The purpose of the study is to comprehensively present the nature of the partnership between business and non-profit organizations in Russia. The article focuses on unlocking the potential and models of business partnerships and NGOs; identifying problems within the framework of these relations in modern Russia and determining ways to solve them. The scientific novelty consists in substantiating the need to improve strategies for interaction between business and NGOs in conditions of crisis and economic turbulence, as well as in developing (...) recommendations for optimizing models for building partnerships between NGOs and business structures that can be successfully applied in modern conditions. As a result, features and specific mechanisms were identified that ensure effective interaction between NGOs, business and the state at the current stage, recommendations were developed to improve this interaction. (shrink)

This book analyzes unobvious relations between historical definitions of the face and its contemporary usage in popular culture and social media, like Facebook or Instagram. Bringing together a wide range of methodologies, it includes essays from manifold disciplines of the humanities such as philosophy, literary and art criticism, media and television studies, game studies, sociology and anthropology. The authors focus on both metaphorical and material meanings of the face. They grapple with crucial questions about modernity, modern and postmodern subjectivity, as (...) well as with origins of certain linguistic terms and popular, colloquial phrases based on the concept of the face. (shrink)

Dans le champ de la linguistique francaise, Olga Galatanu est de ceux qui ont muni l'analyse du discours et des interactions verbales d'un modele semantique de description. La Semantique des Possibles Argumentatifs qu'elle developpe depuis une vingtaine d'annees adhere aux visions argumentative, stereotypique, referentielle, cognitiviste de la langue, et s'attache a rendre compte de la construction des representations en langue et en discours.<BR> Les articles que ses collaborateurs et amis lui offrent dans ce volume se rapportent de pres ou (...) de loin a la SPA. Certains en partagent les postulats: sens referentiel et denomination, interfaces semantique-syntaxe et semantique-pragmatique, construction discursive du sens, valeurs; d'autres reprennent et developpent des elements specifiques de la SPA: possibles argumentatifs, deploiements argumentatifs, modalites; d'autres encore montrent les convergences et complementarites entre la SPA et des theories voisines.<BR> Les analyses portent notamment sur l'attitude metalinguistique des locuteurs, la malleabilite semantique des mots, la negociation des sens et des valeurs, les principes et strategies discursives qui regulent la communication, l'heterogeneite discursive, la presentation de soi, la construction d'objets discursifs, les actes de langage indirects, etc.". (shrink)

In this paper, we explore the concept of bearing witness in nursing practice. We examine the description of bearing witness in the nursing literature, particularly that offered by William Cody who suggests that bearing witness results in the limited moral obligation of “true presence.” We then turn to Lorraine Code's work on testimony, drawing parallels between the concepts of testimony and bearing witness. Code suggests that receiving testimony results in a responsibility to respond, and that this is an ethico‐political obligation. (...) We discuss these ideas in relation to a Canadian exemplar of witnessing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's work to understand and address the historical injustices done to Indigenous peoples in Canada. Here, we focus on the Commission's definition of witnessing and highlight the experience of Shelagh Rogers who served as an honorary witness. As an outcome of our analysis, we suggest that bearing witness in nursing practice is most usefully conceptualized as both a moral and a political obligation. Implications for nursing practice are suggested, including first, the need to critically examine our own understandings of power and privilege in order to authentically bear witness and avoid being complicit in injustice, and second, the concomitant responsibility to take action to challenge injustice once we have borne witness to it. (shrink)

