Several decades ago Bergin promoted the then-controversial idea of considering religious values in psychotherapy. Much has changed in the intervening years; psychotherapists now have numerous resources available to help them in considering religious and spiritual issues in psychotherapy. In addition to considering values, we suggest there is a place to consider religious virtues in psychotherapy. Virtues are distinct from values in that the former assume a telos (created purpose or end). Whereas values focus on who we are, virtues also focus on who we are becoming. Using the three primary values from the Christian religion- faith, hope, and love-we illustrate how a virtue-based psychotherapy might consider the person of the psychotherapist and the transformational process of psychotherapy. In each case we offer potential research questions, as Bergin did in his landmark publication.
The subject of the present study is help; the foremost ontological condition of its realization (besides intellectual disposition, ethical qualifications, love and others) is responsibility, which constitutes a person’s humanity and thereby makes a unique contribution to the formation of his/her inner structure. Through responsible help we can perform genuine acts of mercy towards our neighbour and carry a small part of his/ her personal fate. The aim of the study is to refine the concept of responsible help and to indicate its several modes in the formation of a person’s humanity. The essence of responsible help is investigated; it presupposes rationality of action, prudence in doing good, and freedom as the fundamental condition of conscious response to values. The refinement of the concept of responsible help is based on the analyses of the virtues of munificence and magnanimity (Aristotle and St Thomas Aquinas) and generosity (J.Tischner). Despite their complex nature, these virtues are definable through an analysis of instances of appropriate help to others.
Alasdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory presents a complex argument that spans numerous academic disciplines and combines empirical and theoretical analyses. Its radical conclusion has inspired activists and social critics from all sides of the ideological spectrum. Critics and commentators have questioned MacIntyre’s critique of modern moral philosophy and the plausibility of the concluding prescription, concerning the need to create new forms of community. But it has less often been asked in what sense the book presents a unified perspective. In other words, how do the premises of MacIntyre’s argument, presented and defended throughout the text, warrant the conclusion? In this article, I partially formalize the main argument of After Virtue, discussing the grounds for each premise, and explaining how they ground the book’s radical conclusion. In doing this, I argue that economic sociology, specifically Karl Polanyi’s theory of the modern market economy, plays a large role in supporting MacIntyre’s claims. After presenting the main argument of the text, I draw upon the social theory elaborated in Dependent Rational Animals: Why Human Beings Need the Virtues, specifically its theory of the relationship between vulnerability, dependence, and virtuous networks of giving and receiving, while briefly noting recent sociological criticisms of Polanyi, to argue that we have reason to be skeptical of MacIntyre’s empirical claims concerning the vicious character of modern social structures in After Virtue.
The article discusses a question of the interrelation between the possession of virtues and participation in the reality of the celestial life according to the teaching of St. Gregory the Great. St. Gregory teaches that virtues are the spiritual goods, by means of which a human being acquires the spiritual unity with God. Lasting in the spiritual unity with God causes that a human being, already in the earthly life, participates in the reality of the celestial life. Gregory the Great esteems this state as the celestial and happy life.
Q. S. F. Tertullian was one of the most prominent writers and apologists of the early Christian Church. He had two important goals with his works: on the one hand, to introduce, according to the spirit of the age, the Christian teachings embedded in contemporary Roman culture; on the other hand, to highlight and emphasize the difference between the Christian teachings and the pagan ideas. This dichotomy is characteristic of his ethical teachings as well: while he emphasizes the importance of the Christian virtues, he does not forget about their philosophical background either. Tertullian demonstrably considered Stoic philosophy as the most acceptable philosophical thinking. Virtues have an important status in the teachings of the stoic body, just as they are a fundamental part of Christian ethics. The question arises whether Tertullian’s views on virtues could have been influenced by his pagan Roman ancestor, M. T. Cicero, who also shared stoic doctrines. This is the question the present lecture tries to answer.
