El cuidado esencial. Ética de lo humano, Compasión por la Tierra

by Leonardo Boff

Leonardo Boff reivindica en estas páginas al sujeto como ser participante en la gran casa común, la Tierra, la cual está retornando de su largo exilio para encontrarse a sí misma como planeta Tierra unificado. Y en la Madre Tierra el ser humano, como huésped, ha de asumir el 'ethos' en su sentido originario, como «aquella porción del mundo que reservamos para organizar, cuidar y hacer nuestro hábitat». Por lo tanto, hay que recuperar el cuidado como 'ethos' fundamental de lo humano, el «cuidado como modo-de-ser esencial».

Genres: Theology

164 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Leonardo Boff, born as Genézio Darci Boff, in Concórdia, Santa Catarina, Brazil, on the December 14, 1938. He is the grandson of Italian immigrants from the region of Veneto who came to Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in the final part of the nineteenth century. He received his primary and secondary education in Concórdia - Santa Catarina, Rio Negro - Paraná, and Agudos - São Paulo. He studied Philosophy in Curitiba - Paraná and Theology in Petrópolis - Rio de Janeiro. He joined the Order of the Franciscan Friars Minor in 1959 and received his doctorate in Philosophy and Theology from the University of Munich - Germany, in 1970.
For 22 years he was the professor of Systematic and Ecumenical Theology at the Franciscan Theological Institute in Petrópolis. He has served as a professor of Theology and Spirituality in various centers of higher learning and universities in Brazil and the rest of the world, in addition to being a visiting professor at the universities of Lisbon (Portugal), Salamanca (Spain), Harvard (United States), Basel (Switzerland), and Heidelberg (Germany).
He was present in the first reflections that sought to articulate indignance toward misery and marginalization with discourse, which later generated the Christian faith known as Liberation Theology. He has always been an ardent of the Human Rights cause, helping to formulate a new, Latin American perspective on Human Rights with, “Rights to Life and the ways to maintain them with dignity.”
He has received honorary doctorates, in Politics from the University of Turin (Italy) and in Theology for the University of Lund (Sweden). He has also been honored with various awards, within Brazil and the rest of the world, for his struggles on behalf of the weak, the oppressed and marginalized, and Human Rights.
From 1970 until 1985 he participated in the editorial council of Editora Vozes. During this time he participated in the coordination and publication of the collection, “Theology and Liberation” and the entire edition of the works of C. G. Jung. He was Editor-in-chief of “Revista Eclesiástica Brasileira” from 1970 to 1984, of “Revista de Cultura Vozes” from 1984 to 1992, and of “Revista Internacional Concilium” from 1970 to 1995.
In 1984, he was submitted to a process by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, former Holy Office, in the Vatican. This was due to his theses linked to liberation theology exposed in his book "Church: Charism and Power. In 1985 he was condemned to “obsequious silence” and was removed from his editorial functions and suspended from religious duties. Due to international pressure on the Vatican, the decision was repealed in 1986, allowing him to return to some of his previous activities.
In 1992, under renewed threats of a second punitive action by authorities in Rome, he renounced his activities as a priest and ‘promoted himself the state of laity.’ “I changed trenches to continue the same fight.” He continues as a liberation theologian, writer, professor, widely hear conference speaker in Brazil among other countries, also as an adviser of social movements of liberating popular matrix, as the Landless Movement and the Base Ecclesial Communities (CEBs), between others.
In 1993 he was selected as professor of Ethics, Philosophy of Religion and Ecology at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ).
On December 8, 2001 he was honored with the alternative Nobel prize, “Right Livelihood Award” in Stockholm, Sweden.
He presently lives in Jardim Araras, an ecological wilderness area on the municipality of Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro. He shares his life and dreams with the defender/educator of Human Rights from a new ecological paradigm, Marcia Maria Monteiro de Miranda. He has also become the “father by affinity” of a daughter and five sons, sharing the joys and sorrows of responsible parenthood. He lives, accompanies and recreates the unfolding of life in the “grandkids” Marina, Eduardo and Maira.

Reviews

[Carla Garduño · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sí nos hace falta una brújula espiritual que tenga como norte el cuidado

[Josefa_vbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Está interesante, pensando que lo último que he leído son novelas.
Leonardo Boff es teólogo y sacerdote católico. El libro en si no se refiere directamente a la religión. Diría que es un ensayo, en el que plantea varios puntos de vista como, el pensar en una nueva filosofia «holística, ecológica y espiritual» que permita a los seres humanos sentirse parte de la Tierra y todo lo que esté fuera de ella (universo) además cuestionar nuestro propósito divino (si es que tienes uno) por medio del "cuidado como ser esencial" o ethos fundamental.
A causa de tantas crisis la civilización debe volver a lo esencial, es decir 🌈 el cuidado 🌈 Ya que, es la fuerza vital de cualquier ser humano (entiéndase el cuidado en el amplio sentido de la palabra). Implica la pasión por «aquella porción del mundo que reservamos para organizar, cuidar y hacer nuestro habitat».
El cuidado es definido desde varios sentidos. El primero es el cuidado como solicitud, desvelo, atención, diligencia, demostrando una importancia del otro. Un segundo sentido, derivado del anterior, denota preocupación, desasosiego, incluso sobresalto por el otro. Corresponde a una dimensión más afectiva del cuidado y está ligado a la persona amada y con aquellos con quienes se comparten sentimientos de amor. “El cuidado hace del otro una realidad preciosa”, afirma Boff (19). Se nos presenta un tercer sentido de cuidado, como “el conjunto de dispositivos de apoyo y protección sin los cuales el ser humano no vive” (19). El autor sigue enriqueciendo el concepto con un cuarto sentido: el cuidado como precaución y prevención (21).

A quien le interese la eco-psicología, este libro es un buen comienzo para comprender los fundamentos.

[Juan Fernando Acosta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dejando de lado algunos de los axiomas más endebles, ya sea por sus presuposiciones de la existencia de dios o generalizaciones apresuradas, la propuesta ética es bastante interesante.
Tomar el cuidado como vector, es de lo más interesante y permite contrastar otras propuestas éticas como la ética utilitarista.
Aun así, siento que no es una propuesta completa, sino que se siente como una tesis incompleta, aunque muy interesante en ciertos momentos.