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

References

Chermayeff, S. & Tzonis, A. - Shape of Community, Realization of Human Potential. Middlesex, Penguim Books, 1971.

Frantzeskaki, N. and Loorbach, D. A transition research perspective on governance for sustainability Sustainable Development: A Challenge for European Research, Conference, Brussels, 2009. [on line]: http://ec.europa.eu/research/sd/conference/2009/papers/9/derk_loorbach_and_niki_frantzeskaki__transition_research.pdf#view=fit&pagemode=none

Gadamer, H. G. Philosophical hermeneutics. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1977.

Galea, S. et al. Causal thinking and complex system approaches in epidemiology. Int. J. Epidemiol., 39, 2010: 97-106.

Heisenberg, W., Physics and Philosophy, New York: Harper, 1958.

Hugonnier, B. Education For Sustainable Development In OECD Countries: Opportunities and Challenges. Workshop on Education for Sustainable Education, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, 2008 [online]: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/39/12/41308608.pdf

Labonte, R. Social inclusion/exclusion: dancing the dialectic. Health Promotion International, 19 (1), 2004: 115-121.

Lind, G., The meaning and measurement of moral judgement competence revisited - A dual-aspect model. In: D. Fasko & W. Willis, Eds. Contemporary Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives on Moral Development and Education. Hampton Press, Cresskill, 2003.

Meisel, N. Governance Culture and Development: A different Perspective on Corporate Governance, OECD Development Centre Study, Paris, 2004.

Morin. M. Seven complex lessons in education for the future, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 1999 [on line] http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0011/001177/117740eo.pdf

Nonaka, I. and Konno, N. The concept of "Ba’: Building Foundation for Knowledge Creation. California Management Review (40) 3, 1998.

Pilon, A. F. The Bubbles or the Boiling Pot? An Ecosystemic Approach to Culture, Environment and Quality of Life. Environmental Geology, 2008. [online]: http://www.springerlink.com/content/w6l306m214813077

Posner, G. J. The conceptual ecology of science education: a response to W. F. Connell. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Montreal, april, 1983.

Rotmans, J. and Loorbach, D. Complexity and Transition Management, Journal of Industrial Ecology (13) 2: 184-196, 2009.

Sartre, J.-P. Existentialism is a Humanism, Yale University Press Book, New Haven, 2007.

Trainer, F.E. Where are we, where do we want to be, how do we get there?: The International Journal of Inclusive Democracy .(6), 2, 2000 [on line]: http://www.inclusivedemocracy.org/dn/vol6/trainer_where.htm

Whatmore, S. (2008) Materialist returns: practising cultural geography in and for a more-than-human world. In, Johnson, N.C. (ed.) Culture and Society: Critical Essays in Human Geography, Ashgate. pp. 481-490.

Znaniecki, F. Ludzie terazniejsi a cywilizacja przyszlosci (The People of Today and the Civilization of Tomorrow), Ksiaznica Atlas, Lwow, Poland, 1935.