life worth living, is known as hedonism.

hedonistic conception of the good life is arguably dominant in Western

culture
 Fulfilled Life

According to Aristotle, we all want to be happy. We value many things

because they are a means to other things. For instance, we value money
because it enables us to buy things we want; we value leisure because it
gives us time to pursue our interests.

He agrees with Socrates that to live the good life one must be a morally
good person. And he agrees with Epicurus that a happy life will involve
many and varied pleasurable experiences.
Virtuous Person
 Courageous (cowardice-
TECHNOLOGY
AS A WAY OF
REVEALING
Science, Technology &
Society

LSPU-San Pablo
 Schools of Thoughts
1. Materialism- founder were the atomists in Ancient Greece, Greek
philosophers Leucippus and Democritus (460 – 370 BCE). This belief
aims that comfort, pleasure and wealth are the only highest goals.
2. Hedonism – end goal of life was attaining pleasure. Epicurus was the
proponent of this thought. For hedonists, since life is limited, one must
indulge itself with pleasures– Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we
die”.
3. Stoicism – created for those who live their lives in the real world. It was
founded by Zeno of Citium. It asserts that virtue is happiness and
judgment should be based acts on behavior rather than words.
4. Theism – the ultimate basis of happiness is the communion
with God.
Characteristics of God:
a. Omniscient –all knowing
b. Omnipotent – all-powerful
c. Omnipresent – all pervasive

5. Humanism – affirms that human beings have the right

and responsibility to give meaning and shape their own
lives.
Review
Good Life (Emrys Westacott)
Human Flourishing
MORAL Life (Plato &
Definition Socrates)
Aristotle Life of Pleasure –
hedonism (Epicurus)
Biography
Fulfilled Life (Aristotle)
Eudaimonia
Virtue Theory
4 causas Extreme bad and extreme
Western & Eastern good (vices)
cultures Golden mean
Discussion or X
Seatwork or X
Recitation or X
Learning Objectives:
 What is TECHNOLOGY?

It’s main purpose is to make daily life

activities or life’s tasks favorable to
humans!
What is then technology? Is it a tangible
thing?
The root of the word 'technology' is techne. For the
Greeks, techne meant a revelation of something, an
uncovering or a bringing to light.
Martin Heidegger: The Question Concerning
Technology

Martin Heidegger (1889–1976)
was a German philosopher
whose work is perhaps most
readily associated with
phenomenology and
existentialism, although his
thinking should be identified as
part of such philosophical
movements only with extreme
care and qualification.
Heidegger was one of the most influential
philosophers of the 20th century. Technology was
an important element in his work: for Heidegger,
technology was the key to understanding our
current time. Especially his text ‘The Question
Concerning Technology’ (1954, English Translation
1977), which has been very influential in
philosophy of technology.
 Points raised by Heidegger
regarding technology
1. He adapted Aristotle’s concept of causality to define
technology.
a. Causa Materialis (what it is made of?)
b. Causa Formalis (how it is form or shape?)
c. Causa Efficiens (how it is made?)
d. Causa Finalis (why it is made?)
2. The concept of unconcealment is the reason why
science and technology came to in order to search
for “altheia”, it is a Greek word for truth. In short,
unconcealment is the revealing of truth.
3. One must consider the understanding of the art,
one must be poetic in order to deeply understand
and unconcealed the essence of technology.
4. Modern technology is a way too revealing. Only when we
allow our attention to rest on its fundamental characteristics.

Modern technology is far more different than the earlier

understanding of technology using concept of causality of
Aristotle.

Could either be challenging forth or bringing forth.

Challenging forth- harms nature

Bringing forth- unharm nature
5. Heidegger uses the word “bestand”, this means
“standing reserve” and standing reserve is how
human perceives sources. Human could see nature
as it is or he or she could see it as a source to fulfill
our needs.
6. Heidegger also mentioned the word “gestell”,
which means “enframing”, enframing means the
gathering together the setting-upon i.e. challenging
forth, to reveal, in the mode of ordering as standing
reserve”.

