1 GE 08 The Non Human Environment

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MINDANAO
The Non-Human
Environment
First Semester, 2023 - 2024
University of Southern Mindanao
PALMA Cluster Campuses, Cotabato
Specific Environments
Man shares with all life-forms the biological
imperative (obligation, duty) of sustaining the
life he possesses. And just like any plant or
animal, man is situated in an environment where
he deals with three specific environments, which
are:
1) Non-human
2) the human
3) inner environment
non-Human Environment
- The built and natural aspects of the environment
(nature, animals, and cultural artifacts)
- a person’s non-human environment includes
everything external to him minus fellow humans
and himself
Ex. trees, rivers, and animals (indispensable

elements of non-human environment as they form
parts of human’s resources for survival)
Human environment
- man deals with the human enviroment - his fellow human
with whom he shares the same genetic (familial) make-up
(composition).
Survival of the fittest of Charles Darwin means the

continued existence of organisms which are best adapted to
their environment, with the extinction of others, as a
concept in the Darwinian theory of evolution.
In simple terms, it is a situation in which only the strongest

people or things continue to live or be successful, while the
others die or fail.
Inner environment
- the environment here is metaphysical - the
world as we see it - the way one makes sense of
the two previous enviroments.
- the inner world is the world of the a person’s

mind.
- it is only the human species at least in the solar
system who tries to make sense of both
environments.
Man should be good with the
physical environment. It is good
that the present generation, but
we should also exhaust all that we
can do in making a better world
for this generation.
To help people internalize
man’s responsibility with the
non-human environment, we
will learn the radical view of
Deep Ecology.
Deep Ecology
- an environmental movement and philosophy which
regards human life as just one of many equal
components of a global ecosystem.
- environmental philosophy and social movement

based in the belief that humans must radically
change their relationship to nature from one that
values nature solely for its usefulness to human
beings to one that recognizes that nature has an
inherent value.
Deep Ecology
While it is true that people’s genes’ only mandate
is survival, people just can’t succumb to dictates of
the natural tendencies in people.
According to Dawkins (2006), a person’s reason
can go against the dictates of its creator - the
genes.
It all means that humans can be less selfish or
even selfless should he choose to in deal with his
fellow human beings.
Richard dawkins
The Selfish Gene, published in 1976,
established Professor Richard Dawkins
as a leading figure in evolutionary
theory and popularised the idea that
replicating genes are the central force
behind evolution, not individual
organisms or species.
Animal Ethics
Man, and Animals
Animals have always been an important

part of human life. Aside from being the
chief source of protein in our diet, prior to
introduction of machines in the large-scale
production of goods or in transportation,
animals did most of the job
Carving Animal Ethics
Among the four great religions of the
world, Buddhism explicitly condemns the
slaugher of animals. Thus, Peter
Singer’s ambition was to craft a system
of ethical principles to cater for issues
concerning our treatment of the
animals.
Speciesism
- is the human-held belief that all other

animal species are inferior.
- Speciesist thinking involves
considering animals—who have their
own desires, needs, and complex lives
—as means to human ends.
Speciesism
According to Singer, this is a

prejudice or attitude of bias in favor of
the interest of members of one’s own
species and against those of members
of other species.
Principle of equal consideration of
interest
- One should both include all affected interests

when calculating the rightness of an action and
weigh those interests equally.
- This is the claim that one should give equal

weight in one's moral decision making to the like
interests of all those affected by one's actions.
Defense against speciesism
Singer’s argument on animal moral status

based on sentence met a dissension
(disagreement) from Carl Cohen (1990) who
counter argues that animals have no rights
because they do not have the mental or
intellectual faculty for a deliberate moral
judgment.

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MINDANAO

Ex. trees, rivers, and animals (indispensable

Survival of the fittest of Charles Darwin means the

In simple terms, it is a situation in which only the strongest

- the inner world is the world of the a person’s

- environmental philosophy and social movement

Animals have always been an important

- is the human-held belief that all other

According to Singer, this is a

- One should both include all affected interests

- This is the claim that one should give equal

Singer’s argument on animal moral status

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