Il posto del cuore. Riflessioni sull'affettività umana e sulla tenerezza = The place of the heart. Reflections on human affectivity and tenderness

Abstract

Starting from Dietrich von Hildebrand's reflections on love and affectivity, we aim in this text to focus on the meaning and value of a privileged place for affectivity that is the heart. Specifically, his analyses motivate a clear and articulate interaction between affectivity, reason and will, in an anthropological vision that sees in these three planes those potentialities of the human that only through a conscious decision to interact and integrate can truly flourish. From the point of view of tender affectivity, tenderness is of interest, due to its scarce consideration in the philosophical sphere, as a specific feeling that expresses the empathic capacity of the human being to recognise the experience of others, especially in their condition of fragility, and move towards them. In this sense, the study of tender affectivity thus expressed offers itself as a field of analysis still to be explored in depth for its rethinking and a multi-dimensional understanding of the human.