BackgroundIt is becoming increasingly apparent that the COVID-19 pandemic not only poses risks to physical health, but that it also might lead to a global mental health crisis, making the exploration of protective factors for mental well-being highly relevant. The present study seeks to investigate religious/spiritual well-being as a potential protective factor with regard to psychiatric symptom burden and addictive behavior.Materials and MethodsThe data was collected by conducting an online survey in the interim period between two national lockdowns with young (...) adults in Austria. The primary study variables were assessed through the Brief Symptom Inventory 18, the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test and the Multidimensional Inventory for Religious/Spiritual Well-Being short version, with its sub-dimensions Hope, Forgiveness, General Religiosity, and Connectedness.ResultsWe observed HO and FO as substantial negative predictors of psychiatric symptom burden. With regard to addictive behavior, HO in particular but also GR seem to have a protective function. Furthermore, we found positive connections between CO, psychiatric symptom burden, and addictive behavior.ConclusionIn line with our assumptions, HO, FO and to a minor extent GR were confirmed as negative predictors regarding psychiatric symptom burden or addictive behavior in young adults, coping with the psychological threat of COVID-19 pandemic. These dimensions might be further considered as potential resources in clinical treatment. However, the positive prediction of mental illness parameters by increased feelings of CO could also be interpreted as an expression of exhaustion and alienation from the real world. (shrink)

This article analyses how normative decision theory is understood by economists. The paradigmatic example of normative decision theory, discussed in the article, is the expected utility theory. It...

The aim of this article is to question the epistemic presuppositions of applying behavioural science in public policymaking. Philosophers of science who have examined the recent applications of the behavioural sciences to policy have contributed to discussions on causation, evidence, and randomised controlled trials. These have focused on epistemological and methodological questions about the reliability of scientific evidence and the conditions under which we can predict that a policy informed by behavioural research will achieve the policymakers’ goals. This paper argues (...) that the philosophical work of Helen Longino can also help us to have a better and fuller understanding of the knowledge which the behavioural sciences provide. The paper advances an analysis of the knowledge claims that are made in the context of policy applications of behavioural science and compares them with the behavioural research on which they are based. This allows us to show that behavioural policy and the debates accompanying it are based on an oversimplified understanding of what knowledge behavioural science actually provides. Recognising this problem is important as arguments that justify reliance on the behavioural sciences in policy typically presume this simplification. (shrink)

Magdalena Krasińska A Work of Music in Roman Ingarden’s AestheticsThe theme taken in this article is an ontological concept of the musical work of Roman Ingarden developed on the basis of phenomenological aesthetics. According to the eidetic reduction Ingarden rejects any colloquial opinions about how the existence of a musical composition, so that he holds that musical work is not the same nor the mental experience, or the performance, or to the music notations. Making a critique of the idealistic, (...) psychologistic and materialistic positions to explain how the existence of the musical work, Ingarden classified it as a object of purely intentional, where the musical notation is the ontological basis. Currently notation don’t allow for consolidation of all the moments of the work, especially not sound moments, so musical composition as every being intentional, is the scheme required to complete and define more precisely where are the ontological gaps; each performance of a musical work is the complete of potential spaces, specification of works. A few comments on so constructed theory publishes musicologist Zofia Lissa. The main objection against Ingarden is the fact that his concept aspires to be universal, while he created it solely on the basis constituted in the scores ‘classical’ works of modern European music, while ignoring other musical phenomena, such as avant-garde music or folklore. Finally raised is a matter of the ontology of newest pieces of music, belonging to the so-called popular music, that do not have ontological basis in the form of musical notation, what in view of the Ingarden’s theory does problematic the issue of their identity. Keywords: ontological concept of the musical work, phenomenological aesthetics, Roman Ingarden, identity of the musical work. (shrink)

Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie i analiza różnic między ustanawianymi przez miasta na prawach powiatu jednostkami pomocniczymi (osiedla, dzielnice) a podziałami przestrzeni miast stosowanymi przez uczestników rynku nieruchomości. Te różnice są bowiem dobrym wskaźnikiem odmiennych perspektyw: administracyjnej, stosowanej przez jednostki samorządu terytorialnego, i perspektywy życia codziennego mieszkańców, do której blisko jest podziałom stosowanym przez rynek nieruchomości. Dobre zrozumienie tych różnic, a w konsekwencji lepsze rozumienie funkcjonalnych podziałów miasta, daje władzom lokalnym szansę na lepsze prowadzenie zadań z zakresu polityki przestrzennej, mieszkaniowej czy (...) transportowej, a także tworzenie lepszych warunków partycypacji społecznej. Badane zagadnienie wpisuje się w podejmowaną od czasów szkoły chicagowskiej tematykę morfologii miasta, a także w badania nad znaczeniem przestrzeni w tworzeniu i wykonywaniu polityk publicznych. Badanie oparto na zestawieniu podziałów administracyjnych 19 miast na prawach powiatu województwa śląskiego z używanymi na lokalnych rynkach nieruchomości nazwami poszczególnych części miasta innymi od określeń administracyjnych. Analiza tych różnic prowadzi do wskazania ich głównych przyczyn: traktowania przez mieszkańców podziału administracyjnego jako sztucznego, wyróżniania przez perspektywę rynkową najbardziej prestiżowych pod względem mieszkaniowym części miasta, ale także miejsc o obniżonej jakości zasobów mieszkaniowych, jak również podkreślania przez nią złożoności dużych jednostek osiedlowych, budowanych w różnym okresie, z mieszkaniami różnej jakości. Te rezultaty potwierdzają możliwość stosowania informacji pochodzących z rynku nieruchomości do analizy podziałów przestrzeni miasta na użytek polityk publicznych. (shrink)

Chapman et al. (2025) call for updating the Common Rule to extend individual-based research protections (especially IN data-centric genomic research) to selected social communities. They provide an...

The relationship between Prospero and Miranda is fairly typical for Shakespeare’s way of portraying parental authority and filial obligation. A strong and authoritative father, an absent mother and a rebellious daughter are character types reused in many of his plays. In The Tempest, authority, power and ownership, be it political or domestic, are important themes. In criticism, Prospero is frequently discussed through the prism of his attitude to his “subordinates”—Ariel, Caliban and Miranda—and the play’s narrative is interpreted in the context (...) of the theatre of power. Parental authority, a social construct, is a dynamic thing, and the Renaissance patterns discernible in Shakespeare’s plays are refashioned and changed in contemporary adaptations and appropriations of his plays. Informed by New Historicism and Cultural Materialism in relation to gender studies, this article seeks to examine the changing dynamics of the Prospero-Miranda relationship in three films—Derek Jarman’s, Paul Mazursky’s, and Julie Taymor’s —as well as Philip Osment’s 1988 play This Island’s Mine. Focusing on the issue of authority, power and ownership, the article aims at showing how stereotypical social and gender roles resonate with various political contexts of power. (shrink)

Since the mid-20th century, there has been a noticeable shift of interest in topics related to disability, illness, old age and the discourse of exclusion, both in practice and theory. Numerous artists, who often employed diverse strategies and aesthetics in their works, would confront similar themes, engaging in activities aimed at counteracting various forms and manifestations of social ostracism. This article describes and analyzes selected projects by Polish representatives of critical art and independent theatre which address these issues. The primary (...) aim of this text is not to catalogue as many artistic undertakings as possible but to highlight a certain trend and demonstrate the significance and purpose of art that boldly explores disability, illness, and deteriorating, ageing and dying bodies. Such themes are often taboo in consumer culture, while the task of art is to expose the mechanisms of exclusion and stigmatization and to draw public attention—often in a highly debatable manner—to topics that are omitted in the official discourse. The artistic projects discussed in the text demonstrate that persons with disabilities can be successful artists, dancers, performers, and actors. (shrink)

