Chaper 14: The dawning of the Environmental Ethics and the new holistic paradigm for peace
António dos Santos Queirós
Centre of Philosophy of University of Lisbon_ CFUL
Centre Teacher's Training of Conimbriga_ Cefop.Conimbriga
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Book:
Handbook of Research on Promoting Global Peace and Civic Engagement through
Education. Chapter: The dawning of the Environmental Ethics and the new
holistic paradigm for peace. Edited by Dr. Kshama Pandey (Dayalbagh Educational
Institute, Dayalbagh, Agra, India )Prof. Pratibha Upadhyay (University of
Allahabad, U.P., India) Dr.AmitJaiswal (Govt.P.G.College, Kotdwar, Uttarakhand,
India Pages 32. 2015. Series Editor(s): Siran Mukerji (IGNOU, India) and
Purnendu Tripathi (IGNOU, India). IGIGlobal. ISSN: 2326-9022. EISSN: 2326-9030
Abstract
In this chapter we want to discuss
the new holistic paradigm for peace that blossomed with the dawning of the Environmental
Ethics in the 20st and 21st century, on the framework of “Meaning
and Concept of Peace Education”.
We introduce to the debate the question of “Political ethics” and the problem
of “political alienation”, trying
to answer the key question of “Holistic Peace: Need of Hour” - Why must
environmental ethics prevail, over democratic and socialist politics, modern
science and international right?
The topics and concepts of “ Pedagogical Paradigms of Peace Education”,
connected to the “Models and Strategies of Peace Education” and “Peace
Education in Class-Room Practice” will be discussed in the context of literacy
to a new paradigm for the science and civilization, report the case-study of
Portuguese CEFOP.Conimbriga (R&D).
Keywords: Environmental philosophy, Environmental ethics,
Baruch of Espinosa, Antero de Quental, Jorge de Sena, Anthropocentrism,
Ethnocentrism, Environmental reason, Hans Jonas, Aldo Leopold. Paradigm,
Cefop.Conimbriga
INTRODUCTION
If every
systematic-philosophical construction is built on an intrinsic foundation, a
fundamental intuition or attraction to an objective, then the starting point of
the philosophical renewal in the 20th century was the concept of environment.
The main purpose (desideratum) of this philosophical renewal
is to justify, while invoking the concept Kant’s “reason”, why the
Environmental Ethics should prevail over the most advanced achievements of
science, the blindness of science face moral and ethics. And also to prevail over Liberal Democracies
and Socialism in the past 20 centuries, which are responsible together for the
environmental crisis and conflicts. However, this reason is no more the Kantian
reason; a new concept of the reason emerged, which we call "Environmental
reason".
If the object of science is to explain the world
machinery, then scientific laws are amoral, and the answer to the categorical
imperative of "how to live in the world” belongs to the domain of
philosophy and ethics. In this sense, the environmental ethics enquire the value
of science and the value of social development, not only in an anthropocentric
dimension but also according to the new ethics principles: Life before Man and
Earth before Life!
We want to analyze how the modern
Philosophy of Nature, and later, the Environmental Philosophy, allow a new
ontology critique of the anthropocentrism, and a new epistemology, based on the
critique of the ethnocentrism and create a new ethical theory, which, in our
opinion, has a universal value and practical ethics that are applicable to all
the social fields.
From this perspective we
could rethink the concept of reason, increasing its meaning to the concept of
“Environmental reason”, a critical reason of the principle of anthropocentrism
and of the principle of ethnocentrism.
The critique of the anthropocentrism considers the
Judeo-Christian culture responsible for the arrogant attitude of the human
beings against others species and Nature.
We believe that this relationship is not linear and immediate and our
critical perspective and contribution wish to enlarge the scope of this debate.
The critical perspective of environment philosophy
toward the ethnocentrism claims the following:
"Ethnocentrism is an emotionally conditioned approach that considers and
judges other societies by their own culture’s criteria. It’s easy to see that
this attitude leads to contempt and hate of all ways of life that are different
from that of the observer. “(Dias, 1961, p. 219)
The critique of ethnocentrism not only justifies the
respect for all national cultures and all forms of classical and popular
cultural expression, but also rejects any notion of superiority from a certain
model of society, race or ethnicity.
Our
focal point is the main questions that Spinoza's philosophy placed on the
advent of our modernity: How to think about the rational explanation of man’s
existence and universe? How to adapt the philosophical thinking to the raison d' être of everything that exists
and how to transform spiritual life into full understanding and peaceful enjoyment
of life to their limits? Espinoza (1667) replied that everything that doesn’t
compete for the supreme human perfection must be seen as a useless. This answer cost the excommunio for the Jew philosopher(born in a Portuguese family refugee in Amstelveen) from their own community..
As in the philosophy of Spinoza, which opened the
“universe of reason”, the fundamental pushes for environmental philosophy
reflect the ethical and moral issues.
The "environmental reason" formulates a new
categorical imperative for human action, beyond the Kant maximum of shaping
individual ethics of acts with the principle of a universal law, a new ethical
framework, which stems from the need to configure the human conduct within the
limits that safeguard the continuity of life and their diversity.
As
with the philosophy of Espinosa (XVI century) and later of Antero de Quental
(XIX century) and Hans Jonas ( XX century), the fundamental impulses of the
environmental philosophy reflection were the ethical issues and the moral
problems.
Since
the pages of Spinoza's Ethics have been published, there are two juxtaposed
conceptions of the world in philosophy: the Universe of Imagination, dominated
by an anthropomorphic conception of God in the Aristotelian-scholastic continuity
of world representation, and the Universe of Reason, which, according to said
philosopher, is the manifestation of another concept of God, unique substance
or Nature naturam naturantem extended
to the intelligible reason of Nature natura naturata, the diversity of
nature.
Spinoza's
God is the Substance or Nature, not the omniscient Being, omnipotent, creator
and transcendent to the world, all-merciful, Lord of Heaven and of Hell and
Supreme Doomsday Punisher.
The
fundamental intuition of Espinoza, according to which God is Nature, developed
itself in accordance with the laws that are intrinsically necessary,
corresponds to the latest great discoveries in Astrophysics and Cosmology
according to the modern scientific reason.
Hubert
Reeves (2002) states that the universe, which is not eternal and will be
fifteen billion years old, is also not static and continues its evolution from
the primordial chaos, shapeless and without organization. The history of the universe is the
story of a growing complexity in the cosmic scale, a progressive structuring of
the cosmos, with its physical forces ruled by strict and universal laws. Such laws already had, since the beginning, the ability to develop
complexity, life and consciousness. Therefore we return to the "unknown land" and to the knowledge
relativity, but not necessarily to a theological explanation of the origin of
the Universe and Life.
Philosophy, the
"metaphysical speculation", in the eyes of Antero, is the result of
the amazing progress of "natural sciences" and "organization
science" (social sciences). It also established an umbilical cord between
science and modern philosophy in which the philosophical reflection is the key
element for the progress of the scientific theory, and, dialectically, science, science it’s foundation.
The role of
human reason is to fill the blank that the scientific view would leave in the
Universe. This is due to the fact that the human consciousness expresses itself
throughout the process of development of society and moral facts (the Law
society and the "individual Holiness" from Antero, that today is the
environmental consciousness).
Following
Antero de Quental and set against common opinion, the general theory of
evolution does not arise as a discovery of natural sciences of this century,
but rather as a result of philosophical speculation:
"…
from the Renaissance, inside the fundamental idea of nature. The dynamic way,
autonomous, realistic, of conceiving nature is what more radically
distinguishes the modern thinking from the old thinking... "
(Quental, 1989, p.87)
The
modern "environmentalist reason" develops a new categorical
imperative for human action, beyond the Kant maximum, conforming individual
acts with the principle of a universal law, a new ethical framework, which postulates
the needing to configure the human conduct within the limits that safeguard the
continuity of life and their diversity (Jonas, 1985): life, before
man and earth before life.
