The paper attempts to investigate hospitality in various dimensions and contexts. The introduction includes a description of terminology in Polish and French, together with the relationship between hospitality and culture. The next part focuses on hospitality analysed from the point of view of philosophy, anthropology and sociology. The general discussion of hospitality as a wide sociocultural phenomenon serves as a basis for the presentation of constructs connected with places both private and public, architecturally specific, and inspired by religion, tradition and culture. The realistic dimension expressed in ceremonies connected with hospitality, celebrations and gift exchanges turns out to be significant. Apart from that, relations between the host and the guest, the behaviour of both, as well as binding formulas are described. Various modes of hospitality are also depicted: private and semi-public, as well as the link between hospitality and tourism.
Psychology doesn’t seem to be really interested in the theme of gift; in the last decades it focus on the central role of recognition in the psyche building up. The authors underline Chiara Lubich’s original intuition linking profoundly the them of gift and recognition.
The Gift: Forms and Functions of Exchange in Archaic Societies, by Marcel Mauss, is an important reference in Social Sciences for thinking about the theme of the gift, proposed in this congress. This brief work has as goal to present a rereading of The Gift by contemporary authors that try to think today’s society under this perspective. It’s a literature review of books and articles by Allain Caillé, Jacques Godbout and some Brazilian authors: Eric Sabourin, Marcos Lanna, Paulo Henrique Martins and Jorge Luiz Villela. It is important to emphasize, according to Caillé, 1998, that “the paradigm of the gift is not a machine for blowing solutions, but for inspiring questions”.
This article analyzes the role a family play in the context of business and society. Although it may seem obvious enough that this primary group is fundamental for social organization, certain aspects of this impact, which in the end influences ethical development of social actors are described. The article concentrates on such issues as gift, trust and responsibility as the elements that are naturally present in family life. The problem is presented in an interdisciplinary way because the nature of the issue demands and requires it. Engaging the category of family is import ant mainly because it has been underemphasized, and this lack of focus has inadvertently supported the domination of the individualistic perspective in economics and business. Such a paradigm is not only the symptom of short-term thinking but also the proof of narrow and reduced anthropology of the economic actor. Families are where people learn the logic of “gift,” which is as necessary in business as in other social spheres. George Gilder wrote that “capitalism begins with giving. Not from greed, avarice, or even self-love can one expect the rewards of commerce, but from a spirit closely akin to altruism, a regard for the needs of others, a benevolent, outgoing, and courageous temper of mind” (Gilder 1993, p. 21). As such, we should thoroughly examine the role that gift giving plays in the functioning of economy. Secondly, the unique role that a family plays in trust development is presented. According to analysis of Jennifer Roback Morse, familie are where people learn to trust. Thirdly, the ability to trust is analyzed as the background for the development of responsibility, a key to developing an ethical attitude. The findings of the paper should help to diagnose the causes of the responsibility crisis and enrich reflection on business ethics by presenting family life as fundamental element in understanding the nature of economic actor and offering family as a useful perspective to understand the process of ethical evaluation of business activity.
Considering the values and the cultural model today prevailing, all centred on narcissistic individualism and extreme competition, Chiara Lubich’s thought on gift and self – giving is likely to look ingenuous and absurd. However, this thought is confirmed in the secular culture of today and in particular in the psychological studies.
The fact that the object of desiderium for Bonaventure is located in the very life of the Blessed Trinity results in its peculiar and original understanding. The object of desire determines its internal structure and, therefore, influences its very nature. In the writings of the Doctor Seraphicus we can numbered at least three essential features of human desiderium Dei, which desire obteins from its object: the Seraphicus understands the desire as (1) a kind of love, as (2) a gift, and finally as (3) important feature of human nature as such.
