Intertekst Wilna w twórczości Vaidotasa Daunysa

The Intertext of Vilnius in the Works of Vaidotas DaunysThe aim of the present article is to analyse the intertext of Vilnius in the works of the Lithuanian poet, essayist and editor Vaidotas Daunys (1958–1995) by drawing on the categories of intertextuality and intertext (J. Kristeva, R. Barthes, M. Riffaterre, M. Głowiński, S. Balbus, R. Nycz). In Daunys’ poems and essays, the reader perceives Vilnius as a mental construct, multilayered structure of meaning or a complex metaphor referring to a specific place on the map of north-eastern Europe, the political centre of the independent Republic of Lithuania since 1990. His debut collection Metų laikai [The Four Seasons, 1985] containing his early lyrics deals with urban themes, which will also become one of the recurrent motifs in his essays. This collection introduces themes, metaphors and symbols developed and recreated by the author over the following decades: the city of myth, the city of nature, the city of faith. In his poetry, Daunys illustrates how the personal and psychological city (the individualized place of the lyrical subject, where the history takes place here and now) evolves into the meta-city and philosophy of the city (Vilnius as a timeless and sacred city, with strong communal bonds). Daunys was a gifted observer, therefore, in his works (and artistic activities), at the aesthetic, ethical, philosophical and theological levels, he consequently and skilfully presented Vilnius as the central place of his homeland where multiple voices can be heard, as the Baltic cradle of Lithuanian culture and the home to many languages, cultures and nations. His source of inspiration was Lithuanian and European cultures (mainly literature oscillating between existential and ontological questions; Christian and existential philosophy; but also history, music, architecture and photography), based on the solid Christian foundation (the Bible). Translated into the language of the modern city and experience of the watershed years, these sources, displaying various forms of intertextuality, have created a multilayered web of meanings that Vilnius entails. Intertekst Wilna w twórczości Vaidotasa DaunysaCelem artykułu jest opis i analiza intertekstu Wilna w twórczości litewskiego poety, eseisty i wydawcy Vaidotasa Daunysa (1958–1995). Do realizacji zadania zostały wykorzystane kategorie intertekstualności i intertekstu (J. Kristeva, R. Barthes, M. Riffaterre, M. Głowiński, S. Balbus, R. Nycz). Dla każdego czytelnika poezji i eseistyki Daunysa, Wilno to konstrukt mentalny, wielowarstwowa struktura znaczeń, złożona metafora odnosząca się do konkretnego miejsca na mapie Europy Północno-Wschodniej, politycznego centrum niepodległej od 1990 roku Republiki Litewskiej. Już wczesna liryka Daunysa z debiutanckiego tomu Metų laikai [Pory roku, 1985] odwołuje się do tematyki miejskiej, która z czasem stanie się także ważnym motywem jego eseistyki. To tutaj po raz pierwszy pojawiły się tematy, metafory i symbole, które twórca rozwijał (przetwarzał) przez kolejne dziesięciolecie: miasta mitu, miasta natury, miasta wiary. Dorobek poetycki Daunysa ilustruje proces ewolucji od miasta osobistego i psychologicznego (zindywidualizowanego miejsca przeżyć podmiotu lirycznego, w którym historia dzieje się tu i teraz) do meta-miasta i filozofii miasta (idei Wilna ponadczasowego, wspólnotowego, sakralnego). V. Daunys był obdarzony wyjątkowym darem uważności, dlatego w swojej twórczości (i twórczej działalności) tak konsekwentnie i umiejętnie, na poziomie estetycznym, etycznym, filozoficznym i teologicznym, rozwijał ideę Wilna jako wielogłosowego centrum ojczyzny, bałtyjskiej kolebki litewskości i zarazem domu wielu języków, kultur i narodów. Źródłem inspiracji była dla niego kultura litewska i kultura europejska (głównie literatura oscylująca wokół zagadnień egzystencjalnych i ontologicznych; filozofia chrześcijańska i egzystencjalna; ale także historia, muzyka, architektura i fotografia), osadzone na mocnym fundamencie chrześcijańskim (Biblia). Przełożone na język współczesnego miasta i doświadczenia czasów przełomu, utworzyły fascynującą swoją wielorodnością intertekstualną siatkę znaczeniową Wilna.