This article explores various interpretations of philosophical counselling. These interpretations are determined by the nature and status of the key concepts from which they are derived. The first is “critical thinking”, which a number of authors have based their conceptions on; just two examples are mentioned in the article-Elliot D. Cohen and Tim LeBon. Many philosophical practitioners, especially those whose philosophizing is influenced by Socrates, use critical thinking, and indeed believe that it is what philosophical practice is all about. Pierre Grimes is another example of someone who has been influenced by Socrates. Eckart Ruschmann and Ran Lahav believe that interpreting world beliefs is the basis of philosophical counselling. Others think philosophical counselling stems from interpretations of the concept of “wisdom”. The article also discusses Ran Lahav’s more recent views and those of Gerald Rochelle. The concept of “virtues” is discussed in relation to the work of Arto Tukiainen, Lydia B. Amir and Jess Fleming.
Almost all outstanding Polish historians and poets of the 17th century put forward the theory that the Polish gentry (szlachta) was descended from the Sarmatians-the warriors settled between the Dnieper and Vistula rivers. Sarmatism became an all–embracing national ideology. It was characterized among other things by megalomania.This article is an attempt at a survey of heraldic literature of Bartosz Paprocki(“Gniaz do cnoty”, Kraków 1578), Szymon Okolski (“Orbis Polonus”, Kraków 1641– 1645) and Wacław Potocki (“Poczet herbów szlachty”, Kraków 1696). The discussed Polish and Latin texts of poetical and rhetorical character were persuasive and shaped ethical values of their readers. These armorials satisfied the ambitions of the gentry but also touched upon current socio–political, religious and, last but not least, moral problems. Especially Wacław Potocki in his heraldic verses expressed a critical attitude towards the negative aspects of everyday life of the gentry.
The paper consists of the valuable information concerning democracy and value in many educational reforms in different level of educational institutions from primary, higher to the universities.
Consecrated persons are to point the way to God and to bear witness by their own life to the existence of eternal life. For that reason such persons can-not allow their interior life to lose its supernatural dimension. Yet this is the kind of loss which takes place when spiritual progress is turned into a psycho-logical quest. Such is the consequence of moving the formational process in religious life from virtues to feelings. It causes the candidate to religious life to develop a relativistic worldview, with the end result being the further protestantization of Catholicism as a move toward a horizontal faith based on feeling and subjective experience of the faith. Only a return to virtues in an evangelical life immersed in the Beatitudes can lead to the revitalization of religious life and the increase of its attractiveness. A return to virtues will equip the consecrated person with the tools needed to face all trials and tribulations.
This article examines and explores the attested occurrences of the linguistic metaphors of deafness in the Egyptian literary, biographical and medical texts, with a special examination of their significances and con notations. It examines how the Egyptian culture expresses its values through various metaphors of deafness. The article also considers the virtues and vices of deafness in literary and biographical contexts. It examines the cognitive approaches to different lexical semantics of the Egyptian words for deafness. Comparative liter ary, biographical and medical sources, inscriptions in private tombs, statues, papyri and stelae are examined. The article also examines deafness to Maat and its consequences. The Egyptian lexemes and expressions designating deafness will be examined in lexicographical, phraseological and thematic textual analyses.
Giftedness and nonconformist behaviour have become a source of great interest in both the public sphere and in educational research. This is related to the fact that nonconformity (as a personality and character trait) has been, and still is, an indispensable element of the creative transformation of societies in the public sphere.1 The paper presents results of research conducted in the years 2014-2016 on the level of nonconformity of gifted students in Poland and England. The research, conducted with the Creative Behaviour Questionnaire III (CBQ III), was undertaken among 30 purposefully selected students from the University of Silesia (Poland) as well as Oxford University (England). By considering both the influence of nonconformists on the transformations taking place in the public sphere, and also the results of my research, I will examine whether nonconformity is a potential source of strength or weakness to the public sphere. In this context nonconformist is a person who does not conform to a generally accepted pattern of thought or action.
