Book Title: World of Philosophy
Author(s): Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan
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her." This is a very significant sort of ecological warning which can be neglected only at the cost of the very fate of human survival on this tiny planet.
So far as western society is concerned, its conceptual environment, or its ethos, was dominated by Judeo-Christian ethics, which was anthropocentric. In the Genesis story, the Bible advises to fill the earth and subdue it; to have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and with every living thing that moves upon the earth. This theological model was also a teleological one. According to this scheme, Nature is ordered by the transcendent God's design; man is, therefore, superior to Nature. God created all things for man's sake. So man should have dominion over Nature. The Earth is in the centre of the Universe and man is in the centre of the whole creation. Descartes, a 16th century philosopher and the Father of Modern European philosophy, averred: Nature is a great machine to be manipulated by man to suit his own ends. Moreover, according to him, the animals have no soul, no minds, and therefore no feelings. During the second half of the 19th century, evolutionists like T.H. Huxley and Herbert Spencer preached and propagated the doctrine of war between man and Nature.
Man and Environment
As a result of the above mentioned thoughts, the relation between man and Nature came to be conceived in terms of hostility and even enmity. Thus Nature became the enemy of man and therefore it must be conquered by any means. Wild animals were hunted down. Forests were recklessly destroyed. A virtual competition emerged in exploiting natural resources. The only goal is material wealth. Everybody is mainly concerned with raising the standard of living but none bothers about the standard of life. It is this exploitative attitude towards the environment that is creating ecological disasters. If man has a capacity to make changes in Nature, which he has amply demonstrated in scientific and technical progress, then he is responsible for his varied acts and their unhealthy and harmful consequences to the environment. So man has a responsibility towards Nature, its flora and fauna, as well as to the future generations of mankind. Hence, the questions are rightly asked: are we not heading towards mass suicide? Are we not defrauding the future human generations? Are we not bringing about major ecological catastrophe? Any well-informed and responsible person will answer these problems in the affirmative. Yes! We are responsible for the ecological imbalance; and it is up to man to restore the ecological balance. We pollute the Ganges river and then try to purify it or clean it. We can take two measures in this regard: one preventive and the other corrective. Moreover, though, we must reflect on this problem more deeply. Such
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