Republic of the Philippines

Province of Cebu
City of Talisay
TALISAY CITY COLLEGE
Poblacion, Talisay City, Cebu
2nd Semester, Academic Year 2020-2021

GESTS 3 (SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY and SOCIETY)

Ms. Alpha Jane N. Mila
Course Facilitator Department General Education
Mrs. Isabelita Abellanosa

Teacher Contact No.

Program & Year Credit Units 3.0
This course deals with interactions between science, technology, social, cultural, political
and economic contexts that shape and are shaped by them. This interdisciplinary course
engages students to confront the realities brought about by science and technology in
Course Description society. Such realities pervade the personal, public and global aspect of our living and are
integral to human development. This course seeks to in still reflective knowledge in the
students that they will be able to live good life and display ethical decision making in the
face of scientific and technological advancement.
Create a scientific and innovative investigatory project (IP) which can be useful in our
Culminating Outcome
society based on the field of your specialization
Midterm Unit Outcome Create an article depicting the concerns, issues of STS and its societal managements

Student’s Name Curricular Yr.& Sec.

Contact No. Time Allotment
Residence Inclusive Date/s

Course Material 3 Technology and Humanity Cross

CONTENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of this course material, you will…
 Human person flourishing in  Identify the idea of the concept of “the good life”
terms of Science and  Compare/contrast and analyze how Science and Technology has
Technology changed for the past decades and societies development depicting
 Good life its advantages and disadvantages
 Design and create a collage that illustrates the different concerns
and issues that make up the good life guided by ethical standards
ENGAGE
Every living creature is meant to become what it is meant to be. As we grow and develop there are different
factors that affect us, there are different questions that need to be answered and there are steps and actions that
need to be undertaken. Flourishing is the highest good of human attempt to achieve his/her goal. It is a success as a
human being when he/she achieved it for the betterment of his/her life. (Aristotle 385-323 B.C.)

Question:

1. What is happiness and your goals in life?

THIS MATERIAL IS FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY AND NOT FOR SALE.
Page PAGE 1 of NUMPAGES 11
EXPLORE
Science, Technology and Society
by: Edward jay. Quinto & Aileen Nieva
Source: p.82-101, Human Flourishing in progress and Good life

Are we living the good life? This question is inarguably one universal human concern. Everyone aims to lead
a good life. Yet, what constitutes a happy and contented life varies from person to person. Unique backgrounds,
experiences, social contexts, and even preferences make it difficult to subscribe to a unified standard on which to
tease out the meaning of the good life. To answer the question, “Are we living the good life?” – necessary
reflection must be made on (2) things: a. what standard could be used to define the good life?, b. How can the
standard serve as a guide toward living the good life in the midst of scientific progress and technological
advancement?The Greek Philosopher Aristotle’s human flourishing arises as a product of different factors such as
phronesis, friendship, wealth and power. The Ancient Greek society believed that for the people to achieve the true
meaning of happiness these qualities should be acquired, which in effect allow them to join in the greater notion of
what we call the GOOD.

For Aristotle, the good is what is good for purposeful and goal-directed entities. He defines the good proper
to human beings as the activities in which the life functions specific to human beings are most fully realized. The
good of each species is finality existing to the species. A person’s nature as a human being provides him with
guidance with respect to how he should live his life. A fundamental fact of human nature is the existence of
individual human beings each with his own rational mind and free will. The highest or most general good to which
all individuals should aim is to live happily, successfully and well. This is done through the active exercise of a
person’s distinctive capacity, rationality, as he/she engages in activities to the degree appropriate to the person in
the context of his/her own identity as a human being. One’s own life is the only life that a person must live. It
follows that, for Aristotle, the “good” is what is objectively good for a person. Aristotle’s EUDAIMONIA is formally
egoistic in that a person’s normative reason for choosing actions stems from the idea that he/she must pursue
his/her own good or flourishing. Because self-interest is FLOURISHING, the good in human conduct is connected to
the self-interest of the acting person. Good means “good for” the individual moral agent. Egoism is an integral part
of Aristotle’s ethics. In his ethical writings, he endorses egoism, rationality, and the value of life. He insisted that the
key idea in ethics is a human individual’s own personal happiness and well-being. Each person is responsible for
his/her own character. Each person has a natural obligation to achieve, become, and make something of himself by
pursuing his true ends and goals in life. Each person should be concerned with the best that is within him/her and
with the most accomplished and self-sufficient success and excellence.

