Political wisdom, judgement or genius do not stem from the spirit of science and is not the upshot of theoretical generalizations or learning. There is of course “political science” and “political philosophy” but politicians can properly act without them because it is neither the discovery of laws or generalizations in the field of politics nor “knowledge about political things” but “political sense” that is crucial for his actions. As Isaiah Berlin put it years ago: “What makes statesmen, like drivers of cars, successful is that they do not think in general terms – that is, they do not primarily ask themselves in what respect a given situation is like or unlike other situations in the long course of human history (which is what historical sociologists, or theologians in historical clothing, such as Vico or Toynbee, are fond of doing). Their merit is that they grasp the unique combination of characteristics that constitute this particular situation – this and no other. What they are said to be able to do is to understand the character of particular movement, of a particular individual, of a unique state of affairs, of unique atmosphere, of some particular combination of economic, political, personal factors; and we do not readily suppose that this capacity can literally be taught”. Therefore politics is not a quest for “general terms” or general features of political phenomena but a direct and individual insight into concrete reality. Being a politician takes not learning but talent, not expertise but intuition, not knowledge but sense; it takes looking not at general but the particular dimension of human actions. Politicians can be taunted for their posture as Napoleon, they can be uneducated as farmer George Washington or act against morality as Cardinal Richelieu but frankly speaking all these vices are unimportant in the political realm.

A serious disease of the contemporary world is a state of “the loss of being”. We started to see redundance of metaphysics as a result of reduction of reality to a physical dimension that had been made by positivism. There was no place for scientific discipline which subject had undergone destruction. Being was reduced to objects, to objectivity, to things which only appear to man. “is way we have lost the being, only objects have stayed, things which surrounded us (…) e true existence is confront with material existence.” The same vision of contemporary situation can be found among representatives of the “end of philosophy” discourse such as J.-F. Lyotard, G. Vattimo, O. Marquardt, R. Rorty, P. Laslett. 

Karol Wojtyla (1920–2005), later to become Pope John Paul II (since 1978), was one of the greatest contemporary thinkers. He was a Christian philosopher and Catholic theologian. His thought exerted an in! uence on diverse generations and representatives of many cultures, religions and nations. He was an authority not only for Catholics but also for many infidels and even atheists. He often made controversies because of His firm opinions. He was an aim of liberal as well as conservative critique. The liberals criticized Him due to His uncompromising and conservative attitude to female priesthood, homosexuality, contraception and abortion. The conservatives accused Him of apologizing and conciliatory tone of His voice in relationships with other religions, especially with Jews and Muslims. Because these parts of His thought became most controversial, they were and usually are commented on and analysed by world mass media. But few people found Him a leading contemporary theoretician of civilization despite the fact that He constructed a coherent theory of civilization that is unfortunately distracted in His numerous papers. And my article is dedicated to this theory. I would like to present the core of His civilization’s conception.

Goethe wrote: „Mankind walks steadily forward, but the person remains the same”. Customs as a normative tradition ways of behavior are the important social community and have the power to unwritten laws. Are primarily trans­mitted orally or by imitation, once established are very slow to change. The article discusses the problem of looking at the reality of the two opposite poles.

About existing and not existing referents of proper names – anthropocentrism in onomastics

In the article the author widely covers the problem of names’ reference, especially proper names. The phenomenon of reference is discussed on the basis of Ogden/Richards triangle, showing the tri-elemental relation between the symbol, the concept and the referent. The author is pointing out the practice of inaccurate use of terms in the scientific discourse of research into reference and he sorts it out in the terminology by showing the difference between, among others, the reference, the designation and the denotation. The author’s considerations are full of examples which illustrate the essence of these terms and their relations. From the conclusion about the symbol and the concept he moves to the description of reality whose elements are the nominated objects. The extra-linguistic reality in which objects – capable of becoming the referents of various expressions – occur is described in accord with Kantian anthropocentric philosophical thought.

The future by the past: The role of history in the concept of constitutional patriotism of Jürgen Habermas

The definition of patriotism is usually restricted to the conclusion that its aim is mere cultivation of the historical memory. However, patriotism has two distinct faces: one pointed at the past and the other focused on the present. What is more, in the opinion of many scholars, patriotism doesn’t need to be closely related to one nation or culture. An interesting concept of constitutional patriotism was developed by German historians and philosophers during the debate on national identity after World War II. Jürgen Habermas has been one of the founders of this project. According to the German philosopher, constitutional patriotism doesn’t mean just positivist constitutional acts, but some abstract forms, interpretations of a particular community. Such universal principles may be, for instance, procedures of sovereignty and liberal rights. The following article conveys arguments indicating that the role of history is very important in the concept of constitutional patriotism by Jürgen Habermas.