Benjamín de Tudela (en hebreo Biniamín ben rabbí Yonah mi- Tudela) es, sin duda, un navarro universal. Judío de la aljama tudelana, se ignora la fecha de su nacimiento (acaso hacia 1130). Hijo de rabino y viajero infatigable, sólo sabemos de este personaje lo poco que de él se menciona en su famoso Libro de Viajes o Séfer-masa`ot, fruto de sus vivas experiencias —las más de las veces directas— exquisitamente plasmadas en su relación de viaje, redactadas en hebreo. Conocedor del (...) romance navarro vernáculo de la época, sabía hebreo - su lengua de instrucción y cultivo literario- y árabe, entendiendo acaso el griego y el latín.…. (shrink)

While action selection strategies in well‐defined domains have received considerable attention, little is yet known about how people choose what to do next in ill‐defined tasks. In this contribution, we shed light on this issue by considering everyday tasks, which in many cases have a multitude of possible solutions (e.g., it does not matter in which order the items are brought to the table when setting a table) and are thus categorized as ill‐defined problems. Even if there are no hard (...) constraints on the ordering of subtasks in everyday activities, our research shows that people exhibit specific preferences. We propose that these preferences arise from bounded rationality, that is, people only have limited knowledge and processing power available, which results in a preference to minimize the overall physical and cognitive effort. In the context of everyday activities, this can be achieved by (a) taking properties of the spatial environment into account to use them to one's advantage, and (b) employing a stepwise‐optimal action selection strategy. We present the Opportunistic Planning Model as an explanatory cognitive model, which instantiates these assumptions, and show that the model is able to generalize to new everyday tasks, outperforming machine learning models such as neural networks during generalization. (shrink)

Love is a universal experience that most people desire. A serious, long-term, and stigmatized illness makes entering and maintaining close relationships difficult, however. Ten persons, who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and lived with their illness for between years and decades of their lifetimes, shared their stories. They reported how the illness has influenced their emotional experiences regarding love and their intimate relationship experiences. We present here a qualitative Interpretative Phenomenological analysis (IPA) of their narratives. This analysis has been done (...) with an explicit intention to give voice to the patient’s perspective. The results highlight how illness adjustment and hospitalizations have an alienating effect on relationships through stigmatization and self-stigmatization; how illness creates psychological obstacles to love, such as diminished trust toward oneself and others; and how long-term patients experience practical difficulties in creating and sustaining relationships, such as poverty. Moreover, we show how patients experience changes in sexuality and the risks involved in it, and discuss possible coping strategies from their perspectives. (shrink)

En este trabajo presentamos un registro de la historia de vida de Mónica Medina, integrante de la comunidad weenhayek Quebracho, ubicada a 5 kilómetros de Tartagal, provincia de Salta. En esa memoria sobre sus ancestros desde tres generaciones previas hasta el presente, Mónica relata los recuerdos sobre el modo en que su familia vivió la Guerra del Paraguay que les obligó a desplazarse; las epidemias; el proceso de trashumancia y las distintas expulsiones a que se vieron sometidos; los modos en (...) que se fue transformando la vida a medida que se acercaban a los centros urbanos; la aproximación a la política partidaria y la formación de dirigentes; el proceso de conformación de demandas de reconocimiento de identidad étnica y las expectativas de futuro. Partimos de entender que este relato de vida, si bien es individual, se inscribe en la memoria colectiva de su familia, su comunidad y su pueblo, por cuanto resulta de experimentar, desde su trayectoria, ciertos recuerdos comunes. Este registro adquiere aquí un doble sentido epistémico: por un lado, permite conocer datos nodales sobre las trayectorias y las demandas actuales del Pueblo Weenhayek en torno a sus derechos a la identidad en Argentina, y particularmente sobre la disputa que libra por el reconocimiento estatal y social de su carácter de pueblo preexistente; pero a la vez, nos introduce en el trabajo de memoria que es central en el proceso de etnicidad que protagonizan estas comunidades weenhayek en su demanda y ejercicio de derechos actuales. (shrink)

