A PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAY ON THE ENVIRONMENT IN CATHOLIC SOCIAL DOCTRINE: BETWEEN ANTHROPOCENTRISM, BIOCENTRISM, ECOCENTRISM, AND SENTIOCENTRISM

Abstract

The topic of environmental policies has become quite relevant, especially with the various warnings of climate disasters, whether extreme floods or droughts, that cause damage from north to south of Brazil and even the world. This essay addresses the theme of the environment in the history of the birth of the North American environmental movements and the Acrean extractive movement in the 1960s-1980s, highlighting the epistemological difference between these movements, but also their possible relationship with Catholic social doctrine, which we believe to be one of the differentiating factors in the anthropological basis between these two movements. To this end, we will analyze Catholic social doctrine regarding the environment, highlighting the fundamental principles of social doctrine and its application to contemporary environmental issues. We will use as analytical references the documents of Rerum Novarum; the speech of Pope Paul VI at the first UN conference on the Environment in 1972, where he stated that the worst pollution on the planet was poverty. We will also discuss some encyclicals and apostolic exhortations, concluding with the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights of 2005.