When we enframe, we unconceal the standing

reserve.
7. Enframing became the essence of modern
technology, framing nature as just a source for
human needs.
Because of the modern technology, we see the
universe as an alternative home.
8. We should take good care of the planet instead of
continually destroying it with modern technology
because we the universe as standing reserve’ that if
the universe is destroyed we still have the entire
cosmos to live in.

We should not be thinking that way, we cannot

blame the modern technology because humans
dictate its essence.
9. Technology is a two-edged sword, its essence is
to help the humankind in its way of living, but
today we also see the danger that the technology
brings today, technology can work with us or
against us.
10. If we continue seeing nature as a source to
fulfill our needs and not as it is, and we use modern
technology to enframe nature, we are not just
harming nature, we are harming ourselves and the
future generation.
(11) technology is “not an instrument”, it is a way
of understanding the world;

(12) technology is “not a human activity”, but

develops beyond human control; and

(13) technology is “the highest danger”, risking us

to only see the world through technological
thinking.
When Technology and Humanity
Cross
 Technology and Humanity

Technology- application of scientific knowledge for practical

purposes. Comes from the Greek ‘techne’ meaning art or craft
and ‘logos’, word
Humanity- The word humanity is from the
Latin humanitas for "human nature, kindness.” 
-includes all the humans, but it can also refer to the kind
feelings humans often have for each other.
 OBJECTIVES:

TECHNOLOGY
 KEEPS ON PROGRESSING DUE TO CHANGING TIMES &
ENVIRONMENT
 HELPFUL TO PEOPLE BUT ANYTHING TOO MUCH IS BAD

• Several technological devices will be properly

introduced, the roles they play in society and their
effects, particularly on the lives of people
We are using technology
like these…
EDUCATION SECTOR
AGRICULTURAL SECTOR
TRANSPORTAT
ION
SECTOR
COMMUNICATION SECTOR
We could say that 100% of the
population of the world uses
technology.
But technology is not
only limited to
“machines”
Try to analyze these…

Tricycle vs Pedicab
HAND WASHING VS
WASHING MACHINE
However, the changes that
happened between science and
technology (as what we have
studied before) we normally look
technology as want or luxury in our
life but now it is looked as necessity
or can be compared as our basic
need like shelter, clothes and food.
But what is now the
situation of technology
in the Philippines?
Let us begin with the television,
according to the Kantar Media
92% of urban area and 70% of
rural area owned at least a TV in
their household. In reality it a
good news because you can watch
a lot of TV programs like these:----
Secondly, the cell phones how frequent or how often
do we use it. According to Rappler News,a normal
Pinoy uses about 3-5 hours on cp i.e. about the
minimum to maximum usage. And an over 120
million is the recorded registered or approximately
total numbers of bought cp.
Let us look at the history of cell phones, the very
first company that released mobile phones was the
MOTOROLA, Martin Cooper of Motorola was the
first one who made a phone call on April 3, 1973.
He called the rival telecom company, boasted
them that he was making a call using his mobile
phone.
The third one was the desktop or laptop computer,
according to Rappler, about 3.6 trillion pesos had
spent buying these laptop and desktop computers
(2010).
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Robots & Humanity

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ROBOTICS AND HUMANITY

ROBOTS- another great product of the

innovative minds of people
Actuated mechanism programmable in
two or more axes with degree of
autonomy, moving within its
environment to perform intended tasks.
 Roles Played by Robots

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 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 and
second law.
 Isaac Asimov

BORN
 January 2, 1920
Petrovichi, Russia

DIED
 April 6, 1992 (aged 72)
New York City, New York
 Ethical Dilemmas Faced by
Robotics
If the problems arise when the robot deviates from the
laws specified, then the maker or the inventor of the
machine should be blameworthy.
Other problems may arise when the machine develops
the ability to think for itself. Since the robot thinks for
itself, whatever decision it makes and whatever
consequences it may bring, the robot itself should be held
responsible.