The Shared Landscape. Strategies for Ethical and Democratic Living

Abstract Living is placed within an environmental fabric consisting of infinite abiotic, biotic and cultural threads. Integrated living is required to be part of this fabric. Ethical living, characterised by knowledge, awareness and responsibility towards the landscape is the only way to protect the environment and enhance its biological and cultural wealth to effectively contribute to the fundamental quality of living and man’s well-being. Ethical living needs active participation shared by the inhabitants in the processes of protection, transformation and management of the landscape. In turn, such participation requires fostering by the ethics of living. In this study, from a phenomenological and hermeneutic viewpoint, I intend to highlight some fundamental structures of living to demonstrate that democratic participation is a determining factor in contributing to the realisation of integrated living, which is indispensable for respect of the landscape to promote quality of life and man’s well-being.