The aim of this analysis was to examine the effects on stature in two nationally representative samples of Polish 19-year-old conscripts of maternal and paternal education level, and of degree of urbanization, before and after the economic transition of 1990. Data were from two national surveys of 19-year-old Polish conscripts: 27,236 in 1986 and 28,151 in 2001. In addition to taking height measurements, each subject was asked about the socioeconomic background of their families, including paternal and maternal education, and the (...) name of the locality of residence. The net effect of each of these social factors on stature was determined using four-factor analysis of variance. The secular trend towards increased stature of Polish conscripts has slowed down from a rate 2·1 cm per decade across the period 1965–1986 to 1·5 cm per decade between 1986 and 2001. In both cohorts, mean statures increase with increasing size of locality of residence, paternal education and maternal education. The effect of each of these three social factors on conscript height is highly significant in both cohorts. However, the effect of maternal education has increased substantially while that of size of locality of residence and paternal education diminished between 1986 and 2001. These results imply that the influence of parental education on child growth cannot be due solely to a relationship between education and income, but is also perhaps a reflection of household financial management which benefits child health and growth by better educated parents, regardless of level of income. In addition they suggest that, irrespective of whether there are one or two breadwinners in the family, it is the mother, more so than the father, who is principally responsible for the extent to which such management best favours child health and growth. The asymmetry between the importance of maternal as against paternal education for child growth, clearly seen in the 1986 cohort, became more accentuated in 2001, after the abrupt transition from a command to a free-market economy in the early 1990s. (shrink)

Tytuł artykułu ma charakter prowokacyjny. Autorka nie uważa bynajmniej, by prawda mogła działać poprzez przemoc czy przez przemoc się wyrażać. A jednak ci, którzy odwołują się do ponadczasowych, naturalnych prawd na temat człowieka, życia i kwestii moralnych, bywają oskarżani o przemoc i demagogię. Owszem, bezsprzecznie można dostrzec związki między prawdą a przemocą, ale dotyczą one zwłaszcza prób bezprecedensowych manipulacji wymierzonych w prawdę. Kwestionuje się dziś powszechnie prawdę na temat kondycji człowieka, wartości moralnych, powinności obywatelskich a nawet faktów historycznych. Przemoc może (...) odgrywać niebagatelną rolę w procesie tworzenia czy poznania, wpływa także na przemiany wiedzy i jej przekaz w społecznym obiegu, na co w swoich pracach zwraca uwagę m.in. Andrzej Zybertowicz. Współcześnie uważa się, że zamiast o prawdzie powinniśmy mówić o wielości indywidualnych narracji, mnogości skrajnie subiektywistycznych interpretacji, z których wszystkie są równouprawnione. Sama prawda zostaje sprowadzona do dowolnie ustalanego produktu władzy – również tej, którą dzierżą środki masowego przekazu. Przeciwwagą dla takiego myślenia jest nauczanie Jana Pawła II, który w wyważony sposób przypomina nam o związkach prawdy z wolnością i o odpowiedzialności, jaką prawda generuje. Jest bowiem ściśle etyczną kwestią jaką postawę człowiek przyjmie wobec prawdy i czy gotów będzie jej służyć. To zdumiewające, iż dla wielu ludzi prawda zamiast z wyzwoleniem, kojarzy się ze zniewoleniem. Autorka podejmuje próbę wyjaśnienia jakie są przyczyny tego niepokojącego zjawiska i w jaki sposób nauczanie Jana Pawła II może pomóc nam ujrzeć właściwą perspektywę znaczenia prawdy w życiu człowieka, zarówno w wymiarze jednostkowej świadomości, jak też zbiorowego doświadczenia narodu czy całej ludzkości. W swoim artykule odwołuje się do stanowiska wyrażonego zarówno w encyklice "Veritatis Splendor", jak i w kontekście innych prac Jana Pawła II. (shrink)

The paper follows the epistemic and ethical consequences of various models and assumptions of politics of memory. The author tries to answer the question about the relations between historical truth and politics of memory in the context of common good and respect towards ancestors and the events they were a part of. The paper also touches upon the issues of testimony, forgiveness and patriotism.

The article deals with the problem of ideological principles applied to the space of art as a specific framework for the creative process and the work itself. The author also considers the phenomenon of democratization of art. Do democratic values penetrate into contemporary art and to what extent, to what extent do they shape it and how should this phenomenon be assessed? In her considerations, the author refers, among others, to the reflections of Ortega y Gasset or Chantal Mouffe. The (...) context of the apology of democratic values that permeate the sphere of art is also worth analyzing. The deliberations are interdisciplinary in nature, they constitute only an outline of the title issue, oscillate around the issues of several philosophical sub-disciplines, with particular emphasis on the history of ideas, philosophy of culture, social philosophy and aesthetics. The author considers it worth considering the answer to the question: Is contemporary art democratic and what would it mean? (shrink)

This article is a critical analysis of the most important assumptions of Chantal Mouffe’s political philosophy, along with its original categories such as agonism, radical democracy and hegemony. The sources of her concept are indicated and certain difficulties that the author falls into are distinguished. The thread that is considered central to this philosophy, with the most profound practical consequences, is an attempt to demonstrate the futility of a liberal doctrine that values consensus and deliberation and proclaims an apology for (...) individualism and rationalism. Mouffe’s diagnosis strikes at the most important liberal values with the intention of discrediting them although she tries to creatively adopt others, such as pluralism. She proposes a new paradigm, much fairer than existing ones, because it does not negate the conflictive nature of politics. Does an agonist dispute and radical democracy really have a chance to undermine liberal axiology? Are we dealing with a breakthrough in thinking about politics? (shrink)

NIETZSCHE AND CHRISTIANITY The article presents connections between philosophy of Nietzsche and the Christian tradition. Author's considerations are not restricted to how Nietzsche assessed Christianity and what he thought of it, but rather: did he reason aptly, did he grasp it correctly. It is a fact that Nietzsche fights with Christianity, which does not prevent him from internalizing some Christian themes in spite of having a very superficial and incomplete picture of it. There are unquestionable differences in both doctrines such (...) as the relationship to the issues of truth, compassion, transcendence, mercy and eternity. Nevertheless they share a large number of common elements: praise for authenticity, creativity and freedom, the ethics of dignity, the postulate of selfformation, appreciation of suffering, rejection of revenge and everything that is small and false, and finally, discipline of the will craving repetition as a confirmation of self, faithfulness to self. (shrink)