FROM THE "ethicAL responsibility" TO The environmental reason
The critical perspective of
anthropocentrism considers that the Judeo-Christian culture is responsible for
the arrogant attitude of the human domain against others species and
nature. The concept of the human being elected
by God to chair the divine creation and this moral perspective would lead it to
take over nature for its own purposes, without any limitation or restriction.
The Rationalist enlightenment, when allowing the human condition to succeed not
only over the obscurantism and ecclesiastical and aristocratic society, but
also to decipher and control the forces of nature, would open the way for
unrestrained use of natural resources and the emergence in the Contemporary Age
of environmental crisis.
We think that this relationship is
not linear and immediate. The enlightenment of Christian orientation already
integrated the existence and preservation of creatures like the continuity of
the creator.
At the same time, we might be
tempted to assign the responsibility for the desecration of nature (and it was
certainly responsible but in another sense) to positivism and scientism, since
they coexisted with other philosophical currents that tried to conciliate
metaphysics with the scientific laws of nature. However, in this case, its
historical responsibility for the environmental crisis isn’t direct or
decisive.
We believe that exploiting natural
elements as objects for commercial use is associated to the birth of the world
capitalism ideology, which in the late 19th century went over the latest market
frontiers shared in the Berlin Conference of 1885 - the
partition of colonial spaces and virgin lands - and accomplished their
integration in the sphere of European and American metropolis. The natural
resources and the man, woman or child, elder, masterpiece of God's creation,
were transformed into merchandise and reduced the human condition to the status
of mercantile "workforce".
And a new ethics (or non-ethics)
emerged slowly from the beginning of 16th rural capitalism to the 18th and 19th
century industrialization: the denial of sacred nature and human condition, in
the context of the capitalism economy, definitely stripped from the stigma of
medieval Christian censorship and fearless to purgatory, born in the beginning
of modern capitalism to redeem the sin of profit, postulates that everything is
permissible and legitimate to accumulate capital.
And this social model, which is focused on obtaining new and bigger profits and increase the concentration of capital,
became somewhat “natural”. It imposed a new legal planning of the state,
prevailed in the culture and spiritual environment of the nations, by claiming
that it’s new relationships of production and exchange represented the “end of
history”, the peak of progress and civilization, destined to be eternally
represented in the future of societies.
This tremendous social change was
what generated the modern culture and engendered the roots of different
ideologies, philosophical schools and aesthetic currents, not mechanically but
dialectic, nor as mere reflections of superstructures of new economic base of
society: the protests against the cosmopolitanism revalued the role of
countryside, and generated doctrines of nature conservation, from scientific or
metaphysics inspiration and searching its contemporary synthesis.
education FOR PEACE: the origin and international
relevance of ONU Stockholm conference 1972, to THE education reform in THE XX
and XXI century
In this
historical and environmental context, humanity is confronted for the first time
with the danger of its own extinction, either as a result of an environmental
disaster, or as the tragic outcome of a nuclear or biological war, as well as a
pandemic financial crisis on multiple continents.
The new
categorical imperatives of Environmental Ethics emerges from this framework: The
“imperative of dignity” and the “imperative of perpetual peace”, that will be
discussed in this chapter.
This is the moment to introduce to the debate the
question of “Political ethics” and the problem of “political alienation”, to try to answer the key question of “Holistic Peace: Need of
Hour”: Why
must environmental ethics prevail, over democratic and socialist politics,
modern science and international right?
The answer turns to the focal point in order to
analyze the development of the environmental and peaceful consciousness in the
modern world, rising from the UN environmental conferences.
New principles emerged from the first environmental
conference, held in Stockholm in 1972: one of them was the principle of a
“common house”:
"…
man has two homelands, his own and planet Earth" (Dubos, R and Ward, B., 1972, p.338)
But also the principle of “loyalty”, a planetary
community and solidarity, founders of a new international order (an ethical
order) and the principle of defending the intrinsic value of Life on the planet
and their biodiversity.
"…Today, we
can only expect to survive if our precious diversity is intact and has the
conditions to generate a fundamental loyalty towards our planet Earth, this
unique planet, so beautiful and so vulnerable. (Dubos, R and Ward, B., 1972, p.349)
Those principles created a first rupture line with the
cultural and political perspective of ethnocentrism and anthropocentrism.
The critique of environmental philosophy queries our
civilization mode, in the perspective of environmental reason. Nature shall be
included in our field of moral reflection. Our duties, before limited to human
beings, must be expanded to the domains of the “Land Ethic” and “Animal
Ethics”.
The most recent world environmental
conferences resolutions are well known, from the 21 Agenda of Rio de Janeiro
1991 to the failure to agree when facing the climate change, in Copenhagen
2009. However the report of the first Conference, in Stockholm in 1972,
represents better than any other not only the political dimension of the
environmental crisis, but also the contradictions and limits to overcome them,
without changing the dominant mode of economic production and its power system.
The United Nations Stockholm
Conference recognized, for the first time, the environmental crisis through the
following Proclamation:
“Having met at
Stockholm from 5 to 16 June 1972,
Having
considered the need for
a common outlook and for common principles to inspire and guide the people of
the world in the preservation and enhancement of the human environment,
I
Proclaims
that:
1. Man is both creature and molder of his environment,
which gives him physical sustenance and affords him the opportunity for
intellectual, moral, social and spiritual growth. In the long and tortuous
evolution of the human race on this planet a stage has been reached when,
through the rapid acceleration of science and technology, man has acquired the
power to transform his environment in countless ways and on an unprecedented
scale. Both aspects of man's environment, the natural and the man-made, are
essential to his well-being and to the enjoyment of basic human rights-even the
right to life itself (UNCHE, 1972, p.3)
The Report of Barbara Ward and Rene
Dubos, which formed the basis of the “Report On The Human Environment” (1972)
analyzed at that Conference, remains insufficiently known, even to the specialists
in this area,, which is why we will resume here
its main strengths.
The introduction gives an account of
various controversies about the severity of the challenges and priority
measures, and establishes the principle that the man has two homelands, their
own and planet Earth.
The objective of the Conference is
to define environmental problems and models of behavior that will ensure the
development of civilizations.
The report is organized into five
main areas: The unity of the planet.; The units of science.; The problems of
technology.;
The developing countries.;
A Planetary Order.
Firstly, analyze humanity’s civilization heritage up
until the current model of social order. The man is re-seated in his natural
context of the relationship with all beings and the human condition considered
in full physical, mental and social development, recognizing the need to enjoy
all the benefits of civilization, of health and welfare, education and living
in a world of peace and equilibrium with the other beings of nature.
Then establish a demarcation with
ethnocentrism, to enhance the productive and technological development of China
and India in the 14th century, when compared to Europe. The 17th century is
considered the historic moment of acceleration of the development of society,
based on the heritage of classic culture and history: from uninterrupted growth
factors such as demographic growth, the increased consumption of energy, food
and minerals, the emigration of the countryside to the city, which would
attain, in the 19th century, historic turning point, an exponential
progression. So from this perspective, the conflict between biosphere and the
technosphere is balanced, with the man at the center of the disagreement.
