None of us lives in the world as it simply exists. Rather, each of us inhabits a specific “image of the world” – one which we did not create ourselves, but which we usually mistake for the real world itself.

Dr. Artur Kościański from the PAS Institute of Philosophy and Sociology explains how civil society works in Poland and how the Internet contributes to its development.

The paper presents two competing perceptions of the modern university: the economic and the humanistic. While the economic approach has numerous and potent advocates in the modern, rationalized world, those opting for the humanist approach have to struggle for attention and understanding. The author aims to highlight the conflict between the two seemingly contradictory visions of the university in her sociological commentary about the debate over the importance of the humanities in Poland and worldwide. There exists, however, a kind of ontological meta-frame which allows the rhetoric of a ‘factory of knowledge’ and a ‘temple of knowledge’ to be accommodated. It consists in thinking of universities in universalistic categories, which should be the concern of the state as it seeks Poland’s civilizational advance—in the full meaning of the phrase.

The growing popularity of so-called cognitive enhancement technologies raises questions about their impact on the sphere of individual legal responsibility. This article examines the issue of whether, in a situation where a surgeon, prone to making a fatigue-related medical error, refuses to undergo a safe cognitive enhancement before surgery, the surgeon can be attributed liability for damages. The answer to this question is negative, however, as indicated in the article, the impossibility of attributing damages is a result of (1) the lack of professional guidelines requiring doctors to undergo cognitive enhancement; (2) the lack of scientific evidence that the use of such measures results in the elimination of fatigue and reduces the risk of error. As a result, the negative answer to the analyzed question is not determined by the solution of the model of liability for damages adopted in Polish law, but rather by the current state of research on cognitive improvement. This gives the analysis a universal character and makes it possible to relate the method adopted in it to new results of research on means of cognitive enhancement if any.

The article presents subject matter related to the assessment of the suitability of the built-up area, including the occurrence of sinkholes on the surface. The investment plot, which is the subject of the analysis, is located in the central part of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, where shallow exploitation of coal seams was conducted in the past. At present it is a post-mining area, located at a large distance from active mines. It has an attractive administrative location and good transport connection with the main road connecting the cities of the Silesian agglomeration. These advantages make it particularly attractive in terms of use for various types of investments. The geological and mining factors are not favorable in the area in question, mainly due to the shallow mining exploitation conducted in the past and the access excavations on small depth and an unknown method of liquidation. These reasons are the cause of some restrictions in the use of construction, for which taking the appropriate solutions is recommended. According to the study of (Rules... 2009), the category of mining land should be defined for the areas of liquidated mining plants due to the limitation in construction use. The authors of the article made an attempt to determine it, and they analyzed the geological and mining conditions for this purpose, mainly including mining exploitation conducted in the past. On the basis of the obtained results and own experience, the type of expected hazards and its assessment were determined The probability of the occurrence of the inclusions according to the Chudek-Olaszowski method (Chudek et al. 1988) was assumed as a measure of the hazard.

This paper aims to evaluate the effects of blended binders on the development of strength in moraine soils by optimising the proportion of several binders. We tested three types of soil as a mixture of moraine soils: A (sandy clay), B (clayey silt) and C (silty clay), collected in southern Sweden. The soil was compacted using a modified Proctor test using the standard SS-EN 13286-2:2010 to determine optimum moisture content. The particle size distribution was analysed to determine suitable binders. The specimens of types A, B and C, were treated by six different binders: ordinary Portland cement (OPC); hydrated lime (Ca(OH)2); ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) and their blends in various proportions. The strength gain in soil treated by binders was evaluated by the test for Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) against curing time. For soil type A, the strength increase is comparable for most of the binders, with the difference in behaviour in the UCS gain. The OPC/lime, GGBFS and hydrated lime showed a direct correlation, while OPC, OPC/GGBFS and GGBFS/hydrated lime – a quick gain in the UCS by day 28th. After that, the rate of growth decreased. Compared to soil type A, Ca(OH)2 performs better on the stabilisation of soil type B. Besides, the hydrated lime works better on the gain of the UCS compared to other binders. The GGBFS/Ca(OH)2 blend shows a notable effect on soil type A: the UCS of soil treated by Ca(OH)2 performs similarly to those treated by OPC with visible effects on day 90th. Cement and a blend of slag/hydrated lime demonstrated the best results for soil type B. An effective interaction was noted for the blends GGBFS and hydrated lime, which is reflected in the UCS development in soils type A and B. Blended binder GGBFS/hydrated lime performs better compared to single binders.

