European Culture Research Articles

Silent boundaries: exploring the limits of legal confidentiality in Poland

ABSTRACT Legal confidentiality, an integral aspect of European legal culture and legal services, plays a pivotal role in safeguarding the trust and privacy of professional-client relationships. This study focuses on the multifaceted dimensions of legal secrecy, particularly within the context of commercial lawyers in the European legal services market, using Polish legal advisers as an exemplar. The research explores evolving attitudes, expectations, and perceptions of legal secrecy amidst dynamic legal changes and discrepancies in interpretations among lawyers, public authorities, and citizens. A comprehensive mixed-method approach was used, including surveys, structured in-depth interviews, content analysis, and desk research, to investigate the diverse facets of legal secrecy. Findings reveal that while legal secrecy remains highly esteemed, its interpretation varies significantly across national and EU laws and among stakeholders. There are a multitude of types of legal secrecy, creating confusion and opportunities for public authorities to breach confidentiality. The study underscores the critical need for standardisation and unification of legal secrecy across European countries to enhance cross-border legal services, streamline justice systems, and bolster citizen protection. It emphasises that despite legal and societal changes, the fundamental essence and importance of legal secrecy in upholding democracy, justice, and trust remain steadfast.

Kant and Schopenhauer on the Ultimate Goal of Human Life

Contemporary reflection concerning man focuses upon man as a being living only “here and now”, it is “short-termed” in character. In this paper, going against the current of this dominant tendency, I would like to show how interesting and important is the question about the ultimate goal of human life. In my considerations I refer to the thought of Immanuel Kant and Arthur Schopenhauer – two classical authors of modern philosophy – who still seem to exert a significant influence on the European culture. Even if in their systems they depart from similar assumptions, their conclusions concerning man are radically different: for Kant, every human being has unique value and is called to create “civil society”; for Schopenhauer every individual being (including man) is volatile and devoid of meaning and value. The question remains open as to whether the ultimate message of their philosophy can be still an inspiration for us today, or whether it already sounds rather strange and unfamiliar in confrontation with the spirit of modernity.

Michelangelo Antonioni, Tourist Snapshots, and the Politics of the ‘Backward Scene’ in 1970s China

In 1972, Radio Televisione Italiana, Italy's state broadcaster, commissioned famed director Michelangelo Antonioni to film a documentary in the People's Republic of China, following the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two nations. Socialist China, in the throes of the Cultural Revolution, was a subject of intense Western fascination at the time. Radical activists worldwide were drawn to Maoism, and references to the Cultural Revolution abounded in European popular culture. Against this backdrop, Antonioni's Chung kuo/Cina found a receptive audience in Europe and North America. Yet by early 1974 the director's ‘anti-China film,’ which had not yet had a public screening in the nation, became the subject of strident condemnation in China's state media, caught up in struggles between competing political factions. This article presents a close reading of Chung kuo/Cina, and examines how the campaign condemning the film spilled over into stricter management of foreign tourists and the production of new forms of tourist literature by state publishers. Examining how notions of China's ‘backwardness’ implicated photographic practice, this article explores how Chinese officials regulated tourist photography, how foreign tourists understood those regulations, and how guides and ordinary Chinese citizens entered into the visual discourse of tourism on their own terms.

The grave of a known soldier. De-anonymization of war memorials and mass graves as a modernization process in Central and Western European culture

The grave of a known soldier. De-anonymization of war memorials and mass graves as a modernization process in Central and Western European culture

“Platon contre Homère” : l’antagonisme des mensonges selon Nietzsche

Nietzsche's obsession with Plato has little parallel in the history of philosophy other than Plato's obsession with Homer. In both cases, admiration is matched by exasperation and, if we are to believe Nietzsche, even by “aversion” (KSA 11, 25 [103]). From his earliest works in Basel, Nietzsche seems to have sided with Homer, with “the whole Olympus of appearances” (GS, Preface for the Second Edition, § 4) and superficiality “out of profundity”, against Plato, “a man of many back caves and foregrounds” (KSA 11, 34 [66]). “Plato versus Homer: that is the complete, the genuine antagonism”, On the Genealogy of Morals solemnly sums up (GM, III, § 25). It sounds like a declaration of war. On the one hand, the will to truth and belief in morals ; on the other, the will to deception and beautiful, misleading images: two “natural antagonists”, two competing ideals. But how does the anti-dualist thinker of Beyond Good and Evil, who rejects any idea of real opposition, understand this antagonism? Is it really a question of pitting art against science? According to Nietzsche, the school of lies is where these formidable educators clash, their battle of models shaping European culture. “But education for what?” (KSA 12, 5 [50]). It is by learning from Homeric transfiguration and Socratic ruses that Nietzsche develops his understanding of the oppositional logic of the will to power, and raises the question of the future task of the authentic philosopher.

