Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Human flourishing'

Economic indicators such as GDP have been a main indicator of human progress since the first half of last century. There is concern that continuing to measure our progress and / or wellbeing using measures that encourage consumption on a planet with limited resources, may not be ideal. Alternative measures of human progress, have a top down approach where the creators decide what the measure will contain. This work defines a 'bottom up' methodology an example of measuring human progress that doesn't require manual data reduction. The technique allows visual overlay of other 'factors' that users may feel are particularly important. I designed and wrote a genetic algorithm, which, in conjunction with regression analysis, was used to select the 'most important' variables from a large range of variables loosely associated with the topic. This approach could be applied in many areas where there are a lot of data from which an analyst must choose. Next I designed and wrote a genetic algorithm to explore the evolution of a spectral clustering solution over time. Additionally, I designed and wrote a genetic algorithm with a multi-faceted fitness function which I used to select the most appropriate clustering procedure from a range of hierarchical agglomerative methods. Evolving the algorithm over time was not successful in this instance, but the approach holds a lot of promise as an alternative to 'scoring' new data based on an original solution, and as a method for using alternate procedural options to those an analyst might normally select. The final solution allowed an evolution of the number of clusters with a fixed clustering method and variable selection over time. Profiling with various external data sources gave consistent and interesting interpretations to the clusters.

This thesis argues from a non-ecocentric perspective that environmental policy should be underpinned by a strong conception of ecological sustainability, and should eschew liberal neutrality in favour of government based on a substantive conception of human flourishing which accepts and celebrates our ecological embeddedness. A relational understanding of autonomy shows that such policy need not conflict with the protection of freedom, and is hence potentially compatible with a perfectionist liberalism which aims at intergenerational justice of capabilities. However reflection on the ecologically unsustainable resource consumption levels typical of affluent capitalist economies suggests that while a capabilities framework (potentially including protection of some capabilities as environmental rights) may be effective in establishing 'floors' at the lower end of the range of ethically acceptable consumption levels, 'ceilings' at the top end are better justified by reference to a eudaimonist ecological virtue ethics which understands and promotes ecological virtue as a matter of enlightened self-interest. Appeals to ecological virtue are entirely congruent with a capabilities approach to sustainability. Exhortations to ecological virtue aimed at individuals by governments are nonetheless illegitimate unless accompanied by policies which embody as well as facilitate such virtue, and aim to remove incentives to ecological vice. This includes robust regulation of consumption drivers and restriction of unsustainable options. Objections to such policies appealing to 'freedom of choice' are ill-founded to the extent that they neglect to examine the value of the options chosen between.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: An inquiry into the nature and manifestations of human happiness is evidently today an important focus for many academic disciplines. The contemporary revival in happiness studies is accompanied by studies on the rhetoric of happiness. Theologians approach such inquiries from a variety of perspectives, but it would appear as if a deliberate shift from the rhetoric of happiness to the rhetoric of human flourishing is taking place. The intuitive location of such an inquiry is soteriology, because of the doctrine of salvation’s focus on the good news of the gospel. Therefore this study approaches the inquiry into happiness from the landscape of salvation, by way of theological cartography, wherein three contemporary discourses are identified. A first discourse portrays salvation as reconcilitation, wherein a forensic interpretation plays a pivotal role. John Calvin, Friedrich Schleiermacher, and Willie Jonker are examined as three influential types of this discourse. A soteriological logic of faith is identified as a central pattern within this discourse, also in portraying human flourishing as piety, joy, and comfort. A second discourse portrays salvation as liberation, wherein an ethical interpretation plays a central role. Gustavo Gutiérrez, Mercy Oduyoye, and Russel Botman are held up as three influential types of this discourse. An eschatological logic of hope is identified as an important pattern within this discourse, also in portraying human flourishing as a fulfilled life, healing, and dignity. A third discourse portrays salvation as transformation, wherein an aesthetical interpretation plays a core role. Serene Jones, Ellen Charry, and Denise Ackermann are employed as three influential types of this discourse. A creative logic of love is inextricably wound into this discourse, also in portraying human flourishing as grace, happiness, and blessing. Together, these three logics function within triadic form in order to respond to the questions and challenges of the day. In conclusion, contemporary discourses on salvation appear to have, in all three of the forms outlined in this study, to do with human flourishing – whether as piety, joy, or comfort; as a fulfilled life, healing, or dignity; as grace, happiness, or blessing.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die vraag na die aard en vorme van menslike geluk is tans aan die orde in ‘n verskeidenheid van akademiese dissiplines. ‘n Opbloei in gelukstudies gaan gepaard met ‘n ondersoek na die retoriek van geluk. Teoloë benader hierdie ondersoek vanuit ‘n verskeidenheid van uitgangspunte, maar daar blyk ‘n doelbewuste skuif te wees vanaf die retoriek van geluk na die retoriek van menslike florering. Die intuïtiewe tuiste van so ‘n ondersoek is die soteriologie, met die verlossingsleer se fokus op die goeie nuus van die evangelie. Derhalwe benader hierdie studie ook die ondersoek na geluk vanuit die landskap van verlossing, by wyse van teologiese karteerwerk, en word drie kontemporêre diskoerse daarin geïdentifiseer. ‘n Eerste diskoers beeld verlossing as versoening uit, en het daarmee hoofsaaklik ‘n forensiese interpretasie voor oë. Johannes Calvyn, Friedrich Schleiermacher, en Willie Jonker word as drie invloedryke van hierdie diskoers voorgehou. ‘n Soteriologiese logika van geloof speel binne hierdie diskoers ‘n sentrale rol, ook uiteindelik in die uitbeelding van menslike florering as vroomheid, vreugde, en troos. ‘n Tweede diskoers beeld verlossing as bevryding uit, en het daarmee hoofsaaklik ‘n etiese interpretasie ingedagte. Gustavo Gutiérrez, Mercy Oduyoye, en Russel Botman word as drie invloedryke tipes van hierdie diskoers voorgehou. ‘n Eskatologiese logika van hoop funksioneer binne hierdie diskoers, ook uiteindelik in die uitbeelding van menslike florering as ‘n vervulde lewe, genesing, en waardigheid. ‘n Derde diskoers beeld verlossing as transformasie uit, en het daarmee hoofsaaklik ‘n estetiese interpretasie ingedagte. Serene Jones, Ellen Charry, en Denise Ackermann word as drie invloedryke tipes van hierdie diskoers voorgehou. ‘n Skeppingslogika van liefde is aan die orde binne hierdie diskoers, ook uiteindelik in die uitbeelding van menslike florering as genade, geluk, en seën. Sáám funksioneer hierdie drie logikas binne triadiese verband om op die vrae en uitdagings van die dag te reageer. Kontemporêre diskoerse oor verlossing het, ten slotte, in al drie die vorme wat in hierdie studie uiteengesit word te make met menslike florering – hetsy as vroomheid, vreugde, of troos; as ‘n vervulde lewe, genesing, of waardigheid; as genade, geluk, of seën.