In the broad spectrum of Bertrand Russell’s interests the socio‑political issues had a special role. The possibility of peaceful global co‑existence was most important to him. Occasionally he took part in the disputes between West and East accepting the role of a mediator. He saw a chance for peace in the creation of a world government. Kant had proposed a similar project of a supranational community and hoped it could result in the emergence of a global society, embracing all nations. With this achievement in place, the project of ‘eternal peace’ could be completed, he hoped. In this way, relying on ethical and legal principles, Kant designed a permanent international peace alliance.

The article is a review of the book: Koneczny. Teoria cywilizacji edited by Jan Skoczyński.

The paper discusses political philosophy of Bogusław Wolniewicz. The leading idea of his general philosophy was rationalism of a specific type that he called ‘tychistic’ (meaning ‘based on fate’), or ‘transcendental’ (meaning ‘transgressing the limits of nature by reliance on human reason’). This self-description presents Wolniewicz as an author respecting his Christian background, though personally he did not espouse the complete body of precepts postulated by the Church. As a nonconfessional catholic he spoke in favor of Christian civilization which he identified with Western culture. This led him to the reject of liberalism, libertarianism and leftist ideologies. He wanted to be perceived as a democrat who supported civil and republican democracy based on the virtue of patriotism. He emphasized the essentiality of the possession of its own political state by each independent nation, and the most important circle of loyalty was for him a national community. Thus he undertook to defend a conception of cautious xenophobia that was expurgated of hate but dedicated to the defense of a national territory.

This article analyses the representation of the Spanish Civil War addressed to the readers of the Polish local press in Siedlce, then in the Voivodship of Lublin. In the period 1936–1939 Siedlce could boast of having three newspapers — the weekly Głos Podlaski published by the Diocesan Curia Siedlce, and two trimensuals, Ziemia Siedlecka and Życie Podlasia, both affiliated with the ruling Sanacja. Each of them showed an unflagging interest in the Spanish war, treated as a violent clash of the opposed forces of left-wing Republicanism and nationalism.

The article shows folk nicknames operating in geographically diverse rural communities (administratively belonging to the municipality Muszyna). As unofficial anthroponyms, existing only in the spoken form, they represent a living local language — dialect. Analysis of the collected material shows that all the most important features of the language characteristic of this part of Lesser Poland (Małopolska) dialect are performed in it. Folk nicknames, despite numerous hazards caused by civilization, are still an important factor supporting the local dialect — they operate rather vividly in the ana lysed microcommunity (almost every adult has his nickname), and are constantly being created and passed down from generation to generation.

Cities are changing before our eyes. Civilization trends should be accompanied by the appropriate management styles of local development. The crisis of civil policy and the power of representation undermines the essence of the current model of democracy and the effectiveness of local policy. Therefore, it evolves towards governance. The influence of civic activity is mostly visible at the local level. Its importance is multidimensional and it shapes the social, economic and environmental conditions of urban life. The article guides the reader through various meanders of research and public debate on engaging inhabitants in local policy. Its aim is to indicate the scope of resident’s influence on the current policy of Polish cities, in particular with regard to the investment policy. The paper is based on the extensive literature studies and the primary research carried out in all of the cities in Silesia voidvoship.

This paper presents an experimental study on the leaching of heavy metals, toxic chemicals and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) – PAH, PCB and HCB – from soil dredged from the coastal area of Västernorrland in northern Sweden. The soil was stabilized with cement/slag. Samples were subjected to modified surface leaching and shake tests using technical standards of the Swedish Geotechnical Institute (SGI). The experiments were performed using different blends of binding agents (30/70, 50/50, 70/30) and binder quantities (120 and 150 kg/m3) to analyze their effects on leaching. Soil properties, tools, and workflow are described. Binders included Portland cement and ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS). Samples were tested to evaluate the min/max contents of pollutants (μg/l) for heavy metals (As, Ba, Pb, Cd, Co, Cu, Cr, Hg, Mn, Mo, Ni, S, V, Zn) and the hydrocarbon fraction index in the excess water. The leaching of heavy metals and POPs was assessed in sediments after the addition of the binder. The comparison was made against the two mixes (cement/slag in 30/70% and high/low binder with low/high water ratio). The results showed that 70% slag decreases the leaching of heavy metals and POPs. The equilibrium concentrations of DOC and heavy metals at L/S 10 (μg/l) were measured during the shake experiments to compare their levels in the groundwater that was used as a leachate. The leached content was assessed at L/S 10 in the upscaling experiments using four samples for PAH, PCB and various fractions of hydrocarbons: C10–C40, C10–C12, C12–C16 and C35–C40. The shake test showed a decrease in the leaching of heavy metals and POP substances from the soil subjected to stabilization by a higher amount of slag added as a binder. A binder blend with 30% cement and 70% of GGBFS showed the best performance.

