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The purpose of the sketch is to contemplate weakness outside the established scheme of its evaluation in an opposition to strength or might. The essay is inspired by a widely comprehended current of “weak thought” and comprises a commentary to the book by Julia Kristeva and Jean Vanier: Leur regard perce nos ombres. The prime message of the article is formulated in the course of meditation on human plight and images of happiness – weakness could be a solution beyond a juxtaposition of violence and helplessness in the face of life leaning towards moderation, originating from the acceptance of existence as a gift and not as property. Subsequently, within the context of the relation with the handicapped this reflection assumed the form of an outline of a project of social, civilizational, and metaphysical transformation. Naturally, this modest sketch merely proposes reflections and further work on the titular issue.
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The article discusses old age and the role played by that stage in life at the time of (post)modernity. In order to fully accentuate the specificity of (post)modernity the author of analysed three conceptions of old age. The first was depicted by Cicero and enables us to comprehend the idea of old age in Classical antiquity. The second, formulated by Jean Améry, allows us to interpret the manner in which old age is perceived in modern times. The third is an interpretation of old age in the Dutch bestseller: Little Happiness Experiments /The Secret Diary of Henrik Groen, 83 ¼ Years Old, which, in the opinion of Leszek Koczanowicz, provides insight into the way in which old age is understood in the postmodern era.
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The reception of the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche is threatened with an unhampered interpretation, sometimes also contradictory in the case of assorted commentators. This tendency is the outcome of the openness of the conceits applied by the German philosopher as well as the aphoristic and non-systemic form of his statements. The concept of weakness, whose reverse is strength, will, and will to power, also calls for a careful approach because up to this day the most evocative and superficial interpretation is the Nazi one. Praise of power, force, vitality, and great spirits has, however, little in common with the mental and reactive aggression of the complex-ridden leaders of the Third Reich. In his writings Nietzsche proved that the cult of weakness and servility is the outcome of Christian culture. In this sense his philosophy is that of culture, and his essential research target consists of discovering the concept of strength, forgotten in Christian civilisation. Nietzschean reflections were actually not adopted in our culture since the rules of social behaviour are still governed by vital mechanisms of resentment.
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In Płeć słaba. Zagadnienie obecności the author of this article brought the reader closer to the problem faced on both cultural and language levels whenever we try to express our secular identity in categories transcending the binary woman/man division. By referring to Hannah Arendt’s reflections on the relation between power and private life and the possibility of participating in politics Jan Szpilka presented the way in which the question of “gender possession” impacts our possibility of being publicly present.
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Walking is a weaker form of activity than driving or riding, regardless whether on horseback, a car, or in a tram or a train. If this is true then what is weaker than walking? Apparently, the answer is: only motionlessness. Its synonyms are immobility and a certain static quality, but also rest and numbness. Perhaps then the terms we seek are: non-walking, stopping. But non-walking and motionlessness posses a certain negative quality, while we are concerned with something positive. In English a single word: stillness would suffice. In Polish we are compelled to use at least three words: calmness, motionlessness, and silence in order to render the meaning of stillness. The adverb still means, i.a. “motionlessly”. The adjective still denotes “immobile”, ”quiescent”, “silent”, and “dead”. Here the home belongs to the sphere of immobility and stillness; the legal definition of a home, a building, and a lot is “real estate/immobility”. Mobility denotes homelessness associated with changing places, the absence of enrootment, motion. Homo viator is a traveller, a pilgrim, a wanderer, a man on his way. Walking is a weak form of travelling due to its far-reaching limitations – speed, exhaustion, and the need to rest.
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We are familiar with weakness, experience it personally, and encounter it all around us. It constitutes a scoop for media coverage, a fundamental and ever-returning space of art. Multiplicity of references, ostensibly obvious significance, poignant closeness – but it is still difficult to speak about weakness. Already upon the level of language we confront considerable confusion.
