32
84
There needs to be a distinctive way of looking at
things, a way of thinking, policies, an education-
al programme, a lifestyle and a spirituality which
together generate resistance to the assault of the
technocratic paradigm. Otherwise, even the best
ecological initiatives can find themselves caught
up in the same globalized logic. To seek only a
technical remedy to each environmental problem
which comes up is to separate what is in reality
interconnected and to mask the true and deepest
problems of the global system.
112. Yet we can once more broaden our vision.
We have the freedom needed to limit and direct
technology; we can put it at the service of an-
other type of progress, one which is healthier,
more human, more social, more integral. Liber-
ation from the dominant technocratic paradigm
does in fact happen sometimes, for example,
when cooperatives of small producers adopt
less polluting means of production, and opt for
a non-consumerist model of life, recreation and
community. Or when technology is directed pri-
marily to resolving people’s concrete problems,
truly helping them live with more dignity and less
suffering. Or indeed when the desire to create
and contemplate beauty manages to overcome
reductionism through a kind of salvation which
occurs in beauty and in those who behold it. An
authentic humanity, calling for a new synthesis,
seems to dwell in the midst of our technologi-
cal culture, almost unnoticed, like a mist seeping
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gently beneath a closed door. Will the promise
last, in spite of everything, with all that is authen-
tic rising up in stubborn resistance?
113. There is also the fact that people no longer
seem to believe in a happy future; they no longer
have blind trust in a better tomorrow based on
the present state of the world and our technical
abilities. There is a growing awareness that scien-
tific and technological progress cannot be equated
with the progress of humanity and history, a grow-
ing sense that the way to a better future lies else-
where. This is not to reject the possibilities which
technology continues to offer us. But humanity
has changed profoundly, and the accumulation
of constant novelties exalts a superficiality which
pulls us in one direction. It becomes difficult to
pause and recover depth in life. If architecture
reflects the spirit of an age, our megastructures
and drab apartment blocks express the spirit of
globalized technology, where a constant flood of
new products coexists with a tedious monotony.
Let us refuse to resign ourselves to this, and con-
tinue to wonder about the purpose and meaning
of everything. Otherwise we would simply legiti-
mate the present situation and need new forms of
escapism to help us endure the emptiness.
114. All of this shows the urgent need for us
to move forward in a bold cultural revolution.
Science and technology are not neutral; from the
beginning to the end of a process, various inten-
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tions and possibilities are in play and can take on
distinct shapes. Nobody is suggesting a return to
the Stone Age, but we do need to slow down and
look at reality in a different way, to appropriate
the positive and sustainable progress which has
been made, but also to recover the values and
the great goals swept away by our unrestrained
delusions of grandeur.
iii. t
he
Crisis
and
effeCts
of
modern
anthroPoCentrism
115. Modern anthropocentrism has paradoxi-
cally ended up prizing technical thought over real-
ity, since “the technological mind sees nature as an
insensate order, as a cold body of facts, as a mere
‘given’, as an object of utility, as raw material to be
hammered into useful shape; it views the cosmos
similarly as a mere ‘space’ into which objects can
be thrown with complete indifference”.
92
The in-
trinsic dignity of the world is thus compromised.
When human beings fail to find their true place
in this world, they misunderstand themselves and
end up acting against themselves: “Not only has
God given the earth to man, who must use it with
respect for the original good purpose for which
it was given, but, man too is God’s gift to man.
He must therefore respect the natural and moral
structure with which he has been endowed”.
93
92
r
omano
g
uardini
, Das Ende der Neuzeit, 63 (The End of
the Modern World, 55).
93
J
ohn
P
aul
II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus
(1 May 1991), 38: AAS 83 (1991), 841.
35
87
116. Modernity has been marked by an exces-
sive anthropocentrism which today, under anoth-
er guise, continues to stand in the way of shared
understanding and of any effort to strengthen
social bonds. The time has come to pay renewed
attention to reality and the limits it imposes; this
in turn is the condition for a more sound and
fruitful development of individuals and society.
An inadequate presentation of Christian anthro-
pology gave rise to a wrong understanding of
the relationship between human beings and the
world. Often, what was handed on was a Pro-
methean vision of mastery over the world, which
gave the impression that the protection of na-
ture was something that only the faint-hearted
cared about. Instead, our “dominion” over the
universe should be understood more properly in
the sense of responsible stewardship.
