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What is East Central Europe? Can it be defined with any precision? The question of definition is a difficult one as is ussually the case concerning borderlands whose historical developments show little continuity and an uncertain identity born of the conflict between aspirations and reality. It is in East Central Europe that „no peace settlement is ever final, no frontiers are secure and each generation must begin its work anew”. Is there any chance that this definition will become out of date?
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Over the last century unprecedented numbers of Christians from traditionally Orthodox societies migrated around the world. Once seen as an ‘oriental’ or ‘eastern’ phenomenon, Orthodox Christianity is now much more widely dispersed, and in many parts of the modern world one need not go far to find an Orthodox community at worship. This collection offers a compelling overview of the Orthodox world, covering the main regional traditions of Orthodox Christianity and the ways in which they have become global. The contributors are drawn from the Orthodox community worldwide and explore a rich selection of key figures and themes. The book provides an innovative and illuminating approach to the subject, ideal for students and scholars alike.
Jednym z podstawowych zadań państwa, wynikających z Konstytucji Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, jest zapewnienie swoim obywatelom szeroko rozumianego bezpieczeństwa, jednej z podstawowych potrzeb człowieka (art. 5 Konstytucji RP)1. Również Polska Strategia Bezpieczeństwa Naro-dowego RP z 2007 roku jednoznacznie stwierdza, że Nadrzędnym celem strategicznym Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej jest zapewnienie korzystnych i bez-piecznych warunków realizacji interesów narodowych poprzez eliminację zewnętrznych i wewnętrznych zagrożeń, redukowanie ryzyka oraz odpo-wiednie oszacowanie podejmowanych wyzwań i umiejętne wykorzystywanie pojawiających się szans2. Cel powyższy może być osiągni...
India has been the homeland of diverse manuscript traditions that do not cease to impress scholars for their imposing size and complexity. Nevertheless, many topics concerning the study of Indian manuscript cultures still remain to receive systematic examination. Of Gods and Books pays attention to one of these topics - the use of manuscripts as ritualistic tools. Literary sources deal quite extensively with rituals principally focused on manuscripts, whose worship, donation and preservation are duly prescribed. Around these activities, a specific category of ritual gift is created, which finds attestations in pre-tantric, as well as in smārta and tantric, literature, and whose practice is also variously reflected in epigraphical documents. De Simini offers a first systematic study of the textual evidence on the topic of the worship and donation of knowledge. She gives account of possible implications for the relationships between religion and power. The book is indsipensible for a deeper understanding of the cultural aspects of manuscript transmission in medieval India, and beyond.
Mark Twain, the great American writer of the South whose characters struggle with difficult choices, famously said: “Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other.” Taking Twain’s phrase as a starting point, this book considers how literature and art explore different systems of values and principles of conduct, and how they can teach us to cope at times of trial. Morality remains one of the most contested areas of thought and ethics in the modern world, due to numerous misapprehensions and the move away from solidarity, from what we share and hold in common, particularly our inherent pursuit of virtue and consideration of principles concerning the dist...
This monograph represents a rare, classical-philosophical approach to culture. It is grounded in philosophical realism and emphasizes personalism as a true achievement of philosophical anthropology. Employing the apparatus of the history of philosophy, science and religion, the author demonstrates the immense scope of the drama unfolding within human culture. In a classical approach, evaluation is inevitable—with regard to various theories of culture, human culture as such, and all its main actors. Jaroszyński’s work shows that realistic study of what it means to be a human person leads to the most comprehensive understanding of culture as it is and should be.
The essays presented in this volume constitute a progression from general considerations related to the 'etic' (in the geertzian sense of the word) approach to South Asian cultural productions, to peculiar and detailed investigations of them. Such a sequence is meant to develop a renovated and systemic approach, through which these specific cultural materials should be interpreted: materials not to be read in isolation, nor with an overemphasised concern for cultural relativity. Rather, they should be viewed as meaningful examples of sophisticated intellectual and cultural procedures to be included into a broader comparative discussion, also in order to increase the quality and the depth of such debate. The studies gathered in this volume are therefore arranged to fit specific South Asian materials into larger analytical frameworks.
In this book, Katarzyna Kremplewska offers a thorough analysis of Santayana's conception of human self, viewed as part of his larger philosophy of life. Santayana emerges as an author of a provocative philosophy of drama, in which human life is acted out. Kremplewska demonstrates how his thought addresses the dynamics of human self in this context and the possibility of sustaining self-integrity while coping with the limitations of finite life. Focusing on particular aspects of Santayana's thought such as his conception of the tragic aspect of existence, and the role of the doctrine of spirit in his philosophical anthropology and critique of culture, this book also sets Santayana's thought in substantial dialogue with other thinkers, such as Heidegger, Bergson, and Nietzsche. Like Santayana's philosophy, this book seeks to build passages between theoretical reflection and practical life with the possibility of a good life in view.
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