This dissertation advances a critical appropriation of Thomas Aquinas's thought on the virtue of humility. Humility has received relatively little scholarly attention since early modernity, and the attention it has received has been largely negative, due to humility's association with religiously inspired attitudes that diminish the human drive for excellence. In recent decades a small number of philosophical and religious ethicists and political theorists have argued that humility, properly understood, is indeed a virtue. However, these accounts have not paid sufficient attention to the way various forms of oppression force a shift in thinking about what humility is and why it is of value. Feminist thought illuminates the social and psychological dynamics of oppression, but it has almost completely ignored the topic of humility. Where humility has been discussed by feminists, it has generally been dismissed as supportive of patriarchy and thus destructive of women's well-being. Humanity is in need of a new account of humility that answers to important criticisms. This dissertation offers such an account by critically appropriating Aquinas's thought on humility. It argues that humility is crucial to the realization of relational selfhood, and it definitely promotes the common good, but only if its operations are coordinated with the exercise of courage and justice.

Thesis (MTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Yale Center for Faith and Culture has held seven Consultations on God and Human Flourishing, 2007 to 2013, where it was affirmed that human relation to God is reason enough for human flourishing. The seven consultations indicate a growing conversation on God and human flourishing in theology. With this is mind the three female theologians are considered and argued to be important as participants in a conversation on God and human flourishing. The three female theologians are Serene Jones, a feminist theologian, Ellen Charry a systematic-pastoral theologian, and Jennifer Herdt, a virtue ethicist. Serene Jones is presented in the thesis as the first voice to engage theologically with the notions of happiness and human flourishing from a feminist critical position. Serene Jones argues, by means of feminist theory, that gendered constructions of women’s nature are present in readings of doctrine and Scripture. The way in which happiness and human flourishing is understood to characterise the lives of women is consequently challenged and critiqued. Due to the oppressive logic inherent in gender insensitive readings of doctrine and Scripture, Serene Jones opts for a re-reading where the agency of women is affirmed. The doctrines of justification and sanctification are re-formulated by Serene Jones as justifying and sanctifying grace. Grace is described by Serene Jones as an envelope that enfolds the substance of women, presenting women with a redemptive narrative that they are able to identify with. Serene Jones’ contribution lies in her affirmation of the graced agency of women. Ellen Charry, a female theologian who is concerned with the salutary effect of knowledge on an individual represents the second voice. Ellen Charry understands the dichotomy between goodness and pleasure established by modernity to be false. In the notion of asherism Ellen Charry seeks to bridge the gap by asserting that obedience to God’s commandments evokes both goodness and pleasure. Pleasure is described as the enjoyment of God and creation. Ellen Charry goes further by affirming that God enjoys creation when creation flourishes. A mutual enjoyment between God and creation takes place which brings about a happy disposition. Happiness accordingly is a way of life established through a particular knowledge of God attained when one obeys God’s norm for living. In addition, happiness is not just marked by an excellent life but also by the enjoyment of both God and creation. Ellen Charry contributes to the conversation by affirming that happiness is established when humans and God flourish. Jennifer Herdt, a virtue ethicist, starts with the secularisation of moral thought present since the sixteenth century. The secularisation of moral thought caused morality to be separated from its religious moorings. A shift in emphasis occurred, moving from the person doing the action to the action itself. With this shift in emphasis the possibility of virtue to bring humans into relation with God through grace was negated. The result was a recapitulated Augustinian anxiety of acquired virtue. Jennifer Herdt seeks to negate the Augustinian anxiety by returning the emphasis to the agent of the action. Jennifer Herdt delineates an account of mimetic performance, where she argues that by imitating a divine exemplar through virtue, grace progressively brings one into relation with God. Virtue is a means by which an individual partakes in and is formed by a liturgy. As virtue is practiced the agent participates in God, an act denoting happiness. Jennifer Herdt’s account of human happiness takes into consideration how virtue assimilates an agent to Christ. From the three female perspectives, happiness and human flourishing is understood to pertain to one’s relation to God, a perspective which resonates with the God and Human Flourishing Consultations. In light of the female theological contributions, the suggestion that each female theological voice may be important for a diverse conversation on God and human flourishing as well as future initiatives for God and Human Flourishing is warranted.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die “Yale Center for Faith and Culture” het sewe konsultasies gehad, 2007 tot 2013, oor “God and Human Flourishing” waar daar beklemtoon is dat die menslike verhouding tot God genoegsame rede is vir menslike florering. Die sewe konsultasies weerspieël ʼn toenemende gesprek oor God en menslike florering in teologie. Dié toenemende gesprek het daartoe gelei dat drie vroulike stemme geidentifiseer word en geargumenteer word dat hulle belangrike deelnemers in ʼn gesprek rondom God en menlike florering is. Die drie vroulike stemme is Serene Jones, ʼn feministiese teoloog, Ellen Charry, ʼn sistematies-pastorale teoloog, en Jennifer Herdt, ʼn deugde etikus. Serene Jones word in die tesis eerste aangebied om teologies, vanuit ʼn feministies kritiese oogpunt, in gesprek te tree met die konsepte van geluk en menslike florering. Serene Jones argumenteer, deur middel van feministiese teorie, dat geslagskonstruksies van vrouens se natuur teenwoordig is in die lees van die Bybel en leerstellings. Die konsepte van geluk en florering, wat beskrywende woorde is, moet daarom ook krities gelees word en by tye uitgedaag word. Weens die geslags onsensitiewe lees van die Bybel en leerstellinge, onderneem Serene Jones om die leerstellings van regverdiging en heiligmaking te heroorweeg, met die klem op vrouens se agentskap. Die leerstelllings van regverdiging en heiligmaking word heroorweeg en benoem as geregverdigde en geheiligde genade. Genade word deur Serene Jones beskryf as ʼn koevert wat die wese van vrouens omvou. Vrouens word hiermee van ʼn verlossingsnarratief voorsien waarmee hulle kan identifiseer. Serene Jones se bydrae lê dus in haar prioriteit teenoor vrouens se genadigde agentskap. Ellen Charry, ʼn vroue teoloog wat besorg is oor die pastorale effek van kennis, verteenwoordig die tweede stem. Ellen Charry is krities oor die tweedeling van goedheid en genot wat deur die modernisme ingestel is en beskou dit as vals. Deur die konsep van asherisme probeer Ellen Charry die tweedeling oorbrug deur te argumenteer dat gehoorsaamheid aan God se gebooie beide goedheid en genot meebring. Sy beskryf genot as die wedersydse plesier wat mense beleef wanneer hulle God geniet deur gehoorsaam te wees aan God. Ellen Charry gaan verder deur te verduidelik dat God ook die mensdom geniet wanneer die mensdom floreer en God daardeur floreer. Die wedersydse florering van beide skepping en God bring ʼn gelukkige disposisie mee. Geluk word vervolgens beskryf as ʼn manier van leef, gebaseer op die uitlewing van die kennis wat deur God se gebooie geopenbaar word. Ellen Charry dra by tot die gesprek van geluk en florering deur die wedersydse genot wat mens en God beleef as kardinaal te beskou vir die verstaan van geluk. Jennifer Herdt, ʼn deugde etikus en die derde vroulike stem, begin met die verwêreldliking van moraliteit wat sedert die sestiende eeu teenwoordig is. Die verwêreldliking van morele nadenke het moraliteit en godsdiens van mekaar geskei. Die skeiding van moraliteit en godsdiens het tot gevolg gehad dat die klem verskuif is van die agent na handeling self. Met dié verskuiwing is die rol van genade om die agent geleidelik in gemeenskap met God te bring ondermyn. Die resultaat was die herhaling van die Augustiniese angs oor verkrygde deugde. Jennifer Herdt probeer die Augustiniese angs vermy deur die klem weer op die agent te laat val. Die konsep van nabootsende uitvoerings word deur Jennifer Herdt gebruik om te beskryf hoe die individu wat deugde beoefen, deur die nabootsing van Christus, toenemend in verhouding met God gebring word deur middel van genade. Deugde is ʼn wyse waarop ʼn persoon deelneem aan en gevorm word deur ʼn bepaalde liturgie. Wanneer die persoon deugde beoefen, word daar deelgeneem aan God deur Christus, ʼn daad wat geluk vergestalt. Jennifer Herdt se weergawe van menslike geluk neem in ag hoe ʼn persoon geassimileer word tot God deur deugde te beoefen. Deur die drie vroulike stemme se bydrae word daar verstaan dat geluk en die florering van mense verband hou met hulle verhouding tot God, ʼn perspektief wat resoneer met die “God and Human Flourishing Consultations.” In die lig van die onderskeie vroulik teologiese bydrae, is die voorstel dat elke stem belangrik is vir ʼn gediversifiseerde gesprek oor God en menslike florering so wel as toekomstige initiatiewe waar daar besin word oor God en menslike florering geregverdig.

