The paper aims at indicating opportunities and threats faced by gender studies in Poland. The author presents institutional problems (i.e. organizational, financial), which limit dynamic development of the discipline and its impact on the society. She also discusses tensions between an academic affiliation of gender studies and its political aspirations rooted in the tradition of feminist movement. Finally, the author describes recent methodological debates on gender discourse—its theoretical inspirations and practical use.

People of Jewish origin arrived in the American Continent as early as 15th century and (in various times and with varying intensity but incessantly) have participated in shaping the states and societies on the continent. A fact little known in Poland, Jews and their culture are inherent in Latin American reality. The paper attempts to provide an insight into Ashkenazic Diaspora (particularly its section coming from Poland and the partitioned Polish lands before 1918) in its Latin American dimension.

The paper discusses the place occupied by Latin America and Eastern Europe in the contemporary world-system in the era of increasing globalization. It discusses the dominant types of consciousness in both parts of the world, where a tendency to overcome dependence and peripheral position are noticeable as is a desire for democracy and foreign relations based on partnership. What is long raised and very characteristic for thinkers coming from those very different regions of the globe are attempts to create a new universalistic philosophy, more or less utopian, for the whole of mankind.

The paper develops and provides rationale for M. Foucault’s proposition of there being far-reaching theoretical convergences between his concept of Genealogy and the Critical Theory by Frankfurt School philosophers. In the author’s view, the similarities are marked in three areas:1. historical discourse, severing the ties with a traditional interpretation of history, i.e. one that makes the perspective of power absolute;2. an ambiguous approach to the Enlightenment as expressed in a rejection of the doctrine while preserving Enlightenment ethos;3. criticism of the anthropology that assumes a primacy of mind over matter on the premise of exposing a self-conscious subject as a product of the harnessing of Nature. Wile emphasizing the spiritual kinship between Foucault and the philosophers of the Frankfurt School, the author does record significant differences, mostly concerning the nature of the historical process, an expression of the issue of power and the relation between power and knowledge.

The article outlines two possible human “responses” to the general situation of today’s world. One, here named “provisional culture”, abandons continuity for momentariness, the other—ecological culture—underscores the benefits of duration. The first derives from the modern thought paradigm, the second from the paradigm of ecological thought.The author points to these two culture models’ relation to different time concepts. She notes that by resigning continuity between the past, present and future, humanity risks losing its sense of responsibility and access to ethics—that what “ought to be”. Also, lost in this case are creative thought and creative activity. Paradoxically, the provisional culture trap, in which there is no room for creativity, can only be escaped by means of the creative updating of time in its entirety. Such updating takes effect in ecological culture grown from thought ordained by the eco-system metaphor.

The article is an analysis of the different types of rationality forming the basis of “rational dialogue”. It presents the positions of Plato and the sophists as well as modern attempts to revive this tradition. The Platonic model (ideal) of philosophy as that which is objectively confronted with the strategies of a rational debate taking place within conditions of uncertainty (probable knowledge) and risk.

Describing the formation of the Polish community in Spain in the 1990s, the article focuses on the political changes in both countries: processes of democratization (and, in the case of Poland, the resulting economic transformation) and then the EU enlargement, which contributed to this new influx. Polish expatriates, though not very numerous in comparison with other immigrant communities in contemporary Spain, became quite visible, especially in some towns of the Region of Madrid. In general, they enjoy a good reputation in the host country, but initially they used to work in the secondary labor sector, often illegally. The situation changed after Poland’s accession to the European Union and the resulting opening of the Spanish labor market for Polish citizens at the beginning of the new century. New Polish immigrants to Spain are young, qualified, innovative, and their purpose is not only to earn a living, but first and foremost to continuetheir studies and undergo professional training. Their mobility is increased owing to modern transportation facilities and communication systems. Individualists for the most part, they do not maintain intensive contacts with the earlier-established Polish community and its social networks and institutions.

The purpose of this investigation is to analyze the state of the art of sciences, beyond philosophy, so far involved in researching wisdom. Eventually, some recommendations will be offered for the further pursuit of wisdom among people and machines. Can machines think? Can machines be wise? These are the questions that will be pursue for the answers in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, Nono-Computing, and the emerging mind science.

The purpose of this investigation is to define the centrality of the Global Financial Crisis in 2008–09 and its following stage—the Great Recession, which are controlled by business religion of the emerging global civilization. When democracy defeated totalitarianism in 1989 with the removal the Berlin Wall, we achieved a New World Order. For a long time nobody could explain its meaning and practicality, since it did not seem possible to decompose the emerging Global Civilization into its pieces; religion, culture and infrastructure. Global culture and global infrastructure could be recognized and somehow defined, but “global religion” was unrecognized. No sacred religions could be accepted as the world’s universal religion! However, these authors assume that our newglobal religion is no longer a sacred one, but secular under the guise and practice of business. The global civilization is characterized and its impact upon the well being of world’s population is assessed. The framework of business religion as the new religion of the Global Civilization is modeled and characterized. The future of business religion is evaluated and the means to develop a better and sustainable alternative is offered.

