Laura Menatti: Salutogenesis and salutogenic environments – new philosophical perspectives to understand the relationship between health and environment

Tuesday 24 February 2026 @11:30 (CET)
Sala B, Edificio de Humanidades, UNED & online

Abstract
Research in medicine is increasingly calling for the importance of the environment and climate change issues. I propose to better analyse the ecological dimension of health in current medicine through the salutogenic approach, first introduced by Aaron Antonovsky (1979; 1987; 1996), and adapt it to the health-environment coupling and contemporary healthcare scenario. This paper is among the first to systematize philosophical research on salutogenesis, explaining what salutogenesis is, its epistemological implications, and the challenges it poses for health concept and care management.

I introduce the notion of salutogenic environments to the environment-health coupling as to: (1) underline the positive and preventive aspects of the environment as related to health; (2) clarify the opposition between the pathogenic and salutogenic aspects of the environment. After a historical and theoretical introduction to salutogenesis and pathogenesis, I analyse the role of salutogenic environments by focusing on their application to medical theory and healthcare. Both salutogenesis and salutogenic environments are innovative tools to face the current health and environmental crisis.

Bio
Specialized in environmental philosophy, landscape epistemology, and philosophy of medicine, I have developed a theoretical and practical framework for analyzing the concept of environment and its impact on health, at the intersection of philosophy, cognitive science, and architecture. My interdisciplinary trajectory has unfolded across departments of medicine, architecture, philosophy, and science in Spain, Chile, Italy, France, the United States, and Austria, with recent postdoctoral fellowships at the KLI (Austria, 2022–2024), the Center for Philosophy of Science (Pittsburgh, 2022), and the IHPST Paris 1 Sorbonne (2025, currently as an associate researcher). Holding two PhDs in philosophy (University of Pavia 2010; University of the Basque Country 2014) and an HDR from Paris 1 Sorbonne (2025), I have published in leading journals such as Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Frontiers in Psychology, and Biology & Philosophy, complementing my research with international teaching activities.