In putting forth a view of economic agents as autonomous individuals driven by self-interest, mainstream economics precludes the possibility of gift. Gift could be found in non-market, “collectivist”, societies, where “informal” norms would include gift-giving. In this context, the paper argues that mainstream views regarding the impossibility of the concept of gift are inaccurate, via an analysis of conceptual and empirical contributions of other social sciences, notably sciences of mankind “par excellence” such as anthropology and philosophy. In particular, the paper shows that critiques of mainstream views that are based on simple contrasts and qualifications do not provide conceptual instruments for a rigorous critique (such as “collectivism”, “informality”, “altruism”). This is also the case with the more “heterodox” views that underscore the unrealistic character of mainstream models of social interactions and norms. The mainstream arguments of self-interest and exchanges, based on expectations of future returns as universal traits of human beings, are indeed not easy to refute, including with the conceptual tools of other social sciences. This paper instead argues that a deeper analysis of concepts such as selfishness, interest, exchange, or the individual yields a more relevant critique of mainstream conceptions of gift—“the interest of whom?” and “exchange shaped by what?” being the pertinent questions. Other social sciences show that these concepts actually always presuppose the pre-existence of societies before that of individuals, and this is expressed by the many facets of the conceptualisations of the act of giving, whether societies are market or non-market ones.
The paper discusses Shakespeare’s preoccupation with the Christian notions of divine love, forgiveness and justice in The Tragedy of King Lear. In my reading I employ Jean-Luc Marion’s phenomenological reflection on the givenness of love and Hans-Urs von Balthasar’s theology of Paschal mystery. I take issue with the Marxist and existentialist interpretations of Shakespeare’s tragedy which prevailed in the second half of the $20^{th}$ century. My aim is not a simple recuperation of the “redemptionism” of the play, but an in-depth consideration of Christian allusions in the play which may tie love and forgiveness to justice and throw light on the ending of King Lear.
While seeking foundations of the media communication, the category of ”personal gift” cannot be neglected. The ethics of media can fulfil its role only if it can notice and protect in the process of media communication the essential feature of the latter, i.e. personal endowment. Viewing media communication from the endowment perspective becomes even more crucial in the context of the processes of commercialisation, instrumentalisation and manipulation, which take place in the sphere of media. At the base of the personalistic character of communication there is experience of the human being participating in the endowment process in compliance with the scheme: “I – media – you”. This endowment somehow “overlaps” and identifies itself with value communication. The multidimensional character of the personal gift enters the subjectivity of “the other” human being so that it leads not only to the affirmation thereof, but also to a genuine “experiencing of the other human being as myself”. The personal endowment is and should be a communicative experiencing of good, owing to which media communication becomes admirabile commercium, a genuine exchange and communication of values. The communication via media of an endowed person is a manifestation of the human rationality. It has its origin in a transcendence of a person in action, which is so thoroughly exposed in K. Wojtyła’s works. Consequently, while rejecting altogether the principle of a total commercialisation of media, it is assumed in the present work that media communication has a human dimension inasmuch as it takes into account, apart from economic factors, the principles of disinterestedness, reciprocity, universality and affirmation of good.
At the beginning of the 1980s, Pierpaolo Donati initiated in Italy the relational turn in sociology, while in France Alain Caillé stipulated the anti-utilitarian movement in social sciences. The acronym MAUSS (from Mouvement Anti-Utilitariste en Sciences Sociales) simultaneously refers to the surname of Marcel Mauss, author of the pioneering work on the gift-Essai sur le don. This movement forms and spreads a new gift paradigm. The notion of the gift has shifted from a specific phenomenon researched in archaic societies towards a basic category for theorizing social order and taking a central position in research on modern transformations. The relational paradigm also focuses on the gift as a crucial aspect of social relations, and on its importance for the civil society. The article traces and discusses various interpretations of the concept of gift, along with the influence of the anti-utilitarian movement and the gift paradigm on relational sociology.
In Serotonin, the houellebecquian homunculus, Florent-Claude Labrouste, is a “dead man walking.” Disenchanted and full of regrets about his past, he decides to break with society and disappear from the world. Bound one more time to a painful and lonely life, the hero uses antidepressants to numb his pain. His newfound emotion-deprived awareness allows him to reflect on his journey, on the missed opportunities that life had bestowed upon him and on the far-fetched possibilities left behind. This article will examine Serotonin’s take on love and its epitome, the romantic couple. Love according to Houellebecq is an existential deed, one that propels the homunculus into existence in a world bent on its destruction, as the romantic couple creates a space, an otherworldly and literary dimension in which every human can potentially find redemption – every human it seems but Houellebecq’s hero; his shrinking masculinity threatens his chances to partake in any meaningful relationship. Florent-Claude passively witnesses his two first loves leaving his life, and he seems incapable of any meaningful action to stop this decaying process. This work will try to answer the riddle that is the homunculus, torn between a redeeming far-fetched ecstasy and the quick fixes of modern society
The baptism of Jesus and John, presented in the synoptic Gospels, shows it as an event full of the dynamics of the Spirit. It takes place according to the assumptions of each Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. In the Gospel of Mark Jesus shares with humanity the same nature that has been subjected to sin. Baptism becomes the beginning of a new saving economy in which it is necessary to bear witness. The essential element of this testimony is the cross which all His disciples have to share with the Lord. The community on the one hand then needs baptism as a way to go out, and on the other, it is strengthened by the gift of the Spirit that leads to the testimony.