Background: Adolescence is a period with physical, psychological, biological, intellectual, and social changes in which there is usually little perception of risk. COVID-19 has generated constant situations of change and uncertainty worldwide. During the pandemic, the acquisition of preventive behaviors has been relevant. Various studies carried out with adults associate risk perception and the implementation of preventive behaviors with knowledge about the COVID-19 and with age, but there are not many studies with adolescents. Therefore, the objective is to validate, in (...) Spanish, the questionnaire of the knowledge, attitudes, risk perceptions, and practices of adolescents toward the pandemic, and analyze it according to sociodemographic characteristics.Method: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional study, which included adolescents between the ages of 12–18. First, a translation and a back-translation of the questionnaire were performed. The questionnaire was presented in several high schools chosen by convenience sampling and following a non-probabilistic snowball sampling. Reliability and validity analyses were then carried out and the relationships between the different sociodemographic variables were analyzed.Results: The reliability of the questionnaire is acceptable. Knowledge was higher in women, and in those with a higher level of education; and were lower in those who lived in smaller towns, as well as in those who had a member of their family receiving financial aid. In terms of attitudes and risk perceptions, younger adolescents had higher scores, and those who had a member of their family receiving financial aid, lower.Conclusion: The questionnaire is a reliable tool in the Spanish adolescent population. Knowledge was influenced by gender, place of residence, level of education, and financial aid. Attitudes and risk perceptions were influenced by age and financial aid. For practices, no predictors were found. In general, adolescents scored lower on knowledge about COVID-19, but they scored higher on COVID-19 safety practices. (shrink)

External economic aid has played an important role in Northern Ireland’s peacebuilding process, particularly by funding community-based intervention projects.As a consequence of the Troubles, Northern Ireland suffered from severe socioeconomic inequality. These locally funded projects have fostered social cohesion by encouraging cross community interaction aimed at reducing violence and sectarianism. The NGO projects also promote social justice, reduce inequality, and provide the means to meet people’s basic human needs. The field research for this article was conducted during the summer of (...) 2010 and explores the perceptions of 120 civil society leaders and funding agency development officers on the effectiveness of the aid from the IFI and EU Peace III Fund in creating local social-economic NGOs to promote equity, equality, and social justice. The findings of this study reveal significant diversity in the respondents’ descriptions of the aids’s role in promoting equality, equity, and social justice as well as their expressed hopes and frustrations regarding its overall effectiveness. (shrink)

Source: Author: Olga Posudiyevska This study concentrates on the analysis of early works by Rudyard Kipling who was born into the family of English colonists to India, thus becoming a representative of the newly formed Anglo-Indian society. The writer’s sketch Anglo-Indian Society and his collection of short stories Plain Tales from the Hills depict the characteristic features of Anglo-Indians’ worldview and lifestyle, which are revealed and analyzed by the author of the article. Special attention is paid to biographical factors (...) influencing the author’s choice of Anglo-Indian topic at the beginning of his writing career. The researcher concludes that Kipling presents in his works an outline of Anglo-Indian society which emerged from the writer’s observations of Anglo-Indians’ lives during his work as a reporter. Striving for credibility in consideration of advantages and shortcomings of Anglo-Indian worldview and lifestyle, the author tries to occupy the position of the unconcerned observer, being capable of assessing the situation with fresh mind. Kipling disguises himself under the image of the hero-narrator, being either a tourist traveler from abroad, or a reporter, accustomed to collecting factual material for the local paper, in such a way receiving an opportunity to speak ironically and sometimes even sarcastically about certain models of behavior, accepted by Anglo-Indians. ]]>. (shrink)

L’article propose l’analyse de trois formes de manifestation de ce que nous avons appelé l’implicite argumentatif : à visée discursive, à visée sémantique et à visée lexicale. Dans la perspective théorique de la Sémantique des Possibles Argumentatifs, nous avons défini ce phénomène sémantico-discursif, comme la reconstruction, dans l’interprétation du sens d’un énoncé ou d’un ensemble d’énoncés, d’un élément signifiant ou d’une configuration d’éléments signifiants relevant de la nature argumentative de la signification d’un mot, présent ou absent de cet énoncé ou (...) de cet ensemble d’énoncés. L’article défend, illustre et argumente les fondements sémantiques de ces trois types d’implicite argumentatif, ancrés dans le potentiel discursif de la signification des mots et dans le potentiel du sens produit dans les instances de parole, de proposer des significations lexicales régénérées. (shrink)