Religious and Educational Activities of the Tatars in the Turgai Region at the Second Half of the 19th – Beginning of the 20th Centuries

In the article the author for the first time analyzes legislative, religious and educational activities of Tatars in the Turgai region on the basis of archival, periodic, statistical sources. This ethnic minority activity is interesting from the point of view of studying the problem of interaction between the empire, the mobile diaspora and the local population in the context of the frontier modernization process. The aim of the study is to identify the main results of religious and educational activity of the Tatar population in the region. The author comes to the conclusion that the main directions of religious-educational work were missionary activities of Tatars in Kazakh auls, construction of mosques, functioning of mektebs and madrasas, theaters, libraries, public Muslim organizations, attempts to publish books, brochures and newspapers. Many of these initiatives were strongly opposed by the empire. The result of the activities of the Tatar population was not only the maintenance of ethno-cultural diversity, but also a versatile influence on the Kazakhs manifested in the religious, cultural, political sphere and in the formation of a multi-ethnic (Tatar-Kazakh) Muslim socio-cultural space of the empire, which became part of the global Islamic network community. The Tatars spread the ideas of Jadidism and became competitors of the Russians in familiarizing the local population with European culture and pedagogy. The article is intended for specialists in the field of history of Kazakhstan, Islam, Tatars, national policy of the Russian Empire.

Commemorating festive performances in popular print in sixteenth‐century Italy☆

AbstractThe aim of this article is to show that the popular print sold and distributed during and after festive events, such as Carnival, had an impact on the commemoration and shaping of festive culture in early modern Italy. That is, the mass medium of print that had begun to shape European cultures, especially in Italy where Venice was one of Europe's first major printing centres, created festive pamphlets and small books that were attractive for individuals in various cities in Northern and Central Italy. This becomes apparent not only from the sources themselves but also from the connections that exist between these sources and historical and theatrical contexts. A study of popular print related to festive events addresses the most important criticisms of festival studies, namely that festivals were primarily local affairs, which would prevent researchers from making a meaningful contribution to festive culture studies on a larger scale. This article aims to overcome this by studying a selection of affordable pamphlets and small books, presenting the Carnivalesque text La guerra di Carnovale contro la Quaresima, which was intended for large audiences.

«Европеизм» между политикой и культурой: исторические смыслы и современные трансформации (материалы «круглого стола»)

The journal “Voprosy Filosofii” has repeatedly addressed various aspects of the philosophy of culture. In particular, issues of the interaction between Russia, the West, and the East, the unity of the world and the diversity of cultures, multicultur­alism and the dialogue of cultures, the role of the philosopher in culture, and the prospects for the development of Russian culture have been discussed. Special im­portance has been given to the understanding of cultural studies as a scientific and ed­ucational discipline. In April 2024, we once again turned to the philosophy of culture in the context of the problem of “Europeanism” and discussed the historical meanings and contemporary transformations of this cultural-historical phenomenon. The follow­ing questions were proposed for discussion. What constitutes the “essence” of Euro­pean culture? Does “Europeanism” have an obligatory historical and geographical at­tachment? Why does the methodological concept of “presentism-antiquarianism” gain crucial importance today, particularly for research in the field of the philosophy of cul­ture? Is antiquity the origin only of European culture, or is it the origin of the Great Culture? Is “Europeanization of the Earth” possible today? (Spengler, Husserl, Hei­degger). Who are the true heirs of antiquity today? Are there differences between Greek and Roman cultures? Which type has Europe inherited today, and to what ex­tent? Has the perception of “Europeanism” changed in Russian and world philosophy of the 19th–21st centuries? The role of Hegel in the mythologization of “Europe.” Is “Europeanism” a political myth of the 21st century? How do you evaluate the at­tempts at philosophical comparisons of the crisis of European culture in the 1920s and the 2020s? Does “Europeanism” exhaust European culture? And what philosophical or cultural problem do we want to see behind this? The crucial topic of discussion was the interpretation of Europeanism as a symbolic construct, connected with the assessment of the prospects for the development of the cultural future of Russia, Europe, and Humanity