Also, they evaluate the contemporary
process of development of science, in the sense of dissociation and increasing
specialization, avowing the research to find new syntheses and alert to the
need to fulfill them in the context of multidisciplinary studies. Brutal levels
of production, consumption and violence, against natural systems, making our
society return to the Francis Bacon dilemmas, from which the new gods were
already the idols of the marketplace and the idols of the tribe.
When evaluating the price of
prosperity in terms of environment and examining the current effects of the
market globalization and its relationship with the question of the State
sovereignty, they regret new "social contract" wasn’t achieved after
two centuries. This contract should be the regulator of the blind market
economy.
Advocating a new social equilibrium,
based on the coexistence of a socialist economic planning and a mixed system of
the private sector, and established on the political and civic participation of
citizens.
And denouncing “… the tragic and
growing divisions between the rich people from the ' North ' and the people
miserable of the ' South '“, whose origins lie in the political transformations
occurred in the 19th century, with the consolidation of nationalities, the
expansion of colonial empires and the sharing of the world.
"International
politics did indeed remain at the same point that let to the inner
development of the 19th century. From here on it will be necessary to evolve
towards a community founded on a more systematic sharing of wealth (through progressive
taxes, generalization of teaching and education, ,appropriate housing and hygiene programs)
or then plunge into revolution and anarchy. Many of the proposals
that are made today for development aid, presented by the international
institutions, are a first test for an
appropriate system to safeguard the planetary community." (Dubos,
R and Ward, B., 1972, p.338
The proposed are imposed (also) by
ethical imperatives, the threat of extinction of life by pollution and by the
menace of chemical or nuclear warfare...
The second part of the report, is devoted
to drafting a new scientific view of the drive, unpredictability, continuity
and interdependence of the cosmos, and introducing the concept of ' plasma ',
which allowed us to understand the origin of the universe and the conditions
that generated and kept life on Earth: Water that cooled down the temperature
of the planet and shaped its crust, organic carbon compounds, sources of life,
the atmosphere of oxygen and ozone, protectors of life, the photosynthesis,
base of the cycles of carbon and oxygen, the creation of the biosphere and the
Cambrian explosion of life. It’s a complex, vulnerable and unpredictable
process of adaptation and natural selection, increasing biodiversity and
natural diversity, in unstable equilibrium.
In the third part, we consider the
discontinuity of development, the problems of the expansion of consumption,
concentration of production and exchange, depletion of resources that
accentuate the problems of pollution and social inequalities on a global scale.
Here, they introduce new
perspectives to address the social costs of the economy, considering the
environmental costs, which were quite ignored and systematically socialized at
the time, from pollution to the destruction of land, as a life support and
cultural landscape, the urban crisis, the destruction of rural habitats, the
maintenance of wild regions, rebalancing the resources in function of of
the real needs of humanity as one, the clean maintenance and management of
energy resources, the development of quality of environmental life and of an
integrated politic of social justice and international solidarity are
considered here.
The fourth part is dedicated to
examining the situation of the so-called developing countries, whose concept
encompasses various environmental and cultural realities, from ancient
civilizations to the countries that just recently acquired an independency status.
The report focuses on developments caused by the "green revolution"
that occurs in the 1960s, as well as the potential for employment and
production, but also their contradictions: Abundant use of agrochemicals, urban
sprawl and population explosion, growing industrialization, creating political
and social conditions favorable to the allocation of benefits in parallel with the new
ecological problems created by the globalization.
The last chapter proposes the
creation of a new international order, through a fair and clean management of
the biosphere, the international control and cooperation to improve the
regeneration of the dysfunctions of environmental atmosphere, oceans and
climate: A new international order supported by the reform of the world system
of technology, innovation, investment and trade.; The peaceful negotiations and peaceful
solutions represent a condition for the establishment of a strategy for the
survival of Humanity and the Earth, our common home.
"But now,
the idea of establishing these strategies through an authority, an action and
adequate resources still seems strange, visionary and utopian, simply because
the world institutions are in no real sense of planetary community nor any
commitment in this regard".(Dubos,
R and Ward, B., 1972, p.341)
His philosophical stance about the
human condition is clearly inspired by the ideas of Konrad Lorenz (1973).
The analytical perspective of how it
evolved in other cultures and civilizations the concept of Nature, namely in
the oriental and Hispano-Arabic cultures, is absent from the Report.
In
the context of the world environmental conference held in Stockholm, 1972, four
philosophical principles emerged: the principle of common home, man has two
homelands, his own and the planet Earth; the principle of loyalty _ a planetary
community and planetary solidarity and the principle of planetary defense of
life before Humanism. Establishing a new international order (ethics):
“Principles
States the common conviction that:
Principle 1
Man has the fundamental
right to freedom, equality and adequate conditions of life, in an environment of a quality that permits
a life of dignity and well-being, and he bears a solemn responsibility to
protect and improve the environment for present and future generations.
In this respect,
policies promoting or perpetuating apartheid, racial segregation, discrimination,
colonial and other forms of oppression and foreign domination stand condemned and
must be eliminated.” (UNCHE, 1972, p.4)
What
dramatic today is the irreversibility of evolution and the rhythm of the loss
of biodiversity, recognized by the laws of paleontology.
The
extinction of homo sapiens sapiens and
species associated with our evolution, an imaginary world of plants, microbes
and insects, would unlikely rise again to the human species or even to mammals. According to this perspective, the preservation of the human being returns to the center
of environmental ethics, at the same time as the protection of global
biodiversity.
If
the human species ends up being extinguished, nobody can imagine nowadays what will be the link of the life chain where the
evolutionary leap will occur, as nobody dreamed before that the grandfather of
our human condition was an insignificant rodent that survived the widespread
extinction of dominant species at the end of the Mesozoic Era (252 to 66 million years ago).
The Land Ethic
The reference work of the land ethic
belongs to Aldo Leopold (after Walt Whitman and David Thoreau and the
transcendentalism of Waldo Emerson, John Muir and G. Pinchot, pioneers of
rational management of forest and environment and George Perkins Marsh), and it
comes from Darwin’s studies and the scientific advances of ecology.
The feeling of need for help and defense, developed throughout the
process of natural selection, spawned the concept of the Community, which is
the basis of the ethic. However, a new conception of nature emerges, now
understood as a society of plants, animals, minerals, fluids and gases, closely
linked and interdependent. The concept of a community enlarged to the
all-natural being.
“The (usual)
land-relation is still strictly economic, entailing privileges but not
obligations…All ethics are based on a premise: that the individual is a member
of an interdependent community…The land ethic simply enlarges the boundaries of
co the community to include soils, water, plants, and animals, or,
collectively: the land .“ (Leopold, 1949, pp. 238- 239).
The Biocentrism (d ' Earth first!, Greenpeace, Wilderness Society (...)
assigns an intrinsic value to any living entity and Ecocentrism focuses on the
duty which we owe to the biotic
community that we are a part of.
“Conservation is
a state of harmony between men and land…Plants absorb energy from the sun. This
energy flows through a circuit called the biota, which may be represented by a
pyramid consisting of layers…The species of a layer are alike not in what they
came from, or what they look like, but rather in what they eat…The lines of
dependency for food and other services are called food chains…The pyramid is a
tangle of chains so complex as to seem disorderly, yet the stability of the
system proves is to be a highly organized structure. Its functioning depends of
the co-operation and competition of its diverse parts.. Soils depleted of their
storage, or of the organic matter which anchors it, wash away faster than they
form. This is erosion.” (Leopold,
1949, pp. 243, 251-252, 255)
The question isn’t applied to new objects, such as nature or
pre-existing moral theories. Nature shall be included in our field of moral
reflection - our duties, before limited to human beings, shall be extended to
other natural beings.