En este volumen se recogen una serie de estudios, reflexiones y propuestas prácticas en torno a las nociones de violencia, justicia y libertad. Sus responsables consideran que es urgente reflexionar sobre ellas, pues nuestras acciones, nuestra respuesta o nuestra indiferencia ante la violencia o la injusticia, dependen de lo que entendamos por un Estado justo o lo que signifique para nosotros ser libre. Partiendo de diferentes tradiciones filosóficas y de autores que han abordado estas cuestiones a lo largo de la (...) historia, nos preguntamos qué relación hay actualmente entre la violencia, la justicia y la libertad: ¿es la libertad sin límites necesariamente violenta? ¿Se puede luchar por la justicia con medios violentos, sin caer en la injusticia? ¿Contribuye nuestra sociedad a la realización de un mundo más justo? (shrink)

The article is dedicated to the development of theatrical art in Mariupol at the beginning of 20th century. The theatrical life of Mariupol has not been investigated yet as an original art phenomenon, and therefore, it demands for the detailed studying. There are the repertoire, the role of touring troupes and development of charitable activities of actors in the city described in the article as well. The information was collected from literature, newspapers and funds of local lore museums. The study (...) showed us the rising of ideological and educational value of the scene provincial theaters at the beginning of XX c. In Mariupol worked several theaters, which created conditions for the formation of theater seasons, touring groups' arrivals and also the base for the development of local amateur groups. Performances of guest performers - Ukrainian, Russian and foreign stars of theater scene contributed to the promotion and enrichment of theatrical culture, transforming Mariupol into the cultural centers of the region. The author considers the features of the state policy in the sphere of theatrical art during the Civil War and in the first years of Soviet government power. The Soviet government made a circle of attempts to use the theater in the business of agitation and propaganda as much as possible. In consequence with nationwide problems, the conditions which theater city institutions worked in, сconsiderably got worsened because of the fact of the demand of entertaining genres in the repertoire of the theaters. Nevertheless, thanks to the safekeeping of the best examples of the theatrical traditions, the priorities in the repertoire policy were given to the Ukrainian, Russian and foreign classics. In conclusion, it may be said also, that theater in Mariupol at the beginning of XX c., was developed, despite the complications that have been appeared under the influence of existing political regime and differed from others in the existence of various professional and amateur groups, wide touring guest activities of the prominent masters of the stage and diverse repertoire. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to show the relationships between philosophy and literature that may derive from Simone de Beauvoir writing who makes a contribution to contemporary reflection regarding these relationships. Her own writing, which could be named as “ambiguous writing” due to its particularities, constitutes a proposal and a commitment to overcome or to exceed the limits that either literature or philosophy might impose to comply with the accomplishment of the specific features inherent to these discursive genres. I (...) suggest the concept of “reflective genre” to denote the peculiarity of Simone de Beauvoir’s option when applying, at times simultaneously or sequentially, the discursive genres of fiction, autobiographical stories and essays writing that express more systematically her speculations of a philosophical nature. In this text, I consider her conception of the novel which she gives a high pre-eminence, in a period of her production. (shrink)

