The ethics of convergence and the philosophy of the everyday: Humanizing ourselves through responsibility, reflection, compassion and recognition of the other

Abstract

This paper outlines the intersecting and correlation between twoLatin American moral-philosophical proposals for today’s world. The firstarises from the publication of a book which pays tribute to the Argentineanphilosopher Ricardo Maliandi (Salas, 2010). The second is proposedby Chilean philosopher Humberto Giannini, reflected also a book tribute(Sanchez & Aguirre, 2011). This article suggests the two proposals as a contributionby Latin American philosophy to the philosophical world from theethics of dialogue, highlighting their similarities. The article uses their approachesto focus on the situation in Latin America, with its ethical, socialand political needs and problems; and we will join with the authors in proposingthe main features of a communicational ethic that will offer peoplea personal and collective life which is both more humanized and liveable:Responsibility, Reflection, Compassion and Recognition of the Other. Sinceboth these philosophical proposals suggest that education is one of the essentialvehicles for the social construction of today’s world, we will use themas a point of departure to propose educational models for the achievementof this kind of life in Latin American higher education. Finally, the articleproposes the concept of University Social Responsibility, enriched by thecontribution of these convergent, everyday ethics, which, if strengthened inuniversities, will enable them, as social organizations, to achieve such socialconstruction.