Global social, ecological and economic crises are contributing to the need for meaningfulness in different spheres of life, including work, as an increasing concern to employees. However, the current understanding of meaningfulness is bound by its normativity and thus does not meet the uncertainty present in today’s work. We utilize the Levinasian concept of “the Other” to provide a non-normative conceptualization of meaningfulness in the context of corporate volunteering (CV) and empirically explore work meaningfulness in CV projects in Poland and (...) Finland. We find work meaningfulness to arise from proximity to the Other and the otherness of the Other. Our study contributes to the discussion on meaningful work in the fields of business ethics and management studies through a non-normative reconceptualization of meaningfulness. (shrink)

Textbooks have played the leading role in academic education for centuries and their form has evolved, adapting to the needs of students, teachers and technological possibilities. Advances in technology have caused educators to look for new sources of knowledge development, which students could use inside and outside the classroom. Today’s sophisticated learning tools range from virtual environments to interactive multimedia resources, which can be called e-textbooks. Different types of new educational materials that go beyond printed books are now used to (...) support the academic curriculum, with the most interesting ones exemplified in this article to show their value in medical and life sciences education. Certain interesting attempts by Polish publishers at applying technology to support both self-paced and tutor-paced student learning in the medical profession and related areas are presented. The data was collected through a review of literature, discussions with e-learning specialists and medical students, as well as an analysis of examples of good practices. The article also discusses the results of a countrywide survey on the use of e-textbooks to enhance medical education. The research investigates the targeted academic staff’s attitudes towards the use of e-textbooks, the limitations of their implementation, and the character of e-resources currently used by Polish higher education medical institutions. (shrink)

One way of showing respect for human dignity is providing people with a suitable level of income security. This respect can be manifested by establishing a certain financial minimum that will allow people to function independently in society and use the opportunities offered by civilisation. The awareness of the above gives special meaning to the level of incomes obtained by the elderly. The fact that pensions are the primary resource for the population to meet its financial needs makes the pension (...) insurance solutions particularly important, especially the formula used for calculating the amount of a future pension. Its final amount will affect the pensioner’s standard of living, enabling them to enjoy the same quality of life they had in the period of economic activity or gradually causing impoverishment. The levels of future pensions depend on factors related to the systemic solutions, but pensioner’s personal characteristics also exert strong influence on their amounts. With the responsibility for having decent incomes after retirement being transferred to the insured themselves, it has become necessary to promote pension awareness (the knowledge of how the new system works) that translates into pension prudence prompting people to reduce voluntarily their current consumption in favour of future consumption. The public need to understand that the income replacement rate will be high only for few of the insured persons, i.e. those boasting high earnings and long, unbroken periods of economic activity. People with poorer records of economic activity will draw lower pensions that will not always allow them to live decent lives after retirement. (shrink)

Projections for replacement rate achievable from two mandatory pillars of the pension system indicate a significant reduction in retirement income compared to regular professional activity. The designers of the new philosophy of retirement have made an assumption that all three pillars will play equivalent role in providing retirement income. They have also assumed that the participants of the pension system will be kept informed about the height of the expected benefits derived from the first pillar and the amount of funds (...) raised in the second pillar. Forecast of low (unsatisfactory) benefits from a compulsory part of the system is supposed to persuade people to make informed decisions aimed at increasing retirement income. (shrink)

The subject matter of the study is an analysis of the social consequences of increasing the retirement age of women up to 67 years. The discussion on the change in the retirement age is usually focused on its economic and financial aspects, hence a deeper scientific analysis is needed in relation to the social repercussions of this operation. The main subjects of the study are as follows: maintenance of equality tendencies in relation to the principles of social justice, changes in (...) the social structure manifested especially on the labour market, social expectations as to employment security for those approaching retirement and development of flexible forms of working, development of incentives encouraging employers to keep current staff or hire new employees of older age, and changes in social roles. (shrink)

The article presents an analysis of the position taken by Lenin with respect to revolutionary violence applied by the Russian proletariat in their struggle for obtaining and keeping political power. The analysis is introduced by reflections concerning the ethical content of Lenin’s works, a general localization of the problem of violence against the background of various types of relationships between morals and politics and by presentation of Lenin’s classification and moral evaluation of wars, since socialist revolution is a particular kind (...) of war. (shrink)

The article, which is a fragment of a larger whole, presents the typical traits of the moral attitudes among the prisoners at the Concentration Camp in Auschwitz. The source on which the present reconstruction of the picture of the camp morality is based is the published memoirs of Polish prisoners of that camp.