Članak razmatra pojam demokracije Johna Deweya u odnosu na ranije i suvremene radikalno ljevičarske ideje. Ističu se slična epistemološka, antropološka i politička stajališta u ovim teorijama. Vrlo je važno odbacivanje ili podcjenjivanje političke demokracije i naglasak na demokratskom životu s ciljem stvaranja novog društva, posve drukčijeg od postojećih društava. Članak je podijeljen u tri dijela. Prvi dio istražuje razumijevanje demokracije kao nepolitičkog fenomena i kao sinonima za novi oblik ljudske egzistencije u mladog Marxa te kasnijim stavovima Marxa i Lenjina o (...) demokraciji kao »hipokriziji«. Drugi dio analizira Deweyev pojam demokracije kao »načina povezanog življenja« i skreće pozornost na neke značajne podudarnosti i, također, razlike spram Marxovih ranih ideja. Treći dio razmatra razumijevanje demokratskog društva kao identičnog s globalnim društvom u kojem komunikacija među ljudima nije ograničena političkim granicama. U ovom se pitanju također prepoznaju značajne podudarnosti u mišljenju Marxa, Deweya i nekih suvremenih mislilaca . Zaključak je da su politička demokracija i demokratsko društvo kompatibilni, no ideja neke vrste novog nepolitičkog demokratskog društva osim globalnog društva se smatra nerealističnom. (shrink)

Emerging evidence suggests that DNA topology plays an instructive role in cell fate control through regulation of gene expression. Transcription produces torsional stress, and the resultant supercoiling of the DNA molecule generates an array of secondary structures. In turn, local DNA architecture is harnessed by the cell, acting within sensory feedback mechanisms to mediate transcriptional output. MYC is a potent oncogene, which is upregulated in the majority of cancers; thus numerous studies have focused on detailed understanding of its regulation. Dissection (...) of regulatory regions within the MYC promoter provided the first hint that intimate feedback between DNA topology and associated DNA remodeling proteins is critical for moderating transcription. As evidence of such regulation is also found in the context of many other genes, here we expand on the prototypical example of the MYC promoter, and also explore DNA architecture in a genome-wide context as a global mechanism of transcriptional control. Torsional stress, and supercoiling generated by transcription, shape the topology of DNA. Furthermore, the resultant secondary DNA structures and their interacting partners provide feedback to regulate gene expression. Emerging evidence suggests these mechanisms, identified through analysis of the MYC promoter, are applicable genome-wide. (shrink)

BackgroundCurrent preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) technologies enable embryo genotyping across the whole genome. This has led to the development of polygenic risk scoring of human embryos (PGT-P). Recent implementation of PGT-P, including screening for intelligence, has been extensively covered by media reports, raising major controversy. Considering the increasing demand for assisted reproduction, we evaluated how information about PGT-P is communicated in press media and explored the diversity of ethical themes present in the public debate.MethodsLexisNexis Academic database and Google News were (...) searched to identify articles about polygenic embryo screening. This led to 535 news articles. 59 original articles met the inclusion criteria. Inductive content analysis was used to analyse these articles.Results8.8% of articles gave embryo polygenic scoring a positive portrayal, while 36.8% expressed a negative attitude. 54.4% were neutral, mostly highlighting limited practical value of the technology in in vitro fertilization settings. We identified five main ethical themes that are also present in academic literature and the broader debate on reproductive technologies: a slippery slope towards designer babies, well-being of the child and parents, impact on society, deliberate choice and societal readiness.ConclusionsImplementation of embryo polygenic profiling engenders a need for specific recommendations. Current media analysis discloses important ethical themes to consider when creating future guidelines for PGT-P. (shrink)

