Philosophy of environment
Encyclopedia
The philosophy of environment is a trend of free thought
Freethought
Freethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that opinions should be formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason, and should not be influenced by authority, tradition, or other dogmas...

 located between philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

, epistemology and anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...

. It combines various schools of philosophy such as humanist ecology, philosophy of evolution and environmental humanism
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....

. It is also meant to be a cultural trend having an influence in society.

Environment and evolution

The philosophical current indicated under the name philosophy of evolution has been developed since the 1970s by Humanist Ecology (also called Environmental or Evolutive Humanism) and by the neo-darwinian
Modern evolutionary synthesis
The modern evolutionary synthesis is a union of ideas from several biological specialties which provides a widely accepted account of evolution...

 school. Its purpose is the long-term evolution of the complex living being
Organism
In biology, an organism is any contiguous living system . In at least some form, all organisms are capable of response to stimuli, reproduction, growth and development, and maintenance of homoeostasis as a stable whole.An organism may either be unicellular or, as in the case of humans, comprise...

 in its universal environment, analysed through its Human cultural expression.

This trend is unique to the quasi religious Evolutionist Humanism advocated by Julian Huxley
Julian Huxley
Sir Julian Sorell Huxley FRS was an English evolutionary biologist, humanist and internationalist. He was a proponent of natural selection, and a leading figure in the mid-twentieth century evolutionary synthesis...

, notably during the founders congress of the IHEU (International Humanist and Ethical Union
International Humanist and Ethical Union
The International Humanist and Ethical Union is an umbrella organisation embracing humanist, atheist, rationalist, secular, skeptic, freethought and Ethical Culture organisations worldwide. Founded in Amsterdam in 1952, the IHEU is a democratic union of more than 100 member organizations in 40...

) in 1952.

Further than the basic scientific theory
Theory
The English word theory was derived from a technical term in Ancient Greek philosophy. The word theoria, , meant "a looking at, viewing, beholding", and referring to contemplation or speculation, as opposed to action...

 of evolution (notably neo-darwinian, Evolutive Humanism, developed by Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...

 and Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation....

), looks at the necessity for Man of a permanent adaptation of both his organism and his thoughts to his universal environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....

. And from there to the relativized relation to belief and to uncertainty, because human ideas evolve and are transformed, as are physical qualities, in a universal process of evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...

 and adaptive improvement in their environment. But this does not suppose determinism
Determinism
Determinism is the general philosophical thesis that states that for everything that happens there are conditions such that, given them, nothing else could happen. There are many versions of this thesis. Each of them rests upon various alleged connections, and interdependencies of things and...

, genetic or cultural, it refers to the evolutive interactivity and reactivity, partly random, of the living being with his surroundings. According to Marc Carl, "Man must necessarily learn to manage the insufficient appearance and the uncertainty of information to fit and to develop in his relational interactions with his environment, as well as physically and culturally". In a universal environment still as much as 90% unknown, this evolutive cogitation therefore tries not to be locked in premature schemata and answers. It encourages humility in proposals and intuitive boldness in investigations.
A subjacent humanist thought encourages human beings to deliberately take his destiny in his hands, in careful correlation with his environment, knowing that human thought is one of the most impacting manifestations of the living being, as an agent of transformation of the environment, and consequently not only of the Earth's environment. In terms of philosophy of evolution, the organized collective thought of humanity, and in general his evolutive culture, appears as the key to development of our species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 in its universal environment, and the key to a possibly significant interactive modification, in the long term, of this environment. It is principally a prospective step.

This cultural trend seems to have emerged because the concept of progressive permanent adaptation, which is no longer appreciated only by its scientific aspects, also took a metaphysical dimension (in a sense of research of the essence of the human), which consequently encourages analysis of human evolution
Human evolution
Human evolution refers to the evolutionary history of the genus Homo, including the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species and as a unique category of hominids and mammals...

, an agent which potentially modifies our environment, in philosophical terms. The possibilities and the risks of this evolution, non-deterministic
Nondeterministic algorithm
In computer science, a nondeterministic algorithm is an algorithm that can exhibit different behaviors on different runs, as opposed to a deterministic algorithm. There are several ways an algorithm may behave differently from run to run. A concurrent algorithm can perform differently on different...

 because of its integration into a dynamic complex living system, gives the human existence and destiny a new sense. And to be involved in such a cogitation opens a philosophical way in which curious minds could not miss advancing sooner or later, a way which rests on a regenerated metaphysics
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...

, encouraging us to take back in an evolutive way Aristoteles original concept of physis and its substance, and to search with modern conceptual tools the essence and the sense of our life.

Humanist ecology (environmental humanism)

Supported by the philosophy of evolution, this international emerging concept has expressed since the 1970s an evolutive humanism, extending the naturalist tradition of ancient Greek philosophers. Humanist ecology encourages us to better understand and situate the place and the destiny of humanity in its environment in permanent evolution. Human destiny is put in perspective in a universal context where many things remain to be learned. Because it encourages every human in a responsibility in front of his conscience, humanist ecology can be defined too as a will of ethical responsibility of civilized humanity, favouring its permanent improvement and its happiness, in useful interaction with its evolutive environment, in a beneficial way as much for a human being particularly as for mankind in general, and in common symbiosis with their local and global bioscape in evolution. That serves to optimize human society
Society
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...

 in its own interactions and in its interactions with its bioscape, notably by preserving the planetary equilibrium of the Earth. This solidarity of all of mankind is necessary to preserve its environment and its best development in this environment inspired a particular political expression of humanist ecology, taken up notably by Statesmen such as Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...

 (France) or Mohammed VI (Morocco) in the main meetings of the United Nations.

Evolution and its relativisation

Humanist ecology naturally favours the permanent adaptation and the best possible development of humanity, and of the human being, in an uncertain universal environment in permanent evolution, with a mind open enough to consider all the possibilities. In humanist ecological comprehension, it is vain to want to freeze an arbitrary cultural schemata and choose the apparent equilibrium and the supposed future of one moment of evolution. A permanent evolutive adaptation is necessary, as much biologically as mentally. That requires relativity and a caution in the analysis. According to this concept, for the human mind
Mind
The concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...

, any representation belongs to the domain of belief, considering the uncertainty of the relation of man to the universe, and the natural imperfection of his senses to represent his environment and his interactions with this environment; the reality perceived by Man being only one representation of reality, particular in mankind. Humanist ecology admits this relativized relation with belief
Belief
Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true.-Belief, knowledge and epistemology:The terms belief and knowledge are used differently in philosophy....

 but refutes any final and locking form, knowing that no truth can be final for the human mind without upsetting its natural evolutive necessity. This school of thought
School (discipline)
A school of thought is a collection or group of people who share common characteristics of opinion or outlook of a philosophy, discipline, belief, social movement, cultural movement, or art movement....

accepts belief in the present, for want of anything better, but dictates that you must take care to verify and update beliefs.
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