Essere padre nella società complessa. La cura come dimensione dell’esistere

Abstract

In today’s complex society the nucleus of the original family, unlike tradition, is no longer a certain and immutable person, since family upbringing today is uncertain and provisional. This is because the twentieth and the twenty-first century have distinguished themselves for some significant changes that have affected both society and educational contexts. In this sense, especially the Western world has witnessed the growing presence of mixed couples, immigrant families and a redefinition of the paternal role in terms of involvement in childcare. The scientific studies on this issue, in fact, have pushed to reflect on how the concept of paternity has evolved over time expressing the changes in society and cultural systems. Scientific reflections in the psychological field, on the other hand, have demonstrated the fundamental importance of the paternal presence in the contexts of care and upbringing of children. This is why, in an historical moment of intense changes, paternal love could be like that dimension of openness to the world and to the other without losing sight of the need to carry forward, as a value horizon, even the rules of moral education, fundamental place for the realization of a democratic citizenship. The contemporary paternal identity would thus be able to embrace both the dimension of ‘authoritativeness’ which, as Horkheimer affirmed, is never a univocal concept, or the traits of tenderness, affectivity, care, fundamental educational dimensions, able to direct the young towards a right balance between the openness to the things of the world and the inhabitation of today’s society.