The article focuses on understanding some of the self-evident premises of the philosophy of the 17th–19th centuries that make up the horizon of the Enlightenment. One of these premises is Immanuel Kant’s idea of independent thinking. Based on the analysis of the polemics of Kant and Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi about the “extrasensible abilities” of the reason, the question is raised about the possibility of understanding someone else’s concept based on other existential preferences. Answering this question, we distinguish between the concept of the Enlightenment and the practical principle of the Enlightenment and show that the supporter of the ideology of the Enlightenment (Kant) and his critic (Jacobi) appear in the light of the principle of independent thinking as the spokesmen of the spirit, not the letter of the Enlightenment. A condition for understanding someone else’s concept is a productive misunderstanding, which is one of the aspects of the principle of independent thinking: the acceptance of the self-evident as incomprehensible, the shift of one’s attention to one’s own how-being and the perception of thought as a gift.
The article contributes to the discussion on the informal economic activity in postsocialist countries. Quite often this activity is related to state regulation. We provide evidence from rural Russia suggesting that state shirking also can give rise to informal economic relations. Empirical data from Altai Krai show that informal transfers from farms to rural municipalities are used to provide rural social sector. Despite the collapse of socialist agricultural system, when rural communities existed under patronage of collective farms, substantial part of the privately owned post-Soviet farms still donate to rural municipalities and population. The article is based on the fieldwork conducted in Altai Krai in 2013 when qualitative data (informal interviews, group discussions, observations) were collected by the author and his colleagues. Gift-giving relations between agricultural producers and municipalities could be described as “natural” bottom-up pattern. We perceive these Soviet-style giftgiving relations as the way to mitigate the weaknesses both of the Russian state rural policy as well as market self-regulation mechanism. Despite it could slow down economic performance of farms, it is the way to prevent rural degradation and depopulation.
This article discusses the problem of gift from the perspective of philosophical personalism. Since there are different doctrines of gift, it first provides an overview of anthropological, sociological, philosophical, ethical, and religious approaches to the nature of gift. Then, it delineates the essential notes of the gift and its structure, and relates the gift to duties of justice. Finally, it shows that the gift constitutes an anthropological transcendental that helps us to better understand man and his supernatural dimension.
The article attempts an ethical analysis of the words of the marriage vows pronounced by the spouses in the liturgy of the sacrament of matrimony. The analysis is shown over against the words of the civil ceremony which is enriched with new content. A conscientious reading of the words of the marriage vows in Catholic liturgy allows us to discover the personalistic dimension of the human being and his/her love. It especially portrays the human being as called into existence through a free and personal gift of the Giver. It is an image of the human being as one who can fulfill oneself by offering oneself as a disinterested gift.
PL
Artykuł podejmuje próbę analizy etycznej słów przysięgi małżeńskiej wypowiadanej przez małżonków w liturgii sakramentu małżeństwa. Analiza ta jest ukazana na tle słów ślubowania w ceremonii cywilnej, wzbogacanej nowymi treściami. Rzetelne odczytanie słów przysięgi małżeńskiej w liturgii katolickiej pozwala odkryć personalistyczny wymiar człowieka i jego miłości. Szczególnie zaś kreśli obraz człowieka jako istoty powołanej z daru miłości darmowego i osobowego Dawcy. Jest to obraz człowieka, który może zarazem spełnić siebie poprzez bezinteresowny dar z siebie samego.