О смысле памяти

The review presents to the reader the first published manuscripts of Olga Alexandrovna Shor, known as a biographer and publisher of the works of the Russian poet Vyacheslav Ivanov. The review examines in detail published Shor’ manuscripts stored in the Roman Archive of Vyach. Ivanov, in particular the treatise “Mnemology”, as well as individual notes included in the book. Olga Shor’s philosophizing is proposed to be understood as a kind of mystical ontologism based on the concept of being as a starting point for describing the ontological memory and reality of an event. The connections and interactions of Shor’s reflections in the treatise with the cultural context – the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle, the heritage of Vyach. Ivanov, neo-Kantianism, Russian and European religious and philosophical thought – are considered in outline. The author of the review expresses the hope that the first and very detailed publication of “Mnemology” will draw research attention to the author’s philosophical work of Olga Shor. The return of such forgotten names and works to our intellectual space is also important because it opens access to the creative laboratory of the Silver Age, which was busy searching for a way out of the crisis of European culture and creating an original version of cultural philosophy. Considering the fact that Olga Shor left her work unfinished without preparing it for publication, which makes a serious critical analysis of this work incorrect, the review mainly clarifies the key points of the author’s thoughts and offers an understanding of the author’s intention

Formation of the prerequisites of the analysis of investment activities to the era of the establishment of the market economy

The paper is devoted to the study of the prerequisites for the development of investment activity analysis before the era of the formation of a market economy in the countries of European civilization. In the 21st century, investment activity has gained particular importance, and understanding the historical aspects of economic relations and accounting practices is crucial for its effective analysis. For this purpose, the paper systematizes and periodizes the stages of development of accounting and economic analysis, starting from the early civilizations up to the end of the 19th century. The research employs a comprehensive set of methods, including dialectical, historical, abstract-logical, methods of induction and deduction, as well as expert evaluation and comparison methods. The application of these methods allowed for the identification of patterns in the development of accounting and economic activity analysis in connection with the evolution of socio-economic relations. Significant attention is given to the analysis of the stages of accounting development, starting from its primitive forms in a natural economy to the emergence of complex accounting and analysis systems in the context of expanding commodity-money relations and the establishment of capitalist relations. The development of economic theory concepts, particularly mercantilism, physiocracy, classical and neoclassical theories, which influenced the formation of approaches to accounting and analysis, is also examined. The research results indicate that the development of investment activity was closely linked with the evolution of economic relations, the growth of production scales, trade, and financial market services. Important prerequisites for the formation of investment analysis included the emergence of the institution of property, the development of commodity-money relations, and the need to account for and analyze capital to manage resources effectively. The paper also systematizes information about the formation of investment analysis, which initially had an empirical nature and, with the development of accounting and economic theory, adopted a systematic approach. This laid the foundation for modern investment analysis, which is an important tool for making managerial decisions in a market economy. Overall, the paper emphasizes the importance of a historical approach to studying the development of accounting and analysis, which allows for a better understanding of modern trends and challenges in the field of investment activity.

A Distinct Flânerie: Roleplaying and Affective Responses to the City in Reşat Nuri Güntekin’s Miskinler Tekkesi

ABSTRACT A significant response to the urban experience of Istanbul in the early decades of Republican Turkish literature (1923–1950s), is the expression of pride for the past. Pride, during this era of change, indicated an individual’s coming to terms with the loss of the empire and its prosperous days. As the profile of Istanbul changed with the demolition of old buildings and Europeanization, prominent flâneur figures, who were intellectuals familiar with European culture, appeared in canonical Turkish writing. Contemporary criticism interpreted their search for an idealized past in the city as an attempt to assert an original voice. This article examines a different flâneur; one with distinctive affective responses that are not pride. Reading a late-Ottoman panhandler as flâneur figure in Reşat Nuri Güntekin’s Miskinler Tekkesi (1946) shows how the character undermines pride by emphasizing his inability to acknowledge the loss of the empire, manifested in the feature of hüzün.

