Science, Technology, and Society

• human flourishing: an effort to achieve self-actualization and fulfillment within the context of a larger community of individuals, each with a right to pursue his or her own such efforts.
• human flourishing according to Anthony Bradley: it is important because it is characterized by holistic concern for the spiritual, moral, physical, economic, material, political, psychological, and social context necessary for human beings to live according to their design.
• human flourishing according to Kenneth W. Watcher: it consist in a much broader range of states and outcomes including mental and physical health, happiness, and life satisfaction, meaning and purpose, character and virtual , and close social relationship.
• characteristics of human flourishing: all humans aim to flourish, human flourishing involves putting into action one's capacities, capabilities, and virtues; human flourishing depends on free will, human flourishing is sustained over time, and human flourishing involves doing well in broad domains of human life.
• key elements that contribute to human flourishing: science and technology, and theology.
• major indicators of development: gross domestic product (GDP); poverty level per capita GPT, higher incomes and life expectance, levels of economic development, the human development index.
• Jason Hickel: economic anthropologist whose research focuses on global inequality and political ecology. he challenges us to re-think and reflect on the different paradigm of "de-development".
• according to Jason Hickel, the concept of development: forget developing poor countries, it's time to de-develop rich countries.
• according to Hickel, solutions to achieving de-development would be: banning advertising, a shorter working week, and a basic income.
• Eudaimonia: ultimate end of human action; people pursue for its own sake. a uniquely human function that is achieved through a rationally directed life.
• plants: vegetative soul/nutritive degree/non-rational (reproduction and growth)
• animals: sensitive soul/sensitive degree/partly rational (mobility and sensation)
• humans: rational beings (thought and reflection)
• tripartite soul: illustrates a nested hierarchy of the functions and activities of the soul.
• Aristotle: Living a good life is only possible by living a life of virtue.
• Arête: a Greek term defined as “excellence of any kind” and can also mean “moral virtue”
• Virtue: what makes one function.
• 2 types of virtue according to Aristotle: Intellectual Virtue (thought) & Moral Virtue (character)
• Virtue of Thought: (wisdom & understanding) achieved through education, time, and experience; acquired through self-taught and learned in formal institutions knowledge and skills.
• Virtue of Character: (generosity, temperance, and courage) achieved through habitual practice.
• Modern technology is not a bringing-forth, but a challenging-forth. It challenges nature by extracting something from it and transforming, storing, distributing it. It makes people think how to do things faster; more effectively, and with less effort.
• Challenging Forth: reduces objects as standing-reserve or to be disposed by those who can enframe them - humans.
• Enframing: a way of ordering nature to better manipulate it.
• Destining: humans are challenged forth by enframing to reveal what is real.
• According to Heidegger, enframing is akin to 2 ways: Calculative Thinking (humans desire to put an order to nature to better understand and control it) and Meditative Thinking (humans allow nature to reveal itself to them without the use of force or violence).