Kimberly Harris
3/13/2017
• The link between Humans-Numerous Creatures
• Medieval Agricultural Methods
• Effect on Non-Human Nature
• Human Ecology-Religion
• Development of Western Technology.
• Christianity over Paganism
• Ancient West and Aristotle
• Christianity Inherited from Judaism
• Man’s Dominance over Living / Non-living Life Forms
• The Decisive Period to the Ethos of Medieval Christianity
• Specific characteristics of the Western Monasticism.
• Christianity-Man Exploit Nature
• Science, Technology and Christianity
• Exploitation of Nature
• Our Current /Our Future “Ecological Crisis”
In “Lynn Whites” article “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis” (1967), he begins by linking the emergence of human exploitative attitudes
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I feel that religion has always been something that people have always depended on to give them something to believe in. But in the world today with modern technology being as advance as it is people aren’t needing to turn to technology to explain the unexplainable. When I was, a young child growing up religion was something families all over the world turned to as moral guides on how we should live our lives or as a guide adherents in which we determine between what is right and wrong. For instance, in “Christianity”, where many of the laws and rules are set forth by religious leaders and respective authoritative guides. In society, today religion is no longer needed because people can portray their own basis for their moral beliefs without the use of religion, so in my eyes I feel that religion has very much so became obsolete in today’s modern society. I enjoyed and support “Lynn Whites” opinions he raised in his essay. I do strongly believe that for many centuries “Christians” have linked the relationship between humans and god to mean that all humans are called to be “wise” caretakers of the earth. And “Genesis” has provided man-kind with a justification for the exploitation of nature without having regard for their
As time has progressed, religious scrutiny has expanded. Systems of faith are often written off as fruitless, but religion holds strong purposes. Cultures have religion to explain surroundings, unite individuals, and provide hope.
The relationship between people and their environment in A Land Remembered is one where the profit from land exploitation is naturally corrupting and exponentially increases the exploiters lust for larger profit, leading to the exploiter planning larger scale endeavors in the future. The author, Patrick D. Smith (1984), suggests the idea that communities naturally grow in a hedonic cycle to crave more resources to fuel loftier endeavors that require even more resources from the environment, an idea that is also discussed by Aldo Leopold in the Land Ethic as wholly negative, and that is also part of my world view that is rather more optimistic.
Today, new technology and theories provide proof on how our world functions. Through these new developments, the sciences can advance. This advancement not only allowed us to increase knowledge but our rationality likewise. Traits that are only unique to us in the entire animal kingdom. Like science, Religion is seen to have as much of an influential role in our development as a species. Organized religion helps create a connection between people which results in community and culture. Ideas would be able to spread and grow far easier within a community. This was due to religion’s prevalence in the ancient world more so than the present day. A key example was the establishment of Christianity as the Roman Empire’s official religion. As
The “Rise of ecology” was a very interesting and mind refreshing documentary film depicting the 10 different disasters that have devastated our planet. This documentary was a good teachable moment for us to take the necessary measure to ensure the safety of the citizens and the planet. The film also emphasized that we should minimize the amount to pollution that we release in to our atmosphere. We see that its always the people who suffer at the hands of major corporations who are just hungry for profits. The film mentions that these major corporations take the consequences of catastrophic events lightly. They do everything they can to increase the profits even at the expense of their own workers. The movie “Pandora” which I recently watched shares a lot of similarities to the documentary film “Rise of ecology” in a way that took me by a surprise. The movie tells a story of how human error came to cause the malfunction of a nuclear power plant causing the nation to go in to panic mode. The movie starts in an interesting way, a flashback where the main character and his friends were just children making assumptions of what the new mysterious development in their town was all about. Some of the kids responded by saying that the nuclear reactor plant was a rice cooker, another a robot and finally the little girl responded by saying that her teacher told her that “it was a box and that if it was open they would all be in trouble”.
Ever since man has chosen to write down his history, organized religion has been a prominent topic and has influenced and shaped all people’s lives. There have always been believers and non-believers. Since the beginning, non-believers have been persecuted by inquisitions, prosecuted by witch trials, and murdered by stoning and crucifying for even questioning the “truth” about a supreme being and supposed crimes against that being. Religion had a purpose in earlier times to explain life, but today science provides more concrete answers. Religious beliefs are old and outdated and people should trust the scientific facts that have been proven, not what has been
As technology, science, and medicine changes lives, history, and economics, has it drawn our minds in awe and wonder forcing us to forget what religion means in this world? To forget the morals and standards that came with it? With more societal advances we seem to always be furthering ourselves away from the topic of religion; Even after the fact that America was founded on the basis of Christianity.