History provides us with instances of various societal and economic changes that with a hindsight are interpreted as either indicating progressive or regressive trends. The present paper attempts to define what represents progress and regress by applying psychological constructs to evaluation of the psychosocial changes. Seven principles of progress are applied as criteria for interpreting various historic events. The primary condition for progress is courage to face adversity or, in the cognitive domain, ambiguity, controversy and “unknown”. An overall model of Challenge-Resilience-Resourcefulness is described as the process through which progress can be achieved.

The short term and long term prospects of civilizations is considered. It appears that the present mix of five major civilizations will continue with the possible addition of a Pan-African civilization that appears to be in the process of formation. The cycles of events in these civilizations is expected to be a continuation of cyclic behavior found in the author’s earlier work. Global Warming, environmental degradation, overpopulation, excessive numbers of older unproductive people, warfare and competition for resources will be detrimental to the future of civilizations for the foreseeable future. In short, the discussion is based on a continuation of ongoing civilizational trends. Improved communications and technology will have a significant impact but is not likely to change the overall unity of each contemporary civilization.

The French Jesuit, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin wrote provocatively about world civilization from his dual expertise as paleontologist and Catholic priest. This paper will extract from his many writings references to civilizational process in terms of his concept of the noosphere, that is, the transhuman accumulation of knowledge. Basing himself on the notion of a geogenetic process that he described in his important publication, Le Phenomenene Humain (1955), de Chardin considered the evolution of humankind to involve not merely the change of individual members of the species, but in the development of the capacity to shape the earth and its forces by the invention of technology. He foresaw the human creation of a new level of understanding (some would say this is the cyberspace of the Internet) that would be the achievement of a unifying human civilization. The impulse to contribute to and benefit from this wealth of shared knowledge constituted for the Jesuit a quasi-magnetic force that brought together disparate human experiences. Borne in part by his religious faith, de Chardin described in a second masterpiece, Le Milieu Divin (1957) this unifying force as “love”. When a new world civilization learned to harness this kind of love in common purpose, said de Chardin, “for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire”. Possibly because of his religiously tinted language and mystical orientation, Teilhard has not always been viewed a contributor to the field. This paper will offer suggestions for ways to incorporate the French Jesuit among the sources for civilizational analysis.

The thesis of the paper is that the root cause of clash or reconciliation among civilizations is housed in the drama of consciousness! Two models of consciousness that highlight this drama are put forward here. First is Jean Gebser’s view, which asserts that the history of human civilization is nothing more than the manifestations of the development of consciousness. This development has taken place through five distinct stages: the archaic, magical, mythic, mental and integrative. Clash in civilizations is due to the fixation on the first four stages whereas reconciliation is possible through the use of the integrative stage. The second is the Tantric Yoga view of consciousness in terms of the seven chakras or wheels of consciousness. These chakras are spread out in the body like seven colors of the rainbow—starting with the base of the spine to the genitals, the belly button, the heart, the throat, the forehead and ending in the crown of the head. Clash in civilizations is due to the fixation on the first three levels (chakras) of consciousness whereas reconciliation is possible through the use of the upper fourwheels of consciousness (chakras), which are focused at developing universal consciousness. Since religion and civilization are intimately connected and several of the prominent civilizational clashes have been due to the religious differences, religious consciousness will be taken as the paradigm of this paper.How can humanity move from clash towards reconciliation? Such a possibility is suggested by both Gebser and Tantric Yoga whose theories point towards the development of an integrative universal consciousness: an encompassing consciousness that will transcend as well as incorporate all limited religious consciousness perspectives in its fold! The views of Vivekananda, a scholar-monk of India, on “one religion/one spirituality” are of particular interest in this context. They indicate an approach, which might lead to a possible future solution thus paving a path towards one-world-spiritual-peaceful order!

Indonesia has received Islam over the past millennium During this period, Islam has intermingled in varying degrees with Buddhism, Hinduism, and indigenous animism in different parts of the archipelago. Consequently, beliefs and practices diverge. Nevertheless, Islam has an overwhelming if diverse presence in Indonesia. The paper will examine the resultant diverse versions of Islam that currently coexist in Indonesia. These versions are the modernist, traditional, devotional, and syncretic aspects of Islam. Each version will be analyzed in terms of both differences and similarities.

The paper presents the life and work of Feliks Koneczny, the forgotten polish scientist of the 19th and the 20th centuries. The four main field of his activity areshortly presented, especially his historiosophic synthesis in form of very original theory of the plurality of civilizations, based on the axiological assumptions. His concept of social philosophy that emerged from his historical studies seems to be controversial but, in fact, has strongly influenced the work of many historians and philosophers. In his opinion, any utilitarian political, economical, social and psychological functionality turned into the ideologically imposed life algorithms must be considered as very dangerous threat for the freedom and free will of individual as well as for the independence of so many different communities, societies and cultures. Consequently, Koneczny suggested to be very careful in attempts to implement, by international political means, the idea of total globalization considering it as harmful illusion.