A Need for a New Anthropology?

To address the ecological crisis that we are confronted today, I believe that an inter-disciplinary dialogue is imperative. Obviously, no single discipline can exclusively claim a total solution to the ecological problem at hand. Every positive contribution must be welcome on board. Thus, it is in this spirit of dialogue that I would like to post a kind of philosophical reflection. From a philosophical perspective, the global ecological crisis reflects an anthropological and a cosmological crisis. There seems to be a truncated, if not a bankruptcy of an adequate understanding of the human being and the relationship that s/he has to establish with the cosmos. The understanding of who the human person is and the role that s/he has to play in the universe, certainly, influence her/his individual and collective behavior and action towards others and the natural world. For instance, on the one hand, an extremely one-sided understanding of human being as a spiritual being on account of her/his soul would certainly be indifferent to the material historical events in this world. On the other hand, the materialistic or technological understanding of the human being, as it prevails today, has also serious and devastating consequences to the life system of the earth.

It is in this context, that a re-definition of our understanding of the human being and the universe/world is needed. The alarming situation demands a reformulation of our anthropological and cosmological formulas. Humankind cannot go on with her/his illusion of absolute human freedom. This has only led her/him to consumerism. S/he cannot go on declaring war against the natural world, manipulating and plundering its life-resource at whim to satisfy her/his unlimited desire.

There is, therefore, a need for a philosophy of the human being that is wholistic and total, an anthropological formula that would chart a friendly relation between the human being and her/his universe. Harmony and balance become the operational terms. The exercise of human freedom and the pursuit for human development must be tempered by the limitations of what the other and the universe can realistically sustain. These are some of the ingredients that have to be included in our search for an adequate anthropological formula.

A re-visit on Teilhard’s evolutionary thoughts which this reflection attempts to engage in can offer us some insights that could serve as possible answers to the following problems: a) the problem of methodology and approach that may be used for the total understanding of reality; b) the problem of the interconnectedness of things that has to be considered in the process of human development; c) the problem of human responsibility in the use of human freedom; d) the problem of the human being’s ultimate future.

ECOLOGICAL CHALLENGE

Consumerism. The global ecological crisis. These are two alarming and related problems that societies, both from the First World and Third World countries, are facing today. The seriousness of these problems has, increasingly, reached the attention and concern of the different sectors in every society. Joint efforts and initiatives from different quarters – governments, churches, non-government organizations, and academic institutions – are being launched to arrest these threatening problems. No less than Pope John Paul II has shown that same great concern. And rightly so, for the survival of our planet is the survival of humankind itself. The irreversible impoverishment of the life-system of the earth would, certainly, deny this generation and the generations to come the richness of life. In one of the Pope’s message for peace, he states:

"In our day, there is a growing awareness that world peace is threatened not only by the arms race, regional conflicts and continued injustices among peoples and nations, but also by a lack of due respect for nature, by the plundering of natural resources and by a progressive decline in the quality of life. The sense of precariouness and insecurity that such a situation engenders is a seedbed for collective selfishness, disregard for others and dishonesty."[1]

‘Collective selfishness’ as an expression of consumerism and ‘the plundering of natural resources’ as the cause of ecological crisis, are not only political and economic questions. The conspiracy of causes is so complex and pervasive in the total life of humankind today, that various disciplines should, in concert, examine the nature of these causes and find solutions for a better and sustainable future. The open and unselfish sharing of insights from various disciplinary perspectives is, therefore, imperative.

[1] Pope John Paul II, “Peace with God the Creator, Peace with all of Creation”, (Australia: St. Paul Publications, February, 1990), p. 2.