В кінці 2000 р. була заснована Асоціація литовських, українсь­ких істориків. Організова­ний Асоціацією цикл конференцій Чин Святого Василія Великого став важливим стимулом для формування нових центрів україністики, крім вже існуючих: діюча у Вільнюсі парафія Пре­святої Трійці ; Громада українців м.Вільнюса. Такими центрами укра­їністики, що прославляють отців василіян, стали середня школа м. Базильонай, католицька середня школа “Аушра” м.Рєтавас і “Садиба Рейніса” в м.Скапішкіс. Вищезгадані містечка розташовані на різній відстані від Вільнюса: Базильонай - 208 км; Рєтавас - 242 км; Скапішкіс - 162 км. (...) Містечка знаходяться в різних місцевостях Литви: Базильонай - в північній частині Литви; Рєтавас - в Жємайтії; Скапішкіс - в Східній частині Литви. (shrink)

Epistemology, confronted with a rapid development of individual branches of science, has been pressed to establish its own status and position as well as to define its relation with science. The multiple perspectives on this issue can be grouped into two major positions: integrism (postulates a close co-existence between epistemology and science) and separatism (argues in favour of a full independence of science and epistemology).In the paper I analyse the two views and try to prove that the debate between integrism (...) and separatism cannot be resolved, as the two approaches belong to different and incompatible philosophical traditions: analytical and transcendental. In the article these issues are examined, and arguments in favour of the separatist view are offered. It is argued for the clear separation of epistemology from science. (shrink)

Spór między antropologią naturalistyczną a antynaturalistyczną, w którym każda partia usiłuje wyjaśnić osobliwość człowieka wychodząc z opozycji natura - kultura (człowiek jako byt do natury sprowadzony albo naturze przeciwstawny) jest zasadniczo nierozwiązywalny. Kulturalizm (stanowisko autorki) zakłada realność bytu jako pewnej całości, tzn. realność społeczno-historycznej obiektywności, w której opozycja miedzy naturą a kulturą zostaje zniesiona.

Dialectical contradictions influence organizational processes in distinct ways and create a unique dynamics in terms of leadership process in entrepreneurialorganizations. We integrate research from charismatic, transformational, and organizational literature, as well as entrepreneurship literature, to create a generalized model of entrepreneurial leadership that is descriptively robust and conceptually distinct from existing concepts. We focus specifically on visionary, transformational, and motivational contradictions of entrepreneurial leadership and conclude by discussing the implications of organizational reconciliation of these three contradictions for leadership research and (...) practice. (shrink)

Les sœurs Papin, auteures d’un fait divers tragique qui a sidéré la France en 1933, ont inspiré, voire fasciné, hommes de lettres, cinéastes, psychanalystes. Christine et Léa Papin seraient dépositaires des traumatismes familiaux inter et transgénérationnels non transformés et clivés. Séparées dans la petite enfance, placées par leur mère comme domestiques chez la famille Lancelin, elles reproduiraient entre elles le lien d’interdépendance symbiotique instaurée auparavant avec elle. Le retour du vécu traumatique clivé et l’ébranlement de la symbiose consécutif à la (...) rupture d’avec celle-ci seraient à l’origine du passage à l’acte criminel sauvage perpétré par les sœurs sur leurs patronnes. (shrink)

The article is an attempt to place Czesław Miłosz in the tradition of Gnosticism and Manichaeism, to recall the Nobel Prize winner’s literary fascinations which have especially influenced his poetry, as well as to show a possible way of interpretation of his works. The starting point for further discussion is the question posed by the Rev Józef Sadzik in Wstęp (the Preface) to Ziemia Ulro (The Land of Ulro): “co stało się z kulturą europejską w jej «romantycznym przesileniu»” (What has (...) become of European culture at the time of its «Romantic turning-point»), when, generally speaking, the spiritual and material elements separated? In the time when western civilization openly turned against its Christian roots, each artist connected with this cultural tradition was made to make choices. At that time Miłosz took to analysing the motif of unde malum (Where does evil come from?) and had a number of lectures on Dostojewski at the University of California. This led him to the philosophy of Mani, who is widely regarded as the founder of Manichaeism. A volume of poems with the title Hymn o Perle (A Hymn to the Pearl), published by Miłosz in 1982, which, as the poet explains, directly alludes to the apocrypha of Gnostic origin, seems to support this supposition. The next stage consisted in the fusion of the two threads, that is to say, the Manichaean and the Gnostic motifs. The poet finds elements of Manichaeism and gnosis in works by Emanuel Swedenborg, William Blake, Adam Mickiewicz and his relative Oskar Miłosz. Czesław Miłosz seems to me to be the next link in the chain of the same philosophical and religions movement. (shrink)