The point of departure of this thesis is derived from a modern tendency to create a dichotomy between selfless love and human flourishing. Modern attempts to liberate the human being from heteronomous oppression and the moral norms promoting this have sometimes led to the conclusion that selfless love is harmful to human flourishing. Such a conclusion has gained momentum also through modernist re-conceptualisations of the self as an autonomous but empty consciousness which must guard itself against determination by the other. In effect, significant thinkers have replaced the notion of selfless love with a call for self-assertion over against the other, as key to the individual person’s well-being. This has been matched by Christian dismissals of the individual’s pursuit of human flourishing. In the face of modern insights into the ‘desirous’ nature of the human being, modern Christian theology has equally struggled to sustain the tension between the traditional Christian notion of selfless or self-giving love and human beings’ desire to affirm themselves and to find personal fulfilment in this world. Strands of Christian theology have, for instance, affirmed a self-surrendering love at the cost of dismissing the individual’s worldly desires entirely. In this thesis, I outline this situation in modern thought and its problematic consequences. With a view to discerning whether selfless love and human flourishing can be re-connected, I then undertake close studies of the theologian Paul Tillich’s and the moral philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch’s conceptualisations of the self and of love. As I will argue, Tillich’s and Murdoch’s engagement with modern thought leads them to develop accounts of the self, which correspond with understandings of love as both selfless and conducive to human flourishing. On the basis of their thought I thus argue that selfless love and human flourishing can be understood as interdependent even today.

The phenomenon of wonder has fascinated scholars for centuries, yet today the subject is understudied and not rooted in any specific academic discipline. Attempts at building a preliminary account of wonder reveals that the experience of wonder is characterised by seven properties: wonder (1) is sudden, extraordinary and personal; (2) intensifies the cognitive focus; (3) intensifies the use of imagination; (4) instigates awareness of ignorance; (5) causes temporary displacement; (6) makes the world newly present; and (7) brings emotional upheaval. Furthermore, wonder can be distinguished from other similar altered states, including awe, horror, the sublime, curiosity, amazement, admiration and astonishment. Human flourishing is a concept in ethics that has enjoyed a revival since Elizabeth Anscombe’s 1958 article ‘Modern Moral Philosophy’. Through the work of Neo-Aristotelian philosophers Douglas Rasmussen, Alasdair McIntyre and Martha Nussbaum who have contributed to the field a working model of human flourishing attentive to human nature was established. As a result of in-depth examination of the contribution of both emotion and imagination in the experience of wonder through a Neo-Aristotelian lens it becomes evident that wonder may contribute to human flourishing via a number of effects, including (but not restricted to) widening of perception, extension of moral scope or sensitivity and prompting deep wonder, a wondrous afterglow, openness, humility, an imaginative attitude, reverence and gratitude. Importantly, for wonder to act as a strong contributor to human flourishing one needs to wonder at the right (or appropriate) thing, in the right amount, in the right time, in the right way and for the right purpose. Cultivating a balanced sense of wonder is thus by no means an easy task but having a critical attitude towards one’s wonderment would aid one to wonder in a virtuous way.