At the bedside, nurses are expected to be precise when they read indications on screens and on the bodies of patients and decide on the meaning of words framed by the context of acute care. In academia, although there is no incident report to fill when we misread or misrepresent complex philosophical ideas, the consequences of inaccurate reading include misplaced epistemological claims and poor scholarship. A long and broad convention of nursing phenomenological research, in its various forms, claims a philosophical (...) grounding in the ideas of Husserl, Heidegger, and other thinkers. But for nearly two decades, nurse phenomenologists' knowledge claims have been challenged by well‐informed criticisms, most notably by John Paley. At the heart of criticism lies an observation that Continental phenomenological thought is misrepresented in many nursing sources and that nursing phenomenology, both descriptive and interpretive, cannot appeal to the authority of either Husserl or Heidegger. Taking these criticisms seriously, I am asking, Is phenomenology after Paley possible? If misreading seems to be an issue, how can – or should – we read rigorously? My thinking through these questions is influenced by the ideas of Jacques Derrida. Under a condition of a play of language, of Derridian différance, when meaning is never self‐identical and never fully arrives, I suggest that one has to negotiate meanings through reading for differences. I develop this idea in relation to the methodological conventions of phenomenological nursing research and argue for a careful rereading of the whole field of phenomenological nursing research. Such rereading presupposes and necessitates interdisciplinary engagement between nursing and the humanities and interpretive social sciences. Greater familiarity with research practices of those disciplines that stress theoretical and writing rigour might make visible the limits of nursing research approaches and their quality criteria. An understanding of philosophical and theoretical works – a condition of quality scholarship – depends on our reading of both originary texts and contemporary literature from the humanities and the social sciences. This understanding, far from obliging researchers to always trace (often erroneously) their work to its philosophical roots, opens other, often more sound, methodological possibilities. (shrink)

The article is a presentation and analysis of the main provisions of 16 works of the world's leading experts on religious tourism and pilgrimage, published in a special issue of the International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage. 2020. Vol.8. This special issue was dedicated to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on religious tourism, and in particular pilgrimage, in the world. Religious tourism has a strong socio-cultural potential and demand - it is the value status of any person who (...) feels the need for cultural, religious and recreational facilities important for spiritual, ideological and physical existence. It is also the availability of opportunities to meet the social and cultural needs of people in tourism services, because it has such a socio-cultural characteristic as a social practice that changes a person and positions him in the social space. Religious tourism became in the XXI century. significant, socially significant phenomenon. But the current pandemic has dealt a very painful blow to the entire tourism sector of the world economy, including religious tourism. Under the influence of the pandemic, the country banned pilgrimage. So the question arose: what's next? Is there a radical transformation of the religious life of mankind, including religious tourism? Isn't this the beginning of the end of religions, as some sociologists of the past predicted? This article is devoted to finding answers to these and other, no less complex, questions. The author set a goal - based on the analysis of the latest research on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on religious tourism to identify and present those important points that are already relevant for religious tourism in Ukraine, as well as those that are just beginning to appear and will be relevant in the post. -pandemic era. In almost all articles of this Special Issue, the authors emphasized that religious tourism and pilgrimage are very sustainable and will meet the challenges posed by the pandemic. The question for the religious tourism and pilgrimage industry is how they will develop and transform new approaches that will help the growth strategies of key stakeholders. However, due to pandemic restrictions, it may not be possible to resume travel to holy sites and pilgrimage sites and trails without the assistance of national governments, international agencies, and relief organizations. Thus, the authors predict that the religious tourism industry will face very difficult circumstances in the near future. All articles in the special issue of this journal express extremely relevant, deep and valuable opinions of scientists, which make us all think about what lessons Ukraine should learn about religious tourism, and in particular pilgrimage, and what should be its state policy and public opinion in this regard. further. And the author in the conclusions expresses her point of view on the content of these lessons, based on the views set out in this article of the world's best experts in religious tourism and pilgrimage. (shrink)

Deberíamos usar las nuevas técnicas biomédicas para mejorar a los individuos? Si sabemos que la naturaleza humana contiene también características que podemos considerar no deseables entonces parece que no habría nada en sí mismo erróneo a la hora de alterarla. Algunos autores interesados en este tema hacen referencia a los daños que ello podría ocasionar a otros. Pero entonces, ¿la mejora moral podría funcionar como un contraejemplo a la idea de que la mejora biomédica es siempre moralmente impermisible? Puede que (...) lejos de estar ante algo meramente permisible, la mejora de nuestro carácter moral sea algo a lo que debamos aspirar. ¿Sería entonces obligatorio seleccionar los embriones con un nivel más alto de moralidad? (shrink)