Background:Women's health has received renewed attention in the last few years including health rehabilitation options for women affected by breast cancer. Dancing has often been regarded as one attractive option for supporting women's well-being and health, but research with women recovering from breast cancer is still in its infancy. Dancing with Health is multi-site pilot study that aimed to evaluate a dance programme for women in recovery from breast cancer across five European countries.Methods:A standardized 32 h dance protocol introduced a (...) range of Latin American dances presented within a sports and exercise framework with influences from dance movement therapy. Fifty-four women (M age 53.51; SD 7.99) participated in the study who had a breast cancer diagnosis 6 weeks, no indication of metastasis, or scheduled surgery/chemotherapy/radiation treatment for the duration of the intervention. Primary outcome data was collected for anthropometric and fitness measures next to cancer-related quality of life.T-tests and Wilcoxon signed ranked tests were used to establish differences pre and post intervention. Cohen's d was also calculated to determine the effect size of the intervention.Results:Statistically significant changes were found for: (i) weight, right and left forearm circumference and hip; (ii) 6 min walking, right and left handgrip, sit-to-stand and sit-and-reach; (iii) the EORTC-QLQ C30 summary score as well as the subscales of emotional and social functioning and symptoms. In all cases the direction of change was positive, while Cohen's d calculated showed that the effect of the intervention for these parameters ranged from intermediate to large.Conclusion:Changes on the above anthropometric, fitness and quality of life measures suggest that the intervention was of value to the participating women recovering from breast cancer. Results also advocate collaborative efforts across countries to further research. (shrink)

Caroline New is an energetic activist who has interpolated critical realist ideas into the front-line of political activism. In this wide-ranging interview, she begins by reflecting on her life and how she became a realist and her account is illustrated with personal anecdotes recalling memories of well-known philosophers and activists from the time. She discusses how her position set her apart from other feminists and she examines the interacting threads of longstanding debates on the political left, as well as longstanding (...) debates within critical realist circles, such as the relative importance of quantitative methods in social research and the scope for agency as a source of intentional change. Finally she brings some of her ideas to bear on contemporary issues. This engaging interview notably provides some of the social context in which critical realism developed, while also pointing towards its future potential. (shrink)

When a normative moral theory collides with our beliefs, we must change either our beliefs or our theory. It is not always clear which we should change; but it is clear that we must change something. I shall consider two collisions between utilitarianism and what we believe, or are supposed to believe. About the first collision, I am going to say that the belief is false and that therefore there is no call to change utilitarianism. About the second, I am (...) going to say that if the belief is true, utilitarianism cannot be changed to accommodate it; I shall leave it open, though, whether the belief is true. The two collisions are related, though different. They both concern the utilitarian thesis about self-sacrifice. (shrink)

This paper reports the findings of a case study of recent IACR conferences where subtle, but significant, gender differences in conference participation were observed. It goes on to use notions of gender order, agency and structure, styles and genres to explain the key causal factors that generate these differences. It concludes with some suggestions about how these gender differences could be minimised in future conferences.

Wherever a government or state is concerned with the welfare of its citizens, there will probably also exist policies which compel the individual citizen to undertake or abstain from activities which affect that citizen alone. The set of theories behind such policies is collectively known as ‘paternalism’. It is not hard to understand why this term has developed strong pejorative overtones. Policies of this type appear to offend a fundamental tenet of liberal societies: namely, that the individual is best placed (...) to know what is in his or her interests. Paternalistic policies imply, and are concerned with correcting, failures of precisely this kind of judgement. And yet, at the same time, there is a popular consensus that compelling people to wear a seat belt when driving a car is a reasonable restriction of personal liberty. Paternalism may be difficult to accept in principle, but it is equally difficult to avoid in practice. Not surprisingly, the literature reveals a long heritage of debate in a wide range of academic disciplines. This debate reveals a failure to make progress in two areas in particular. First, analyses of paternalism often confuse policies which are actually concerned with correcting failures of market exchange — in particular, those concerned with insufficient or imperfect information — with those which are genuinely paternalistic. One objective of this paper will be to clarify the difference between these two kinds of policy. (shrink)