Philosophy Final Exam
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Philosophy Final Exam
The basic belief that most western religions portray signifies that human beings are different from other living things; this upholds humans as superior. Their lives are unique compared to religions that signify humans as different. Anthropocentrism is well related to many as to begin from the story of creation from the other living things. The other entities are regarded as resources that can be exploited and aid humankind.
The Bible precisely in the book of Genesis, where the sole of creation occurred, and humans portray the image of God and are given a responsibility to subdue the earth and have full control over all other living creatures. From the very beginning, humans assume control over all, and this indicates humanity’s power over nature and as well controls it, this has brought so much controversy in the ruling and controlling of the earth to one’s advantage.
This human phenomenon is not only among the Christian community but to Jewish and can also be seen in Aristotle’s art of politics and moral philosophy; some anthropocentric philosophers do not support the claim that earth’s resources are limited to human beings to explore. This also has demerits on the human population growth as a whole and that it will outgrow the carrying capacity of the earth, leading to a war for space and famine as resources become scarce.
Beneficial social consequences
Social consequences enable humankind to interact and create rapport amongst each other, this helps to grow and brings people together hence creating peace and harmony, in general theories of human rights and understanding outlines the duty and not to take advantage of others as much as the human rights are concerned. The key point of justice assumes the equality of individuals and therefore focuses on people’s fairness in the general ruling and distribution of resources. This takes care of the distribution of benefits and costs when deciding about the environmental fundamentals.
Humans have a higher intrinsic value than other species.
Humans’ superiority is defined by the roles given to them by the sole creator; this gives them the attitude that any species are potential and termed as resources to humankind to be exploited. This usually occurred in unbalanced results to reduce expectations of human life, sometimes to the point of doing away with humanity.
The fact that humanity has greater value than other species also influences the code of conduct about interactions with other creatures. The major goal of this action is to treat other species unacceptably as humans are similarly treated.
Justify unlimited violence against the nonhuman world
Anthropocentric can be used to verify or justify unlimited domestic and other general forms of violence among nonhuman worlds; this urges human beings to be cautious of nurturing the rest of nature, which comprises nonhuman.
Examples of anthropocentrism
This is anthropocentric that views humans are having more excellent value than other species; the different possible outcomes of the anthropocentric are the belief that human beings are the core of the natural evolutionary progress of species and their lives. The modern biological theory of evolution contrasts with this belief, which does not outline the ranking of some species.
Anthropocentrism – (Human-centred)
– This is the main belief in the chain of human doctrine, termed human as the key living organism in creating other creatures.
-Judeo-Christian
The term Judeo-Christian is mainly used by the Christian group and Judaism together to
portray their coexistence in sharing some religious practices or materials; they commonly use the Bible due to their known commonalities in their practices.
.Doctrine of special creation
In the creation, special creation is theological that outlines that the universe and other forms of life in it originated in its present form by following specific form or divine code.
Other examples include;
Aristotelian
human, animal, vegetative souls
enlightenment
Descartes-automaton theory
Kant -persons-direct duties -property-indirect duties
Edward Osborne Wilson is also referred to as the “father of biodiversity” due to his biodiversity expertise. He gives various reasons why we should value biodiversity and make sure we conserve it. During an interview on Charlie Rose, E. O. Wilson expressed that human beings lack an idea of how almost all of the ecosystems on earth function, have a small idea of what species the ecosystems comprise of and have no idea of an idea how the world will be affected if the ancient plants and animals are removed from it in large parts. He added that we are dealing with the ecosystems in a way that could be detrimental to us.
Some plants and animals are a source of our needs. There are certain species of plants and animals we use for our food, medicine, and even raw materials for various activities. There is a significant risk of extinction of several species, and once a species becomes extinct, nothing can be done to bring it back. The earth supplies us with most of the basic needs we require for survival. This can be affected if we continue to hinder the habitats supporting this life. If we continue messing with the biodiversity on earth, we do so at the expense of the quality we need in life and put our chances to survive in the future on this planet at risk.
Humans have evolved alongside other species. Trying to define the price of biodiversity is assuming that the sole reason why nature exists is for human beings’ consumption. This brings up an ethical issue. Although there is always a hierarchy in any ecosystem, all species contribute to its survival and thriving. This requires us to be cautious in the activities we carry out, considering its outcomes to all the planet species.