This article discusses the corporeal component of the human mind. Uncertainty is a fundamental attribute of the human body due to which a body transforms itself into the body that allows to connect the world with the human mind. The process of overcoming the transcendental register of the human mind results in the ontological and anthropological shifts from ego to soma. Tracing the trajectory of these shifts we discover the bodily dimension in the human mind as its constitutive transcendental ground. (...) This dimension makes the mind not only open to the world but makes the world a part of the human mind. It prevents the mind from exerting power over the world, and gives rise to life vitality of the embodied mind. (shrink)

The main indicators of assistance activity in the insurance market in Ukraine have been analyzed. Beneficial and negative trends of its development have been shown. The dynamics of the insurers' liquidation expenses structure and the payment of services expenses of the assistance establishments have been highlighted. Their structure has been shown due to the types of voluntary and compulsory insurance. The main problems hindering the effective development of the assistance services market have been characterized and the prospects of its development (...) have been offered. The aim of the research is to carry out comprehensive analysis of the current market of assistance services, to identify the main problems of their implementation and to point out the prospects of insurance market development. The dynamics of insurance bonuses and benefits including insurance compensation and services and the insurers' operating expenses concerning the payment of services of the assistance establishments has been analyzed on the basis of a sample survey of the main indicators of insurance market development due to the statistic data of National Committee of Financial Services. It has been revealed that majority of the insurance services provide settlement of insurance claims by offering assistance service. Alongside increasing of the share of insurance payment due to the contract providing the insurance service, allows the majority of insurance claims to be settled due to the payment of insurance compensation. Expenses on assistance services were the highest and the court expenses were the lowest in the structure of the insurer's liquidation expenses during 2011-2014. Expenses on services of the non-residential assistance establishments are low but they are increasing. It shows that emergency assistance to our citizens in the country and outside is being increased. Structure of assistance services in the voluntary and compulsory insurance market has been analyzed; main trends of assistance activity development according to the separate insurance services have been highlighted. In particular it was found out that the greatest amount of assistance services were provided due to the voluntary medical insurance, medical costs insurance, land transport insurance and compulsory insurance of civil liability of the owners of vehicles. On the basis of conducted analysis, we can draw a conclusion about the low level of assistance services market development. It is affected by negative trends of economic and political crisis, low solvency of insurers and the quality of insurance services, a lack of guaranties to provide emergency assistance in time, imperfect state regulation of assistance services provision, and a low level of institutional support. We offer to intensify the interaction between the insurers and assistance companies while providing insurance services including additional ones, insurance compensation, and settlement of insurance claims by ensuring emergency assistance in monetary and natural-material form. This will promote the increasing of quality of the insurance protection. (shrink)

У статті викладено організаційно-методологічний підхід до бюджетування для формування багаторівневої системи бюджетів холдингу. Розкрито особливості узагальнення консолідованої інформації корпоративних груп, обґрунтовано основний метод бюджетування під час підготовки бюджетів різних рівнів, запропоновано методологію бюджетування підприємств у складі холдингу, яка полягає в розробці комплексної моделі бюджетного процесу, що призведе до підвищення фінансово-економічної ефективності та фінансової стійкості організації.

The right to a fair trial is implemented in our criminal procedure and is one of the core values of our criminal justice system. This right is absolute and can’t be limited on any legal base. Its essence is fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial court with guaranteeing of all the minimum rights of the defendant. One of those minimum rights is the right of equity of arms between the parties, the prosecutor and the defense. In our (...) Law on Criminal Procedure, it is provided that the defense has the same rights and duties as the prosecutor except those rights that belong to the prosecutor as a state authority. Therefore, the purpose of this article is elaborating the right of ‘equity of arms’ and its misunderstanding in practice. Hence, we intend to show some case studies in which some evidence are not considered by the court just because they are not proposed by the prosecutor and they are crucial for the verdict. (shrink)