Can enhanced CSR quality reduce the cost of debt capital? An empirical analysis of CEO expertise and non-financial reporting practices in China

This study aims to investigate whether stockholders and creditors place a positive value on corporate social responsibility (CSR) information disclosure when making decisions about providing financing to firms, thereby influencing their investment choices. Utilizing data from the China Stock Market & Accounting Research Database (CSMAR) and HEXUN, the study analyzes CSR disclosures and financial data of 7,123 firm-year observations of A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2012 to 2020. A comprehensive methodology involving regression analysis was applied to assess the relationship between CSR quality and the cost of debt capital. Various robustness tests, including different model specifications and alternative variable measurements, were conducted to ensure the reliability and validity of the findings. The results obtained indicate that higher CSR quality significantly correlates with a lower cost of debt capital, supporting the hypothesis that improved CSR disclosure reduces perceived credit risk. However, CEO financial expertise shows a significantly positive relationship with the cost of debt capital. Furthermore, the study reveals that CSR assurance and engagement with Big 4 accounting firms do not noticeably affect the price of debt capital, whereas mandatory CSR reporting does. The findings underscore the importance of CSR quality in financial decision-making, offering valuable insights. AcknowledgmentThis paper is co-funded by the European Union through the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) within the project “EU Best Practice of Life Cycle Assessment, Social, Environmental Accounting and Sustainability Reporting” – 101047667-ERASMUS-JMO-2021-MODULE https://jm.snau.edu.ua/en/eu-best-practice-of-life-cycle-assessment-social-environmental-accounting-and-sustainability-reporting/ Oleh Pasko expresses sincere gratitude for the support from the Kirkland Research Program, generously provided by the Leaders of Change Foundation established by the Polish-American Freedom Foundation.

Reliquaries in the form of church buildings in european culture

Reliquaries in the form of church buildings in european culture

Old book of Lithuania - miror of European culture

Old book of Lithuania - miror of European culture

Immunology of the “sensible world” and of the “intelligible world”: the evolutionary decline and the “constructed reality”

The term “immunity” was introduced in medicine due to Ilya Mechnikov. However, the concept of infection resistance existed in European culture long before Mechnikov in the form of s.c. “vital force”. According to holistic methodology, the history of immunology can be divided into three unequal periods: 1) vitalistic – from antiquity to the discoveries of Mechnikov and Ehrlich; 2) “Mechnikov time” (1890s – 1916); and 3) a post-Mechnikov period (1916 – present). At the beginning of 18th century, the existence of “vital force” ideas created the possibility to adapt variolation in Europe, which was based on medieval magical-mystical concepts. Without generalizing of variolation experience, Edward Jenner would hardly have been able to discover vaccination. Scientific ideas of Mechnikov were not a categorical denial of the previous period of immunology. For almost 20 years, he himself had to fend off teleological and vitalistic accusations from the side of those biologists who denied the possibility of phagocytes to act expediently. An analogy helped Mechnikov to confirm his intuition was the phenomenon of intracellular digestion of amoebas or ciliates. Besides, he experimentally proved that phagocytosis was the product of evolution and not a “god gift”. However, in his works, Mechnikov also addressed to the category of “healing forces of the body.” Modern immunology now faces a number of theoretical contradictions and methodological difficulties related to reductionists paradigm: as far as the “split” between the world of “immune objects” (immune cells receptors, antibodies, cytokines, etc.) and “subjectness” of its basic categories “self-nonself”, “immune aggression, “immune defence”, etc., Ilya Mechnikov tried to overcome this contradiction substantiating the phenomenon of phagocytosis as functional system acting in accordance with defense purpose. The construction of “holistic” subject-object models of immunity (such as the symbiosis model of plant immunity) could be a way of overcoming the aforementioned contradictions.

Kiedy zaczyna się ojczyzna? O wschodniosłowiańskim koncepcie ojczyzna w aspekcie historycznym

The central topic of this paper is the Slavic concept of homeland in its historical aspect. It will be discussed here with the example of two East Slavic areas: the Moscow Russia and the Belarusian residents of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The time span covered is the later pre-national period, i.e. the 17th-18th c. In this context, more global questions are also addressed, concerning the differences between these two areas, as well the main characteristics of the Moscow culture that makes it substantially different from the European culture and worldview.

