Aesthetics and Creativity. Identity Configurations

Reflecting on human attitude towards reality, together with deciphering the emotional code that accompanies it, has configured - in time – the aesthetic universe, open to human reflection, creation, and evaluation. Aesthetics appears through the way in which consciousness reacts and capitalises upon things in nature and society, or which belong to human subjectivity, including on artistic work, which have an effect on sensitiveness due to their harmony, balance and grandeur. As a fundamental attribute of the human being, creativity is the engine of cultural evolution, meaning the degree of novelty that man brings in his ideas, actions, and creations. Aesthetical values, together with the other types of values, contribute to what society represents and to what it can become, hence motivating human action and creation. Their role is to create a state of mind that encourages the cohesion, cooperation, and mutual understanding of the society. Integrating a chronological succession of the evolution of the concepts that objectify its structure, its aesthetics and creativity, this article stresses the synergetic nature of the two dimensions of human personality, paving the way to beauty, as a form of enchantment of the human spirit.

POKORA i POKORNOŚĆ w polszczyźnie (w świetle jednostek kolokacyjnych, frazeologicznych i paremicznych)

The main intention in the presentation of Humility and Being Humble in the Old and Contemporary Polish language is to reveal the formation and consolidation of these concepts in the minds of language users. The subject of the review are multi-word units – collocation, phraseology and paremism. In the image of Humility and Being Humble, two fundamental planes are distinguished. The multifaceted fulfillment of the manifestations of a human attitude boils down to: an attitude towards humility, its formation, its manifestation and the attitude expressed; in the case of humility – to acquire it, form it, manifest it, act in harmony with it, and obey something in humility. You express the nature of humility as the source of something else, the perpetration, effects, coexistence with certain concepts; humility determines its character and consequences.

The Posthumanist Dimension of the Novel Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk

This commentary aims to place the novel Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk within the framework of posthumanism, focusing on selected aspects of the theory. Particular attention shall be given to Tokarczuk’s criticism of human attitude towards nature, notably animals, as well as her unique perception of material objects which in the novel are endowed with uncanny agency. Not only does the novel’s protagonist exist in a close interconnectedness with all sentient beings, but she also displays a profound sensitivity to matter’s vitality. Tokarczuk stresses the importance of human corporeality which unites us intimately with all of existence and provides us with a deeper understanding of the world.

Should I stay or should I go? 6000 years of human presence and abandonments at Stromboli volcano and an overview on the whole Aeolian Archipelago (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy)

T The paper addresses the long-lasting human presence on the island of Stromboli, an active volcano at the northern edge of the Aeolian archipelago, in the Southern Tyrrhenian sea, Italy. A conceptual model has been built to explore the phenomenon, it takes into account a series of aspects comparing Stromboli to other islands: their morphology, natural resources and geography along with the archaeological and historical data and, further, human attitude to volcanic environments, to risk and to insularity has been deeply explored. We propose a complex narrative where a combination of geological, socio-economic, historical, and psychological factors influenced people’s choices and that human presence is related more to the volcanic (and island) environment (and opportunities) than to volcanic activity.

Thinking as a positive mental attitude

In this article, we want to argue that positive thinking is a human attitude towards the surrounding reality. In the literature, the power of positive thinking has been known since ancient times. Recent research shows that people with positive thinking do better in difficult situations, have a greater capacity for physical and intellectual effort, cope better in stressful situations and are better able to achieve superior results than others with similar skills are. It is positive thinking that transforms, renews, and reshapes human behavior.

Legal Status of Animals in Poland

The article is of a scientific and research nature and it is aimed primarily at outlining the legal status of animals and to what extent legal regulations governing this status determine the level of humane protection of animals in Poland. To achieve this goal, first of all, the concept of “animal” needed to be made more specific, the principle of dereification discussed and its normative scope outlined, and the characteristics of an animal as a specific tangible good needed to be presented. The need to address the issue is determined primarily by the awareness that the way of human life and human attitude to animals has been changing with the development of civilisation. In any case, the changes that have taken place in this area in recent decades make the title issue topical and conducive to verify previous findings. It is assumed that the research carried out will contribute to the development of an optimal model of legal protection of animals and to the development of legal science. The very dissemination of the results is to raise the social awareness of the legal status of animals, which is one of the conditions of further progress of civilisation.

