The Good of the Natural Environment in Relation to the Human Person

Positing radical discontinuity between the human person and nature, modern environmental theories present a dilemma for Christians: either nature has no essential value and may be used and dominated in an unrestricted manner incompatible with Christian stewardship or it has an unqualified value and its preservation may come at the cost of human flourishing. This lecture presents a Thomistic-Aristotelian model of environmental philosophy, refuting this false dilemma. By treating the meaning of (1) nature in connection with (2) the human person, (3) the human good and dignity, (4) the ethical community, and (5) God, the lecture will show that nature has intrinsic, extrinsic, and theological value obligating respect and that nature is ethically objectified for human flourishing. As the human person is continuous with the chain of natural being but also transcendent, a stewardship of prudence, justice, and temperance is needed, where the person is imago dei, co-perfecter of nature.