This open access book presents a novel multidisciplinary perspective on the importance of human flourishing. The study of the good life or Eudaimonia has been a central concern at least since Aristotelian times. This responds to the common experience that we all seek happiness. Today, we are immersed in a new paradoxical boom, where the pursuit of happiness seems to permeate everything (books, media, organizations, talks), but at the same time, it is nowhere, or at least very difficult to achieve. In fact, it is not easy to even find a consensus regarding the meaning of the word happiness. Seligman (2011), one of the fathers of the positive psychology, confirmed that his original view the meaning he referred to was close to that of Aristotle. But, he recently confessed that he now detests the word happiness, since it is overused and has become almost meaningless. The aim of this open access book is to shed new light on human flourishing through the lenses of neurosciences and health, organizations, and arts. The novelty of this book is to offer a multi-disciplinary perspective on the importance of human flourishing in our lives. The book will examine further how different initiatives, policies and practices create opportunities for generating human flourishing.
Author(s): Mireia Las Heras, Marc Grau Grau, Yasin Rofcanin
Publisher: Springer
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 232
City: Cham
Contents
Contributors
Introduction: In the Pursuit of Human Flourishing
1 Our Special Thanks
2 How This Book Is Organized
3 How to Use This Book
References
Part I: Neuroscience and Health
In Pursuit of Eudaimonia: Past Advances and Future Directions
1 Introduction
2 Eudaimonia Well-Being: Flourishing as the Realization of Human Potential
3 Past Advances: What Have We Learned About Eudaimonic Well-Being?
3.1 Sociodemographic Factors and Eudaimonia
3.2 Family and Work Life Experiences
3.3 Eudaimonic Well-Being and Health
4 Future Eudaimonic Science: Needed Directions
4.1 Impediments to Eudaimonia: Widening Inequality
4.2 Nurturing Eudaimonia Through the Arts
4.3 Entrepreneurship and Eudaimonia
5 Conclusion
References
An Affective Neuroscience Perspective on Psychological Flourishing: How the Brain Believes that Things Are Going Well
1 Perspective 1: The Brain as Reflecting ``Trait Flourishing´´
2 Perspective 2: The Brain as Doing ``Flourishing Behaviors´´
3 Perspective 3: How the Brain Represents Flourishing
3.1 Believing One is Flourishing is about Making Positive Evaluations
3.2 Positive Evaluations Are Made by the Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex (vmPFC)
3.3 Refining this Neuroscience Approach to Flourishing
4 Implications
5 Summary
References
Health and Flourishing: An Interdisciplinary Synthesis
1 Connecting the Flourishing of Individuals, Communities, and Ecosystems
2 Health as a Dynamic Equilibrium Constituted by Ontological Interconnectedness
3 Social Determinants of Health and Social Connectivity
3.1 Interrelationships Among Domains of Flourishing
3.2 Neurological and Physiological Pathways
3.3 Individuals as Embodied Context
4 The Social Meaning of Health: Spirituality and the Whole Person
5 Conclusion: Health as Flourishing
References
Part II: Organization and Policies
Revising Policy to Reflect Our Better Nature
1 Early Sources and Support for Pessimism
2 Reasons for Optimism
2.1 Ubiquity and Value of Social Connection
2.2 Early Emergence, Prevalence, and Rewards of Prosocial Behavior
2.3 Revising Policies to Reflect and Reward Social and Prosocial Tendencies
References
Human Flourishing Through Behaviour Change
1 Flourishing and Behaviour Change
1.1 The Drive for Meaning
1.2 Imagined Futures
2 Dimensions of Navigating Change
2.1 The Internal Barriers Challenge
2.2 The External Barriers Change
2.3 Internal Meets the External
3 The Principles and Practices of Behaviour Change
4 Closing Thoughts
References
Work, Family, and Human Flourishing
1 Work, Family and Human Flourishing
1.1 Bidirectional Spillover from Work to Home Within Persons and Crossover Within Couples
1.2 Support as a Resource
2 Sample and Procedure
3 Measures
4 Proposed Models
5 Results
5.1 Model 1: Results
5.2 Model 2: Results
5.3 Model 3: Results
6 Conclusions
References
Part III: Care and Flourishing
Forgiveness in Human Flourishing
1 Definitions
1.1 Forgiveness
1.2 Flourishing
2 Theory and Evidence of Connections Between Forgiveness and Flourishing
2.1 An Early Model
2.2 Stress-and-Coping Model of Forgiveness
2.3 Stress-and-Coping Model of Self-forgiveness
2.4 Scaffolding Self and Social Systems Model of Forgiveness and Subjective Well-Being
3 What Limits Our Understanding of Forgiveness and Flourishing?
4 Conclusions and Future Directions
References
Human Flourishing Until the End: The Core Values of Palliative Care
1 Introduction to Palliative Care
1.1 Challenges of Today´s World
2 The Core Values of Palliative Care
2.1 Respect for Personal Dignity
2.2 The Recognition of Relational Autonomy
2.3 Meaning in Life
2.4 Towards a New Vision of the End of Life: The Esthetics of Care
3 Summary
References
Fatherhood Involvement as a Source of Human Flourishing
1 Why Fathers?
2 Fatherhood as a Transformation Event
3 Fatherhood as a Form of Generativity
4 Generativity as a Form of Flourishing
5 Conclusion and Implications
References
Flourishing with Moral Emotions Through Conversational Agents
1 Introduction
2 Moral Emotions and Reactive Attitudes
2.1 Gratitude
2.2 Compassion
3 Artificial Agents
3.1 Extending Well-Being with Artificial Agents
3.2 The Benefit of Conversational Agents
3.3 Conversational Agents for Moral Emotions
4 Discussion
References
Part IV: Arts, Fashion and Literature
Balenciaga and the Importance of Creativity in Human Flourishing
1 A Brief Biography of Balenciaga
2 Personal Flourishing Through His Profession
2.1 Balenciaga, Couturier. A Marriage Between Technique and Cultural Heritage
2.2 Balenciaga the Businessman. The Art of Converting Problems into Opportunities
3 Balenciaga. His Social Contribution. Concept of Fashion and Legacy
4 Conclusion
References
Travel Literature as an Example of Human Flourishing
1 Some Chronological Notes
2 Literature and Travel in the Spanish Tradition
3 Some Notes on Cervantes
4 The Liberal Travel
5 The Narrative Description and Its Value for the Journey
6 The Liberal Journey and the 2020 Pandemic
7 Some Ideas to Conclude
References
Antoni Gaudí in Human Flourishing
1 Introduction. Why Antoni Gaudí?
2 The Architect Behind La Sagrada Familia
3 Happiness and Life Satisfaction
4 Mental and Physical Health
5 Meaning and Purpose
6 Character and Virtue
7 Conclusions
7.1 Human Flourishing Is Progressive
7.2 Human Flourishing Requires Community
7.3 Practicing Religion Is an Ideal Framework for Flourishing
7.4 Everybody Has the Ability to Flourish
References
Conclusion: What We Have Learnt From Multidisciplinary Views on Human Flourishing
1 Introduction
2 Learning from This Book
3 Interconnection with the Self
4 Interconnection with Others
5 Interconnection with the Environment
6 A Roadmap Towards Flourishing
References
