¿Tenemos la libertad de utilizarnos como instrumentos? El hombre como medio ecológico en Edith Stein y Papa Francisco

This paper aims to investigate how men, considered as creatures which interact in a precise environment both natural and social, may be the medium through which investigate the relation between humans and the world at the cross of ecoethics and ecopolitics.The first part will analyze the fundamental themes of ecoetics and ecopolitics, which will be put in dialogue with the words of Pope Francis. In the second part we will analyze the words of Edith Stein who, although distanced in time from the most contemporary themes, makes a lucid reflection on man, his place in the world and the way in which he interacts. In the third part, the results of the first two will be "put together" to understand if they are really functional for the resolution of the problems posed and, where appropriate, to highlight the limits or ideas that they intrinsically bring with them. In order to maintain this objective, two main texts will be taken into account. Edith Stein’s The Structure of the Human Person, which brings together the teachings of the author of the 1932-1933 courses, and Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Sì of 2015. Through the dialectical interaction between these two main texts, an attempt will be made to create an interrelationship between the three parts of this contribution, with the aim of understanding in such a way that these two texts can effectively represent some examples of the theoretical perspectives taken into account for the resolution of questions about man and the environment.