On the meanings of the terms dhāraṇī and mantra in the Buddhist written tradition

The article comprises an analysis of some of the most important terms in the Buddhist religious tradition – dhāraṇī and mantra. It is based upon research of the Buddhist canonical and post-canonical texts. Among others, the article sets to clarify whether it is possible to identify the terms of dhāraṇī and mantra also as ‘spells’, ‘incantations’ or ‘invocations’. Special attention is paid to the study of the semantic areas of the terms in question. This aims to clarify whether the dhāraṇī and mantra can be considered synonyms. The article also examines the approaches of Russian and foreign scholarly traditions, which interpreted the meaning of these terms. On a parallel basis, it analyzes the meaning of the term dhāraṇī recorded in Buddhist canonical and post-canonical texts. Additionally, the article comprises a research of the technical terms, which are synonymous for dhāraṇī and mantra, however, used in both authentic (Indian) and non-endemic zones and the relevant traditions, where the Buddhist teaching was also popular, i.e. in Tibet, China and Japan. As a result, the author concludes as follows. On the ‘popular level’ of the functioning of Buddhist doctrine (protection from illnesses, robbers, bites of poisonous snakes and insects, etc.) both terms dhāraṇī and mantra can be certainly bear the meaning as ‘spells’, ‘incantations’ or ‘invocations’. On the level of the meditative practice of the consciousness transformation, which aims to the final liberation from affects, both dhāraṇī and mantra function as a ‘mental construct’. On the one hand, they protect the ascetic consciousness they protect the ascetic consciosness (manas-tra) from afflictions, on the other, they provide the mental comprehension ‘grasping’ and firm holding (dhāraṇa) in memory of the aspects of religious doctrine, that, ultimately, leads to the Nirvāṇa obtaining. In both cases, dhāraṇī and mantra function as synonyms, with the only difference that dhāraṇī is a product of Buddhist ideologists who sought to identify a break from the previous religious tradition – Brahmanism.