94
117. Neglecting to monitor the harm done to
nature and the environmental impact of our de-
cisions is only the most striking sign of a disre-
gard for the message contained in the structures
of nature itself. When we fail to acknowledge as
part of reality the worth of a poor person, a hu-
man embryo, a person with disabilities – to offer
just a few examples – it becomes difficult to hear
the cry of nature itself; everything is connected.
Once the human being declares independence
94
Cf. Love for Creation. An Asian Response to the Ecological
Crisis, Declaration of the Colloquium sponsored by the Fed-
eration of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (Tagatay, 31 January-5
February 1993), 3.3.2.
43
88
from reality and behaves with absolute dominion,
the very foundations of our life begin to crumble,
for “instead of carrying out his role as a cooper-
ator with God in the work of creation, man sets
himself up in place of God and thus ends up pro-
voking a rebellion on the part of nature”.
95
118. This situation has led to a constant schiz-
ophrenia, wherein a technocracy which sees no
intrinsic value in lesser beings coexists with the
other extreme, which sees no special value in
human beings. But one cannot prescind from
humanity. There can be no renewal of our re-
lationship with nature without a renewal of hu-
manity itself. There can be no ecology without
an adequate anthropology. When the human
person is considered as simply one being among
others, the product of chance or physical deter-
minism, then “our overall sense of responsibility
wanes”.
96
A misguided anthropocentrism need
not necessarily yield to “biocentrism”, for that
would entail adding yet another imbalance, fail-
ing to solve present problems and adding new
ones. Human beings cannot be expected to feel
responsibility for the world unless, at the same
time, their unique capacities of knowledge, will,
freedom and responsibility are recognized and
valued.
95
J
ohn
P
aul
II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus
(1 May 1991), 37: AAS 83 (1991), 840.
96
B
enediCt
XVI, Message for the 2010 World Day of Peace,
2: AAS 102 (2010), 41.
32
89
119. Nor must the critique of a misguided an-
thropocentrism underestimate the importance
of interpersonal relations. If the present ecolog-
ical crisis is one small sign of the ethical, cultural
and spiritual crisis of modernity, we cannot pre-
sume to heal our relationship with nature and
the environment without healing all fundamen-
tal human relationships. Christian thought sees
human beings as possessing a particular dignity
above other creatures; it thus inculcates esteem
for each person and respect for others. Our
openness to others, each of whom is a “thou”
capable of knowing, loving and entering into
dialogue, remains the source of our nobility as
human persons. A correct relationship with the
created world demands that we not weaken this
social dimension of openness to others, much
less the transcendent dimension of our openness
to the “Thou” of God. Our relationship with the
environment can never be isolated from our re-
lationship with others and with God. Otherwise,
it would be nothing more than romantic individ-
ualism dressed up in ecological garb, locking us
into a stifling immanence.
120. Since everything is interrelated, concern
for the protection of nature is also incompatible
with the justification of abortion. How can we
genuinely teach the importance of concern for
other vulnerable beings, however troublesome or
inconvenient they may be, if we fail to protect
a human embryo, even when its presence is un-
45
90
comfortable and creates difficulties? “If person-
al and social sensitivity towards the acceptance
of the new life is lost, then other forms of ac-
ceptance that are valuable for society also wither
away”.
97
121. We need to develop a new synthesis ca-
pable of overcoming the false arguments of re-
cent centuries. Christianity, in fidelity to its own
identity and the rich deposit of truth which it has
received from Jesus Christ, continues to reflect
on these issues in fruitful dialogue with chang-
ing historical situations. In doing so, it reveals its
eternal newness.
98
Practical relativism
122. A misguided anthropocentrism leads to
a misguided lifestyle. In the Apostolic Exhorta-
tion Evangelii Gaudium, I noted that the practical
relativism typical of our age is “even more dan-
gerous than doctrinal relativism”.
99
When hu-
man beings place themselves at the centre, they
give absolute priority to immediate convenience
and all else becomes relative. Hence we should
not be surprised to find, in conjunction with the
omnipresent technocratic paradigm and the cult
97
i
d
., Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate (29 June 2009),
28: AAS 101 (2009), 663.
98
Cf. v
inCent
of
l
erins
, Commonitorium Primum, ch. 23:
PL 50, 688: “Ut annis scilicet consolidetur, dilatetur tempore,
sublimetur aetate”.
99
No. 80: AAS 105 (2013), 1053.
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