People found means to live more comfortably, explore more places, develop more products, and make
more money, then the cycle is just repeating to suffice their happiness. In the beginning, early people relied on
animals for their transportations, they relied on stones and spears to hunt food, they used skin of animals to
protect their skin and used it as clothes, they used stones to make fire and lastly, they just lived in a cave as their
shelter. As the time went by there was a big change in the way the people lived before and the way the people live
today. Development allowed them to make grander and more sophisticated machines to aid them in their
endeavors that eventually led to space explorations, medicines innovations and ventures of life after death. Our
concept of human flourishing today proves to be different from what Aristotle originally perceived. Humans of
today are expected to become a “man of the world”. The person today is supposed to build himself/herself in a
global neighborhood, working side by side among institutions and different governments to be able to reach
common goal. Competition as a means of survival has become outdated, cooperation and coordination among
individuals are the new trend.

THIS MATERIAL IS FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY AND NOT FOR SALE.
Page PAGE 1 of NUMPAGES 11
 Everyone has a definition of what GOOD is --- getting a college degree, traveling across the world,
succeeding in a business venture, pursuing a healthy and active lifestyle, or being a responsible parent etc. Aristotle
made it clear that the ultimate good is better than the instrumental good for the latter is good as a means to
achieving something else or some other end while the former is good in itself.
Some potential candidates for the ultimate good – good life: One might think that PLEASURE is the ultimate
good, one aims for pleasure in the food they eat or in the experiences they immerse themselves into. Yet, while
pleasure is an important human need, it cannot be the ultimate good. First, it is transitory – it passes. Second,
pleasure does not encompass all aspect of life. WEALTH is a potential candidate for the ultimate good, but a
critique of wealth would prove otherwise. Indeed, many, if not most, aim to be financially stable, to be rich, or to be
able to afford a luxurious life. However, it is very common to hear people say that they aim to be wealthy insofar as
it would help them achieve some other goals – intermediate good --- only instrumental. It is not ultimate good
because it is not self-sufficient and does not stop one from aiming for some other greater good. Another candidate
is FAME and HONOR --- many people today seem to be motivated by a desire to be known – to be famous. Others
strive for honor and recognition. This is reflected by those people who use social media to acquire large virtual
following on the internet and wish to gain a foothold on the benefits that fame brings. Many people act according
to how they think will e admired and appreciated by other people. However, these cannot constitute the ultimate
good, simply because they are based on the perception of others. Fame and honor can never be good in
themselves. If one’s definition of the good life is being popular or respected, then the good life becomes elusive
since it is based on the subjective views of others. Unlike pleasure, wealth, fame and honor, happiness is the
ultimate good. In the Aristotelian sense, happiness is “living well and doing well”.

Putting everything in perspective, the good life in the sense of eudaimonia is the state of being happy,
healthy, and prosperous in the way one thinks, lives and acts. The path to the good life consists of the virtues of
thought and character, which are relative mediators between the two extremes of excess and deficiency. In this
way, the good life is understood as happiness brought about by living a virtuous life.
One could draw parallels between moving toward the good life and moving toward further progress and
development in science and technology. In appraising the goodness of the next medical procedure, the new social
media trend, the latest mobile device, or the upcoming technology for the food safety, one must be guided by
Aristotelian virtues. Science and technology can be ruined by under or over appreciation of the scope and function
it plays in the pursuit of the uniquely human experience of happiness. Refusing science and technology altogether
to improve human life is as problematic as allowing it to entirely dictate reason and action without any regard for
ethical and moral standards. By imposing on science and technology an ethical standard that is not dictated by
itself, as C.S. Lewis proposed, not only will scientific advancement and technological development flourish but also
the human person.

How technology changed our lives

By: DJ Wardynski
Making changes – Society

Technology changes society by changing our environment to which we, in turn, adapt. This change is
usually in the material environment and the adjustment we make to the changes often modifies customs and social
institutions. Everywhere there is evidence of the stimulus of war in developing an unprecedented number of
inventions which are being added to and changing our material environment. We shall be interested in seeing how
these wartime developments in applies science will change society in peacetime. The process by which applied
science changes our institutions is illustrated by the automobile. May be one of the greatest contributions of
science and technology to humanity in relation to convenience – daily activities are the emergence and
advancement of transportation. This invention led to the development of a great new business, the automobile
industry which has influenced our economic organization by affecting for instance, integration, competition and the
THIS MATERIAL IS FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY AND NOT FOR SALE.
Page PAGE 1 of NUMPAGES 11
business cycle. For instance, the steel industry is different because of automobiles; so also, is the marketing of
cotton. This effect is in the creation or great expansion of subsidiary industries.

