Man facing death. The interpretative paradigms from the ancient world to today THE INTERPRETATIVE PARADIGMS FROM THE ANCIENT WORLD TO TODAY

Abstract

The theme of death has undergone various forms and connotations over the years depending on the historical climate and the social contexts referred to. It is therefore impossible not to be able to think of death as a fact of a strictly social nature. Every man, in fact, as a socialized person, modifies his own patterns of thought and action on the basis of what are the traditions, customs and practices, practices and reference values ??of the society or group to which he belongs.

Before analyzing the individual and social consequences that the experience of death brings with it – and the pedagogical-educational implications implicit in it – it is, therefore, opportune to outline a historical-cultural frame of reference about the different perceptions and practices that have accompanied such an experience over the centuries.

In fact, within each culture, different interpretative paradigms of death and different ways in which man lives, processes and overcomes his suffering are traceable.

In this paper we intend to analyze how the different representations of death and pain, which have occurred over the centuries, have changed in reference to the dominant historical, social and cultural context (from the classical world to modernity) finally, through the presentation of a study conducted at a hospice in the Salento area, to identify the educational potential of the experience of pain and death.

 Education for death, in fact, constitutes an educational practice still little practiced in the Italian pedagogical landscape except in a restorative perspective. The aim of this work, therefore, will be to outline a different perspective, highlighting how such a painful experience has in itself an educational potential that translates, by making one's own experience of pain, in a tension towards improvement and existential redesign for each individual.