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.

LOGOS OF THE CROSS

The existential story of Edith Stein is characterized by the pursuit of truth and by placing herself at its service. Starting from the philosophical discourse she reaches the word of the cross, the Logos of the analogy that relates separate determinations. Going through the various stations of her Way of the Cross in order to achieve her union with the Beloved, Edith Stein realizes the commandment of love: donate life to “save” forever every existence.

The inspiration of this text is the belief of the Pythagoreans that the roots and source of complete knowledge is the quadruple expressed in the “arch-four”, also called as tetractys. Hence the hypothesis considered in this paper is: the basis of the philosophy of social sciences is entangled in these four valours, manifested in what is “general and necessary” (scientific) in social life, the first and universal as to the “principles and causes” of this life (theoretically philosophical) and “which can be different in it” (practically philosophical) and “intuitive”. The quadruple appears with different clarity in the history of human thought, which seeks clarification and understanding of the things being cognised, including such a thing as society. It is exposed in the oath of the Pythagoreans, the writings of Plato and Aristotle, who applied these four valours, among other things, in distinguishing the four types of knowledge and learning about the first four causes and principles. This fourfold division seems to be experiencing a renaissance in contemporary theological-cognitive holism and can be treated as an expressive, a “hard core”, and the basis of research not only of social but mainly of global society as a social system. This entanglement of the foundations of the philosophy of the social sciences leads to the suggestion of defining this philosophy as the knowledge of social being composed of “what is general and necessary” (scientific), genetically first, universal (theoretically philosophical) and “being able to be different” (philosophically practical) and intuitive.

Philosophical traditions impact on social policy: Comparing Poland and the United States

Healthcare policies for people with developmental disabilities (PWDD) in both the United States of America and the Republic of Poland have evolved from socially conservative to liberal philosophies. One area that illustrates this process is the rise and fall of institutionalization. During the 18th and 19th Centuries, American families with PWDD were encouraged to relinquish the identified family member to state-run institutions, as early as diagnoses were made, in order to reduce burdens on the family and society. The charity model as understood in Judeo-Christian tradition in which sacrifice was emphasized and Greco-Roman tradition which advocated for more intelligent men to rule over others for the greater good of all will be explored. Industrialization, World War II (WWII) and the American Civil Rights Movement of the 20th Century all prompted new policies toward care for PWDD. Since the Civil Rights Movement, census numbers at state-run institutions for PWDD have been declining regularly. This movement finds validation in the liberalism of modern American philosophers. Poland has followed a similar path in a general, yet truncated way. As a Soviet satellite following WWII, Poland was compelled to adopt Soviet Union traditions toward PWDD. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, Poland established policies enshrined in American and European law, such as person-centered care for PWDD. Both countries have dedicated national funds for supporting PWDD, such as America’s Medicaid and Poland’s National Disability Fund. As Poland and the United States continue to integrate services into more inclusive societies, national healthcare initiatives remain viable based on comparative studies. Quality of life indicators are offered in support of this deinstitutionalized, person-centered model.

Whoever reflects upon the development and reasoning of pedagogical thoughts and actions faces the problematic subject. ‘The’ subject seems to figure as the basis of it all. Whilst all other key terms and categories are constantly open to negotiation, the ‘subject’ presents itself as self-evident rather than as an entity to be argued at length. Yet, some questions remain unanswered. Why is this the case? Furthermore, what kind of subject do we refer to? In this article the central issues concerning ‘The Subject and Pedagogy’1) as well as first findings of this ongoing research by the author are being discussed. The main focus is not on the results. What is of crucial importance with regard to the following text are the allusions to the apories which accompany any paradigm of the subject. This holds true of every single stage: the subject of philosophy, the subject of pedagogy and the pedagogues’ subject.

The article describes the importance of philosophy and philosophical anthropology for the development and transformation of educational science. It clarifies the process of forming of man within a historical-cultural and social context, the theory of man and theory of man’s picture and it also clarifies the educational theory and praxis. In the second and third part the author talks about changes of specific models of education according to the European tradition and on the other hand she also talks about the essence of education which is permanent and constant. At the end of the paper the author specifies five bases of the contemporary model of education in an integrating Europe.

“[…] A country of dreams and romantic emotions, fabulous wealth and incredible poverty” – civilization, religion and philosophy of India

Article “[…] A country of dreams and romantic emotions, fabulous wealth and incredible poverty” – civilization, religion and philosophy of India, depicts the rich history of Indian civilization over the centuries. The article discusses the most important issues in philosophy, religion and culture that have changed the face of today’s India over the centuries.