“Waters, like
soil, is part of the energy
circuit. Industry, by polluting waters or obstructing them with dams, may
exclude the plants and animals necessary to keep energy in circulation…The
image commonly employed in conservation education is «the balance of
nature»..this figure of speech fails to describe accurately what little we know about the land
mechanism. A much true image is the one employed in ecology: the biotic
pyramid…Poundage or tonnage is no measure of the food–value of farm corps; the
products of fertile soil may be qualitatively as well quantitatively superior…”
(Leopold, 1949, pp. 255, 251, 260)
And this is the ecological consciousness _- The duties to nature.
Animal ethics
It was up to Australian Peter Singer
and American T. Regan to emphasize animals feelings and rights, given the
brutality of modern production processes: genetic cloning, cages, feedstuffs
based on ground meat from dead animals and saturated hormones, systematic
violation of natural rhythms and animal life needs - and all of this in order
to obtain a bigger profit margin.
In name of the principle of
equality, the two authors refused the concept of the superiority of the human
species that is compared to racism, for violating the censoring principle ofprinciple of human non-recognition, the
capacity of feeling and suffering of animals. In their work, they claim that
animals are subjects of interest in not suffering and also as Regan adds, are
subjects of law, by which they are entitled to a life experience that has
intrinsic value.
Their main propose is the expansion of the concept of person:
“I propose the use of 'person', to
be rational and self-conscious, to incorporate the elements of the popular
sense of human being that are not covered by member of species Homo Sapiens“. (Singer, 1980, p.88)
In the cited work of Peter Singer, and
following the aid that the rich countries of the North promises to offer to the
poor countries of the South, we can read that only Sweden, the Netherlands,
Norway and some Arab countries reached the modest export oil objective set by
the UN: 0.7% of gross national product.
They make it clear that a standard
common model of civilization exists, between hunger in the world and the brutal
killing of animals - the society of consumption and its amoral production and
exchange of merchandises.
Why environmental ethics must
prevail, over democratic and socialist politic, modern science and
international right
What scientific discoveries allow us
to prove is that the favorable balance of ecosystems to life depends on a
multitude of physical, biological and geological factors, and to recognize that
the higher the position occupied by organisms in the food chain is, the higher
their vulnerability will be, as will the destruction of some species, which
will affect dramatically the entire system.
The destruction of natural resources
energy and the multiplication of the pollution effects reach not only the whole
lithosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the atmosphere and the biosphere,
but also, with unforeseeable consequences, the fundamental genetic material -
the DNA which conserves and reproduces the codes of life.
No one can imagine what will be the link of the
chain of life from which new forms of life will pop out and evolve, but we can
ironically admit that we, human beings, are the link, as Konrad Lorenz (1973)
stated.
A step forward in the construction
of the new ethical principles might be built with the philosophical references
to Kant, Marx and Lévi Strauss, defended by these philosophers in different
periods, but havinge
not found the social and environmental historic conditions for their full
realization.
From Kant (1775): every man shall be
taken as an end in itself and never as the means of attaining other end.
From Marx (1875): from each one
according to their possibilities and each one according to his work. From each one accords to his
ability, to each one according to his need.
From Levi Strauss (1962): the
true humanism does not start by itself, and put the world before life, life
before man and respect for others before self love.
See below how the beautiful poem from
the Portuguese poet Jorge de Sena interprets those principles in the context of
the general crisis of our civilization and in the ethics environmentalist
perspective.
At the dawn of the 21st century, the
economic machine lost its wheel regulator: it was passed successively from the
hands of the large industrial, to the banker, to the neo-liberal or socialist
State; after that, to the massive multinationals, and now supersedes the
nations and international treaties, to the nebula financial corporation’s protected
by the off-shore.
Globalization has become visible to
all citizens but its crisis factors acquired an enormous complexity.
Here's an issue that we should
include in our reflection and in the conceptual elaboration of the environment
extremely important and serious, that project to the ethical plan the
discussion regarding the rise of the scientific progress in the interface if
traditional subjects.
But such facts, and the
dissemination of environmental movements and doctrines, by itself, do not undermine
the anthropocentric perspective.
The recognition that the plants are part
of the basis of food chain and that the chemical
transformation of solar energy required for the production of food or carbon
minerals reserves, or biodiversity conservation or soil are essential to
prevent the breakage of chain or the effects of desertification, can only lead
to the definition of a new utilitarian finalism. It will be proceeding with new
technologies to "clean" the selection and manipulation of living
organisms for commercial consumption, rationalized within the limits of human
knowledge on the interaction of factors of environmental crisis and the dynamic
equilibrium of ecosystems.
But, in fact, it is not possible to
determine precisely what is the carrying capacity and renovation that various
ecosystems face – for - example, to raise every year hundreds of new chemical
compounds, whose environmental impact is unknown or is insufficiently studied.
The environmental regeneration with new technologies against pollution will
always be a more expensive solution, preferably being an environmentalist strategy
for development, which gives primacy to reduction, after the re-use, and
recycling, as a last choice.
Being sure that the revelations and
complaints of environmentalists could also generate, in parallel, attitudes and
the defense of extremely ecological values that confront the classical humanist
values.
Nowadays, certainly all doctrines
and ideologies revising principles and main objectives face the emergence of
the environmental crisis and a new civic consciousness based on
interdisciplinary, scientific discoveries and the analysis of the limits of
technological progress and the activity of new social movements.
The social combat that seems to
emerge from the base of new environmental ethics philosophical is the program
to a world where the primacy of ethics prevails over the politics that
currently adopt as single valid principle - that the means justify the ends. The
primacy of ethics confronts class justice that announces, as the end of history
and the natural society order, the triumph of social exclusion; and the primacy
of ethics on the bloody History of all civilizations,
The “ethical imperative of dignity” and the “imperative of perpetual peace", from
Jorge de Sena
In this
historical and environmental context, humanity is confronted for the first time
with the danger of its own extinction, either as a result of environmental
disaster, or as the tragic outcome of a nuclear or biological war and pandemic
financial crises on multiple continents.
And it is here
that new categorical imperatives of Environmental Ethics arise again: First,
“the ethical imperative of dignity”, from Jorge de Sena, poet and philosopher:
Poem: Letter to my kids about the shootings of Goya
“Believe me that no world, that nothing or no
one
is more worth than a life, or the joy of having
it.
This is what is the most important - this joy.
Believe that the dignity they will tell you so much
about
is nothing but
that joy that comes
from being alive and knowing that anytime someone
is less alive or suffers or dies
so that one of you can resist a little more
to the death that belongs to all and will come.”
(Sena, J., 1984)
Second, the
ethical “imperative of perpetual peace":
Poem: "Peace"
"In the strange fortune of doom,
[...] this strange fortune, from which light comes
oh just
harmless powder, I pray
to myself not
to lose the memory,
for you, always know how to remember
that everything is lost where peace is lost,
and first of all freedom is lost.
(Sena, J.,
1984)
Perpetual peace and political ethics
Why must
environmental ethics prevail, over democratic and socialist politics, modern
science and international right? The ethical dimension of societies and modern
State and its Governments may be evaluated through the respect for principles
of political ethics, universal and permanent, which recognize all individuals
as citizens that have two homelands, their own and the Earth (United Nations
Conference on the Environment, Stockholm, 1972), giving all human cultures a
status of equality (critique of ethnocentrism) and re-introducing the human
community to the pyramid of life and biodiversity without any status of domain
or privilege (critique of anthropocentrism).