The aim of the presented article is to analyse the image of an ideal ruler, presented in the Latin chronicle of the regular canons in Żagań (ca. 1398). The author of this chronicle — Ludolf of Żagań — uses Charles IV. Luxembourg as a model. The chronicle is a unique example of the 14th century Silesian historiography. The article deals with why the writer of the chronicle focused on Charles, and that’s why it compares Ludolf ʼs chronicle with the Prague chronicles of the 14th century.
The purpose of the article is the presentation of the ways that humor was understood within the current of positive psychology; the state and advances of research on the significance of this property in achieving and safeguarding a "good life” as well as the legitimacy and possibility of applying the theoretical and research approach devised by the mentioned orientation approaches to issues connected with humor to the field of developmental psychology during the life course. A conceptualisation of humor was presented as a character strength comprising the virtue of transcendence in the approach of Peterson and Seligman, a composite of wisdom in the concept of Webster and of a thinking style, experiencing and action in the theory of Martin. A review of research was then undertaken: humor as a virtue imbuing property; humor correlates understood from the perspective of positive psychology; manifestations of its regulative role and individual differences in humor as a resource contributing to individual growth. In the closing paragraphs a suggestion was formulated regarding humor research as a resource that supports positive development, namely, the fulfilment of developmental tasks, overcoming developmental crises and coping with problems connected with ageing.
The study reviews the first decade of the positive psychology, which defines itself the psychology of the new millennium. The study emphasizes the topics this new approach focuses on. It analyses the aspects of the structure of well-being, the research on positive emotions, and the models of healthy functioning from the thematic richness of the approaches. The study delineates the empirical research checking the validity of the constructs of subjective well-being, psychological well-being, and social well-being. The authors emphasize that positive psychology has become an approach, which oriented strongly health psychology, and a factor, which influenced the change concerning the aim and tasks of psychology in the public thinking in the first decade of its career.
This article examines Niccolò Machiavelli’s account of virtues in his famous work The Prince. The Italian philosopher uses three different stages or steps of argumentation. All these steps are analyzed in this paper. It is argued that in each step, Machiavelli makes partial conclusions which are neglected in the next step. In the last step, Machiavelli concludes that not only some virtues lead to failure, but all virtues are harmful to a successful leader. Instead of an honest and just way of acting, Machiavelli proposes the slyness of a fox – the most effective and successful way of acting. Cicero’s De Officiis effectively helps to understand the radicality of Machiavelli’s account of virtues. Cicero’s work enables one to explain all the central metaphors and analogies used in Machiavelli’s The Prince. Comparing Cicero’s and Machiavelli’s radically different accounts of the same virtues and vices shows that Machiavelli changed the traditional understanding of virtues, thus refuting traditional moral and political philosophy.
Taking departure from Arrian’s famous statement (Anab. 1, Praef. 2) that he mainly relied on Ptolemy Soter’s account of Alexander the Great’s history since Ptolemy was the king and lies should be avoided by him, the roots of the idea of the royal truthfulness are discussed. It is claimed that the Greek political thought about monarchy and the institution of kingship had a strong ethical flavor but the argument of the kings’ veracity was not especially stressed out. Arrian, however, has found it both in Alexander the Great’s ideology and the ideology of the royal court in Ptolemaic Egypt. Essentially, however, the origins of the truthfulness idea are to be sought in the royal Oriental (Achaemenid especially), official ethics, under the influence of which Alexander certainly remained. The novelty of Arrian the historian’s decision should by thus appreciated. It does not mean that Arrian’s account of Alexander’s expedition is ideally objective but it certainly means that in his effort to give a possibly unbiased history of the Macedonian king’s achievements, he tried to do his best.
In his article, the author considers the main patristic sources and works of Orthodox saints, that were crucial in the formation of a well-known Orthodox theologian and spiritual seeker of the XX century the Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov. He also reaches his writings, as well as the works and memoirs of contemporaries, to show what was the archimandrite’s relationship to the heritage of the Holy Fathers, and which texts were most relevant to him. The author pays special attention to the role of the elder Silouan, Sakharov’s spiritual mentor, who formed his patristic theology vision.