Extractive industries dig or drill holes, pursue profits and promise development. The profits are privatised, the holes are permanent and the minerals, metals and energy benefit society at large; but what are the local development outcomes? Are they long-lasting and substantive, helping humans to flourish? Or are the benefits just a glimmer of momentary joy, quickly spent, then lost in time, obscured by the many disruptions and disappointments wrought by immanent development? Like other complex issues or wicked problems, there are clearly no easy solutions to the problems associated with industrial resource extraction - otherwise we would have implemented them already. As the title alludes, perhaps it is about making an informed choice, to achieve a better balance between hedonistic extraction and human flourishing. Or less cryptically, do we continue to make profit the priority and merely hope for development or is it time to unsettle extraction? To make well-being our primary objective and achieve long lasting and substantive benefits, particularly for host communities? This thesis by publication explores how we understand mining through the impacts on local communities. It contains five separate articles seeking new insights from different perspectives. Article One provides a foundation by exploring the impacts of mining using a sustainability lens, demonstrating the link between environmental and social impacts that are, in turn, driven by the realities of declining ore grades and increasing mine waste. Article Two turned to the concept of human flourishing (well-being, gutpla sindaun4) to explore the lived impacts from mining that are, at once, both universal and locally specific. Article Three more fully examined the effect of mining on local people, drawing on the knowledge and experience of others to identify eleven factors (impacts) of extractive dispossession to inform communities about potential mining impacts. Article Four applied a tok stori/tok ples methodology alongside participant and co-author art to tell stories of unseen existence, describing relations between people and the environment, which Eurocentric impact assessment (IA) processes can fail to see. Then, Article Five combines industry knowledge with Community stori to analyse the Wafi-Golpu environmental impact statement (hereafter WGEIS5) in relation to the Papua New Guinea mining experience, and to learn from and contribute to IA theory and practice. Together the work responds to a system of structural processes that reinforce and recreate the asymmetries of power, influence and resources that drive the disproportionate and unequal distribution of impacts and benefits from mining. Aware of this, the project adopted participatory action research methodologies to share and exchange knowledge with Communities, and to ensure that the research would be positive and useful rather than just another extractive pressure. Separate research outputs were also used to inform subsequent research, with summarised and translated articles explained and made available to the Communities as well as shared with government, industry and wider society. The end result is unknown with the Wafi-Golpu mine undergoing assessment, negotiation and approval processes at the time of submission, with more time and future research required to assess eventual outcomes. Short-term outcomes are positive, however, with PAR used to undertake collaborative research and inform Communities. The research finds that: (1) the heuristics of human flourishing and extractive dispossession are both useful tools to explore how potential impacts on people might affect their life; (2) deliberately decolonial PAR methodologies can help challenge and overcome dominant discourses that recreate coloniality and culturally hegemonic dominance; (3) Communities value balanced and accessible information so they can choose and control development and their own futures; (4) Community-based research and impact assessment (CBIA), is an example of respectful and emancipatory method for understanding impacts, informing Communities and guiding development; and (5) reforms to Eurocentric principles, ethics and methods of IA processes would enable IA to see, respect and protect non-Western values.

While globalisation is a multidimensional phenomenon, present educational foci tend to lie not on preparing students for a complex, globalised 21stcentury, but on preparing students for a 21st-century economic globalisation. In order to advocate a change of consciousness, this present study examines the concept of human flourishing and the skills – referred to as cosmopolitan soft skills – fostering the phenomenon. Taking a critical realist approach, a theoretical and an empirical investigation was carried out. The theoretical analysis undertaken by the study identified flourishing to be a three-dimensional concept and established that flourishing cannot be fully realised unless an individual is flourishing both from a positive-psychological, a moral-political, and a moral-ethical perspective. The empirical, comparative analysis of school policy documents and interviews with school principals, on the other hand, eventuated a comprehensive list of skills and competences that contemporary educational institutions aim at equipping their students with for the sake of flourishing. By an interplay between theory and empirical data, the study resulted in a possible conceptualisation of cosmopolitan soft skills, consisting of the four core skills of attention, acceptance, respect, and responsibility, and 78 other skills organised into four main categories. Provided the critical realist stance taken, the results are believed to be of a flexible and ever-changing but universal nature that facilitate future research into the educability of the cosmopolitan soft skills concept and the empirical realisation of human flourishing.

This thesis investigates faith-based youth work – establishing how it operates and what it does – in the context of the Big Society political initiative popularised during the period 2009-2013. Religion, politics and young people are subjects that promote lively debate, yet literature about faith-based youth work is limited. What is available does little to reveal the complex factors that underpin and portray such work. Whilst a variety of literature about youth work, young people, religion and social policy exists there is no body of work that brings these considerations together. Using a tripartite mix-of-methods approach, this study has developed an original contribution to knowledge in the form of an explanatory model for faith-based youth work: involving a scoping survey, focus group consultations and four case studies, a contemporary portrayal of such work has been established. Data was collected from faith-based youth workers from a variety of backgrounds and practices to develop the model, which establishes the foundational ethos of faith-based work, the grounding upon which it is developed, the philosophical shape of how it operates and the pedagogical intentions of what it does as it supports transformation in young people. The findings indicate that faith-based youth work is focused on helping young people flourish in pursuit to the common good; such work relates to the Big Society notion, but this is because of an overlapping consensus regarding mutual aspirations rather than any causal considerations. The place of faith within such work is motivationally foundational, but often not explicitly identifiable, in day-to-day operations. The investigation concludes that rather than perceiving young people as problems to be fixed, faith-based youth work offers a means of helping young people flourish for the collective good.

The emerging dialogue between the arts and humanities and professional health care education is explored by considering ethical practice in nursing via several narratives of student nurses and nurse educators in one Scottish university. Adopting a narrative methodology based upon the literary hermeneutic of Paul Ricoeur, this thesis is presented as a ‘narrative research text’ in which my own role as a narrative researcher is critically developed. Utilising two different narrative frameworks, narratives are ‘constructed’ from data drawn from the research methods of focus groups, one-to-one interviews, reflective practice journals and documentary sources. Contemporary approaches in professional health care ethics education tend to share features of deduction, universality and generalisability. Their merits notwithstanding, perspectives drawn from the arts and humanities can offer valid critiques and alternative perspectives. Reading literature and poetry is offered as an engaged and interpretive contribution to a teleological ethic characterised by attention to ends (e.g. human flourishing), cultivation of virtue, telling of narrative, recognising relationality and in acknowledging the significance of contextual factors. These perspectives can all contribute to an ‘eclectic’ approach to ethics education in nursing. These narratives of student nurses support the careful inclusion of the arts and humanities within nurse education curricula for their potential to encourage self-awareness, critical thinking and concern for others. Narratives of nurse educators support these insights in addition to demonstrating ways in which the arts and humanities themselves can offer critical perspectives on current curriculum philosophies. These narratives suggest that the reading of literature and poetry can contribute to an eclectic approach to ‘ethical competency’ in nurse education. This is a broad-based educational approach which draws upon shared interpretive dimensions of the arts and humanities via engagement, action and response. This thesis contributes to current literature in the field of professional health care education by demonstrating the significance of findings derived from inclusion of a teleological ethic within ethics education.