The principle
of citizenship or dignity of its citizens (Jorge de Sena), applied together
with the subordination of the economy to the environmental ethics policy,
determines the State's duty to guarantee its citizens the right to peace, the
right to work, the right to education, the right to health and assistance in
old age, the right to justice, the right to the conservation of biodiversity
and the right to freedom. And yes, freedom is placed in this order, since it
disappears with the war and remains a smaller value without the job and other
social rights. And with the destruction of life diversity, human communities
have no future.
The political
philosophy that seems to emerge from the perspective of the new environmental
ethics, shows a world where the primacy of ethics prevails over politics, that
currently adopt as single valid principle that means justify the ends; it’s a
world where the primacy of ethics confront the class justice, that announces
the end of history and the natural society order, and the triumph of social
exclusion; and a world where the ethics triumph over bloody History, of all
civilizations.
The 20th
century was the century of the triumph of national and international rights for
people and nations. Our common civilization will not know their 22nd
century unless the 21st century becomes the century of environmental ethics.
The environmental philosophy built a
new ontology from the critique of anthropocentrism, but only their articulation
with a new epistemology, founded in the critique of ethnocentrism, could lead
to a new theory of universal ethics. .
Practical ethics and political alienation
Utilitarian ethics from Jeremy Bentham (18st-19st centuries)
and Stuart Mill (19st century), assume that not only the individual action, but
also all the Government measures enhance well-being and reduce suffering. This
creates a distance from the primacy of Aristotelian duty (eudainomia), which justifies the morality of action based on
benefits for the subject and/or on the principle of less suffering caused to
“another”.
The classic example of resolving an ethical dilemma on
the basis of the principle of utilitarianism is the political and moral
justification of the launch of the first atomic bomb over Hiroshima, and the
second over Nagasaki. This was due to the comparison made by military
strategists: if the US choose to invade and conquer Japan with conventional
weapons they estimated there would be one million deaths instead of the more than 200,000 confirmed with the bombings.
The most frequent moral objection against the
resolution of this ethical dilemma by nuclear holocaust of the Japanese people
lies in the intrinsic value of human life. In the Kantian categorical
imperative, this is an end in itself and cannot be used/annihilated as a means
to benefit other people, even if to achieve a higher benefit, which in this
case is to reduce casualties.
Now that we know what the problem is, it seems that
modern ethics and morals seem to be inconsistent in practice and paradoxical in
theory.
But in the weeks before the nuclear attack against
Hiroshima, most scientists who worked on the development of the atomic bomb,
the Manhattan project, tried to prevent the bombing over the Japanese cities,
proposing a different strategy: the explosion should take place in open space,
in order to demonstrate its destructive power.
Before the project leader's hesitance, the military leaders
of the project used it in order to threaten, blackmail and manipulate
information.
Once the first bombing took place, the military
leaders demanded the second, by arguing that the Japanese militarists wouldn't
surrender.
The secret military documents at the time, that are
now longer considered classified, show that there was a deliberate intention to
try the nuclear weapon effect on humans beings, but also a second purpose: to
try to gain the respect of the triumphant USSR t and of the new
socialist States emerging in the East and in Asia: it was the beginning of the
Cold War!
Those scientists, conscious of the dangers of the
military use of nuclear energy, and of the risks of new clashes that could lead
to the extinction of humanity, promoted a civic and political movement called Movement of Scientists. This movement
would bring together 515 scientists from Harvard and MIT in 1945, who defended
a program that would be the inspiration to all subsequent books, articles and speeches. Their objective was to
lead the US Government to an international agreement with the USSR, upon which
they would agree that such would no longer be produced. Let’s have a look at
their arguments:
· Other Nations would soon
be able to produce atomic bombs.
· No effective defense was
possible.
· Mere numerical superiority
in atomic weaponry offered no security.
· A future atomic war would
destroy a large fraction of civilization.
The heuristics of fear was their propaganda strategy,
but the US Government managed to dismantle this movement in 1947 and adopted this
speech exactly for the opposite end.
This example demonstrates that the practical
application of ethics, and ethics practices, needs to be attending to with the
conceptualization of a new global political ethics, and without the discussion
of ethical dilemmas falling into the possibility of being predetermined by the
hidden strength of political alienation.
EDUCATION
FOR PEACE AND A new paradigm for science and civilization
The topics and concepts of “ Pedagogical Paradigms of Peace Education” which
are connected to the “Models and Strategies of Peace Education” and “Peace
Education in Class-Room Practice” must be discussed in the context of literacy
to a new paradigm for science and civilization.
This final section examines the
traditional model of scientific and technological expertise, which funds the
myth of unrestricted growth. It suffered successive shocks and crisis, opening
new approaches concerning relations between nature (environment) and progress.
From these, the concept of sustainability crisis emerges, built on an
interdisciplinary scientific perception that also includes a social ethics
dimension.
The post-modern scientific and
technical progress knows its genesis on the interface of the traditional
scientific fields. We believe that environmental and peace consciousness
emerges from this matrix, making the environmental crisis and the danger of war
visible.
At last, and following the guidelines
of the Unesco World Reports about Education, we will report the case-study of
Portuguese CEFOP.Conimbriga (R&D), established in 1989 as an international
research group, and the national Teacher’s Professional Training Center (with
the Ministry of Education and Science and EU certification), in
partnership with Portuguese and
international universities (museums, natural parks, researcher centers…). We will try to give a universal contribution for the
following question: What are the scientific production models that
we must create and develop to support an economic and sustainable development
based on the “society of knowledge” and promoting Global Peace and Civic
Engagement through Education?
The highlights of our
case-study report conclude that permanent Teacher’s Professional Training is essential
and education for peace must be transversal for all the curriculum scientific
levels and fields. The Teacher’s Professional Training needs to
incorporate the modern controversy about Morals and Ethics and the diffusion of
the principles of Environmental Philosophy.
However, “Build a complete framework
for lifelong education” is also as important.
As it to understand the structural
changes on the educational system in the last quarter of the 20th century,
the connections between “formal education”, “not formal education” and
“informal education”, in the context of growing of the “hidden curriculum”.
We will now develop the theme
of Non-formal Education. Non-formal Education is supported by museums, natural parks, researcher centers,
etc, and is complementary
to the formal education system. They should be developed in articulation with formal and informal
education. This type of education, although implying effort as formal education, appeals particularly to trigger
scientific curiosity, creates a
taste for experimental study and
provides the joy of discovery. The
objectives and methodologies of educational practices of non-formal education -
observation, participation and
inter-activity to promote the
scientific literacy - take into account the development and the personal
experience of the learner. It therefore promotes the global framework to answer
the social aspirations and needs of the student, helping develop their personal
skills, increasing their autonomy
and creativity. And it also projects a
bridge to a multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural world.
The “informal education” sector contribution is
focused on the public media, which should integrate the role of
citizen’s education in its program and be complementary to the public school
programs. As for the private media, and in the context of licensing processes,
it must include the contractual obligation to promote civic education,
scientific and philosophical culture for peace and sustainability.
The CEFOP. Conimbriga (R&D) and Mc2p,
Association of Science Centers and Museums of Portugal, in cooperation with
universities, schools and educational institutions, private sector and public
administration, create a national and international network for lifelong professional
and civic education retaking the themes of peace and sustainability.
The main coup strategic direction
“Education for Peace” is associated
with the critical problem of the initial and lifelong formation of teachers in
three dimensions: scientific, technical -pedagogical and ethical.
The “Education for Peace” has an
ethical condition:“Delivering equally education to everyone”.
However, the integration into the
democratic or socialist school of hundreds of thousands of new students
increases the chance of school failure and students dropping out ofout of studies without achieving secondary
educational levels.
The scientific and technical
revolution increases the risk that schools will fall into a sort of delay
towards society.