People appear in the courtroom when they engage in various disputes with others and have diverse problems of their own. The courts are supposed to provide them with a space where they can obtain justice, in accordance with the law. It is no less important, however, that while pursuing this goal the courts should deal with people’s problems in a way that makes the people willing to accept and comply with their decisions. The central issue defining the scope of this empirical study was the question of what element of the construct of procedural justice promotes behaviors associated with legitimacy and compliance with the law in the Polish judicial system. The author set out to investigate what identified procedural justice in Polish legal culture and what variables pertaining to the context of legal proceedings it was related to. The sample consisted of 115 individuals taking part in civil court proceedings conducted in civil divisions of district courts. Based on analyses performed on research results it can be concluded that behaviors associated with legitimacy and compliance with the law in the Polish judicial system is determined by the sense of fairness experienced in the courtroom, whose structure is built by experiences such as being given the opportunity to speak, being treated with respect, the judge’s impartiality, the comprehensibility of the language used and procedures applied in the courtroom, and the sense of influence on the final outcome of the proceedings.

In this research project, the measurements of the ultrasonic P- and S-waves and seismic cone penetration testing (CPT) were applied to identify subsurface conditions and properties of clayey soil stabilized with lime/cement columns in the Stockholm Norvik Port, Sweden. Applied geophysical methods enabled to identify a connection between the resistance of soil and strength in the stabilized columns. The records of the seismic tests were obtained in the laboratory of Swedish Geotechnical Institute (SGI) through estimated P- and S-wave velocities using techniques of resonance frequency measurement of the stabilized specimens. The CPT profiles were used to evaluate the quality of the lime/cement columns of the reinforced soil by the interpretation of signals. The relationship between the P- and S-waves demonstrated a gain in strength during soil hardening. The quality of soil was evaluated by seismic measurements with aim to achieve sufficient strength of foundations prior to the construction of the infrastructure objects and industrial works. Seismic CPT is an effective method essential to evaluate the correct placement of the CPT inside the column. This work demonstrated the alternative seismic methods supporting the up-hole technology of drilling techniques for practical purpose in civil engineering and geotechnical works.

John Rawls develops and precisely defines the concept of civil disobedience which had emerged from the American tradition of democracy and was already discussed in the 19th century by H.D. Thoreau. It is a part of a theory of ‘justice as fairness’ and it rigidly supports the conditions of resistance to the state employed in the effort to sustain moral order in the practice of democracy. This effort cannot be interpreted as a revolutionary rebellion against the state and law, for it aspires to implement a kind of reform which aims at a restoration of justice whenever it is deeply neglected or violated. In the nub of this theory lies the claim of the importance of the civil conscience as formed by the principles of constitution which reflect the principles of justice without presupposing an extended theory of good. The normative paradigm of ethics, according to which Rawls presents his theory of justice, should be complemented by virtue ethics, argues the author, and points to that the absence of civil virtues manifested deplorably in the present weakness of liberal democracy in the face of the growing pressure from populism.

The article reconstructs the dispute that evolved in the first decade of the 20th century between Maxim Gorky and Leo Tolstoy – who both in addition to being world‑famous fictionists, played an essential part as notable public figures in Russian philosophical and political life. The outbreak and the course of the First Russian Revolution (1905– 1908) prompted both thinkers to define their positions on the most important problems of Russian thought. In this dispute, Gorky represented the position of socialist humanism, social revolution, civilizational development, activism, the culture‑formingr ole of the intelligentsia and Western‑style modernization. Against these hopes Tolstoy advocated archaic anarchism, negation of civilization, rural primitivism, personal and moral excellence, in short a Russian Sonderwege. The author puts forward that this debate is an important extension of the famous discussion triggered by the publication of the Vekhi almanac („The Milestones”, 1909).

The term “comfort women” refers to the women, mainly from the Korean Peninsula and China, who had been forced to serve as sexual slaves by the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War. The problem emerged at the beginning of the 1990s and became an impediment especially in relations between Japan and South Korea. The article analyzes how the “comfort women” issue was approached to by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in both countries. It is argued that while the problem led to invigoration of civil society institutions, it also incited strong nationalist movements. Anti-Japanese feelings in South Korea contributed to lack of flexibility in negotiations with Japan and rejection of the apologies by the government of that country. Such reaction, in turn, weakened the position of moderate NGOs in Japan that tried to compensate the victims, and made them prone to criticism from right-wing movements. The paper examines these complex developments.

