The article aims at demonstrating that authority is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. An overview of numerous definitions and theories of authority serves as a point of departure that leads to the reconstruction of the typologies of authority existing in social sciences and to qualifying the functions of authority. The place of the phenomenon in social life is revealed by the analysis of its key operation mechanisms and impact areas. Theoretical definitions and typologies form the background for concentrating on authority in local communities, since its social role (e.g. inspirational, regulatory and integrative) at this level is exceptionally important from the perspective of social order maintenance and local communities’ development.

In these remarks I make an attempt to understand and present the functioning of authorities in science. I do use in the first place the earlier claims which present this issue in a historical perspective. This allows to grasp the social process of emergence of the authorities as well the changing of their position in the way they are functioning. Especially the thoughts of Max Weber are being considered by my as useful in this matter. I do share his general thesis saying that even the greatest of scientific authorities – called by me in these remarks ”centennial” – couldn't occur and function without their social and cultural ”background”. This had led in large extent to the situation where these authorities fist played a significant role in the development of science and then went over to a more or less dignified ”retirement”. In this and other issues I present some of my own remarks and sugestions.

Successful slogans in Italian political discourse – This paper aims to describe the notion of ‘sloganisation’, with special regard to the fortune and circulation of certain slogans in Italian public discourse. An analysis of their forms, contexts of occurrence (political propaganda, advertising, football supporters) and means of diffusion (street talk, electoral manifestos, traditional and new media) shows an increasing desemantisation of this kind of message. Slogans are routinely used by political parties and are widely quoted, regardless of their ideological content, merely in order to create identification or to increase the polemical attitude of their leader.

Notes about a handbook of Italian grammar by a Croatian philologist Dragutin Antun Parčić – A handbook of Italian grammar, written in Croatian by Croatian philologist Parčić, confirms that in the past educated Croatian-speaking people were bilingual and at the same time it proves that lower classes aimed to study Italian as well. The paper analyses the functionality and appropriateness of topics presented in the Parčić manuscript because it is obvious that the author was keen to help his Croatian-speaking students in the acquisition of Italian.

The author of the article proposes a relational analysis of literary culture. Relational research treats the newest model of literary production as a set of complex relations between the author and his or her image, the text, economics, marketing, criticism by the work’s audience, the media, the technological framework, and so forth. These relations provide the sphere of possibilities for literature and its agents. Increasingly intricate relations are drawing the fields of literature, the media, and economics nearer to each other; these fields are becoming more accessible in order to facilitate the exchange of various kinds of capital and to create conditions for the development of literary fame and author brands. The relational concept of literary culture provides a better tool for the analysis of the contemporary phenomenon of writer-celebrities, which is key to understanding the functioning of the entire field of literature.

Clients’ satisfaction with financial advice provided by professional advisors depends on how this advice has fulfilled their expectations and goals. However, once a recommendation is made, a client is unable to predict and evaluate the real financial outcome of the advisor’s proposal. In such a case, she/he can base her/his assessment on the characteristics ascribed to the financial advisor: her/his epistemic authority (competence) and level of caring. Additionally, clients expect to receive a “tailor-made” solution that takes into account her/his individual needs and characteristics. In the present study, we asked participants to evaluate financial experts who had recommended risky vs safe investments. The recommendations were congruent or incongruent with the clients’ risk tolerance (high vs low). The kind of recommendation influenced the participants’ evaluations of the advisors (and as a result, the clients’ perceived satisfaction) only for low-risk tolerance clients. For these clients, investment recommendations that were not adjusted to their levels of risk tolerance led to lower evaluations of the advisors and consequently to lower evaluation of satisfaction with their visits. These lower evaluations regarded both dimensions: the interpersonal aspect (caring) and competence in the field of finance (epistemic authority). Such incongruence between risk tolerance and the riskiness of the recommendation did not affect high-risk tolerance clients’ advisor evaluations.

Sobór Watykański II, który był największym wydarzeniem we współczesnej historii chrześcijaństwa, zainicjował proces otwarcia i reformy Kościoła katolickiego na niespotykaną dotąd skalę. Przez trzy lata dyskutowano na temat najważniejszych tematów, zarówno natury czysto teologicznej i eklezjalnej, jak i pastoralnej i misyjnej. Jednym z tych soborowych tematów było także ożywienie braterskich relacji między katolikami i nie-katolikami. W artykułe dokonano analizy jednego z najważniejszych teologicznych tematów, który niestety pozostał w wyniku soborowej i postsoborowej dyskusji przeszkodą w rzeczywistym dialogu o przywróceniu jedności między katolikami a prawosławnymi. Jest nim prymat papieski, który prawosławni postrzegają jako wynik ludzkiej inwencji, pozbawionej solidnych biblijnych i patrystycznych podstaw. Ternin ten pojawił się po 1054 roku jako podstawowa cecha polityki religijnej związanej z prymatem Rzymu. Kościół prawosławny wierzy w możliwość przywrócenia jedności chrześcijan, jednak nie zgadza się na interkomunię bez uprzedniego osiągnięcia jedności w wierze. Stąd też oczekuje się od Kościoła katolickiego decyzji porzucenia roszczenia prymatu i papieskiej nieomylności bądź też ich przekształcenia zgodnie tradycją pierwszych wieków. Również oczekuje się redefinicji relacji między biskupem Rzymu a kolegium katolickich biskupów w sensie rzeczywistej i efektywnej synodlaności.

The subject of this article is an analysis of the earliest of Karl Marx’s articles, Comments on the Latest Prussian Censorship Instruction. The essence of his views presented in that article was to protest against the restriction of the right to free expression of opinions by journalists. Marx pointed out that the new Prussian Censorship Instruction only seemed to liberalize censorship, but in fact in many aspects tightened the rules, for example, reinforced those that pertained to religious criticism. He thought that the Prussian Censorship Instruction was not an enactment of law, because by limiting freedom, lawmakers acted against the essence of the press, law and state. Marx thought that a press law was needed to guarantee freedom of the press and that censorship should be abolished entirely.

The report encompasses the activity of the Committee on Ethics in Science in the year 2016.

The first part of this article brings the author’s reply to the participants of the panel discussion of his book Culture as Verb (Anna Łebkowska, Jakub Momro, Tomasz Rakowski and Dorota Wolska). In the second part he outlines his premises and explains the analytical vocabulary that has enabled him to move from an active to a passive ‘verbal’ understanding of culture. He also draws a broad outline of prospective new research that would complement his project. Central to it is the exploration of what he believes is the dominant contemporary cultural experience, which is based on active participation. To characterize its most important features and forms we should make use of the following, newly defi ned analytical concepts – passivity, the present moment, immersion, and testimonial authority.