Environmental Medicine And Philosophy Of Environmental Pprotection

Author(s): Julian Aleksandrowicz
Publisher: Julian Aleksandrowicz

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ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINE AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF... 75
An indispensable attribute for the existence of mankind is the regulation of social life throughout the entire planet. This means a just division of material goods, resignation from uncontrolled consumer ambitions, resignation from a would the progeny. Only in that case geometrical growth of population and the uncontrolled increase in industrial production stop endangering mankind.
too numerous
losses one of the most important achievements: thinking from the position of broadly conceived humanism. Neglected is the ecological concern for the correct development of the population.
The philosophy of life in highly developed countries, in "affluent communities", does not define the limit of consumer goods a member of that society wants to achieve. It simply assumes that man, thanks to his ingenuity and science should move on continuously in his "conquest of nature," should improve the technique of producing things and improve a variety of physical parameters, such as speed, transportation, communication, memorizing etc., something we are witnessing today.
A reaction to these opinions are the more and more frequently raised voices of scientists, appealing to launch the principle: reduce production to the level where it still lets you breathe and then industrial production will not lead to the devastation of the ecological environment and a danger to life. In other words, on the one hand limits are set for production, but on the other hand: a limitless improvement of "conscience."
Thus, it becomes imperative to define not only the sociological but also the general philosophical attitude of man toward nature. In the dynamic development of the physical and biological sciences, which contributed to environmental changes that are detrimental to social health, there has to be found a proper place for philosophy, granting it full rights, so that its ideas and methods could be applied in those fields of science which regulate inter-human relations.
To the tasks facing the philosophy of environmental protection will therefore belong the utilization of experience in the sphere of the ecological conditioning of the psychosocial environment, which in turn will help to properly shape the biophysical environment. This will clear the road leading to a healthy development of mankind. Environmental medicine concentrates on these problems.
In place of some vague, general remarks, let us deal with just one example: the situation which if life on our planet is not to become the subject of annihilation - has to be clarified and subjected to a thorough analysis, simultaneously in two aspects: from the point of view of integrated specialized sciences and its general aspect and that precisely by the philosophy of environmental protection. I have in mind here the problem of the
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