They are somehow linked to the environmental crisis in either good way or bad way; they contributed in some way.
Francis Bacon was born in London in 1561 and died in 1626. Bacon was one of the most influential theorists of the Scientific Revolution, who emphasized that the New Science must rest upon the experimental method, that scientific research must be socially organized and supported by the state, and that the purpose of scientific investigation is to improve society materially (through technology) and morally (through closer knowledge of God’s creation) (Bacon, 147). Today’s society, the age of technology, owes more to Bacon than to any other thinkers. Indeed, Bacon was directly responsible and the shaper of modernity, the age of science, and technology.
He sought after a new foundation of human knowledge and the new machinery world. In the name of progress and modernity of earth, this machines and knowledge lead to the destruction of entire earth. Indeed, people benefit a lot from this new discovery and has improved the human condition in many ways but with the destruction of the environment. The earth was seen as a living organism, a mother to all living being, in many cultures and restricting an action of human beings. Human worshiped, respected, honored and praised nature, however, by the sixteenth and seventeenth century, as Scientific Revolution proceeds, and the interpretation of Bacon, the image and the description of nature changed and the human behaviors changed as well. By considering Bacon’s the “New Atlantis”, it can be easily assumed that Bacon knew very well that the earth has valuable treasures as resources, which when discovered would give a human power which is beyond imagination. By knowing that the earth has tons of valuable resources, the greed arouses in mankind and the destruction of nature begun causing a significant effect on the environment. Bacon was in a very influential social position in his time, therefore, his ideas became a mirror reflection to the people of his class. Probably, Bacon did not mean to cause all this disaster and was just trying to use constraint and force to extract truths from nature but perhaps nature was nevertheless to be studied like this. In the name of scientific progress, the entwined relationship that existed between humans and nature broke and the disaster began.
The philosopher, social scientist, Karl Marx, is without a doubt the most influential socialist thinker to appear in the 19th century.
Karl Heinrich Marx was born in Germany in 1818 and died in 1883. He imagined human society as made of classes, the nature of which was dictated in turn by the main system of production and ownership. Marx argued that capitalism is inherently unstable, tense with flaws and prone to deep crises. Capitalism is dominated by the wealthiest corporations and devoted to profit above all else. If people had followed Marx ideologies more closely than we might have been able to avoid our current environmental predicaments, especially his argument against capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system based on private ownership of the factors of production (capital, land, and labor) employed in the generation of profits. Marx pointed out that Capitalism creates a system where there are basically two classes of people. The workers and the exploiters. The exploiters take advantage of the workers by making a profit from the worker's labor and the workers resent the exploiters. As a result of the conflict between them, eventually, the workers will revolt and take over society themselves. They will create a worker only society where no one realizes an advantage over anyone else. It is a very simplified view of the nature of a relationship between those who achieve success and those who do not. However, Capitalism requires endless growth of production doubt …show more content…
remain stable, to raise the standards of living, and to produce plenty of employment world population. The production itself is depending on consumption. Without enough consumption, it creates more demands for production, then the production cycle would be paralyzed. But we live on a planet with limited ecological and natural resources that should be preserved for sustainability purposes. We cannot stop overusing natural resources because we are all locked into an economic system in which companies have to grow to compete and reward their shareholders and because we all need the jobs. If the obsession of capitalism continues, then it would not take long for the destruction of nature entirely.
Naturalist Charles Darwin was born in England, in 1809 and died in 1802.
Darwin scientific theory of evolution by natural selection became the basis of modern evolutionary studies. Charles Darwin published a book and this book introduced a scientific theory stating that biological specimens, including humans, evolve over the course of generations through a process of natural selection. This important scientific document was very controversial because it challenged the religious beliefs of the time. People used to think that they were created by god himself, but the publication of this text challenged their faith, made people doubt their own existence and made them went into a state of confusion. The theory of evolution began to cause people to have serious questionings as to whether God had by special acts created the world and the creatures which populated it. Religion helps to shape our attitudes toward nature in both conscious and unconscious ways. Religions provide basic stories of who we are, what nature is, where we have come from, and where we are going. Religions also suggest how we should treat other humans and how we are related to nature. Human ecology is deeply conditioned by a belief of a certain thing. Therefore, Darwin theory of evolution destroyed the peoples' faith and leaded people to view nature differently
afterward.
Overall, this ongoing environmental crisis has resulted from causes mainly evolving around human existence leading to permanent effects such as habitat destruction and species extinction. This crisis is a result of human activity from decades. Global warming is affecting just about everyone, even though it is primarily a small number of nations that are responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. The most influential thinkers on this ongoing crisis would be Bacon, Marx, and Darwin. Bacon discoveries helped a lot in improving human living conditions, but with the destruction of natural resources, nature paid for this comfort, however, if we had closely focused on Marx solution and avoid capitalism than the condition of environment, perhaps would not have been this worse, and the theory of evolution of Darwin completely changed the viewed of human in every aspect, leading to the crisis of faith. It is not too late to act against this ongoing environmental crisis. The worlds’ environments need to reach a sustainable rate to last through the future and it is extremely important for the forthcoming generation.