1,720,985 research outputs found
Loving openness towards Nature: Aldo Capitini and the moral value of biophilia
No full textCan the loving openness of human beings lead to “the liberation of qualities in animals that would otherwise remain hidden?” This observation made in 1959 by Aldo Capitini, the Italian philosopher and promoter of nonviolent theory and action, not only poses a question relative to neo-Darwinism, but it also offers a new and radical perspective on human evolution, bringing to the fore the moral value of biophilia. According to Stephen Kellert (1996), the relationship between Man and Nature comprises of nine basic values, and together they constitute the biological tendency of Man to affiliate himself with the natural world. The expression of these values has proved to be adaptive over the course of human evolution, developing into genetic inclinations over time. They include the moral value of ‘biophilia’, which concerns Humanity’s ethical and spiritual affinity towards Nature. On the one hand, the formation of a ‘biophilic ethics’ enhances the inclination of Man to protect Nature; on the other hand, it entails the search for underlying meanings in Nature. Aldo Capitini was extremely concerned about the moral value of Nature, revealing very early on a biophilic sensibility that, he believed, fuelled his motivation to promote nonviolence and, at the same time, generated new and profound sentiments towards living creatures. Indeed, the above-mentioned observation by Capitini recalls the unity of all “beings that form life”, each one of which was intended to be treated ethically and to participate actively in a relationship of openness towards the ‘thou’ in everybody. He considered it a human responsibility to engage in joyous friendships with all living beings, an approach which led him to vegetarianism – a liberating act for those who practice it, because it opens up unexpected horizons for Man’s complex association with Nature, opening the way to true ‘Compresence’, that offers insights to achieve new visions for sustainability
L'apertura amorevole alla Natura. Il valore morale della biofilia in Aldo Capitini
No full textCan the loving openness of human beings lead to “the liberation of qualities in animals that would otherwise remain hidden?” This observation made in 1959 by Aldo Capitini, the Italian philosopher and promoter of nonviolent theory and action, not only poses a question relative to neo-Darwinism, but it also offers a new and radical perspective on human evolution, bringing to the fore the moral value of biophilia. According to Stephen Kellert (1996), the relationship between Man and Nature comprises of nine basic values, and together they constitute the biological tendency of Man to affiliate himself with the natural world. The expression of these values has proved to be adaptive over the course of human evolution, developing into genetic inclinations over time. They include the moral value of ‘biophilia’, which concerns Humanity’s ethical and spiritual affinity towards Nature. On the one hand, the formation of a ‘biophilic ethics’ enhances the inclination of Man to protect Nature; on the other hand, it entails the search for underlying meanings in Nature. Aldo Capitini was extremely concerned about the moral value of Nature, revealing very early on a biophilic sensibility that, he believed, fuelled his motivation to promote nonviolence and, at the same time, generated new and profound sentiments towards living creatures. Indeed, the above-mentioned observation by Capitini recalls the unity of all “beings that form life”, each one of which was intended to be treated ethically and to participate actively in a relationship of openness towards the ‘thou’ in everybody. He considered it a human responsibility to engage in joyous friendships with all living beings, an approach which led him to vegetarianism – a liberating act for those who practice it, because it opens up unexpected horizons for Man’s complex association with Nature, opening the way to true ‘Compresence’, that offers insights to achieve new visions for sustainability.L’apertura amorevole dell’essere umano può destare negli animali «qualità inedite, che altrimenti resterebbero chiuse?» Questa osservazione del 1959 del filosofo Aldo Capitini, promotore della cultura e dell’azione nonviolenta in Italia, pone una questione relativa al modello evoluzionistico neodarwiniano e contemporaneamente offre una prospettiva nuova e radicale al valore morale
della biofilia. Nella relazione Uomo-Natura, secondo Stephen Kellert esistono nove valori base che, nel loro insieme, costituiscono la tendenza biologica ad affiliarsi con i processi naturali. Questi valori si sono rivelati adattavi nell’evoluzione umana e sono diventati inclinazioni genetiche. Tra di essi vi è il valore morale della biofilia, che riflette un’affinità etica e spirituale per la Natura. La
formazione di un’etica biofilica, da un lato rende più profonda l’inclinazione a proteggere e a trattare con rispetto la Natura, e dall’altro ricerca nella Natura un significato sotteso. Capitini fu una delle personalità più sensibili al tema del valore morale della Natura rivelando con largo anticipo la sensibilità biofila che, nella sua esperienza, è motivazione originale della sua scelta nonviolenta e, contemporaneamente, esito evocativo di nuovi e più profondi sentimenti verso le creature viventi. La riflessione di Capitini richiama infatti alla coralità l’insieme degli «esseri venuti alla vita», nella loro singolarità, tutti destinatari di un’attenzione
eticamente orientata, soggetti attivi in una relazione di apertura al tu di Tutti. Alla responsabilità umana si aggiunge l’annodarsi gioioso dell’amicizia con i viventi, cominciando con il vegetarismo, com-portamento liberante per chi lo pratica, perché schiude orizzonti inattesi nel segno di una relazione che ha la forza di esplorare nuove strade nelle relazioni con la Natura, aprendole alla
Compresenza
How does Psychological Restoration Work in Children? An Exploratory Study
Get PDFThis study investigates three issues concerned with psychological restoration in children, specifically whether
children perceive the difference between the restorative value of a natural and a built environment; whether the
perception of restorativeness affects children’s attentional performance; how children feel to be connected with
Nature. To this aim, 48 children age 9-11 years participated in a within-subjects study; children filled in the Perceived
Restorativeness Scale-children (environmental preference included) and the Connectedness to Nature Scalechildren,
and performed the Continuous Performance Test in three different conditions: 1-in the classroom after the
practice of Mindful Silence; 2-in the school playground after the school break; 3-in an alpine wood after a walk. In
addition to the self-report assessments and the measurement of attentional performance, the children’s physiological
condition was assessed by measuring some basic physiological parameters. From results it emerges that though
children’s connection to Nature doesn’t vary among conditions, they can discriminate among environments with
different degree of restorativeness (assessments were made on setting characteristics and activities), and the
perception of restorativeness keeps pace with the performance at the attention test and the preference evaluation.