This thesis explores how people struggle to make livable lives in the conditions of existence of seeking asylum in the UK. The study is based on ethnographic research, conversations and participant observation, with people seeking asylum in Manchester. Grounding the research in their narratives is a contribution to decolonizing knowledge and doing justice to the sentience of people who are marginalized and pathologized. The narratives are brought into dialogue with feminist and decolonial philosophy and political theory, and with empirical studies of 'refugeedom' from a number of disciplines, to produce a new field of connection from which to map the terrain involved in theorizing livability. While the whole thesis seeks to respond to the narratives, there is a detailed focus on three dimensions which participants emphasize as crucial to livability: settlement in Manchester; the prohibition of employment; the asylum application procedures. These are moments in which livability is claimed as both ethics and practice. From the perspective of the narratives and the ethics which permeate them, livability opens up into questions of recognition, social justice and care. People claim commonality: recognition as human, equality and inclusion in social goods, and care in public settings. These are the practical and ethical supports of livability. The narratives point also towards critiques of 'refugeedom', the policies and practices that form the discursive and material conditions within which people seeking asylum attempt to make livable lives.

In political philosophy, perfectionism is the view that it is the job of the state to best enable its citizens to live good or flourishing lives. It claims that certain lives can be judged to be sound, and thus instructs governments to promote those lives using state institutions etc. Anti-perfectionism denies this. It says that it is not the job of the state to promote good lives. Instead it should restrict itself to securing basic rights and duties, a threshold level of resources and so on. Citizens should be left to adopt pursuits however they see fit. For some anti-perfectionists, this is precisely because we cannot judge any putative life to be sound. However, many are not sceptics, and justify state neutrality for other reasons. All accounts of anti-perfectionism must overcome what has been called the asymmetry objection: what justifies the imbalance inherent in anti-perfectionism? Why believe that the state is permitted to act on judgements about justice, but not on judgements about flourishing? My thesis argues that attempts to respond to the asymmetry objection have failed thus far. Further, I offer an account of political morality that can overcome the problem. The first four chapters of the thesis clarify the debate between perfectionists and anti-perfectionists, narrowing the former down into its most plausible form. Chapters five and six focus on two failed attempts to vindicate anti-perfectionism – Brian Barry's argument from scepticism and Jonathan Quong's Rawlsian approach. In the final chapter I put forward a much more promising argument in favour of anti-perfectionism – justice as a set of constraints.

In this thesis it was intended to deepen the literature of the Economics of Happiness, in three different directions. As a conductive line, it was attempted to better explore the multidisciplinary character of the happiness concept, while remaining grounded on economic methodologies. The first chapter presents the insertion of the Economics of Happiness in the broad history of economic thought, emphasizing the original contaminations and the reasons of the early detachment between economics and psychology, while highlighting the happiness’ multidisciplinary essence, and its methodological specificities. In the sequence, some findings and theories from different disciplines were then introduced in the following chapters, either as part of their starting hypothesis or to help interpret their findings. Chapter 2 investigates the causes of a possible happiness differential between men and women, worldwide. Based on the fact that women have passed through historically landmark changes, shaping new original gender roles, it was intended to approach this question with an encompassing view, also borrowing concepts from the Capabilities Approach of Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen. The empirical strategy was performed using data from the World Values Survey (WVS), European Values Studies (EVS), CIRI Human Rights and the World Development Indicators (WDI), which combined together contemplate 20 years spanning from 1981 to 2009 and across 85 countries. The first finding is that there exist a happiness gender gap, and it favours women. The main message from this study, in a nutshell, is that important female rights and achievements are not automatically guarantees of happiness, but only when accompanied by conducive internal and external conditions, such as female’s feeling of control over own life and pro-women social beliefs guiding the social norm. These complementary conditions are really important to be considered for public policies, since if they do not materialize, true and meaningfully perceived gender equality will not be attained, regardless the proclaimed formal rights and achievements. Chapter 3 in its turn revisits the field “established” finding regarding the impact of unemployment compared to that of inflation in terms of subjective well-being. The universal character of this question is analysed for the case of developing countries. The main hypothesis conducting this study is that the impact of inflation is stronger than that of unemployment, differently from what has been found in the previous literature, focused on developed nations. The reasoning for this idea comes from the fact that developed and developing countries experience very different socio-economic and development paths that can influence the perception of these two relevant macroeconomic conditions and the corresponding coping strategies (also with respect to experiences and social remedies for inflationary and jobless periods). Using the WVS, EVS, WDI, Schneider’s (2005) and Dreher’s (2006) data, across 55 developing countries and 15 years (from 1990 to 2008), it is performed an empirical two-step methodology, which takes into account either individual characteristics (including individual personality traits – affirmed findings in Psychology) and country level characteristics (including two macroeconomic indicators intrinsic of developing countries, i.e. the presence and size of the informal market as well as the existence of foreign debt with the IMF). Three are the main results of practical importance for public policies. The most stable result is the strongly and significant negative effect of inflation and the non significant negative effect of aggregate unemployment on well-being. This inverted trade-off was strengthened and confirmed by robustness tests. An adaptation effect of inflation in high-inflationary periods emerges from a non-linearity investigation of inflation (which can be said to exemplify the framing and set point effects postulated by the Prospect Theory). This work also provides evidence, for the first time on the happiness literature, of an austerity negative effect of the IMF intervention. All in all, this thesis contributes to the economics of happiness research agenda calling the attention to the country-divergent nature of the happiness’ appreciation, especially for what regards the developing and developed worlds, as well as to the importance of taking into account the multidisciplinary essence of happiness. Both elements can evidence collective and individual subjective dynamics usually hidden but present in the economic and social process.