Furthermore, Ancient and modern human civilizations have both benefited from and been impeded by the
technological innovations, inventions and engineering applications used within societies to perform specific tasks.
For societies to thrive and evolve, technological innovations have become necessary, while at the same time the
culture, ideals and aspirations of human societies have shaped how those civilizations have created, benefited
from, and been impeded by, technology. As technological systems are invented by humans and reflect the very
essence of a population’s needs and culture, human societies/civilizations and their technology have become
inseparable from one another. The cyclical nature of society and technologies is one where each factor greatly
affects the other, starting with human societies and resulting in the development of different technologies to meet
the needs of the society. Those technologies change the way societies behave and operate - which also affects and
evolves their economies, producing a potential greater need for more technology, resulting in a cycle.
This co-dependent relationship of co-influence and co-production has been the case from the beginning of history,
resulting in two major forms of this synergistic relationship co-evolving, depending on the type of society in
question:

Agricultural Cycles: Agricultural societies were based on the cycle of the seasons, and thus would have an
agricultural, cyclical concept of social evolution based on agricultural technologies. Since the technologies of a
society also help to determine the economy of a society, agricultural societies, technologies and their economy
were all intertwined.

Progressive: While also cyclical, the explosion of technology before and after the industrial revolution resulted in
societies moving forward in social progress (via technology) in a way that was not necessarily tied to agriculture,
which resulted in more diverse economies and the development of new societal novelties, such as an
THIS MATERIAL IS FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY AND NOT FOR SALE.
Page PAGE 1 of NUMPAGES 11
interconnected world (the Internet) and globalization. – examples: printing press, computers, fax machine, Email,
social media, networking, cryptography, business intelligence etc.

No single piece of technology - even failed technology - has had zero impact on a human society. Since
“necessity is the mother of invention, “all invented technology was created to meet the needs of a society and is
thus innately tied to the culture and its populace’s behaviors. Once developed, whatever problem is solved by the
technology then alters the behaviors and operations of the society, which may result in new problems, different
economic structures, or new ways of life, which may then give way to even more technological innovations.

On a macro-scale, the society may simply use the technology to survive and thrive, or it may help the society to
evolve and attain higher levels of global progress by creating a greater level of societal efficiency. At the same time,
on the micro-scale, technological developments may even change human behavior to the point of altering human
adaptive mechanisms and thus affecting organismal evolution. These evolutions have reached even to how societal
languages (words associated with developed technologies in a given society) developed within certain civilizations.

Ethics of Innovation – concerns and issues of living a good life

The moral life

According to Westacott (2018) one basic way in which we use “good life” is to express moral approval. So, when
we say that someone is living well or that they lived a good life, we may simply mean that they are a good person,
someone who is courageous, honest, trustworthy, kind, selfless, generous, helpful, loyal, principled, and so on.
They possess and practice many of the most important virtues and values. And they don’t spend all their merely
pursuing their own pleasure, they devote a certain amount of time to activities that benefit others, perhaps
through their engagement with family and friends, or through their work, or through various voluntary activities.
This moral conception of the good life has had plenty of champions.

Socrates and Plato both gave absolute priority to being a virtuous person over all other supposedly good
things such as pleasure, wealth, or power. In Plato’s dialogue, Gorgias, Socrates takes this position to an extreme.
He argues that it is much better to suffer wrong than to do it, that a good man who has his eyes gouged out and is
tortured to death is more fortunate than a corrupt person who has uses wealth and power dishonourably. In his
masterpiece, the Republic, Plato develops this argument in greater detail. The morally good person, he claims
enjoys a sort of inner harmony, whereas the wicked person, no matter how rich and powerful he may be or how
many pleasure he enjoys, is disharmonious, fundamentally at odds with himself and the world. It is worth noting,
though, that in both the Gorgias and the Republic, Plato bolsters his argument with an speculative account of an
afterlife in which virtuous people are rewarded and wicked people are punished.

Many religions also conceive of the good life in moral terms as a life lived according to God’s laws. A person
who lives this way, obeying the commandments and performing the proper rituals, is pious. And in most religions
such piety will be rewarded. Obviously, many people do not receive their reward in this life. But devout believers
are confident that their piety will not be in vain. Christian martyrs went singing to their deaths confident that they
would soon be in heaven. Hindus expect that the law of karma will ensure that their good deeds and intentions will
be rewarded, while evil actions and desires will be punished, either in this life or in future lives.