Changes that occurred in Poland between 2015 and 2019 have not spared the civil society, here understood broadly as NGOs, activist groups, independent academic organisations and minority communities. This paper is an attempt at reconstructing key ideological arguments that took place within it during that time, as well as their significance and effects on particular organisations both internally and in relation with other participants in the civil society. Also investigated are divisions that arose and their potential consequences in the future. (...) The analysis is based on research by Magdalena Arczewska and Magdalena Dudkiewicz and published as Strategie czy przystosowanie? Sytuacja organizacji pozarządowych w Polsce po 2015 [Strategies or Adaptation? The Situation of Non-governmental Organizations in Poland after 2015]. (shrink)

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has upended lives and thrown the taken for granted into disarray. One of the most affected groups were teachers and students, faced with the necessity of school closures and—where logistically feasible—an urgent shift to emergency remote instruction, often with little prior notice. In this contribution, based on an online survey involving participants from 91 countries, we offer a perspective bridging the two groups, by investigating the role of teachers' demographics and professional adaptation to emergency (...) remote teaching in their perception of how their students were coping with the novel situation. The resultant model explains 51% of variance, and highlights the relative weights of the predictor variables. Given the importance of teacher perceptions in the effectiveness of their instruction, the findings may offer valuable guidelines for future training and intervention programs. (shrink)

Artykuł jest krótką prezentacją głównych założeń koncepcji fenomenologii życia współczesnej polskiej myślicielki Anny Teresy Tymienieckiej. Są to te założenia, które Tymieniecka wypunktowała w jednej ze swoich wypowiedzi zaprezentowanej na Kongresie Kultury Polskiej w Londynie w 1985 roku. Celem obrad sekcji filozoficznej było nakreślenie sytuacji filozofii polskiej oraz polskiej kultury na emigracji w kontekście kryzysu kultury europejskiej. Tymieniecka, działająca naukowo w Stanach Zjednoczonych, przedstawiła własny punkt widzenia tego kryzysu, jako mającego źródło w braku komunikacji między różnymi dziedzinami nauki, ale także między (...) nauką w ogóle a innymi formami ludzkiej działalności kulturotwórczej. Przedstawiła też własną wizję przezwyciężenia tego kryzysu w postaci fenomenologii twórczej kondycji ludzkiej jako nowej mathesis universalis. (shrink)

Are there brain differences between believers and nonbelievers? In order to investigate the effect of religious beliefs on cognitive control, Michael Inzlicht and his collaborators measured the neural correlates of performance monitoring and affective responses to errors, specifically, the error-related negativity. ERN is a neurophysiological marker occurring within 100 ms of error commission, and generated in the anterior cingulate cortex. The researchers observed that religious conviction is marked by reduced reactivity in the ACC, a cortical system that is involved in (...) the experience of anxiety and is important for self-regulation. Thus, they claimed that these results offer a mechanism for the finding that religion is linked to positive mental health and low rates of mortality. (shrink)

It was in the mid-twentieth century that the independent theatrical form based entirely on improvisation, known now as improvisational/improvised theatre, impro or improv, came into existence and took shape. Viola Spolin, the intellectual and the logician behind the improvisational movement, first used her improvised games as a WPA worker running theater classes for underprivileged youth in Chicago in 1939. But it was not until 1955 that her son, Paul Sills, together with a college theater group, the Compass Players, used Spolin’s (...) games on stage. In the 1970s Sills made the format famous with his other project, the Second City. Since the emergence of improv in the US coincides with the renaissance of improvisation in theater, in this paper, I will look back at what may have prepared and propelled the emergence of improvised theater in the United States. Hence, this article is an attempt to look at the use of improvisation in theater and performing arts in the United States in the second half of the 20th century in order to highlight the various roles and functions of improvisation in the experimental theater of the day by analyzing how some of the most influential experimental theaters used improvisation as a means of play development, a component of actor training and an important element of the rehearsal process. (shrink)