Artykuł zajmuje się zjawiskiem nagród przyznawanych podmiotom znajdującym się poza strukturą organizacyjną organizacji przyznającej nagrodę. Formułowana jest definicja tego zjawiska oraz proponowana rama analityczna składająca się z czterech wymiarów. Pozwala to na identyfikację różnych typów nagród opartą na cechach nagrody jako takiej, niezależnie od rzeczywistości, w której nagroda funkcjonuje (np. nagrody literackie, nagrody w obszarze jakości). Następnie, na podstawie studium przypadku z branży motoryzacyjnej, sformułowana została propozycja teoretyczna głosząca, iż postrzegany obiektywizm jest jedną z konstytutywnych cech nagrody. Odgrywanie obiektywizmu okazuje się tym, co odróżnia proces przyznawania nagrody od wymiany darów i transakcji rynkowych.
EN
The article discusses phenomenon of awards functioning outside boundaries of one organization. A definition of outside-organizational awards has been formulated and a framework of four dimensions of awards has been developed. The framework allows researchers identify diverse types of awards based on awards-characteristic features not on the realm in which a particular awards function (e.g. literary awards, quality awards, etc.). Finally, based on case study from automotive industry, a theoretical proposition has been offered. According to the proposition, perceived objectivity of an award is one of the constitutive characteristics of awards in general. The fact that award givers highlight the objectivity in awardees selection process makes an awarding process distinct from gift giving and market transaction.
The article investigates the origins of corrupt relationships whose foundation can be found even at the biological stage of the development of nature and human. Corruption existed in every society in all periods of human history. Complaints that the world will be destroyed because of bribery and corruption were commonplace, e.g. on a Assyrian clay tablet in 2800 BC. People, who were dependent on the forces of nature, and grace of their leaders, have always tried to appease them and brought gifts (bribery), in other words — committed active corruption. An expensive gift was profitable and identified a person among the applicants which was a guarantee that his request will be fulfilled. It should be noted that at this stage a gift (bribe) cannot be considered as a harmful phenomenon, it plays a positive role as exempting people who manage a separately formed society from everyday domestic concerns. The person who brings the gift cannot expect a favorable response, they can only hope for it. This allows us to draw some conclusions: corruption is a prerequisite for the possibility of obtaining benefits depending on the social status; relations in the form of a gift (bribe) did not constitute socially harmful acts, but rather were permitted and encouraged by the rules of morality. Details of corruption contained in historical sources from ancient eastern civilizations — ancient Egypt, China, India and the antique civilizations of Ancient Greece and Rome. Corruption as a negative phenomenon can be found in the Old Testament: “For I know your crimes are many and your sins innumerable. They oppress the righteous, take a bribe, and deprive the poor of justice at the gates. Attainment of benefits requires certain resources costs, compensated by funds received from consumers of those goods. Salaries of employees belong to the costs borne by the consumer through payment of required fees, but their activity is determined by the will of the authorities and employers. This leads to a situation where the consumer receives the required service or product from the employee, but cannot directly influence their activities. With the appearance of the state and the emergence of professional bureaucrats, tradition to endow those on whom one’s fate dependent has spread. At present, the cause of this antisocial phenomenon depends on the status of property rights: the poorer and socially protected the population, the higher the level of corruption. Therefore, the best and safest way to fight corruption is to increase the level of social wealth. Acts of corruption in the public sector are one of the major problems of our time, the successful solution to which, based on the analysis of historical experience, will make it easier to facilitate the successful development of the state and society as a whole.