La présente thèse propose une réflexion sur les valeurs du travail à partir de l’œuvre de Martha C. Nussbaum, de sa conception des capacités, de la vie bonne et de la justice. Nous y définissions la valeur du travail en fonction de ses effets sur les capacités du travailleur et des autres partie-prenantes. Penser les valeurs du travail à partir des capacités relationnelles permet de rendre compte de dimensions essentielles que le travail permet de développer et que chaque être humain valorise : le respect de soi, la qualité des relations inter-personnelles ou les interactions positives avec le milieu naturel et culturel, de façon à préserver le bien vivre aujourd’hui et demain. Nous éclairons ainsi les enjeux et des finalités du bien vivre au travail, en s’appuyant sur une anthropologie et une éthique relationnelles inspirées d’Aristote et de Kant. Suivant cette approche, le travail s’inscrit aussi dans un cadre institutionnel qui vise à garantir à tous l’accès aux capacités, et en particulier à ceux qui en sont exclus.En contrepoint des approches purement instrumentales de la valeur du travail, d’inspiration utilitariste et néoclassique, cette conception des valeurs du travail est centrée ses finalités, en termes de fonctionnements humains et de vie bonne, à une échelle individuelle et collective.La portée pratique de cette recherche consiste à mettre en évidence les tensions dont le travail contemporain est l’objet et à proposer une démarche pour évaluer, de façon plus juste, les capacités des êtres humains qui y sont engagées. Elle ouvre ainsi la voie à une réflexion pour des acteurs économiques – équipes, entrepreneurs, investisseurs - qui souhaiteraient s’inspirer du cadre proposé pour faire évoluer leurs pratiques et leurs modèles économiques, en promouvant une économie qui serait davantage attentive à la qualité relationnelle entre les parties prenantes
This thesis proposes a reflection on the values of work based on the work of Martha C. Nussbaum, her conception of capabilities, good life and justice. We defined the value of work in terms of its effects on the abilities of the worker and other stakeholders. Defining work values based on relational capacities makes it possible to account for essential dimensions that work allows to develop and that each human being values: self-respect, the quality of interpersonal relations or positive interactions with the natural and cultural environment, so as to preserve the good life today and tomorrow. In this way, we shed light on the challenges and aims of good working life, based on an anthropology and relational ethics inspired by Aristotle and Kant. Following this approach, the work is also part of an institutional framework that aims to guarantee access to capacities for all, and in particular for those excluded from them.As a counterpoint to purely instrumental approaches to the value of work, utilitarian and neoclassical in inspiration, this conception of work values is centred on its aims, in terms of human functioning and good life, on an individual and collective scale.The practical scope of this research consists in highlighting the tensions to which contemporary work is subjected and in proposing an approach to evaluate, in a more accurate way, the capacities of the human beings who are committed to it. It thus opens the way to reflection for economic players - teams, entrepreneurs, investors - who would like to draw inspiration from the proposed framework to change their business practices and models, by promoting an economy that would be more attentive to the quality of relationships between stakeholders

The Christian Churches in Australia are not only present in parishes and congregations but are also involved in a wide range of activities in the fields of social welfare, human services and social policy. The historical legacy of this involvement is organisationallydiverse and represents a significant presence in public policy in Australia. With the shift to contracting as a funding technology for social welfare and human services in the 1990s, church-related agencies found themselves engaging in new ways with government. Nearly two decades later there has been relatively little research into the impact of the shift to contracting on these agencies, leaving unanswered the question as to whether, or not, they have now become simply an extension of the state. Driven by that fundamental question, this thesis is a theologically-informed inquiry into the impact of the shift to government contracting for social welfare and human services with ‘church-related’ agencies in Australia between 1996 and 2013. It has been undertaken to contribute both to the empirical evidence on the impact of contracting with government on these agencies and to assist agencies in reflecting on their mission, in the light of the impact of this pattern of engagement. The inquiry is shaped by its subject, and its institutional, sociological and theological contexts, rather than a specific discipline. The disciplines, and the theoretical insights drawn on for the research and the interpretation of the findings were chosen for both their theoretical utility and analytical relevance, including theology, Australian welfare history, the sociology of religion, the sociology of organisations and public policy. An account of how the movement across disciplinary boundaries is undertaken is laid out at the beginning of the inquiry. Theologically the inquiry commences with articulations and developments of the tensions of exilic identity in seeking the flourishing of the city, the secular and sacred character of the contemporary state and how these are manifested in the maintenance of identity and mission for church-related agencies. The sociological processes of isomorphism, and organisational secularisation, provide the theoretical grounding for exploring how these theological themes are manifested against the distinctive background of the Australian settlement of church-state engagement in social welfare provision. The research involved analysis of publicly-available documentation including annual reports and strategic plans from a range of church-related social welfare and human services agencies, denominational coordinating bodies, as well as extensive interviews with senior staff and board members on the impacts of, and agency responses to, contracting. The analysis explored issues of financial dependency, ecclesial connection, governance and tactics of response and resistance. The findings included the importance of intentionality by leadership and management of agencies in owning the mission and identity of agencies along with settings of governance, funding, communication of theological commitments to staff of agencies that seem to be conducive to maintenance of identity and mission. These findings are reported through a number of narratives that spell out the processes by which some church-related agencies became an extension of the state and, by contrast, tactics of response and resistance that enabled other agencies to retain identity and continue their mission. A significant and unanticipated finding was of the emergence of a sector-level response, through the expansion and development of denominational coordinating agencies that facilitated a continuing policy advocacy role by church-related agencies in their relationship with government.

The study has the interest to investigate the existing values in science and analyze the possibility of promotion of ethics in the scientific pratices in the contemporaneity. The basis for this analysis is on Hugh Lacey s studies on the search for an epistemological model based on the adequacy of present values in scientific practices to social projection and human needs. This analysis shows that to have a better understanding of science and its objective, we should distinguish the values, the moments and the decisive strategies for the development of science. The Lacey s proposed has two articulations a distinction of values (cognitive and noncognitive) and a distinguish of the proper times of scientific practice that would enable a better explanation and justification of the problem of ―value-free science‖. To Lacey, there are three moments of scientific activity that allow us to analyse the performance of values: the moment M1, to adopt ways and strategies for research; the moment M2, to accept theories; and the moment M3, to apply scientific knowledge. The distinction of values is needed to support the view that scientific knowledge can be impartial and still serve as social values. Already, the distinction of moments of scientific activity allows the author to indicate the suitable place for investigating social influences in the research (at the moments M1 and M3). We realize that the modern tradition of science used a materialist understanding that selected restricted and one-dimensional strategies of research, overly linked to noncongnitive values of control of natural objects that privilege capitalists values, that, almost always, do not guarantee the enjoyment of other values essential for the human welfare. Therefore, this discussion suggests the importance of rethink the present values in science for a scientific activity that balances the ideal of the understanding of the world, together with the ability to generate useful Technologies for the flourishing of humanity.
O estudo tem por interesse investigar os valores existentes na ciência e analisar a possibilidade da promoção de uma prática científica ética na contemporaneidade. A base para essa análise fundamenta-se nos estudos de Hugh Lacey sobre a busca de um modelo epistemológico pautado na adequação de valores presentes nas práticas científicas às projeções sociais e necessidades humanas. Tal análise aponta que para termos uma melhor compreensão da ciência e do seu objetivo devemos distinguir tanto os valores quanto os momentos e as estratégias decisivas para o desenvolvimento da ciência. A proposta de Lacey apresenta duas articulações - uma distinção dos valores (cognitivos e não cognitivos); e uma distinção dos devidos momentos da prática científica que possibilitariam uma melhor explanação e justificação do problema da ―ciência livre de valores‖. Para Lacey há três momentos da atividade científica que nos permitem analisar a atuação dos valores: o momento M1, de adotar caminhos e estratégias para a pesquisa; o momento M2, de aceitar teorias e; o momento M3, de aplicar o conhecimento científico. A distinção dos valores é necessária para apoiar a visão de que o conhecimento científico pode ser imparcial e ainda se servir de valores sociais. Já a distinção dos momentos da atividade científica permite ao autor indicar o local adequado para se investigar influências sociais no interior das pesquisas (nos momentos M1 e M3). Perceberemos que a tradição moderna de ciência se utilizou de um entendimento materialista que selecionou estratégias de pesquisa restritas e unidimensionais, exageradamente ligadas a valores não cognitivos de controle dos objetos naturais que acabam por privilegiar valores capitalistas que, quase sempre, não garantem a apreciação de estratégias múltiplas de pesquisa e de outros valores essenciais para o bem-estar humano. Por isso esta reflexão propõe a importância de repensarmos os valores presentes na ciência para almejarmos uma atividade científica que equilibre o ideal de entendimento do mundo juntamente à capacidade de gerar tecnologias úteis ao florescimento da humanidade.
Mestre em Filosofia