MODELLING OF THE FRAGMENT OF THE SEMANTIC FIELD, REPRESENTED BY ABSTRACT NOUNS IN OLD ICELANDIC

Введение. Изучение семантики словообразовательных формантов сосредоточено главным образом на материалах современных языков. Эмпирический материал охватывает лексические единицы одного из древних германских языков – древнеисландского, а именно существительные мужского рода, образованные с помощью словообразовательного суффикса -skapr-. Цель – моделирование участка семантического пространства, вербализованного в древнеисландском языке посредством производных лексических единиц с абстрактной семантикой, маркированных словообразовательным суффиксом -skapr-. Материал и методы. Материалом для исследования послужили этимологические и толковые словари древнеисландского языка. Корпус эмпирического материала составил 86 единиц, выделенных с помощью приема сплошной выборки. Исследование языкового материала осуществлялось с применением методов сравнения, компонентного и словообразовательного анализа, приемов этимологического анализа, интерпретации. Результаты и обсуждение. Корпус лексических единиц мужского рода склонения на -а, образованных от именных основ при помощи суффикса -skapr-, включает 86 единиц. Понятийные области, вербализованные производными с рассматриваемым суффиксом, включают обозначения личностных качеств человека, характера или способа действий и их результатов, обозначение конкретных объектов, товаров в собирательном значении, типов взаимоотношений, обозначения понятий, относящихся к религии, язычеству или колдовству. Наиболее многочисленная группа обозначений охватывает названия черт характера или поведения человека, как поощряемых, так и порицаемых обществом. При этом зафиксировано наличие синонимичных рядов производных с суффиксом -skapr-, номинирующих одно и то же качество характера человека, а также синкретичность семантики некоторых производных с указанным суффиксом, включающей как абстрактные, так и конкретные значения. Наличествующий в морфологической структуре анализируемых производных суффикс -skapr- этимологически связан с самостоятельным словом skap «вид, состояние», которое восходит к праиндоевропейскому корню *(s)keH. Развернутый ряд производных, построенных по одному и тому же словообразовательному типу, позволяет рассматривать данный тип как отдельный формат представления знаний, некий мыслительный конструкт, объективированный суффиксом. Суффикс в такой аналитической конструкции функционирует в качестве маркера формата. В случае с анализируемым суффиксом данный формат может быть определен как абстрактная сущность, названная основой, мыслимая как самостоятельный объект в абсолютизированном виде, т. е. в отрыве от действительного обладателя этой характеристики. Заключение. Производные с словообразовательным суффиксом -skapr- репрезентируют целый спектр понятий, связанных с характеристиками человека и его деятельности. Словообразовательный суффикс функционирует как маркер семантического инварианта в семантической структуре производных, который может позиционироваться как профиль словообразовательного типа. Семантическое пространство, форматируемое суффиксом, имеет композиционную природу, обусловленную семантикой компонентов самого суффикса. Introduction. Over the last decade’s studies on semantics of derivational morphemes have primarily dealt with contemporary language data. The article focuses on a group of Old Icelandic masculine nouns that are formed by means of the derivational suffix -skapr-. The aim is to model a fragment of the semantic field that is represented by the Old Icelandic derivatives with an abstract semantics and marked by the suffix -skapr- . Materials and methods. The source of material for the study is etymological dictionaries of the Old Icelandic language. The corpus of empirical material includes 86 lexical units. The study of the linguistic material draws on the methods of comparison, component and word-formation analysis, methods of etymological analysis, interpretation. Results. The corpus of masculine nouns belonging to the masculine a-declension, derived from nominal stems with the help of the suffix -skapr-, includes 86 units. The conceptual areas, verbalized by derivatives with the suffix under consideration, include designations of personal qualities of a person, character or method of action and its results, designation of specific objects, goods in a collective sense, types of relationships, designation of concepts related to religion, paganism or witchcraft. The most numerous group of designations covers the names of traits or behavior of a person, both encouraged and condemned by the members of society. It has been revealed that the same quality of a person’s character can be verbalized by a series of synonymous derivatives with the suffix -skapr-. Besides, a number of derivatives with the suffix display their syncretic semantics, involving both abstract and concrete meanings. The suffix -skapr- present in the morphological structure of the analyzed derivatives is etymologically related to the independent word skap “species, state”, which goes back to the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)keH. A series of derivatives, built according to the same word-formation type, allows us to consider this type as a separate format for representing knowledge, a kind of mental construct objectified by the suffix. The suffix in this analytic construct functions as a format marker. It is argued that the suffix under analysis marks the format that can be defined as “an abstract entity called by the base, conceived as an independent object in an absolutized form, i.e. in isolation from the real owner of this characteristics”. Conclusion. Derivatives with the word-formation suffix -skapr- represent a whole range of concepts related to the characteristics of a person and his activities. The word-formation suffix functions as a marker of the semantic invariant in the semantic structure of derivatives, which can be viewed as a profile of this word-formation type. The semantic filed indicated by the suffix is of a compositional nature due to the semantics of the components of the suffix itself.

Positioning and Rebranding as a State Security Tools in Global Space

The purpose of this article is to explore positioning and rebranding as tools for state security in global space, using the methodology of constructivism in international relations. The author hypothesizes that positioning the country as safe will be attractive only if there is a unifying factor based on the principles of consocial democracy. To achieve this purpose, the authors used several scientific approaches and methods: constructivism as a scientific paradigm; dialectical method; content analysis, and comparison. The article covers the following issues: Positioning and rebranding in modern conditions; Level of branding effectiveness in Ukraine; National identity as the basis for rebranding and state security; Rebranding states in the face of new challenges and threats. The essence of the conclusions is as follows: States will choose a partner for economic cooperation under difficult conditions in terms of political risks, benefits, and costs. This trend is about renewed positioning and rebranding to facilitate decisions on cooperation. The effectiveness of the existing state brand depends not only on creating an attractive external picture of the country’s positioning. Without a genuine alignment of the declared brand with the internal situation of the state, the political system as a whole, the congruent of the mental construct of the main political structures and the social environment, the brand will not be attractive to investors and the country will remain in an unstable environment.