PL
Zjawisko korupcji ma swoją długa tradycję w historii rozwoju ludzkości i, co ciekawe, na przestrzeni wieków nie zawsze było oceniane jednoznacznie negatywnie. Dotyczy to przede wszystkim epoki cywilizacji plemiennej, kiedy zgodnie z wierzeniami pierwotnymi człowiek przy pomocy daru (składanego za pośrednictwem szamana) mógł wkupić się w łaski bogów. Informacja o korupcji jako zjawisku negatywnym odnotowana jest w starożytnych źródłach dotyczących cywilizacji wschodnich: starożytnego Egiptu, Chin, Indii. Podobny odbiór tego zjawiska zaobserwujemy w pamiątkach piśmienniczych związanych ze starożytną cywilizacją Grecji i Rzymu. Świat chrześcijański również odnosił się negatywnie do korupcji. Proceder ten znajduje słowa potępienia już w Księdze Starego Testamentu. Na kolejnych etapach historii, mimo dużej „żywotności” korupcji, wszystkie teorie dotyczące podwalin prawnych życia społecznego zawsze oceniały to zjawisko negatywnie. Autor niniejszego artykułu podkreśla, że dziś korupcja jest problemem o zasięgu globalnym i generuje wiele negatywnych zjawisk. Jednym z nich jest brak zaufania społeczeństwa do administracji państwowej, łamanie zasady nadrzędności prawa, co w konsekwencji prowadzi do konfliktów politycznych i ekonomicznych. Walka z korupcją jest niezwykle istotna ze względu na stabilizację ekonomiczną i rozwój, gwarancję bezpieczeństwa, ochronę praw człowieka, zmniejszenie poziomu biedy, przeciwdziałanie przestępczości zorganizowanej, która nie ma granic. Definiując korupcję jako działania bezprawne polegające na nadużywaniu stanowiska publicznego w celu osiągnięcia korzyści prywatnych, autor zauważa, że termin ten donosi się zarówno do przedstawicieli aparatu administracyjnego, jak i elit politycznych. Cechą charakterystyczną korupcji jest konflikt między działaniem osoby zajmującej daną posadę a interesem jej pracodawcy lub konflikt między działaniem obejmującym daną funkcję z wyboru społecznego a interesem społeczeństwa. Do działań korupcyjnych może być skłonny człowiek, który sprawuje tzw. władzę dyskrecjonalną. Zawodami najczęściej wymienianymi w kontekście zjawiska korupcji są: urzędnicy, posłowie, sędziowie, pracownicy organów ochrony prawnej, administratorzy, egzaminatorzy, lekarze itd.
The article presents the following research hypothesis: A young generation of adult children of Poles is a net beneficiary of family financial transfers of a non-returnable nature. The article purposes are as follows: analyzing the scale, frequency, and directions of transferring and receiving financial gifts by akin households. The applied research methods included: critical analysis of the subject literature, simple statistical methods, method of a diagnostic survey. The survey studies, conducted in 2018, have shown that 39.9% of Poles provided financial support to their relatives in the last 6 months, while a smaller percentage (28.6%) of respondents declared that in the same period received a monetary donation from the family. Population under the age of 24 represents the only age group which receives more financial support than actually provides. Private financial transfers are predominantly of an intergenerational nature, as the majority of transfers occur between parents and adult children.
PL
Sformułowana w artykule hipoteza badawcza brzmi: Młode pokolenie dorosłych dzieci Polaków jest beneficjentem netto rodzinnych transferów finansowych o charakterze bezzwrotnym. Wśród celów artykułu znalazło się rozpoznanie skali, częstotliwości oraz kierunków przekazywania i otrzymywania darów finansowych przez spokrewnione gospodarstwa domowe. Wykorzystane metody badawcze to: krytyczna analiza literatury przedmiotu, proste metody statystyczne, metoda sondażu diagnostycznego. Z przeprowadzonych w 2018 r. badań ankietowych wynika, że 39,9% Polaków w ciągu ostatnich 6 miesięcy udzieliło wsparcia finansowego swoim krewnym, zaś mniejszy odsetek (28,6%) respondentów zadeklarował, że w tym okresie otrzymał od rodziny darowiznę pieniężną. Osoby poniżej 24. roku życia stanowią jedyną grupę wiekową, która więcej wsparcia finansowego otrzymuje, niż przekazuje. Prywatne transfery finansowe mają głównie charakter międzypokoleniowy, ponieważ najwięcej przepływów zachodzi między rodzicami a dorosłymi dziećmi.
Gift giving in the birth rite in the past as well as today plays an important role, is one of his most important habits. The article presents situations in which the gifts were given, who was the recipient and what were and are the present forms of the gifts, as well as what they mean. The basis of the analysis are ethnographic materials from the Lublin region found and developed, obtained by the author, as well as from the archives of Lublin museums and the Archives of the Polish Ethnographic Atlas of Cieszyn.
PL
Obdarowywanie w obrzędzie narodzinowym w przeszłości jak i współcześnie odgrywa ważną rolę, stanowi jeden z istotniejszych jego elementów. W artykule przedstawione zostały sytuacje, w których dochodziło do składania darów, kto był obdarowywany i jakie były i są obecnie formy darów, a także jakie one mają znaczenie. Podstawę analizy stanowią etnograficzne materiały z terenu Lubelszczyzny zastane i wywołane, pozyskane przez autorkę, jak też pochodzące z archiwów lubelskich muzeów i Archiwum Polskiego Atlasu Etnograficznego z Cieszyna.
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