We investigated the influence of personality and culture on effects of mortality salience over cultural worldview defense. We hypothesized that CWVD reactions to MS differ between Germany and Poland because of the higher conservatism of the latter country, and that they are moderated by action vs. state orientation. In this study German and Polish, participants were exposed either to MS or to a control condition. Punishment ratings to trivial offences and serious social transgressions were measures of CWVD. Results showed that (...) social transgressions in both conditions were more strongly punished in Poland than in Germany. Additionally, compared to the control condition, under MS action oriented punished serious transgressions more strongly in Germany whereas state oriented punished serious transgressions more strongly in Poland. That is, the effects of MS on CWVD are moderated by personality and culture. We interpret the opposite pattern of punishment to serious social transgressions given by action and state orientedin in Germany and Poland, respectively, according to the higher emotional autonomy of action-oriented persons in either culture. (shrink)

Populations have different percents on different history realms regarding baths and fountains. A constant historical issue of such places is related with constant use and adore. Therefore we find ourselves in time where they where more used and ages where they where less used. On our paper we analyse from a sociological perspective the use of such spaces, mainly associated with social interaction and sociability. At the end of our paper, we are going to analyse both issues directly linked with (...) tourism perspective in terms of health and care on the so called “Postindustrial Society”. (shrink)

Obviously, it is about the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. I, the author of the article, suggest looking at her, taking into account all her hypostasis, its ritual and organizational peculiarities, but to focus on how this Church performs one of the functions that are inherent in religious systems and organizations: a value-controlling function, and how this performance correlates with the national interests of Ukrainians.

У статті запропоновано підхід до організації процесів управління забезпеченням розвитку промислового підприємства на основі аналізу та вибору пріоритетних стратегічних альтернатив, за результатами якого стає можливим встановити взаємозв'язок між довгостроковими цілями розвитку підприємства та існуючих або очікуваних ресурсів, що входять до складу ресурсної бази забезпечення.

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Feminist Studies 44, no. 1. © 2018 by Olga Zilberbourg 95 Olga Zilberbourg Helen More’s Suicide My retired colleague Marguerite called to tell me of Helen More’s suicide. “Of all the sad, ludicrous things people do to themselves!” She invited me over. “Thursday night, as usual. I could use the company of younger people.” It had been about a year since I’d first been invited to these (...) Thursdays —monthly literary and musical soirees Marguerite hosted in her living room. Helen had been a regular at Marguerite’s for several decades; the two women were close contemporaries and each a celebrity in her own field. Helen was scholar of the English Romantics at the same university where Marguerite had taught Flaubert, Zola, and Balzac, and where I was now a junior faculty member in the English department. I’d heard of Professor More long before I met her: she lectured at the university from the 1960s until being forced into retirement in 2006 ostensibly due to age. She had a reputation as a militant feminist who eagerly engaged in battles about appointments and promotions, and her politics could have had something to do with it. “Are they sure it was a suicide?” In person Helen was a quiet, reticent woman with a sly, sarcastic sense of humor, and the idea that she might’ve committed suicide seemed outlandish. Vague murder scenarios floated in my mind. A disgruntled student? A male professor, passed over for promotion years ago and blaming her for his career failure? 96 Olga Zilberbourg “Yes, quite. The details are unpleasant, but do you know what she wrote in her suicide note?” “Of course she left a note.” “She said, ‘Thanks for the trip. Love to all.’” I couldn’t help laughing. “Yet when you think that having written that, she took all those pills and put a plastic bag over her head,” Marguerite’s voice broke. “Anyway, it’s not a conversation to have over the telephone. Do come over.” On Thursday afternoon, having collected the student papers after the last exam of the semester, I took the subway down to Greenwich Village. Marguerite lived on a third floor walkup, in a wonderfully spacious and tall-ceilinged apartment that back in the 1970s she and her husband had converted from a pillow factory. Since her husband’s death ten years earlier, the apartment had slowly turned into a trap for Marguerite. She suffered from arthritis in her hands, shoulders, and knees, and walking up and down the stairs became a nearly impossible exercise. She ventured out once or twice a week with the assistance of a visiting nurse. The place could easily fetch three or four million dollars, and Marguerite could use the money. Yet she was reluctant to sell. “I’d rather go without bread than without my piano and my books,” she insisted. A feeling of reverence and trepidation caught my breath as I climbed the stairs to Marguerite’s apartment. One never knew what kind of celebrity of the arts or music world could show up on any given Thursday. In her lifetime, Marguerite had known everyone, from Sartre and de Beauvoir to Picasso and Chagall. In the last few years the circle of her acquaintances seemed to dwindle, and yet still world-renowned musicians, poets, playwrights sometimes appeared among the circle of her former colleagues and students. I rang the doorbell and waited for several minutes as Marguerite crept to the door. “I’m afraid you’re my only guest tonight,” she said through the door, struggling with the lock and the knob. Finally, she pushed the door open. “Several people cancelled because of the end of the semester, and then of course, there’s the funeral. But come in, come in—we’ll talk of that later.” Marguerite led me into the living room, heavily shaded from the street and dimly lit with two floor lamps. Decorated with musical instruments, piles of books on the floor and on the low tables, and bright Olga Zilberbourg 97 modernist watercolors on the walls, the room seemed to belong to a royal palace, a vast, untouchable space. Usually Helen or one of Marguerite ’s... (shrink)

