In Russian-Polish relations there were periods of improvement and deterioration, UPS and downs, due to both historical reasons and internal political changes and the influence of external factors. In these difficult political circumstances, the sphere of culture, education and science have always served as a reserve and a platform for maintaining contacts between the two countries. Of special importance are regular meetings of experts in international Affairs to discuss topical and theoretical problems of world politics and bilateral relations between Russia and Poland.

STARTING FROM HANS-GEORG GADAMER. THE “KOINÉ” AND THE BRIDGE BETWEEN TWO CULTURES

The following contribution starts out going through the pages where Hans Georg Gadamer recalls his early youth and his first university studies in Breslavia. In those pages Gadamer emphasizes more than once a particular “foundational” exigence, the need “to throw a bridge”, to articulate in new terms the dialogue between humanistic tradition and positive sciences. That fundamental exigence “to throw a bridge” of a new relationship with scientific knowledge is one of the essential features of contemporary hermeneutics. Italy was the first country to publish the first translation of Gadamer’s main work, Wahrheit und Methode. And in Italy alone, in last year’s philosophical debate around the hermeneutic koiné finds in the relationship with science (natural sciences, scientific knowledge) as it has been interpreted by hermeneutics so far, and in the exigency to finally reformulate that relationship in less “aesthetical-metaphysical” terms, the place where hermeneutics may recognize its own nihilistic sense: to correspond to the becoming (flowing) of nihilism, that is of modernity, means first of all to mark the distance from the attitudes that hermeneutic philosophers have so far had with regard to the positive sciences.

W ostatnich dekadach termin „dialog”, jako kategoria komunikacyjna, jest używany bardzo często; rzec można, że nadużywany. Wraz z intensyfikacją procesów migracji i upowszechnianiem się zjawiska wielokulturowości ugruntowuje się przekonanie o jego ważności i niezbędności. Owo powszechne użycie dialogu sprawia, że zatraca on swoją pojęciową ostrość i znaczeniową precyzję. Używany przez wszystkich, wszędzie i na każdą okoliczność coraz częściej staje się synonimem zwykłej rozmowy, a nawet kłótni. Uznano zatem za właściwe poszukiwanie na gruncie filozofii spotkania ram organizujących strukturę dialogu i warunków, które winny być spełnione, by zgodnie z wolą Martina Bubera mówić o dialogu autentycznym. W tekście starano się wykazać, jak istotna w dialogicznym kontakcie z Innym jest postawa etyczna, rozumiana jako źródłowy fundament porozumienia z drugim człowiekiem. Dialog jest ukazany jako forma trudna i wymagająca, a jednocześnie możliwa i konieczna.

W artykule przedstawiono koncepcję twórczych orientacji życiowych Agaty Cudowskiej, opisano podjęte przez autorkę badania w tym zakresie, ze szczególnym zaakcentowaniem walorów ostatniej monografii dotyczącej tej problematyki. Zwrócono uwagę na potrzebę rozwijania twórczego stylu życia zwłaszcza w kontekście przemian społeczno-kulturowych. Twórcze ustosunkowanie do świata stanowi wartość samą w sobie, staje się „kołem ratunkowym” przed poczuciem bezsensu życia, daje podstawy do otwartości na spotkanie i dialog z drugim człowiekiem, jest koniecznym warunkiem w procesie konstruowania własnej tożsamości.

Youth councils and their participation on the decision-making process on a local level in Poland

Youth Councils in Poland have been operating since 2001. According to the Act on commune self-government, these councils are consultative entities whose purpose is, inter alia, giving opinions on normative acts issued by local government bodies. The article presents the results of research carried out as part of the project ‘From dialogue to deliberation. Non-public entities as (not) present participant in the local decision-making process’. The research covered Youth Councils and the participation of these entities in the decision-making process at the local level in Poland.

Nowadays, there is a growing need for reflection on the role of drama therapy workshops because of an immense interest in art therapy in general in social or psycho-pedagogical work aimed to support the development of social abilities, in particular communications skills. Therapeutic aspects of art are connected with its impact on psyche, and thus the intensification of specific cognitive, emotional and motivational processes. This paper emphasises personal growth of the participant in relation with a group. In workshop activities, especially during improvisation, the ability to undertake and strengthen positive relations is developing. Reorganization and integration of participants’ attitudes, resulting in better interpersonal relationships, are shown to occur during drama therapy workshops. New attitudes or acquired skills may become for many of them an encouragement to further explorations, an indication of a framework for increased engagement in social interactions.

Richard Rorty postulates that we relinquish relying on the “Platonic” idea of something common to us all, something uniting us with others, and cease the search for both universal justifications and truths. Rorty fears, and backs his fears with examples from history, that referring to something uniting us may serve those who shall state that there is some right, true model of living, of collective cooperation, and that only one form of social and political organization is right for us. Because if there is a truth about human beings, about relations with others, then in accordance with the traditional way of thinking, we should act on it, and any opposing action, freethinking, should not take place. Each and every human being should act according to fixed – uncovered – standards, and those who disobey should be directed onto the right path. In short, one of Rorty’s firm beliefs is that the idea of human being, of truth, particular perspectives determine our choices – perhaps this is how Rorty’s intuition may be expressed within one sentence. But is such an opinion justified? In the hereby article I shall say it is not; whether we are universalists or constructivists, our choices may be of the same kind. At the same time, having the same metaphysical or constructivist beliefs, we may arrive at quite different choices.

The study tries to define the anthropology of dialogue as a specific way of thinking on human being; it grounds mainly in Tzvetan Todorov's findings. It comments basic theses of Buber, Levinas, Bachtin, Habermas and Todorov while underlining their mutual interpretability as well as similarity. Because of possible significance of this anthropological conception for professional teacher training, it recommends to reserve some space for the anthropology of dialogue in the area of the philosophy of education thus enabling it to come out of the shadow of more influential anthropological conceptions.

When they steal our words…

The paper addresses issues related to the growing social phenomenon that has disturbing consequences for practice – in this case, everyday academic life in Poland. It consists of the critical categories of contemporary humanities; its “first words” are given content very distant from their original, traditional meanings. The meanings of these categories are often reversed, given secondary meanings or even made meaningless. As a result, many words are used as empty labels, fashionable words intended to add dignity to the speaker. The article’s author, referring to the metaphor of “stealing” words, raises three specific issues. Firstly, it presents a register of “stolen” words, three of which are the subject of detailed analysis – evaluation, quality, and dialogue. The second issue is a detailed analysis of the mechanisms governing changes in the meanings assigned to each of these categories and the effects associated with using “stolen” words in the everyday life of academies and dormitories. Finally, the issue of the “perpetrators of the theft” was raised. The author claims that one of them is the “seventh enemy from the seventh world of the field” – an entity that creates the everyday life of academic life, regardless of its place in the university’s social hierarchy.

The article aims to investigate the system of the social market economy in Poland and Italy. It compares constitutional provisions, distinguishing national commonalities and discrepancies. They are the basis for the identification of the precepts common to all social market economies in Europe. The analysis concludes that combining economic rights with social interests is essential to establishing the social market economy.

The text is an attempt at an analysis of the multidimentional teacher-pupil relation, basing on principles of selected contemporary pedagogical trends. This basis constitutes the background for the reflection over dialogue as a tool and a method of counteracting the social marginalization of the youth.