Strumenti per comprendere il meccanismo della pubblica opionione a riguardo della Chiesa Cattolica.
Sema Bellido holds a PhD tn Audiovisual Communication from the Complutense University of Madrid. She worked in several media (television and radio) before turning to the academic life and becoming a professor of Image Culture at Villanueva University (Madrid).
she has also participated in several research groups related to the new trends in the Fiction/Non-Fiction paradigm in Spanish audiovisual discourse, as well as on the protection of minors and and the relationship between television and childhood. She currently resides in Rome, where she combines her work as aq Communications consultant with research at the School of Communication at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.
This book was written for the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the School of Church Communications, which was founded in 1996 as part of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. Although several of its professors and collaborators have participated as authors, these pages are not intended as a review the brief history of the School. Rather, they aim to be a collective reflection on people, themes and events of the final years of the 20th Century and the beginning of the Current one, which can teach us much about the communication of, in and from the Church. It has been a time rich in significant events and changes - the new millennium, the digital revolution, the economic and migratory crises, the global pandemic — which have produced major cultural transformations and veritable tsunamis in the world of communication. Communicating the faith and the Christian experience is the task of all the members of the Church. But it is also true that communication professionals and academics nave a special responsibility in this task. We hope that this book can contribute to the appreciation and promotion of the role of communication in the Catholic Church, by taking stock of the work done in these twenty-five years, reflecting on the lessons learned and showing the challenges that lie on the horizon.
This book conducts a philosophical analysis of two influential psychological perspectives on emotion research: Arnold’s appraisal theory of emotions and Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. The overarching aim is to illuminate the intrinsic value of (positive) emotions within the framework of human flourishing.
In contemporary scholarship, there is a growing acknowledgment that flourishing depends not only on objective, meaningful activities and circumstances, as emphasized by Aristotle, but also on subjective personal life evaluations, where emotional well-being plays a crucial role. This recognition sets the stage for the comprehensive exploration that follows.
The study delves into Magda Arnold’s theory, addressing fundamental questions about the nature and unique role of emotions, the meaning of positive emotions, and their relationship to flourishing. Critical elements of Arnold’s theory, including appraisal, self-ideal, referentiality, emotional education, and conative and physiological aspects, are explored. Arnold’s distinctive contribution lies in coining the term “appraisal” and integrating psychological, neurophysiological, and philosophical perspectives on emotion.
The analysis of Barbara Fredrickson’s conceptualization of positive emotions as discernible pleasant affective states, such as love, joy, gratitude, and serenity, comprehends her broaden-and-build hypothesis. It underscores the impact of positive emotions on flourishing, focusing on love as a central emotion that broadens thought-action repertoires, fostering perceptions of social connection and self-expansion.
This research aims to harmonize the philosophical insights from Arnold’s work with the latest updates from Fredrickson’s research, presenting an avant-garde perspective on how emotion contributes to flourishing. The analysis, rooted primarily in phenomenological insights, extends beyond the boundaries of the authors’ theories.
In conclusion, the book offers a nuanced understanding of the intricate relationship between emotion and flourishing, contributing a unique perspective to contemporary discussions in the field.
Pía Valenzuela, born in Santiago, Chile, currently serves as a teaching fellow of ethics at the Universidad Panamericana in Mexico. Her teaching experience includes delivering courses on applied ethics at the Faculty of Law and Business Studies, Catholic Institute in Slovenia, and general ethics at the Universidad de los Andes in Santiago, Chile. Prior to her teaching career, she dedicated her time to researching natural law. As a member of the research group “International Law and Religion,” she actively contributed to the project “Intellectual History of International Law: Religion and Empire” (2013-2017) at The Erik Castren Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland. While maintaining a persistent interest in ethics, her focus shifted to moral, positive, and philosophical psychology. She developed a keen interest in the interdisciplinary dialogue between philosophy and psychology, particularly in their perspectives on emotion. Currently, her research revolves around the intricate relationship between emotion, virtue, and flourishing, specifically emphasizing positive emotions. Pía Valenzuela participates in several professional organizations, including the European Philosophical Society for the Study of Emotions (EPSSE), Società Italiana di Psicologia Positiva (SIPP), and the Network for Research on Morality (NRM), among others. She actively contributes to the research group Human Flourishing at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome and is associated with Magda Arnold’s Scholars.
This book sets out to philosophically explore the following questions: What is compassion? What does it tell us about the relationship between the rational and irrational in man? What role does it have in the flourishing life? To answer, it begins by discussing Aristotle’s account of compassion, followed by Thomas Aquinas, Martha Nussbaum, Kristján Kristjánsson, and Diana Fritz Cates. The wide range of authors and the focus on emotion and virtue allows one to build a solid picture of compassion as perfective of the human person, as the good response to suffering, and as certainly key in human flourishing.