. Heuristic is a central concept of Lakatos' philosophy both in his early works and in his later work, the methodology of scientific research programs. The term itself, however, went through significant change of meaning. In this paper I study this change and the ‘metaphysical’ commitments behind it. In order to do so, I turn to his mathematical heuristic elaborated in Proofs and Refutations. I aim to show the dialogical character of mathematical knowledge in his account, which can open a (...) door to hermeneutic studies of mathematical practice. (shrink)

Publication date: 25 October 2017 Source: Author: Olga Posudiyevska This article presents the study of Rudyard Kipling’s early pieces of writing. The author proposes an alternative view to the consideration of the writer’s literary heritage from the position of jingoism and propagation of the civilizing mission of the British Empire, which can still be encountered in academic research. The analysis of Plain Tales from the Hills suggests that the praise of British imperialism was not the main idea of Kipling’s (...) early works. The researcher comes to the conclusion that Kipling did not regard India as a conquered barbarous land which the British people had to civilize. This remote exotic country became a motherland for a representative of Anglo-Indian society, who was born in Indian environment. Kipling’s love for India is felt in his strive to give a detailed description of exotic locations and ethnographic peculiarities and even to restore the manner of speech of Indian population. The reader of Plain Tales from the Hills can perceive the author’s respect for the English and Indian people, working in harsh climate, his interest and great sympathy with the aboriginal population, living in hard social conditions under the British rule. The sarcastic remarks of his characters, which reflect Kipling’s doubt in the beneficial role of the British Empire in the lives of the Indian people, finally refute the statement about the writer’s glorification of the imperialistic policy of Great Britain as the main aim of his creative art. (shrink)

The paper reports on the state of Polish and Belarusian scientists’ research on eighteenth century reconstruction and pictorial decorations of the Corpus Christ Church in Nieśwież. On the basis of the inquiry conducted based on Belarusian, Polish and American archives, the author forms a new hypothesis that the reconstruction and church decoration was done by a North Italian architect, Maurizio Pedetti. This hypothesis reveals the network of European artistic and ideological connections, part of which became Nieśwież through the artistic patronage (...) of the Radziwiłł family. (shrink)

_“Religious Freedom: Social-Scientific Approaches”_ offers original research on religious freedom from around the globe. The volume addresses the issues related to defining and understanding the concept of religious freedom with interdisciplinary methods and by incorporating sociological thinking as a constituent part of this analysis.