Today’s world has become more
interdependent and global problems require a current ethical view of all
fundamental issues of economy, science and politic, because these problems
affect not only the present but the future of humanity and of our planet, which
is threatened by global warming, the disarray and break down of the capitalist
financial system, and the biological and nuclear holocaust war.
It requires that teachers continue
learning.
In Portugal, this task was entrusted
to three types of Teacher Training Centers (Centros
de Formação de Professores): 1) School associations centers, which have the
advantage to know better the education territory and teaching needs of
teachers; 2)Training centers of Scientific and Professional Associations of
teachers, that better than anyone dominate specific didactics of curriculum
disciplines; 3_ Training Centers of the Universities and Polytechnics, which
are the more advanced institutions in the field of culture and scientific
literacy.
This plural system, with its
training centers, trainers and consultants, and training classes, is certified
by the Board of Scientific and Pedagogical Training for Teachers named by the
Ministry of Education. After certification, all training agents do their job
independently.
The experience of the past thirty
years advises to give preference to training classes like s Workshops and
Seminars, Projects and Study-Circles., It is believed that these directly
influence the immediate pedagogical action of teachers, while the Courses and
Modules look more towards general training.
Its funding is provided by the
central Government, but the training centers of scientific associations and
universities also offer training courses that are paid directly by the
teachers.
The Teacher Training Center of
Conimbriga (Cefop.Conimbriga)),
has organized itself to provide a training program based on the experimental
teaching of Sciences, starting a new interdisciplinary paradigm performed with
the study of educational territories, visiting museums and science centers,
monuments and landscapes; and conducting interregional and cross-border
actions. It has also introduced training for all teachers in environmental
ethics.
Schools, teachers and other professionals of education. What initial and
continuous training do teachers need in the next few years?
·
New
Paradigm: multiculturalism and interdisciplinary. Scientific experimentation in
the laboratory and in the cultural landscape.
·
E-training,
but in the context of their specific didactics. And improvement of a foreign language
(not necessarily English), in this context.
·
History
of national language and culture, in provincial, regional and international
context.
·
Literature
of mathematics’ fundamental concepts.
·
Works
and authors of the national language and culture.
·
Integration
of the perspective of environmental literary and artistic and scientific
education (encompassing all areas of scientific culture), in the continuous
training of all disciplinary groups
·
Training
and field trips, internships and participation in national, provincial,
regional and international conferences, for all teachers.
"Physics of chalk" and "Sputnik effect"
The metaphors of "Physics of
chalk" and "Sputnik effect", created by Fernando Bragança Gil,
illustrate the importance of the experimental teaching of Sciences and the role
of museums and science centers, specifically when it comes to promote
scientific curiosity and initiation to the methods of observation and
discovery, emphasizing their role as organic structures of non formal
education. It is important to note that non-formal education is articulated and
represents an indispensable complement to formal education.
In the "Sputnik effect" we
are remembered of the epic modern moment of Man arriving in space for the first
time (a soviet man) and the shock that
this epic journey caused to the US, the dominant power, leading to the
mobilization of American society, and particularly of their educational system
towards the promotion of scientific culture and education.
Quality and equity. How do
students learn more and better?
Education and citizenship: Skills and values that must be acquired by
all students in universal basic education
Frederick Schiller, in Schiller’s Letters on Aesthetic Education
(1794-5) argued that the student must learn to follow an objective, and that in
order to achieve his objective, he should tolerate a painful journey. So if he
wants to aspire to the highest and most noble pleasure, he most knows that hard work is
the price to pay. Victor Weisskopf (1989), a pupil of Niels Bohr, who compared
the art of scientific diffusion to a sweeping interpretation of Beethoven´s
sonata, claimed for its highest social recognition. Regarding this matter, the
teacher and pedagogue Fernando Bragança Gil, who has a deep knowledge of
reality from international experiences on scientific literacy, said:
"Without
denying the relative importance of playful aspects in scientific education, I
believe that a solid learning requires always persistence, from who is teaching and some
effort of understanding and retention from those who are learning. So, in my
opinion, we can’t pass the idea that everything can be seized without effort,
but we must convince children and young people that hard work will be
gratifying by the intellectual and emotional rewards that brings them.
It’s something similar to what happens
in sports: you don't get a good performance without making an effort; the
interest that you have to achieve best scores, depends from the enthusiasm with
which you train.
I think the essential role of
science centers when facing youths is not to give them the
illusion that they can learn science without any effort, but help them to overcome
blockages that they might have about learning certain scientific subjects and
bring them the capacity, new skills, to study cheerfully and without feelings of
hostility for those scientific matters. " (Gil and Queirós, 2006)
·
Attitudes:
Regular work from the 1st
year inat
school, with the spirit of intense dedication for a continuous study,
cooperation, empathy and respect for teachers as well as for other education
workers and colleagues. A modern school
founded on a new discipline, built on duties to rights.
·
Values:
A critical conscience faces
anthropocentrism and ethnocentrism. Promote national identity, without
chauvinism, integrating national and regional cultural context, in an international
one, and world citizenship for peace and cooperation.
Creating cooperative groups, at a
classroom level, with the aim to promote literacy of new information
technologies, bringing together teachers, students and info-instructed parents.
Create a parallel curriculum in
education-training, from the end of the primary education and targeting
secondary education for the training of qualified professionals, with not only
a common scientific curriculum, but also regionalized curriculum according to
the needs of business development and administration.
·
Knowledge and skills:
_ To learn how to organize a search and design objectives for the same purpose.
_
Info-training. And learning
English ( or a foreign language) language, in this context.
_ History of national language and
culture, but in a provincial, regional and international context
_ Fundamental literacy of the concepts
of Mathematics and Sciences, national and regional language, integrating the
perspective of environmental and peace education in the literary, artistic and
scientific context (encompassing all areas of scientific culture), in all stages
of education.
Strengthen the study of mathematics
in primary education, as well as physical education.
Quality education, science literacy and ethical values
The concept of “Education for peace”
must be connected to the concept of “quality education in various ways”, focusing
now on the literacy to a new paradigm for science and civilization.
This final part examines the
traditional model of scientific and technological expertise, which founded the
myth of unrestricted growth.
With the environmental crisis and
the emerging of new conflicts, that myth suffered successive ups and down. New
approaches from the relationship between nature (later the environment) and
progress, emerged and shaped the new concept of sustainability, built not only with
an interdisciplinary scientific perspective but also having a social ethics
dimension.
A new scientific paradigm for science and civilization and the
significance of the new environmental ethics
The scientific and technical contemporary
progress erupted in the interface of traditional disciplines. We believe that
is from this matrix of science and moral intersection which made the scientific
foundations of environmental consciousness in its varied hues emerge: biology,
history, physics and chemistry, literature and the natural sciences,
communication sciences, earth and life sciences, etc., are making the
environmental crisis visible.
But we aren’t saying that the modern
environmentalist philosophy represents the triumph of consciousness and the
ethics of life against the indifference and the horror of our time. We’re
trying to say that it is against the amorality, barbarism and indolent social
that such awareness emerges: Refusing death, the nonsensical and the night of our
civilization, and penetrating all domains of human thought and culture (s). The
philosophy of environment obliges the reinterpretation of the more conservative
books, the sacred books of all religions and the traditional way of understanding
their doctrines. Let us question the most important political paradigms from nineteenth
century, the main ideologies offered to our century, the Marxism and the
Liberalism.