Challenges in the implementation of lean manufacturing in the wood and furniture industry

PurposeThis study analyses the challenges in implementing lean manufacturing (LM) in the wood and furniture industry. In order to facilitate the smooth implementation of LM practices in this industry, the challenges in terms of its deployment need to be analysed and observed.Design/methodology/approachRealizing this importance, this study proposes a model, using PLS-SEM, which focusses on dealing with the challenges faced in the implementation of lean in the wood and furniture industry. The model consists of ten challenges that were determined based on a survey involving 46 SMEs companies in Malaysia.FindingsThe findings revealed that the implementation of LM is significantly affected by three main issues, namely: knowledge, resources and culture and human attitude. Furthermore, the analyses also highlighted four dominant challenges which are related to culture and human attitude issues – lack of employee commitment, lack of senior management's interest and support, difficult to implement, and LM is viewed as “current trend”. Overall, the ability to deal with the challenges involving factors of knowledge and culture and human attitude determines the success of LM implementation, especially in companies that have limited resources.Practical implicationsThis study would help wood and furniture SMEs, government agencies, professional bodies and academics to better understand the challenges when implementing LM practices.Originality/valueOverall, this study aims at investigating the relationships between the three challenges to better promote LM in the scope under study. Therefore, several activities were proposed to overcome the abovementioned challenges and subsequently contribute to the current body of knowledge.

A Study of Human Attitude, Persuasion And Ethics Towards The Adoptation Of Sustainable Technology Among Malaysian SMEs

This research investigates the impact of human attitudes, human persuasion and human ethics towards the adoption of sustainable technology among the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia. There is a lacuna in the literature of the focusing on the human factors (attitudes, persuasions and ethical belief) of adoption of sustainable technology in the SMEs context in emerging economy such as Malaysia. The study develops a comprehensive model of sustainable technology adoption considering the strengths and limitations of the existing models. The main theories utilized this paper include the theory of reasoned action (TRA), theory of planned behavior (TPB), attribution theory (AT), environmental attitudes model and the triple bottom line model. The theoretical framework developed for this study is based on the premise of the above theories. A total of 234 sample taken from 2369 SMEs in Malaysia. The major finding of this research suggest that affective attitudes, cognitive attitudes, reasoned persuasion, sentimental persuasion, anthropocentrism and altruism significantly impact adoption mechanism of sustainable technology in a Malaysian setting. These findings are later highlighted in this paper. The implications, limitations and future research avenue are highlighted in the paper.

Environmental Performativity in Native American and Afro-American Womens Fiction: An Ecofeminist Critique of Erdrichs Tracks and Morrisons Beloved

This article, evaluating the usefulness and applicability of the ecofeminist tenets upon the environmental fiction of Erdrich and Morrison, creates a new understanding of the preservation of the environment for engendering a more egalitarian relationship between humanity and nature. It presents the critique of the ways Toni Morrison and Louise Erdrich engage with the environmental themes and motifs using the historical connections of their communities with nature as a reference point via eco-performative texts. The overall scheme of the article, therefore, denies the anthropocentric approach upheld by the Euro-American world towards the environment and glorifies the biocentric approach revered and celebrated by the Native American and AfroAmerican lifestyle, emphasizing that in the cosmic scheme of nature, not just humans but non-humans, nature and environment are equal partners. The study concludes that Morrison and Erdrich have stressed in their fiction the ecocritical recognition of the inevitable interdependence of man and nature. Their fiction asserts that considering environmental issues to be human issues can positively affect the human attitude towards nature/environment.

Gwarowe nazwy roślin jako odbicie nastawienia użytkowników gwar do przyrody (ujęcie historyczno-porównawcze) ..

This text discusses Polish dialectal names of plants, which refl ect the human attitude towards the world of fl ora. Therefore, the basic issue is the motivation behind plant names. These names are motivated by species characteristics. The motivations where the human attitude towards the nature are particularly visible have been taken into consideration. These are primarily medicinal properties and the attributed (positive or negative) magical properties, harmfulness of certain species, application and purpose in the homestead, and annoying negative characteristics. The relation between plant names and folk beliefs and legends are analysed, religious references are also made. The signifi cant role of taboos and metaphors in the plant denomination process is emphasised in the discussions. The names are examined from the historical and comparative perspective, which is illustrated with examples. Keywords: folk names of plants – semantic motivation – origin of plant names – metaphor – taboo