Living better in a better world: Guidance and counselling in an ecosystemic model of culture

Pilon, André Francisco / AF (2010): Living better in a better world: Guidance and counselling in an ecosystemic model of culture.

Abstract

Diagnosis and prognosis of current problems take into account the connections (assets) and ruptures (deficits) between the different dimensions of being-in-the-world, mutually entangled as donors and recipients: intimate; interactive; social and biophysical. Guidance and counselling consider the complex and dynamic configurations formed by the intertwining of the different dimensions, as they combine to produce the events. Cultural and epistemic backgrounds, subject-object relationships, assumptions and conflicts, are examined by heuristic-hermeneutic processes, as new support structures emerge in the socio-cultural learning niches. Problems related to education, culture, ethics, physical, social and mental well-being, natural and man-made environment are treated as ecosystemic configurations, not as separate objects of separate programmes. Values, goals, and principles are considered in the transition from a non-ecosystemic to an ecosystemic model of culture. The proposal presents not only a descriptive position, but also a normative position, a framework for the development and evaluation of public policies and research and teaching programmes, critically inquiring into the prevailing assumptions of growth, power, wealth, work and freedom.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: education; culture; environment; ecosystemic; guidance; counselling
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I18 - Government Policy ; Regulation ; Public Health; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z13 - Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology ; Social and Economic Stratification; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O2 - Development Planning and Policy > O21 - Planning Models ; Planning Policy

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