Let's see what the Unesco World
Report on education 1991 recommends:
"Two
aspects of scientific and technological revolution in progress influenced
strongly the teaching of science and technology during the past two decades:
First the fact that a good number of scientific and technical progresses has
now been made in multiple traditional interface disciplines and secondly the
existence of a reciprocal relationship or symbiotic relationship between
science and technology, with scientific progress giving rise to new
technologies … thanks to them science can again thrive.
These particularities of recent
developments of science and technology have facilitated the trend, observed
everywhere in the world, during the two past decades, to teach science and
technology in an integrated manner. " (UNESCO, 1991)
And looking at the dilemma of the evolution
of higher studies throughout the 20th century, the option for a functional
model of formation of specialists, progressively integrated in their structures
the Polytechnics Institutes, while on the other side, preserving another
primary function of University, the fundamental scientific research. ´
What are the scientific production models that we must create and solidify
to support the economic and sustainable development based in a
knowledge-society?
Universities have evolved throughout
the 20th century to a functional model of formation of specialists,
progressively integrating polytechnics in their structures . structures. This process
was developed in detriment of another primary function of University, the
scientific research.
With the emerging knowledge and society
of information, scientific and technical revolution and global finances and
business concentration, it became even more imperative to restore the social
function of public University in its role as center of excellence of
fundamental scientific research.
The foundation of basic scientific
research is the shaped by research groups, with PhD professors or thoseor those who chose to follow a doctorate in
function of scientific objectives they want to pursue, and not just mere
academic requirements and administrative career progression. These researchers
may come from all universities, congregated around a mission and purpose of
scientific research.
The outcome of this research must be
returned to the University and society through a parallel pursuit, the teaching
functions and social projects.
Creating a university elite, framed
by the public University, corresponds to the national interest and allows to placing the results of the
fundamental investigation at the service of the country, its economy and its
people. These results tend to be appropriated by the great business
conglomerate through registering patents, products and brands.
In reality, the development of the
so-called Western civilization was allowed due to the integration of science in
culture, leading to a way of thinking and acting rationally, which constitutes its
main feature.
A new paradigm: Formal education. Non-Formal and Informal education
About the theme “Building a
consummate framework for lifelong education”, this last part studies the
structural change in the educational system in the last quarter of 20th century, the connection between formal
education, non formal education and informal education, in the context of the
growth of the “hidden curriculum”.
Figure 1. Change of information
systems and Knowledge between the 20th and 21st centuries
As you can see in Figure 1, the
school is no longer alone as the center of transmission of knowledge, like it
was in the past: in the Middle Ages, this role was found in convent and monastic
schools, and with the advent of Modern Age, we saw the fcontrol of the Church’s hierarchy over the University, which stretched
up until the 19th century in Europe.
In the past 20th century,the newspapers, radio, television and now
the multimedia and Internet., gained importance over school.
For this reason, the media cannot be
considered only as a business area that has no social duties and it cannot be
dissociated from social education. The school should be able to use the modern
mass media to fulfill its function.
Figure 2. 4 dimensions of teaching
and learning
The Figure 2 represents firstly, the
existence of a hidden curriculum in all systems of transmission of knowledge
and learning, that we must study and influence from school. For example, to
influence social networks like Facebook or the most popular sites such YouTube,
the school must select and produce information with scientific and educational
value, and guide students to their request and selection of relevant and
certified information on those networks..
In the Figure 2 the scheme on the
right side shows that currently the 3 systems in the West countries aren’t well
articulated: social communication doesn’t want to recognize its role in
education and the school doesn’t have any power over it; and the relationship
from formal education (schools) with organic structures of non-formal education,
like museums, interpretation centers, natural parks, is still sporadic and
practically limited to very specific field trips
In 2000, the Council of Europe
Parliamentary Assembly adopted recommendation nº1437 about Non-Formal education
as an essential part of the education process and calls the Government and other competent
authorities of the States members to recognize non-formal education as partner in the process of lifelong learning.
In 2003, the Committee of Ministers
of the Council of Europe recommends to the Member States belonging to the
European Cultural Convention:
- to reaffirm that nowadays the non-formal
education/learning constitutes a fundamental lifelong dimension, and therefore
we should work for the development of standards for effective recognition of
non-formal education/learning as an essential part of general education and
vocational training and, in particular, to the qualification of professionals
and volunteers that will be responsible to offer non-formal education/learning;
- the quality of learning provided
- the monitoring of progress in
learning made by participants in the programs of non-formal education/learning,
both individually and as part of a larger group.
This guideline has been adopted by
the European Commission which in 2004 acknowledges in the context of the
principle of lifelong learning, the identification and validation of non-formal
and informal learning aim to make visible and enhance the entire range of
knowledge and skills held by a person, regardless of where or how they were
acquired. The identification and validation of non-formal and informal learning
takes place inside and outside formal education and training in the workplace
and in civil society.
In Portugal we can identify a large
number of educational practices associated with non-formal education made
largely by civil society organizations and which take various forms, outside
formal education. We emphasize the role of museums and science centers.
This non-formal education is
complementary to the formal education system and should be developed in
articulation with the formal and informal education.
This type of education, although
implying effort as formal education, appeals particularly to the development of
scientific curiosity, and it creates a taste for experimental study as well as providing
the joy of discovery.
The objectives and methodologies of
educational practices of non-formal education - observation, participation and
inter-activity to promote the scientific literacy - take into account the
development and the personal experience of educating. It therefore provides the
appropriate framework to respond to the aspirations and needs of the learner,
developing their personal skills, promoting their autonomy and creativity.
When we are developing this potential,
skills and experience on individual learning, through non-formal education, we
are training their personal capacity to answer to the requests of modern
society and labor market. The society of information, of scientific cyber
culture, the community of citizens, that promotes democracy and international mobility.
The Association of Science Centers
and Museums - Mc2p of Portugal, - wants to gradually take over an
important part of the effort regarding the dissemination of scientific culture,
supporting a virtual school and e-learning, and the basic structure of
non-formal education, in cooperation with universities, schools and educational
institutions, business, public administration and "last but not
least," the media.
Inside the formal education system
new training centers called "New Opportunities" were created, inside primary
schools and secondary vocational schools. They are courses with an alternative
curriculum for adults that didn’t finish compulsory education, Here, professional
skills, values and personal culture are recognized and valued, through the establishment
of a new curriculum that has been simplified, so they can obtain their academic
degree.
Schools, Teachers, Media
·
The
public media should integrate in their program the role of citizen’s education as
a complement of the public school programs.
·
The
private media must include, in the
context of licensing processes, the obligation to promote civic education and
culture.
·
Using
the sources of public and private funding, European community programs and
national budget, non-profit associations and commercial banking operations,
partnerships and initiatives at local, regional and national levels, a personal
portable computer should be made accessible to all students starting school.
What can local communities do for their schools?
How to promote a better articulation between school education and other
forms of lifelong learning for everyone and how to exercise an active and
responsible citizenship?
Schools must use globally, frequent
and systematic, cultural and educational community resources, in particular
those offered by science centers and museums (in the sense of ICOM enlarged
definition) that are the most important structures of non-formal education.
To promote success they must have
autonomy to reinforce educational programs, driven by the regional directorates
of education, and use the pedagogic capacities available from those entities,
currently being used. The first step is the transformation of the field trip to
the museum in to a proper study trip, prepared with a pedagogical exploration
program.
Instead of sporadic visits to the
Museums, natural parks and interpretation centers, monuments, sites or cultural
landscapes, the school needs to study their educational territory, the land
where their students live, organizing outdoors classes, preferably on the same
day, with the same class or group of
classes, to regularly use cultural and educational resources of the community.
It is important to have info-instruction,
cooperative work, and access to e-learning and virtual school, close the circle
of integration of formal, non-formal and informal school.