Results are in agreement with Kaplan’s Attention Restoration Theory (1995) and the fascination/meditation
hypothesis (Kaplan, 2001)
The Kindergarten of the lagoon: a Manifesto for an outdoor education project in Venice
No full textVenice and its lagoon represent an emblematic example of co-evolution across the centuries, recognized also by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The close connection between Venetians and the surrounding ecosystem, however, has cracked in recent decades, due to many factors, driving to a significant decrease in the ecosystem state. Anyway, if we were able to reconnect young people to Nature by fostering a personal and friendly relationship with the lagoon they inhabit, we could stimulate the citizens’ pro-environmental behaviors. To achieve this goal, outdoor education seems to be a promising path that may be beneficial for developing responsibility toward the lagoon ecosystem, since it has shown to positively influence children's relationship with the natural environment, as well as improve their self-perceptions and social skills. The "Kindergarten of the lagoon" project, recently promoted in collaboration with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, aims to offer pre-school children a quite innovative outdoor education program based on the observation and exploration of the lagoon. In this work we present the “Manifesto of the Kindergarten of the lagoon”, describing the objectives of this educational program. To carry out the project in such a multifaceted, heterogeneous, and complex social-ecological system, a pedagogical approach is not enough: expertise in lagoon ecology and sustainability is also required, both to choose places representative of a transitional waters environment and to assess the overall sustainability of the proposal
The influence of naturalness of the landscape structure on children’s connectedness to Nature in north-eastern Italy
Get PDFConnectedness to Nature and the ability to perceive the restorative value of places characterised by the presence of natural elements are personal characteristics that, when appropriately measured, make it possible to predict an individual’s attitude towards pro-environmental behaviour. While these characteristics have an innate basis, they are also shaped by personal experiences and various cognitive, affective and sociocultural factors. In this exploratory study in North-eastern Italy, we delve into an interdisciplinary field that explores the relationship between the environment of the residential area and its impact on children's attitudes toward Nature. To do so, we conducted a comprehensive questionnaire amongst 533 primary schoolchildren, aged 6-11 years, to gauge their connectedness to Nature, their perceptions of restorativeness in surrounding natural settings, and their schoolyard environment. Drawing from optical satellite imageries, we calculated a combined multispectral index to assess the naturalness degree of participants' residential areas, focusing on their 68 residential areas, located in three administrative Italian Regions (Trentino Alto Adige, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto), which were classified into four different classes with respect to their level of presence of natural areas ("coastal," "low," "average," "high"). By performing non-parametric tests for multiple comparisons amongst groups, we detected a significantly higher level of connectedness to Nature amongst children living in areas with high naturalness, compared to those living in areas with average or low naturalness. Perceived restorativeness scores exhibit a similar trend to that of connectedness to Nature, reinforcing the importance of natural spaces in fostering positive attitudes towards the environment. This result confirms that accessibility and the viewability of natural spaces, even semi-natural ones, seemed to play a crucial role in children's preference for these environments. However, schoolyards were consistently perceived as less regenerative than natural places, regardless of the naturalness of the neighbourhood. These findings raise intriguing questions about the potential consequences of inadequate exposure to Nature on children's affiliation to the natural world and possible subsequent effects on pro-environmental behaviour in adulthood. By shedding light on the complex interplay between personal characteristics, environment and attitudes towards Nature, our study underscores the significance of fostering a deeper connection with natural spaces to nurture a sustainable and environmentally conscious society
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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