Multiple Secularities in Africa – An Introduction

Abstract Raising timely and urgent questions about the forms, scope and boundaries of religious authority and practice, this article offers novel ways for the study of secularities and secularisms in contemporary African societies. In recent scholarly debates on secularity, Africa has been marginal. Part of the reason, it was suggested was that African ways of being in, and knowing, the world lay outside the religious-secular divide. We contest such positions. Secularism was clearly part of modernists colonial ideologies that called for the eradication of African beliefs described as backward and irrational. We find that the colonial encounter had a powerful historical impact, essentializing and othering African societies as marked by holistic indigenous cultures rather than differentiated religions. We suggest that the complex interplay of different African and European cultures has simultaneously shaped the social construction and historical development of multiple secularities. We propose that the concept of multiple secularities provides creative avenues to rethink religion, political authority and belonging. We consider secularities as contested arrangements of religious and other spheres whose dynamics include processes of de-differentiation and de-secularization.

In Defence of Environmental Anthropocentrism

The critique of anthropocentrism has accompanied environmental thinking since its inception. However, we lack a deeper analysis of anthropocentrism and its forms. The authors of this study concentrate on analysing selected forms of anthropocentrism that were prominent in different periods of the history of European culture. They offer a basic typology of anthropocentrism and characterize philosophical, religious, philosophical-theological and philosophical-scientific anthropocentrism. They also include a fifth form of anthropocentrism, which they call environmental anthropocentrism. The authors consider changes that are important from a philosophical, ethical and axiological perspective and analyse the potential of anthropocentrism in comparison with some of environmental anthropocentrism its alternative forms, such as biocentrism and cosmocentrism. They also attempt to assess the significance of environmental anthropocentrism and the potential for its implementation in human-environmental relations. The environmental anthropocentrism proposed here is a potential solution with applicability to the search for a moderate, humble, non-arrogant, respectful and responsible human approach to relations with nature.

Religious Orders' Impact on Medieval Europe: Origins, Influence, and Significance: A Literature Review

In summary, this literature review has offered a comprehensive exploration of the origins and evolution of medieval religious orders. We've traced the pioneering efforts of figures such as the Desert Fathers and Irish monks, who embarked on radical ascetic experiments. From these early efforts, coenobitic rules emerged, providing structured frameworks for religious life. Notably, the Rule of Benedict played a pivotal role in balancing prayer, labor, study, and moderation. The advent of mendicant orders marked a revival of religious fervor through their commitment to poverty, mobility, and dynamic preaching. The rapid expansion of religious orders was made possible by elite patronage, facilitating their spread across Europe. These orders left indelible marks on education, politics, and culture, shaping medieval life. Religious figures assumed prominent roles as counselors to rulers, influential doctrinal shapers, and builders of educational institutions. By synthesizing scholarship, this review illuminates the multifaceted journey of medieval religious orders, from their humble beginnings to their profound impact on European civilization. It underscores their significance and lays the groundwork for further research on their enduring roles.

GENRE-STYLE AND SPIRITUAL-ETHICAL METAMORPHOSIS OF FRENCH MUSICAL THEATER OF THE 17TH-20TH CENTURIES

The purpose of the work is to identify the genre-stylistic and spiritual-meaning specifics of the French musical theater of the New Age and its evolutionary paths in the European culture of the 17th-20th centuries. The historical paths of the development of French musical theater of the 17th–20th centuries reveal its genre and stylistic diversity, represented by the typologies of “lyrical tragedy”, “salvation opera”, Empire opera, “grand” French opera, lyric opera and numerous varieties of samples of experimental musical theater and synthetic genres formations of the 20th century. The timbre-intonational and dramaturgical palette of the mentioned genres is organically inscribed in the stylistic priorities of French culture and music of the New Age Baroque, Classicism, Empire, Romanticism, Biedermeier, etc. At the same time, the mentioned typologies of the French musical theater combine a number of common features, among which we single out the essential role of its cult-mysterious primary basis, the corresponding types of imagery and their leading features, oriented to the cultivation of Christian virtues, the idea of spiritual transformation, the harmonious union of the earthly and sacred worlds. The appeal to educational and didactic, as well as spiritual and ethical factors in French opera (even at the level of biblical thinking of own history) conditions its appeal to large-scale bright spectacular performances with a large number of mass and ballet scenes, the genesis of which went back to the spiritual traditions of the culture of French absolutism in its historical development The specified genre metamorphoses of modern French opera at the level of “genre memory” focused the attention of the listener-spectator first of all on the original manner of conveying the poetic Word, its spiritual and ethical meaning, which went back to the “mysterious mode” of the French musical theater, on a clear fixation of dance-plastic movement-gesture, which collectively retained its significance at all stages of its historical existence.