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Speech Ethics is an interdisciplinary research discipline. It is founded on the personalistic concept of a human being, which implies the obligation to respect the communication partner. Sociology provides ethics with data on attitudes towards values, motivations for behaviour and changes in morality. The research methodology in Speech Ethics is derived from the broadly understood linguistics and rhetoric. The pragmatic aim of Speech Ethics is to shape communication patterns that lead to mutual understanding.
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The article has a theoretical and research character. It contains proposals for research on the basic issues of language communication ethics. The need to develop the ethics of linguistic communication is justified by two phenomena: the spread of hate speech, the crisis of values in the public debate. The study is a voice in the discussion on how to study the ethics of linguistic communication. The presented reflections are inspired by the work of such ethicists as Henryk Elzenberg, Stanisław Kamiński, Andrzej Grzegorczyk and Józef Jaroń.
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The paper discusses the ethical concept of the literary communication seen from the linguistic point of view. It attempts to identify assumptions that are necessary to validate the ethical assessment of the literary communication and that constitute theoretical fundamentals of this concept.Some ethical rules for an author, a recipient and other persons involved in the literary communication have been also proposed in the article.
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The aim of the article is to present linguistic mechanisms of manipulating the child symbolism in one of the most nefarious fake information techniques – i.e. spin. The threat comes from the fact that deliberate misinformation known as spin focuses not on the means of communication but on the relationship between the speaker and the listener. In recent years we have been observing an increasing media misinformation game unethically abusing the images of children as a tool of political struggle, especially before elections. The subject of analysis in this work is specifically child symbolism used by public persons as a prop for showing competence. The child has become the perfect vector for transmitting ideological messages embodying such values as: life, love, and freedom, as well as qualities such as: satisfying family life, self-sacrifice, altruism.
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This article attempts to describe linguistic elements, in their ethical aspect, present in the public discourse on individual education of students with disabilities.Within the analyzed discourse, we are primarily interested in the nomination strategies of people with disabilities and their care-takers and narrative strategies related to people with disabilities, bipolarly stretched between lexes inclusion – exclusion and referring to the participants of the discourse: the Ministry of National Education, the school and the principal and teachers representing it, as well as parents and children. Nomination elements with attributes defining children and youth with disabilities play the role of periphasis with a euphemistic function, they are, in terms of meaning, an attempt to escape social stigmatization. In turn, predictive and narrative strategies clearly appear as a tool to control responsibility for the educational process.
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This article deals with ethical considerations accompanying the reorganization of urbanonyms in the context of de-communization. It is focused on several issues, in particular concerning the justification of changes in the names of streets and squares, as well as the treatment of onyms as carriers of values that could serve the authority and its propagation. Attention was also paid to the participation of the local community in removing unwanted communist symbols. Based on the observations made, it was established that the violation of ethical norms concerns: disregarding the opinions of local communities, especially residents of a given street, regarding the change of name and the use of its privileged position by the authority, the imposition of a particular worldview and value system, and the use of untrue arguments.
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The aim of this work is to present and describe the general didactic aspects of education in the field of ethics of communication at the academic level. The author pursues this goal by anchoring his deliberations in the theory of communicative morality and the theory of general education. He defines the specificity of teaching ethical language issues and distinguishes its two dimensions: material and personal. These dimensions serve as sources for educational goals. The author also points to two ways of conveying values: intellectual and emotional. In addition, he states that both the didactic and pedagogical character of the tasks of a lecturer of communication ethics is characterized by the same degree of importance. He describes educational methods which he personally finds the most significant. The author refers as well to some typical didactic situations, and using them as a background, he tries to explain the complexity of specific educational dilemmas, and then he indicates possible ways of resolving them.