abstract: At present, the ideological bias in the human enhancement debate holds that opponents to human enhancement are primarily techno-conservatives who, lacking any reasonable, systematic account of why we ought to be so opposed, simply resort to a sort of fear-mongering and anti-meliorism. This dissertation means to counteract said bias by offering just such an account. Offered herein is a heuristic explanation of how, given a thorough understanding of enhancement both as a technology and as an attitude, we can predict a likely future of rampant commodification and dehumanization of man, and a veritable assault on human flourishing.
Dissertation/Thesis
Ph.D. Philosophy 2012

Most prominent accounts of autonomy are active accounts, which means they hold that an agent can be autonomous with respect to a given action only if that agent has appropriately sanctioned that action. Active accounts, however, are vulnerable to the regress problem, since it seems that the required sanctioning actions are themselves just actions that must be sanctioned. Passive accounts hope to avoid the regress problem by eschewing the notion that autonomous action requires agential sanction, but face in its place what I call the incompleteness problem for passive accounts. Here, I evaluate one passive account, recently defended by Sarah Buss, and argue that it can avoid the incompleteness problem only if it is supplemented by a satisfactory account of the development of autonomy. I then suggest that one development account, offered by Ishtiyaque Haji and Stefaan Cuypers, is an especially good supplement. My conclusion is that Buss’s account, supplemented in the way I suggest, can avoid the incompleteness problem.

Precipitated by important work in recent natural law political theory, this research revisits the relationship between political association and human flourishing. Does the political community itself realize some aspect of human sociability intrinsic to our full flourishing or is it simply an instrumental good? The inquiry begins with a thorough examination of the merits of John Finnis’s influential argument for an instrumental political common good, pointing to a significant lacuna in his inattention to the value of political activity, as opposed to the operation of government and law. In building an alternative positive account the argument relies upon both formal and substantive considerations, generally employing an Aristotelian methodology of understanding the whole via a consideration of its constitutive parts. First, drawing from Aquinas’s Aristotelian commentaries to unpack the basic structure of part/whole relationships within the “body politic,” I argue that political community is partially defined by the nature of its basic constitutive parts. The next chapter considers the substantive good of familial association, particularly in light of longstanding concerns with the family’s particularity and inequality. I argue that the intrinsically liberal and educative character of parental love rightly orients children to virtuous activity and invests familial association with an intrinsic rationality. The final two chapters bring direct focus onto the political common good: First, I argue that a normatively compelling account of the political common good must be both inclusivist, i.e., including within its purpose the irreducibly diverse goods of every individual and basic association within the community, and distinctive, i.e., including within the calculus of practical reason the good of the political association as such. Lastly, I argue that the political common good is intrinsically—though only partially—constitutive of the human social good. Aquinas makes a crucial shift away from Aristotle’s political primacy in his more pluralistic account of human sociability and emphasis on the extensiveness of the political good over the superiority of political activity per se. Nevertheless, there are essential human virtues—justice, love, generosity—that are uniquely, if not exclusively, fostered in political community and potentially realized in civic friendship.
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abstract: This dissertation explores the role of smart home service provisions (SHSP) as motivational agents supporting goal attainment and human flourishing. Evoking human flourishing as a lens for interaction encapsulates issues of wellbeing, adaptation and problem solving within the context of social interaction. To investigate this line of research a new, motivation-sensitive approach to design was implemented. This approach combined psychometric analysis from motivational psychology's Personal Project Analysis (PPA) and Place Attachment theory's Sense of Place (SoP) analysis to produce project-centered motivational models for environmental congruence. Regression analysis of surveys collected from 150 (n = 150) young adults about their homes revealed PPA motivational dimensions had significant main affects on all three SoP factors. Model one indicated PPA dimensions Fearful and Value Congruency predicted the SoP factor Place Attachment (p = 0.012). Model two indicated the PPA factor Positive Affect and PPA dimensions Value Congruency, Self Identity and Autonomy predicted Place Identity (p = .0003). Model three indicated PPA dimensions Difficulty and Likelihood of Success predicted the SoP factor Place Dependency. The relationships between motivational PPA dimensions and SoP demonstrated in these models informed creation of a set of motivational design heuristics. These heuristics guided 20 participants (n = 20) through co-design of paper prototypes of SHSPs supporting goal attainment and human flourishing. Normative analysis of these paper prototypes fashioned a design framework consisting of the use cases "make with me", "keep me on task" and "improve myself"; the four design principles "time and timing", "guidance and accountability", "project ambiguity" and "positivity mechanisms"; and the seven interaction models "structuring time", "prompt user", "gather resources", "consume content", "create content", "restrict and/or restore access to content" and "share content". This design framework described and evaluated three technology probes installed in the homes of three participants (n = 3) for field-testing over the course of one week. A priori and post priori samples of psychometric measures were inconclusive in determining if SHSP motivated goal attainment or increased environmental congruency between young adults and their homes.
Dissertation/Thesis
Ph.D. Design 2013

Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
The evolution of modern biomedical science and practice has forced many to grapple with difficult ethical questions. The advent of such novel questions has demanded that moral discourse in medicine adapts and changes to solve the problems introduced in our brave new world. What was once the charge of the physician is now a public discourse involving a number of relevant constituents and decision-makers. Accordingly, leaders in the discipline of bioethics have sought to articulate a particular grammar that might help to guide and direct the on-going discourse while providing the systems necessary for making morally efficient decisions. Thus, the lingua franca of bioethics has pushed steadily towards philosophically neutral terms and the accompanying generalities of the common morality. In this way, the grammar of bioethics has functioned much like a moral technique. It has not enabled us to speak well with and for persons embedded, rather embodied, in community gathered about the peculiarities of biomedical crises. Against such moral techne, the aim of this research has been to explore an ethics that might interrupt and transform the contemporary and abstract modes of moral discourse determined as universal, while challenging one to take seriously the concrete tasks and processes of real human life. It has been my aim to reimagine the common morality theologically, such that we may learn to be an authentic means of hope, to help resolve problems, to assist in the free response to dilemmas raised by the science and practice of biomedicine, and to provoke human decision towards human flourishing. Thus, the purpose of this research has been to explain Barth’s moral theology as that which not only grounds human being as ontologically relational but also to argue that such correlation is what might stir human responsibility to, with, and for our near and distant neighbours. Accordingly, for Barth, what is common is the provisional, public, and interpersonal character of moral conversation, discernment, and decision.

One thing that ethics attempts to determine is the right way to live in order to attain human flourishing. Both Aristotelian and African ethics give us communitarian accounts of how flourishing is attained by individuals who are brought up to have the right sorts of character. I argue that there are significant similarities between the accounts of the formation of ethical character in Aristotelian and African ethics. I aim to show that through a critical comparison of these two accounts, an account of the kind of society required from human flourishing can be developed. This can then be used to critique a dominant view of human flourishing: that of contemporary individualism. First I set out the Aristotelian account showing how it depends on a certain conception of the nature of persons. Second, I explore the African account of ethics and ethical character and show how this account is based on a similar communitarian conception of the nature of persons. In both Aristotelian and African ethics, society and upbringing play a crucial role in the attainment of human flourishing. Thus, third, I examine in detail the kind of society required for the formation of ethical character according to Aristotelian and African ethics respectively. I argue that there are many fruitful structural similarities between the two accounts. Lastly, I use the work done in the third chapter, as well as the work of certain prominent communitarian theorists, to critique a contemporary individualist view of human flourishing.
Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

This interdisciplinary dissertation describes the pedagogy of Ignatius of Loyola (e.g., a Jesuit education is world-affirming, assists in the total formation of each individual within the human community) and examines its import for public schools. Chapter 1 establishes the research context within the historical landscape of Ignatian Pedagogy, with the dissertation question: Could the pedagogical philosophy of the Jesuit founder, Ignatius of Loyola, be used to apply and create a similar program/system of character formation in the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) schools. Character Formation is explained as the way youth are formed as whole persons to be in relationship with self and others, as active participants in a world where their flourishing is emphasized and their ability to be critical, reflective, and self-directed is enhanced by their psycho-social-environmental well-being. Chapter 2 presents a literature review to examine Ignatius of Loyola’s ideas about character formation. Chapter 3 continues the literature review, addressing concerns about the meeting of faith and education in public schools, this is done through the lens of feminist theology and pedagogy. Chapter 4 describes the strategy of program review of the Loyola Academy Encore Program of Character Formation that I employed to develop and form students’ character at the Jesuit-sponsored Loyola Nativity School in St. Louis, Missouri. Chapter 5 examines a pilot study completed at one of my schools, 30Q151, the Mary D. Carter school, which tracked five special education students’ placement from a Most Restrictive Environment to a Least Restrictive Environment, in order to build their self-esteem and form their character. Chapter 6 discusses findings and implications for the NYC DOE if it were to consider developing a universal program of character formation based on the programs in place at Jesuit-sponsored schools. Chapter 7 presents a theological-philosophical framework grounded in literature for creating the Beloved Community (e.g., King, Gandhi, Freire), my statement for and about how human beings flourish, e.g., ascending towards a rationalization for why public and private schools need programs of character formation in the 21st century.

Esta Dissertação foi elaborada enquanto requisito parcial para a obtenção do grau de Mestre em Desenvolvimento, Diversidades Locais e Desafios Mundiais – Análise e Gestão. O objectivo desta investigação consiste na compreensão da pertinência e contributo dos Indicadores de Florescimento Humano e da sua relação com o Empowerment para as novas perspectivas de Desenvolvimento. Neste sentido, o estudo é modelado por um quadro conceptual em torno das teorias do Bem-estar Subjectivo, Saúde Mental e Florescimento Humano, do Empowerment e das novas perspectivas de Desenvolvimento. Para o efeito o trabalho apresenta as principais conclusões de revisões a estratégias de Empowerment e os resultados da análise estatística à amostra portuguesa do European Social Survey, Round 3. O modelo de análise seguiu como referência a definição operacional de Florescimento Humano proposta por F. Huppert e T. So e os elementos-chave do Empowerment propostos pelo Banco Mundial. O trabalho de pesquisa apoiado na análise documental e estatística, confirmou que estes indicadores constituem uma ferramenta de análise da realidade social relevante no âmbito do Desenvolvimento e que existem relações significativas entre Florescimento Humano e Empowerment. Sugerindo a pertinência de se empreender novas investigações com vista ao entendimento aprofundado destas relações e dos seus significados para as novas perspectivas do Desenvolvimento.
This dissertation was written in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Master in Development, Diversity and Global Challenges Local - Analysis and Management. The aim of this research is to understand the relevance and contribution of the indicators of Human Flourishing and its relationship with Empowerment for the new perspectives of Development. In this sense, the study is shaped by a conceptual framework around the theories of Subjective Well-being, Mental Health and Human Flourishing, Empowerment and new perspectives of Development. For this purpose, the paper presents the main findings of the review to the Empowerment strategies and the results of statistical analysis to the Portuguese sample of the European Social Survey, Round 3. The analysis model followed as a reference the operational definition of Human Flourishing proposed by F. Huppert and T. So and the key elements of Empowerment proposed by the World Bank. The research work, supported by documentary and statistical analysis, confirmed that these indicators are a relevant tool of social analysis in the Development studies and that there are significant relationships between Human Flourishing and Empowerment. Suggesting the desirability of undertaking further research aimed at deeper understanding of these relationships and their meanings for the new prospects of Development.