UK
W swym artykule autor analizuje podstawowe źródła patrystyczne i dzieła świętych prawosławnych, które wpłynęły na kształt myśli znanego prawosławnego teologa i pisarza ascetycznego XX wieku – archimandryty Sofroniusza Sacharowa. Sięga też do jego pism, jak również dzieł i wspomnień współczesnych mu pisarzy, po to by ukazać, jaka była relacja archimandryty do dziedzictwa Świętych Ojców, oraz które teksty były dla niego najbardziej istotne. Szczególną zaś uwagę poświęca autor roli starca Sylwana, który był przewodnikiem duchowym Sacharowa i ukształtował jego patrystyczną wizję teologii.
In the paper I argue, contrary to the statement uttered once by Martin Seligman, that Aristotelian theory of eudaimonia (one of the key concept of positive psychology) is not subjective and based on uncertain principles. I reconstruct Aristotelian theory of eudaimonia and argue that the concept of good is neither subjective nor objective but relational. It means that a thing, act or action is good if it contributes to one’s eudaimonia. I also pinpoint that the concept of flow, which seems to be a “discovery” of positive psychology, must be based on the theory of virtues and the doctrine of human nature, which are the foundations of the Aristotelian view.
The family is the most basic and most important institution within society. Both individualist materialism and collectivist materialism seek to destroy the institution of the family. Those who wish to promote family resilience should understand the unifying logic of radical feminism, the campaign for “homosexual marriage”, and the promotion of children’s rights. While children certainly have certain rights, advocates of “children’s rights” frequently include the false right of freedom from the parents’ religion, especially if the parents are Christians. In order to withstand adversity, including attacks on the institution of the family, families require virtues. The primary way that children learn to be virtuous is by following the examples of virtuous adults. Children can also learn about the virtues by listening to stories and watching films about virtuous persons.
PL
Rodzina jest najbardziej podstawową i najważniejszą instytucją w ramach społeczeństwa. Zarówno w orientacji indywidualistycznej, jak i kolektywistycznej materializmu poszukuje się możliwości unicestwienia instytucji rodziny. Ci, którzy pragną wspierać prężną rodzinę, powinni zrozumieć podążającą w jednakowym kierunku logikę radykalnego feminizmu, kampanię na rzecz „małżeństw homoseksualnych” i promocję tzw. praw dziecka. Podczas gdy dzieciom faktycznie przyznawane są pewne prawa, adwokaci „praw dziecka” często włączają w nie fałszywe prawo wolności od religii wyznawanej przez rodziców, zwłaszcza gdy rodzice są chrześcijanami. Aby przeciwstawić się tym nieszczęściom, włączywszy w to ataki na podstawową komórkę społeczną, rodziny wymagają uposażenia w cnoty. Głównym sposobem, w jaki dzieci uczą się bycia cnotliwymi jest naśladowanie przykładów osób dorosłych obdarzonych cnotami. Dzieci mogą się również dowiedzieć o cnotach, wysłuchując historii i oglądając filmy o cnotliwych osobach.
This paper examines why and how, during the period of the American Civil War, the Southern Confederacy modelled itself on the ideals of the Greco-Roman world. One of the best ways to exemplify the link between the Old South and the classical antiquity is to analyze the banknotes and coins of the Treasury of the Confederate States of America. Confederate currency demonstrates the significant impact Greece and Rome had on the values, ideals, and society that the Old South founded itself on.
PL
Niniejszy artykuł stara się odpowiedzieć na pytania dlaczego i w jaki sposób w okresie wojny secesyjnej Konfederacja wzorowała się na ideałach świata grecko-rzymskiego. Jednym z najlepszych sposobów zilustrowania połączenia między Południem a antykiem jest analiza banknotów i monet Departamentu Skarbu Skonfederowanych Stanów Ameryki. Środki płatnicze Konfederatów wskazują na znaczący wpływ, jaki Grecja i Rzym wywierały na wartości, ideały i społeczeństwo stanowiące fundament Południa.
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