The life of pleasure

The ancient Greek Philosopher Epicurus was one of the first to declare, bluntly, that what makes life worth
living is that we can experience pleasure. Pleasure is enjoyable, it’s fun, it’s well pleasant! The view that pleasure is
the good or to put it another way, that pleasure is what makes life worth living is known as hedonism. It suggests
that they are devoted to what some have called the “lower” pleasure such as sex, food, drink and sensual
indulgence in general. Epicurus certainly praised all kinds of pleasures, but he didn’t advocate that we lose
ourselves in sensual debauchery for various reasons:
a. Doing so will probably reduce our pleasures in the long run since over-indulgence tends to cause health
THIS MATERIAL IS FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY AND NOT FOR SALE.
Page PAGE 1 of NUMPAGES 11
 problems and limit the range of pleasure we enjoy.
b. The good life has to be virtuous. Although Epicurus disagreed with Plato about the value of pleasure, he
fully agreed with him on this point.
c. What is key to this hedonistic conception of the good life is that it emphasizes subjective experiences. On
this view, to describe a person as “happy” means that they “feel good”, and a happy life is one that
contains many “feel good” experiences.

The Fulfilled life

If Socrates emphasizes virtue and Epicurus emphasizes pleasure, another great thinker, Aristotle views the
good life in a more comprehensive way. According to him, we all want to be happy. We value many things because
they are a means to other things: for instance, we value money because it enables us to buy things we want etc.
But happiness is something we value not as a means to some other end but for its own sake. It has intrinsic value
rather than an instrumental. We can’t really say someone is living the good life if they are often miserable or
constantly suffering. But Aristotle’s idea of what it means to live well is objectivist rather than subjectivist. It isn’t
just a matter of how a person fells inside, although that does matter. It’s also important that certain objective
conditions be satisfied: (1) Virtue (2) Health (3) Prosperity (4) Friendship (5) They should enjoy respect of others
(6)They need good luck (7)They must exercise their unique human abilities and capacities.
If, at the end of your life, you can check all these boxes, then you could reasonably claim to have lived well, to have
achieved the good life.

The meaningful life

A lot of recent research shows that people who have children are not necessarily happier than people who
don’t have children. Indeed, during the child raising years, and especially when the children have turned into
teenagers, parents typically have lower levels of happiness and higher levels of stress. For many people, the well-
being of their family, especially their children and grandchildren is the main source of meaning in life. This outlook
goes back a very long way. In ancient times, the definition of good fortune was to have lots of children who do well
for themselves. But obviously, there can be other sources of meaning in a person’s life. They may, for instance,
pursue a particular kind of work. They may, for instance, pursue a particular kind of work with great dedication
(scientific research, artistic creation, or scholarship.
The finished life

The Greeks had a saying: Call no man happy until he’s dead. There is wisdom in this. In fact, one might want
to amend it to: Call no man happy until he’s long head. For sometimes a person can appear to live a fine life, and be
able to check all boxes-virtue, prosperity, friendship, respect, meaning, etc. - yet eventually be revealed as
something other than what we thought they were. A good example of this is Jimmy Saville, The British TV
personality who was much admired in his lifetime but who, after he died, was exposed as a serial sexual predator.
Cases like this bring out the great advantage of an objectivist rather than subjectivist notion of what it means to live
well. Jimmy Saville may have enjoyed his life. But surely, we would not want to say that he lived the good life. A
truly good life is one that is both enviable and admirable in all or most of the ways outlined above.

Learning check:
1. Do you AGREE or DISAGREE – Ethical standards must be imposed upon science and technology to avoid
excesses and deficiencies. Why?

Supplementary material/s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ9UaQmk8SQ The Overview of Science, Technology and Society (STS)
Society and Technology: Partners in changing our lives – by:DJ Wardynski (brainspire.com)
https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the ethics of innovation The ethics of innovation

KNOWLEDGE-BUILDING
ASS

Assessment Task 1 True or False

Instructions: Write True if the given statement is correct and False if the statement is incorrect.
THIS MATERIAL IS FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY AND NOT FOR SALE.
Page PAGE 1 of NUMPAGES 11
 E Read the instruction carefully
Help Guide
Recall your prior knowledge about Science and Technology
S Correct answer – 2 points each Your Rating/
Basis for Rating: 20
S Total : 2x10 = 20 points Total Points
______1. The purpose of life is happiness.
______2. Good life means is the state of being happy, healthy, and prosperous in the way one thinks and acts.
______3. Reason is an important element of human happiness.
______4. A happy life is a virtuous life.
______5. It is not the role of science and technology to guide humans toward a virtuous life.
______6. Good life comes from pleasure, wealth and recognition.
______7. Happiness means merely feeling good or joyful.
______8. To achieve a good life, humans must pursue only extremely positive things.
______9. A life of happiness is a result of a balance between two extremes.
______10. Intellectual and moral virtues are the ingredients of happiness-good life.