Since man has evolved from apes, humans have only seen the land for its material value. More specifically, people who are driven by greed and self interest, have consistently taken advantage of the Earth’s limited resources.This relationship is illustrated in familiar pieces of text such as, “Undaunted Courage” by Stephen Ambrose and “On Indian Removal”by former President Andrew Jackson. This topic has extended to more recent articles like, “Is Gentrification a Human Rights Violation?”. Despite overwhelming scientific studies demonstrating the toll that man has reaped on the environment, humans continue to take advantage of and exploit the land for their own economic benefits which has developed a parasitic relationship.
Most of the human ‘Homo sapiens’ is born into a religion. That religion could be Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Christian or Atheism, etc, a set of beliefs which someone inherits from his family, and till the death, that man will likely stay with his or her religion because almost every human has tendency to be religious. On the other hand, the reality of the religion does not matter to him unless someone conducts any investigation to get to the religious truth. In the essay ‘Homo religiosus,’ Karen Armstrong says that, today’s religious followers accept the religion into which they were born, without doing the hard work required. This means that someone follows his ancestor’s religion from the beginning for his life and he or she is not able to prove his ancestors were wrong because he or she has faith in his own religion. Faith is the main concept of the religion because people have deep faith in their own religion. In addition, faith is nothing but mere fantasy and faith has no basis in reality. Therefore, people have no ability to conduct investigations to find out the religious truth. In addition, elements and places of religion vary from religion to religion. Religion is one of the most prehistoric institutions which have been noticed to practice in any society past and present even in the ancient world where cave paintings were popular. Institutions, like politics and entertainments, have been greatly influenced by the religious faith. The truth of religion might give
The social construction of religion should not be considered, in all, a bad idea. It does offer core values and represents in its simplest form – moral good, yet any man made thing can be corrupt. What led me to my position was where I
In a forever evolving universe, it is not uncommon for human beings to experience apprehension when it comes to the idea of change. While some are passionately working towards the future, others are struggling to grasp onto the remnants of the past. New generations are being born and with every new generation comes an increasingly advanced perspective of the world. Traditional ideals and ways of life are continuously expanding and becoming something that may be unrecognizable to some and unheard of to others. With this being said, however, there is one thing that will never be completely new: the concept of religion.
Religion is a species-specific human universal phenomenon, complex, full of paradoxes, and found in all cultures. Social scientists and anthropologists since the late 17th century have attempted to rationally answer questions about religion, and while we can't evaluate the veracity of religion’s claims, we can attempt to understand its functions.
Religion has influenced an entire range of changes in the elongated history of the world. The alterations that have taken place in the past are clear and concise evidence that the underlying and ultimate influence is religion. Religion has been apart of a plethora number of events in the past because, religion gives humans a clear source of origin of the universe, and carries an everlasting assurance that provides protection and happiness among the permutations in life. Religion also served its purpose in all aspects of life, especially during the events between the 1600’s and 1800’s.
Shermer makes the claim that as humanity is getting less and less religious, that it is becoming more rational and moral. His understanding is that when the decrease in religion occurs, that there will be an opposite increase in rationality and morality. From my understanding, rationality and morality do not go hand in hand. As a child, I was looked after by family members that were very religious and militaristic. Having such a high sense in religion, it set the pace for their actions. Their belief in a higher power altered their personalities and perceptions of reality. From a moral status of right and wrong, religion makes sense in to sin or not to sin. This can be compared to Normandin’s claim that is how one “should” or “ought” to act. In a sense, the religious aspect provides the discipline for morality. In my own opinion, it is that religions were originated to imply the morals and provide the discipline for them to keep society in order. In a basic intellect, science can be defined as simply the application of technology. Thus would lead to the understanding that scientific rationality can only be gained through awareness and technological gains. Technology is making advancements, but it has always been making advancements, and today, we are no further advanced than any other period of history. The advancement for technology is increasing however, and this may be due to the fact that society is becoming less and less religious. Losing the presence
White’s thesis in The Historical Roots of our Ecological Crisis states that in order to confront the expanding environmental crises, humans must begin to analyze and alter their treatment and attitudes towards nature. The slow destruction of the environment derives from the Western scientific and technological advancements made since the Medieval time period. “What people do about their ecology depends on what they think about themselves in relation to things around them” (RON p.7). Technology and science alone will not be able to save humans until we adjust the way of thinking and suppress the old ideas of humans power above nature. Instead, we need to learn how to think of ourselves as being
It’s the twenty first century. Scientists have found evidence of water on Mars, they have successfully cloned human embryos, and everyday, they are getting closer to finding a cure for cancer. Still, in a world of groundbreaking facts and evidences, where the newest discovery leaves older ones out of commission, we fool ourselves into blindly putting faith on a series of chronicles conceived during the primitive age. Religion probably started out as a result of mankind trying to explain the physical world, but then became a tool to control and oppress, a reason for bloodshed and hate. While religion may have been of great help in