The presentation of each author features a thorough discussion of each one’s notion of emotion and virtue, highlighting similarities, differences, strengths and weaknesses vis-à-vis the others. Each philosophical anthropological framework is in turn used to understand each author’s take on compassion and the ethical potential envisioned for it. The choice of classical and contemporary accounts allows one to grasp the shift from compassion as a noteworthy “good emotion” (as per the original Aristotelian account) to compassion as an important virtue for relational moral excellence. Choosing to be compassionate disposes us to help other individuals flourish in a truly human way, and also enables us to take steps towards a society and culture where all—even the weakest—can flourish. This book will be of interest to academics from both philosophy and psychology, compassion researchers and trainers, and character educators.
Pia K. Garcia is a Philosophy professor at the University of Asia and the Pacific, Pasig City, Philippines. Born in Manila, she graduated AB Interdisciplinary Studies (minor in Literature) from the Ateneo de Manila University (2010). She worked for a year at Punlaan School—where she taught computer—and for three at PAREF Southcrest School, Inc., where she taught English, Literature, Religion and Philosophy across year levels. She then went on to do her postgraduate studies in Rome, and earned her Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (2021). In general, her research explores the relationships between reason, desires, emotions and virtues: specifically, she has written about compassion as a virtuous response to human suffering and key to the good life. Her interest in human flourishing goes beyond the theoretical: she has always been involved in the personal mentoring programs, service projects and outreach activities of the institutions she has worked in.
Introducing charity as a social principle valid not only for the micro-relationships like the family or friendship but also for the macro-relationships like the economy or politics, poses a challenge, because charity, as the central message of the Gospel and the distinguishing Christian virtue, is not a directly applicable social program. It requires the mediation both of a correct political philosophy and of a social organization based on legal justice. However, charity is difficult to handle in organizations because the exigencies of charity go beyond justice and are difficult to predict. Love (charity, benevolence, etc.) gives without return, without calculation. Love transcends the loving person and therefore cannot be forced into a socio-legal structure that needs regularity and predictability in order to function. This then is the challenge for Christians striving to evangelize the society in general and the economy in particular: Charity is the hallmark of Christian ethics, but is not fit to function as an immediately applicable social principle. Christians therefore struggle to find the way that charity can manifest itself institutionally in a free market economy. This book is a result of such an endeavor. We ask in which way the big social principles of human dignity, solidarity and subsidiarity as they have been developed in centuries of Catholic social thought and magisterial teaching express charity as a principle in society, and how solidarity is compatible with freedom and spontaneity.
What films and TV series do young people enjoy most? What books do they read most? Do they prefer novels based on the ever-changing preferences of mainstream critics, or do they prefer classic masterpieces that have survived the test of time? How are young people's views on love and friendship influenced by novels, movies, and television series? Are there significant differences in their choices due to cultural and linguistic traditions? A sample of 3,694 people between 18 and 29 years old was selected and interviewed to answer these questions in May-June 2018 in nine western countries: Argentina, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, the UK, and the USA. The Spanish pollster GAD 3 has carried out the survey under the direction of the Family and Media Center and with the financial support of the Elina Gianoli Gainza Chair of Family and Media Studies at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Pontificia Università della Santa Croce, Rome). This book is hinged to the awareness that the West is in the midst of an epochal educational crisis, and the project is strengthened by the belief, which is shared by its promoters, that one of the ways out of the crisis is the recovery of narrative intelligence. Besides the presentation of the multinational survey results, the book offers a reflection on six great works of literature - later adapted to the big screen - that have addressed these universal themes in different times, in order to cultivate an appreciation of great stories and promote an educational culture concerned with the development of thought and the ability to critically analyze. Their authors share a strong educational sensitivity and experience in education and bring together their diverse media expertise. The authors and works mentioned are: Alessandro d'Avenia (The Odyssey by Homer, The Divine Comedy by Dante, and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky); Natalia Sanmartín Fenollera (Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen); Armando Fumagalli (Anna Karenina by Lev Tolstoj); Travis Curtright (Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare); Antonio Malo (Somerset Maugham's The Painted Veil); and Andrea Monda (J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings).
Il volume pubblica gli interventi tenuti durante il Congresso Internazionale "La grandezza della vita quotidiana" e che riguardano il significato e il ruolo della famiglia nella societa e il senso profondo della cultura della vita. Una prima parte è dedicata al rapporto che intercorre fra amore e matrimonio, mentre la seconda e dedicata a come costruire le culture della vita.