The Transformative Potential of Ruins: A Tool for a Nonlinear Design Perspective in Adaptive Reuse

In recent years, the heritage preservation debate has seen a growing interest in emerging theories in which the concept of potential plays an essential role. Starting from the assumption that memory is an evolving mental construct, the present paper introduces the concept of “transformative potential” in existing buildings. This novel concept regards the inevitability of loss and the self-destructive potential as part of the transformation of each building. The “transformative potential” is defined here as the relationship between spatial settings and material consistency. This research hypothesizes five “transformative potential” types by analyzing five best-practices adapted ruins in the last 15 years. The analysis integrates quantitative and qualitative research methods: morphological analysis (dimensional variations, critical redrawing, configuration patterns) and decay stages evaluation (shearing layers analysis, adaptation approaches). The goal is to test the “transformative potential” effectiveness in outlining patterns between specific stages of decay and adaptive design projects. Adaptation projects may actualize this potential in a specific time through incremental and decremental phases, outlining a nonlinear relationship between decay and memory. The study provides insights for future research on adapting existing buildings in a particular decay stage.

Black Rage: The Psychic Adaptation to the Trauma of Oppression

Integrating the story of a young Freud’s racial trauma with a novel application of the concept of moral injury has led to a realization and conceptual formulation during the pandemic uprisings of the mental construct of Black Rage as an adaptation to oppression trauma. As formulated here, Black Rage exists in a specific dynamic equilibrium as a compromise formation that is a functional adaptation for oppressed people of color who suffer racial trauma and racial degradation, an adaptation that can be mobilized for the purpose of defense or psychic growth. Black Rage operates as a mental construct in a way analogous to the topographical model, in which mental agencies carry psychic functions. The concept of Black Rage is crucial to constructing a theoretical framework for a psychology of oppression and transgenerational transmission of trauma. Additionally, in the psychoanalytic theory on oppression suggested here, a developmental line is formulated for the adaptive function of Black Rage in promoting resilience in the face of oppression trauma for marginalized people.

Do I dream of conscious sheep: On self as a mental construct

I give some demonstrations for philosophy on the self and make connection to contemporary spirituality.

MENTAL CONSTRUCT “MEANDER” AS A UNIVERSAL PROTOTYPICAL SYMBOL IN LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

In this article, the mental construct "meander" is described from the standpoint of cognitive science and the theory of sign systems, it is considered as a universal prototypical symbol in language and culture. "Meander" is qualified as a deep sign, the mental fields of which are actualized by universal metaphorically structured images. Being an ambivalent "universal" Word, the "meander" in its deep structuring is objectified by mental fields of both positive and negative connotations. Based on the well-known position of Yu. S. Stepanov, according to which language as a construct and it consists of a core, social and mental shells, we were able to not only analyze and describe, but also to show the deep nature and potential capabilities of the prototypical symbol of the "meander". No less important for this work is the thesis that language is "a system capable of generating an infinite number of texts". "Meander" is characterized by a complex system of symbols, in which each element carries deep meanings and senses. Understanding the complexity of the prototypical symbol system, it should be noted that the study of such a scientific object as a "meander" should not be limited only from the position of linguistic disciplines. At the same time, "Meander" is attributed to both a stereotype and a prototypical symbol, since both concepts are associated with the content side of language and culture, that is, they are understood as mental constructs that correlate with the picture of the world. The purpose of this article is to describe the multi-component mental construct "meander" from the point of view of its deep structuring. “Meander” as a “stereotype” and a prototypical symbol incorporates the meanings of language and culture, and therefore is understood as a mental construct that adequately reflects the linguistic image of the world. "Stereotypes" and "prototypical symbols", to which we also refer the mental construct "meander", are transmitted by cognitive mechanisms, and, accordingly, are verbalized by one or another sense and meaning. Since the "meander" is a deep abstract prototypical symbol, it is able not only to combine many similar forms of the same object, but also to structure abstract connotative images that are categorized at a deep level. And in this sense, "Meander" is considered by us both as a prototypical symbol, and as a stereotype, and as a pattern, since it is structured according to a model that is often repeated. The results of the analysis showed that the universal, "common human" symbol "meander" is a deeply structured mental construction objectified by meanings and meanings in languages and cultures.