CRITICAL THINKING
Assessment Task 2 Bowtie Diagram
Compare and contrast how Science and Technology has changed for the past decades
Instructions:
and societies development depicting its advantages and disadvantages
Read the instruction carefully
In the bowtie – before (give 3 things/activities without the advancement of technology),
After (3 things with the development and advancement of technology)
Help Guide Identify the advantages and disadvantages of Technology to society
Take note:
(3) – advantages and (3) disadvantages

Concept Arrangement – 6x5=30

Content – 6x5=30
Your Rating/
Basis for Rating: Analysis/examples – 5x5=25 100
Total Points
Following instruction/s – 3x5=15

BEFORE: AFTER:

THIS MATERIAL IS FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY AND NOT FOR SALE.
Page PAGE 1 of NUMPAGES 11
 CHANGES

ADVANTAGES: DISADVANTAGES:

THIS MATERIAL IS FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY AND NOT FOR SALE.
Page PAGE 1 of NUMPAGES 11
 CREATING
Assessment Task 3 Collage
Instructions: Make a creative collage on the different concerns that make up the good life
Follow the instruction/s given
Make sure that in your collage comprising the pictures reflecting the different concerns-
good life
Help Guide
Take note: The end product or the shape of your collage will be the innovative solutions
guided by ethical standards
Lastly, in 3-5 sentences briefly explain your collage
Rubric: Take Note: (Nx5) = 100/100
1 2 3 5
Organization The pictures & The pictures & words The pictures & The pictures were
words were not were generally words were well extremely well
organized/ organized/balanced, organized and organized/ balanced
balanced and did but may not have included several and included several
not cover the 5x7 covered the 5x7 area. different types different types of
area. Student did Student may not have of media photos pictures , words,
not include included various types or art required drawings
several types of of pictures required for for this activity.
pictures,words, this activity.
art required for
this assignment.
Content The picture The picture collage The picture The picture collage
knowledge collage did not generally collage clearly sincerely
demonstrate demonstrated demonstrated demonstrated
student's student's student's student's
understanding of understanding of understanding understanding of the
gratitude. gratitude and/or the of gratitude. gratitude
assignment, but a few assignment. Student
things were lacking. added extra
information above
what was needed
Format Student did not Student generally Student Student followed
follow format followed format given followed format format given for this
given for this for this activity given for this assignment and
assignment. however, there were assignment and included all required
still a few things included all information. Student
missing. There was required may have also
some own writing or information. included something
drawings. There was none extra. There was no
of the students writing or drawings
own writing or by the student.
drawings.
Creativity Not much effort Some effort was given The student The student
put into making to make the collage demonstrated demonstrated
the collage interesting. creative creative methods for
colorful, unique, methods for designing a collage.
or eye-catching. designing a Various materials
collage. Various were utilized and
materials were colors were
utilized and distributed. It was
colors were very neat and
distributed. appealing.

THIS MATERIAL IS FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY AND NOT FOR SALE.
Page PAGE 1 of NUMPAGES 11
 Collage:

THIS MATERIAL IS FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY AND NOT FOR SALE.
Page PAGE 1 of NUMPAGES 11
SOURCES/REFERENCES
Edward jay. Quinto & Aileen Nieva 2019. Science, technology and society
Philosophy of Science ( Encyclopedia)
Floridi, Luciano. 2014. The Fourth Revolution, Oxford University Press
COURSE MATERIAL ENGAGEMENT CHECKLIST
Your feedback matters to us. The following are statements about the course material. Please indicate the point to
which each statement characterizes your assessment on the course material by checking the appropriate box.

YES NO
 The course material is easy to understand.
 The given instructions are clear.
 The given tasks are doable.
 The given information is complete.
 The teacher seeks ongoing feedback.

What is your personal thought on the course material? ___________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

ACADEMIC HONESTY STATEMENT

I confirm that I have read and fully understood the policies of Talisay City College with regards to Academic
Dishonesty, and that I am fully aware of its possible legal and disciplinary consequences.

Student’s Signature Over

Checked by
Printed Name
E-mail Address E-mail Address
Date Submitted Date Received

THIS MATERIAL IS FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY AND NOT FOR SALE.
Page PAGE 1 of NUMPAGES 11