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In this paper I undertake to analyze the way in which the arrival of HETs may influence the therapeutic relationship between the medical doctor and the patient. I begin with presenting he notion of transhumanism, insisting especially on the fact that some of the technologies that can be classified as HETs are already in use. As a result, the traditionally difficult task of defining health and a disease is becoming even more complicated. This circumstance poses the risk that medical doctors in their relationship with the patient, because of the possibilities offered by new technologies, will oscillate in their professional practice between helping the patient to recover and satisfying needs that are not justified by the considerations of health. I will try to show how the therapeutic relationship between the medical doctor and the patient may be transformed because of new technologies by using the example of IVF procedure applied to postmenopausal patients. In order to understand why the relationship between the medical doctors and their patients is so vulnerable in the context of transhumanism, I propose to re-analyze the most basic notions which help us understand the nature of the therapeutic relationship: the status of medicine as contrasted with technology, basic principles of medical ethics, the notion of a disease and an illness.
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Human enhancement affects all members of society and is thus closely linked to issues of social justice: up to now, the promises and perils of enhancement are usually only known to, and thus used, by few members of society. This can lead to individual competitive advantages that create or widen social gaps. Broad public information is, therefore, key to ensure that enhancement does not conflict with the principle of equality of opportunities. As possible means of public information, literature and films are able to counter such possible social injustice, which is why they may be allotted a central role in the ethical debates on human enhancement. Two aspects will be considered in this regard: 1) enhancement in art and 2) through art. 1) The extent to which artistic depictions and public information and perceptions of enhancement may be intertwined will be illustrated by two examples where both texts and their accompanying paratexts had a particular bearing on the public debate on enhancement: the film Gattaca of 1997 and the novel Never let me go (2005) by Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro. 2) The second part of the paper is dedicated to the question of how far enhancing selected groups of society may contribute to a greater common good and which potentials art can offer in this regard. Three groups of persons will be taken into account: 1) clinical ethics committees, 2) physicians, and 3) patients.
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Kant characterizes wisdom as knowledge of the will of the highest good and appropriateness of the will to this good. He understands the highest good as a union of morality and happiness. Since these are not to be conceived upon the same lawfulness (Gesetzlichkeit), Kant thinks of the mediation of the postulates of immortality and of the existence of God. To determine, in a sufficient form, the idea of the highest good practically, i.e., as the maxim of our rational behavior, is for Kant the wisdom doctrine; in scientific reflection it is philosophy. Schelling agrees with that; for him, too, philosophy is the will of wisdom. Wisdom looks at the ultimate goal, the one which should actually come about. To know this and to make it the determining reason of the will is wisdom for Schelling.
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An increasingly complex and intransparent world makes for an increasing demand for trustworthy orientation. Thence the increasing demand for wisdom. What is wisdom? Wisdom primarily depends on the independence ascribed to a person or institution, but that does not imply that the notion of wisdom is amenable to an explicit definition. It is proposed to construct it as a cluster concept with cognitive, psychological and moral elements. The difference then becomes apparent between wisdom and lebensweisheit. The latter corresponds to prudence as understood by Epicurus and, in the same tradition, Schopenhauer, and lacks the moral elements essential to wisdom. In conclusion, the question is asked how far Schopenhauer, one of the most popular teachers of lebensweisheit in modern times, can be qualified as wise. This question is given a skeptical answer. Schopenhauer meets many, but not all conditions necessary for wisdom.
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In the face of growing de-objectification and depersonalization, which in the realm of knowledge have asserted themselves through the unconditional claim of science to objectivity, it is advisable to remember the old, and for the most part now forgotten, concept of wisdom, and its philosophical scope. This is here done using Schopenhauer as an example. In his philosophy, wisdom plays a central role, as a not only theoretical but also practical perfection of man. In order to grasp the essence of the wisdom so highly placed as accurately as possible, it is confronted in the essay, on the one hand, with Gadamer’s concept of hermeneutic experience and, on the other hand, with the concept of wisdom expressed in the ancient Greek saying “taught by suffering”. The investigation leads to the conclusion that the wisdom by Schopenhauer, although at first sight similar and in part even related to the two concepts of wisdom mentioned above, is however fundamentally different from them, since its purpose is not to instruct man about the insurmountable limits of his mortality and thereby assign to him his appointed place in life, but rather to lead him away from the will to live at all.
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