The article examines the gnoseological and ontological dualism of Lesya Ukrainka’s drama‑fairy tale The Forest Song (Лісова пісня) as a way of expressing the writer’s rational‑intuitive cognition of the world. The gnoseological dualism is expressed in the combination of intuitive and transcendent knowledge of the world with a practical, rational approach to the formal side of The Forest Song. This vision reflected the main ideological and intellectual movements of the time that influenced Lesya Ukrainka. The ontological dualism is connected with the dialectic of the civilized (profane) and natural (sacred) worlds, which are interconnected with each other on the basis of harmony and order. In the text, Lesya Ukrainka prefers the natural world, which prevails over the material values of civilization. The researchers suggest that such a philosophical and ideological component of the text is connected with the writer’s biography, in particular her correspondence with intellectuals and writers of that time.

This paper deals with an issue of a rotational motion impact on a construction and presents civil engineering applications of a fiber optic rotational seismograph named Fiber-Optic System for Rotational Events & Phenomena Monitoring. It has been designed for a long- term building monitoring and structural rotations’ recording. It is based on the Sagnac effect which enables to detect one-axis rotational motion in a direct way and without any reference system. It enables to detect a rotation component in the wide range of a signal amplitude from 10-8 rad/s to 10 rad/s, as well as a frequency from DC to 1000 Hz. Data presented in this paper show the behavior of a reinforced concrete frame construction on different floors. Several measurements were carried out by placing the applied sensor on different floor levels of a building. The laboratory and in-situ measurements confirmed that Fiber-Optic System for Rotational Events & Phenomena Monitoring is an accurate and suitable device for applications in civil engineering.

The Polish political transformation of 1989 brought significant changes not only on the political and social levels but also on the economic level. The Polish economy, which until then had been a centrally planned economy, had to be rapidly changed into a free market economy. As a result of this, a lot of areas of the economy had to be transformed including the mining industry, especially hard-coal mining. In 1990, there were seventy-one mines in operation in Poland, employing nearly 400,000 people. The process of decommissioning these mines, which continues to this day, began in 1994. Walbrzych coal mines were among the first to be liquidated. Poland has long been dependent on coal for energy production, but the country is facing increasing pressure in the transition to cleaner and more sustainable energy sources in order to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change in order to fulfil EU climate policy assumptions. Civil society organizations in Poland were associated with the political transformation, as the changes in the system has opened the doors for the social participation in decision-making processes. Civil society organizations in Poland have been actively pushing for policies and initiatives that promote renewable energy, energy efficiency, and the phasing out of coal. However, it should be underlined that the role of civil society in energy transformation is crucial as on the one hand, it should be an advocate of change, but on the other hand, civil society has to take an active part in the discussion on the challenges of the transformation, such a change in the employment structure which is an inevitable consequence of the energy transition. The scope of the paper is to provide a set of tools for the civil society participating in energy transformation processes.

Álex de la Iglesia’s film, Balada triste de trompeta (2010) explores historical trauma and collective memory of the Spanish Civil war through clown figures adapted to the grotesque aesthetic of esperpento. Besides the use of popular culture motifs, this article focuses on how notions of the mythical trickster and classical philosophy and melancholy combine in a dark humor subversive work.

The article The Influence of the Bible on Civilization (The Bible and Natural Sciences) shows us the importance of the Holy Bible in relation to the forming of Western civilization. The Bible is at the foundation of the heritage of European civilization. Written down during the period of almost 1500 years, it contains truths that concern all fields of life, both on the individual and the social level. As a work of literature it had its role, together with the civilization of Ancient Greece, in the origins of sciences. Science and religion are two very important elements of human culture. All reflections on the subject of the genesis of the world have their roots in these two basic aspects of seeing reality. Everything that exists needs an explanation of its origin. Thus the basic question that gave the beginning to philosophy was the question of the human being about himself and about the Universe. The relation of the science of creation, originating from the biblical description showing God as giving existence to everything, came into conflict with the empirical description of the beginning of the Universe and man in it. The questions that Latin civilization took from Greek philosophy and Christianity, based on biblical foundations, were transformed during the course of history to a conflict between science and faith, which began with the Copernican revolution and the Galileo issue. It had its greatest inflammation in the 19th century, as the result of the discoveries in the field of bio- logy, mainly connected with the theory of evolution of C. Darwin. One of the basic aspects of this conflict is the question of the origin of the world, which issue is, so to say, a natural place of meeting of theology with natural sciences. This conflict began as a result of trying to discover the essence of God's message contained in the Bible, by natural sciences. This discovering was an interpretation of the inspired text in relation to the eternal truth and to cultural variables, and also to civilization frames.