Conclusion
The long life training of teachers
is the key to the success of the modernization of the educational system and for
the success of their social mission. It must includesinclude not only the
scientific and pedagogical dimension, but also the formation in the domain of
the news environmental ethics, that justify and support Peace Education
principles and practices.
On this basis, this Chapter tries to give a final contribution to
establish a strategic pilot plan to win the challenges in international cooperation
on “Education for Peace” and design a model of trans-national education exchange
on educational policies and practices, considering the guidelines proposed by
António dos Santos Queirós (2011) in the context of International Conference on
“Standardizing Chinese-foreign Cooperation in Running Schools, Exercising Administration
According to Law and Promoting Sustainable Development”.
1. Considering the different levels
of development of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities of different
countries, the Exchange model will need to be diverse and flexible, so that the
exchange programs can be organized with the developing countries and with the
more developed countries.
2. The Exchange must be based,
firstly, in the training of teachers: teachers from different countries should
be invited to visit other countries in order to organize seminars and courses
with national teachers, bringing together their experience and knowledge. Also,
the teachers of each country should be sent for study missions and training
activities in those countries.
3. The training and study visits may
be short-lived, for economic reasons, but also because communications through
the Internet, video-conferences nowadays allow us maintain a permanent
interchange, with reduced costs.
4. Universities and teacher training
institutes, training centers of national teachers, can establish direct and
bilateral relations with institutions in other countries, leading to the
twinning of schools and creating a regular link, with pedagogical exchange and
study visits that can be extended to students.
5. The results of the exchanges
should be available in digital format, at national, provincial, regional and
municipal levels, using the cyber space.
REFERENCES
Action
Plan for the Human Environment. B.5. Development and Environment. United Nations Conference on the Human
Environment A/CONF.48/14/Rev.1 June 1972 Stockholm, Sweden
Bentham, J. (1907). An
Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation. Library of Economics and Liberty. Retrieved
April 13, 2015 from the World Wide Web: http://www.econlib.org/library/Bentham/bnthPML1.html (Original work
published 1789).
Dias, J.
(1961/1990)
Estudos de Antropologia, Volume I, Uma introdução histórica etnografia
portuguesa. Lisboa. Imprensa
Nacional-Casa da Moeda.
Espinosa, B. (1960). Ética
(Ethica
Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata I. DE DEO.
/Ethics. Demonstrated with the method of geometrician. Part I.
About God. (Joaquim Carvalho, Trans. Introduction and notes). Coimbra. Atlântida
Editora. (Original work published 1667).
Gil, F.B; Queirós, A. (2006). Report for Reform of Education. Contribution for
national debate promoted by Assembly of Republic of Portugal. Association of Science Centers and Museums_ Mc2p, of Portugal.
Leopold,
A. (1949). A Sand County Almanac. New
York: Oxford University Press,
Jonas,
H. (1984). The Imperative of
Responsibility. In Search of an Ethics for the technological Age. Chicago.
Chicago & London, The University of Chicago Press. (Original work published
1979).
Emmanuel
Kant, E. (1985). Fondements
de la métaphysique des moeurs, Ed : Gallimard (Pléïade, Oeuvres
philosophiques tome 2), p.261. (Original work published 1785).
Lorenz,
K. (1973). Die acht Todsünden der
zivilisierten Manschheit. München/Zürich: Piper.
Marx,
K. (1970) Marx/Engels
Selected Works, Volume Three, pp. 13-30. Publisher: Progress Publishers,
Moscow. (First
Published: Abridged in the journal Die Neue Zeit, Bd. 1, No. 18, 1890-91)
Mill,
J.S. Mill, (1999). On Liberty. London: Longman, Roberts
& Green, 1869; Bartleby.com. (Original work published 1859).
Queirós,
A. (2011). A new education paradigm, from
China to the World. International Conference on “Standardizing
Chinese-foreign Cooperation in Running Schools, Exercising Administration
According to Law and Promoting Sustainable Development” (June 20th -21st, 2011,
Xiamen, China).
Sena, J. (1984). Carta a
meus filhos, sobre os fuzilamentos de Goya. A Paz. In Trinta Anos
de Poesia. Lisboa:
Edições 70.
Singer, P. (1980). Practical Ethics, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, second edition,
Strauss,
L. (1962) La Pensée Sauvage. Paris: Plon.
Quental, A. (1989). Tendências Gerais da Filosofia na Segunda
Metade do Século XIX. Lisboa. Editorial
Comunicação. (Original work published 1890).
Reeves,
H. (2002). Les
Dernières nouvelles du cosmos. Paris. Éditions
du Seuil.
Schiller, F. (1967). On the Aesthetic Education of Man, in a Series
of Letters. Translated by Elizabeth M. Wilkinson and L.A. Willoughby.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
(Original work published 1794-5).
Unesco World Education Report
(1991). UNESCO Publishing, Promotion and Sales Division.
Ward,
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KEY TERMS AND
DEFINITIONS
Environmental
philosophy: A new philosophical and modern (XIX_XXI) approach above
nature and culture: human being is repositioned in the nature without
privileges and supremacy, duties face all natural beings are imperatives to the
human action.
Environmental
ethics: an ethical perspective based on the double critique against
anthropocentrism and ethnocentrism. The Land Ethic, Animal Ethic and Global
Bioethics are their main streams.
Baruch of
Espinosa, (1632–1677): Benedict Baruch of Espinosa was a Dutch
philosopher with Spanish and Portuguese Jewish origin. His thinking rejected the
anthropomorphization of God and a dogmatic interpretation of the holly books. His
family was persecuted by the catholic Inquisition and took refuge in Holland,
but the Jewish community of Amsterdam, excommunicated him for his freethinking,
that opened the modern reason and was premonitory in the holistic and ethical
vision of nature.
Antero de
Quental (1842-1891): Portuguese philosopher,
writer and poet, who globally rethought the concept of nature, introducing some
principles anticipating the modern concept of environment and their philosophical
and ethical values.
Jorge de
Sena (1919-1978): Portuguese
writer and poet, essayist and professor (universities of Portugal, Brasil,
EUA…). The principles of environmental ethics cross his literary work.
Environmental
reason: the concept of human reason is rethought in light of
environmental philosophy.
Aldo
Leopold (1887–1948): American forester, conservationist, environmentalist and professor. In his book A
Sand County Almanac (1949),
he explains
the concept of community and moral duties enlarged to all natural beings.
Hans
Jonas (1903 – 1993): German Jew who
immigrated to Canada and USA. In “The
Imperative of Responsibility. In Search of an Ethics for the Technological Age”, he formulates a new
categorical imperative for human action, to configure the human conduct within
the limits that safeguard the continuity of life and their diversity.
Paradigm:
The general definition of paradigm
comprises "a disciplinary matrix", a constellation of beliefs, values
and techniques shared by a Community.
Cefop.Conimbriga
(R&D): Portuguese lifelong
professional training center for teachers and others professionals, promoted by
an ONG named LAC, with the partnership of universities, research centers,
museums and nature parks, public school administration and enterprises, with
the headquarter set in the Museum of Conimbriga.
Formal
Education: The formal system of education based on official schools,
from primary schools to universities.
Non-Formal Education: The network of museums, science centers, monuments,
natural parks, etc., that promote complementary education programs.
Informal
Education: The potential education from media and multimedia
contents, Internet, libraries, art galleries…
Hidden Curriculum: Learning and skills put together;
it takes place far away from the formal programs offered by schools, museums,
media, art galleries, etc. For instance, the discovery of sexuality on the
context of personal relationships shaped outside the classroom, the ideological
values that configure the TV news or films… 
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