Biodiversity is crucial for us to understand ourselves. Human beings are more comfortable and survive due to the biodiversity they are surrounded with. We need a natural life where there lies our origin’s secret. Therefore, ignoring biodiversity means that we put our survival and the quality of our life at risk. Biodiversity is a fundamental part of conserving the ecosystems as there are millions of species on this earth, and we make for a part of them.
Nature can be enjoyed for what is rather than what it is can be used for. Human beings enjoy nature and value nature what it exactly is. This is the reason that can be used to show that Wilson gave nature a non-instrumental value. Biodiversity is nature’s major instrument for flexibility. Therefore, it is a great tool used for nature’s resilience. Making sure the biodiversity of a certain ecosystem is preserved ensures that its functioning and resilience are improved. This, in turn, benefits all the organisms the ecosystem depends on. There has been a great loss of biodiversity in various habitats globally. Though a part of millions of species found on earth, human beings are the major cause of this.
Environmental philosophers can have plural viewpoints when the matter of solving the ecological crisis we are facing is concerned. However, the reasons provided by E. O. Wilson can be classified as majorly being instrumental values as they mostly advocate for the protection of biodiversity for the sake of human beings rather than nature. He clearly states how there are several species for medicine, food among many others, and that our survival is greatly affected if we destroy them. Howarth observed that the kinds of values given to something maybe because of their use or just for their own sake, at varying times or by different people, or at the same time by the same person. Based on Howarth’s notion of replaceability, it is clear that Wilson places a significant focus on instrumental values rather than intrinsic values.
With the experience machine, one would incorporate the desired ordeals together with the natural ones, as illustrated by one philosopher, Nozick. He explains that if one wants a specific experience in his or her life so that one could feel complete, all one was required to do to float in the tank and get the brain plugged. In some way, it was about the feelings “from the inside,” in other words, based on imaginations. One could be immersed in the tank for like a lifetime getting his or her life reprogrammed without any aspect of contact.
However, this was found to be faulty not entirely, but because human beings minus the reality aspect, life becomes meaningless. Experiences are somehow inserted into the humans’ brains without them indulging themselves in activities that will result in the acquaintance of the experience. This will not be interesting as someone won’t need, for instance, to attend driving school to get the driving experience.
With experience machines, we won’t know what other people are made of as in their traits: kind, courageous, intelligent, and witty or loving since it’s all about gaining experiences. Also, after getting from the tank, we won’t remember what happened before we entered it. The machine is capable of giving one pleasure associated with feelings, not forgetting happiness. One after being plugged gets to be programmed with experiences that make them happy and satisfied. This makes every incidence blissful even when, in actuality, it’s not that way. Normalcy expects beings to undergo every feeling to attain balance because we cannot just expect things to be the way we want it to be, hence having an instrumental value in intrinsic constituents.
It’s awkward for human beings to decide their fate as if one creates a queue of desired experience without a drop of distress. Bliss goes hand in hand with distress; this is the kind of situation the machine would bring. In short, one wouldn’t be flexible nor exposed to some ordeals hence limiting our human-made reality.
This machine would corrupt humans’ minds that happiness is the only important thing about life being the sole standard of assessing it. In this case, everything seems wonderful without any element of disparity. This is because it would bring about the pleasures of feelings. Nature demands the opposite: as in life, it is not all about happiness. And on the same renown, John Stuart Mill once said just as a reflection that better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied …better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. There’s more to life than just happiness as depth also matters. This means that’s it’s better to live a life that one gets to interact with things and, in the process, acquired knowledge from different incidences and experiences.
Alongside the experience resulted in machine and transformation. The former is the type that makes the result that comes out of your task precisely, which you once desired, whereas the latter is that which makes you do something that that you once wanted and in an exact way. Both were based on imagination as it only aims at “experiencing feelings from the inside.”
Human beings must follow the natural path where things happen at their course, where they are in contact with the human-made reality where one could not only get the experience but be in action. In this way, people can interact with their cohorts as in the cases where for an exceptional experience to be felt, they share participation.
For human beings to fully understand something, they got to be in contact with reality, for it will fun. They get hold of the experience.