The Social Production of Financial Inclusion of Generation Z in Digital Banking Ecosystems

Digital finance is an emerging frontier of financial sector development in the contemporary 21st century. In spite of the known benefits of digital finance, there is a widely held view that digital financial services have not adequately permeated vast segments of society given the disparities in the availability of finance, its accessibility, and use. Therefore, the evolution of financial technologies along with digital consumer behaviourism in the present age presents scope for re-modelling conventional financial business models to particularly enhance the financial inclusion of Generation Z. This generation presumably has a unique mental construct of digital financial inclusion on account of its financial needs and circumstances, and its intrinsic digital consumer behaviourism. Therefore, this article espouses the Lefebvrean Social Production of Space as a novel theoretical lens through which financial inclusion of Generation Z could be better conceptualised to provide predictive insight for the future development of inclusive digital banking ecosystems. To this end, the article demonstrates, under the Zambian context in sub-Saharan Africa, that Generation Z has the propensity and competence to use digital technologies, but its adoptive response to digital finance is shaped by the perception that conventional banking and finance is highly exclusive. This suggests that the conventional banking ecosystem operates along a continuum between social equity and financial sustainability, posing a conceptual challenge of designing financial business models that are equitable without undermining the sustainability of the ecosystem. It is hereby recommended that for a digital banking ecosystem to be authentically inclusive of Generation Z there must be participatory accountability that considers and embraces the generation’s bidding strategies for financial inclusion, and further facilitates empowerment of this clientele based on the co-evolutionary dynamics of financial technology and digital consumer behaviourism.

Olfactory Signs as Objects of Verbalization

Human sensory experience has a fundamental role in conceptualizing the realities of the sur-rounding world and representing them in linguistic constructions. When it comes to olfactory information available to people, a significant part of the linguistic material consists of describing smells with the view of their classification and their ontological and evaluative characteristics. Also, linguistic objectification of situations of cognizing olfactory signs has pronounced patterns, and, as a mental construct reflected in the mind, the olfactory situation in-cludes a number of obligatory and optional components. By means of frame analysis of German olfactory language, the article demonstrates the interaction of static and dynamic knowledge about olfactory perception. The result of this research is a conceptual framework that describes the principles of organizing information about smells. The author sees the clas-sification frame as a storage format for static data: it has a categorical structure and stores knowledge about various types of smells. Its slots are filled with specific information based on identifying real or background objects that are sources of smells, as well as on quantitative or normative evaluations given by the subject. Analyzing linguistic explications of the olfactory situation, which are representations of the situational frame, shows the presence of re-peated categorical components (categorical nodes) in the linguistic material. They are associ-ated with ontological categories of human existence. Among them are the subject and the object of cognition, the subject’s action, the space-time frame of the situation, the instrument of cognition, and the result. It is obvious that the presence of obligatory components in the utterance (subject, object, cognitive action) is due to the need of the author to describe the ontological specifics of the process of cognition of an olfactory sign. The objectification of optional components in the utterance depends on the goals of communication. The comparison of formats for storing knowledge about the olfactory sign makes it possible to explain the relationship between the classification and situational frames as an interaction between something general and something particular. The resulting findings contribute to current discussions of issues related to structuring knowledge and general categorization of reality by individuals.