Energetic poverty: the socia impact of the energy prices reform on the standard of living

Sărăcia energetică: impactul social al reformei prețurilor energiei asupra standardului de viață

Author(s): Cătălin Zamfir,Mihai Dumitru,Adina Mihăilescu,Mariana Stanciu,Elena Zamfir,Ilie Bădescu,Ion Glodeanu,Adela Șerban / Language(s): Romanian / Issue: 4/2015

Keywords: Romania; energy poverty; fuel poverty; vulnerable consumer; living wage; minimum subsistence threshold

Acest studiu se focalizează pe impactul social, pe vulnerabilităţile şi problemele sociale pe care le crează reforma sistemului energetic şi crearea pieţei naţionale a energiei. Explozia preţurilor energiei şi creşterea sărăciei energetice, a numărului de consumatori vulnerabili, impun o evaluare critică şi o reproiectare a sistemului de protecţie socială a acestora. Analiza şi comparaţiile internaţionale se bazează pe datele statistice privind consumul energetic, sărăcia şi deprivarea materială furnizate de instituţii publice româneşti şi europene. La acestea se adaugă datele rezultate din cercetările Institutului de Cercetare a Calităţii Vieţii privitoare la standardul de viaţă, sărăcie sau minimul decent de trai. În următorii 2–3 ani preţurile electricităţii şi ale gazelor naturale se vor dubla, ceea ce va avea consecinţe profunde nu numai asupra situaţiei sociale a consumatorilor vulnerabili, ci şi asupra politicilor publice şi activităţii instituţiilor cu responsabilităţi în domeniul energiei, motiv pentru care studiul include un set de recomandări pentru acestea.

Vulnerable groups of population in Romania

Vulnerable groups of population in Romania

Author(s): Adina Mihăilescu / Language(s): English / Issue: 4/2015

Keywords: vulnerable group; average wage; minimum wage; child allowance; pension; consumer basket

The majority of Romanian households have a consumption centered on satisfying the basic needs. The predominantly low level of income of the population has not allowed for savings in the years of economic growth before the crisis, which has caused more degradation in the living conditions during the crisis – degradation far below the decent minimal consumption, in all the categories of households. In this study we analyze changes in the Romanian landscape of household incomes and the impact of wage and child allowance from the living standard of population, in July 2015.

Educational activities: „different”

Activități educaționale „altfel”

Author(s): Gabriela Carmen Neagu / Language(s): Romanian / Issue: 4/2015

Keywords: quality of life; school otherwise; values; educational programs; european space

Din 2011, Ministerul Educaţiei şi Cercetării a propus organizarea unor activităţi extracurriculare şi extraşcolare la nivelul preuniversitar de învăţământ – „Şcoala altfel” – cu scopul de a permite elevilor să-şi dezvolte cunoştinţele, abilităţile, deprinderile prin alte tipuri de învăţare decât cele de la clasă (învăţământ formal) şi, în acelaşi timp, să le permită valorificarea celor însuşite la orele de curs în situaţii concrete, de viaţă. Acestea sunt şi ocaziile în care elevii pot fi implicaţi în acţiuni de promovare, dezbatere pe diverse teme de interes pentru ei şi pentru societatea sau comunitatea de care aparţin. Activităţile desfăşurate în această perioadă nu sunt evaluate prin note sau calificative, însă obţinerea unui feedback din partea elevilor şi cadrelor didactice este necesar. În articolul de faţă, vom prezenta o analiză a unor activităţi desfăşurate de şi cu elevii din învăţământul preuniversitar din diferite instituţii cu scopul nu doar de a evidenţia diversitatea lor, ci mai ales de a înţelege modul în care elevi şi cadre didactice se raportează la o serie de probleme, situaţii, acţiuni de interes pentru societate.

Development targets in the view of increasing the quality of governance - Romania 2015-2035

Obiective de dezvoltare privind creșterea calității guvernării - România 2015-2035

Author(s): Monica Marin,Adriana Neguţ,Claudia Petrescu,Manuela Sofia Stănculescu,Iulian Stanescu / Language(s): Romanian / Issue: 4/2015

Keywords: public administration;public policies;human resources;e-government;

Articolul prezintă câteva obiective specifice legate de obiectivul general de dezvoltare a calităţii administraţiei publice ca o condiţie necesară pentru îmbunătăţirea calităţiifurnizării serviciilor publice şi, mai general, pentru o bună guvernare. Propunerile derivă din analiza documentelor strategice naţionale şi internaţionale şi a datelor disponibile şi sunt legate de: I. elaborarea şi implementarea politicilor publice; II. managementul resurselor umane şi III. e-guvernare, alături de factori facilitatori legaţi de dezvoltarea capacităţii de parteneriat şi procesul de descentralizare fiscală şi administrativă. Pentru a monitoriza implementarea acestor obiective pe orizontul de timp scurt, mediu şi lung, articolul propune o serie de indicatori-cheie care să arate progresul României în direcţia atingerii obiectivului general. Ţintele propuse nu pot fi atinse în absenţa realizării următoarelor obiective pe termen scurt: I. îmbunătăţirea calităţii statisticilor din sectorul public; II. dezvoltarea sistemului de recompense şi beneficii pentru personalul din sectorul public; III. implementarea proiectelor din fonduri europene care vizează formarea personalului din sectorul public; IV. creşterea autonomiei financiare şi decizionale a autorităţilor publice locale; V. simplificarea procedurilor administrative pentru accesarea serviciilor publice de către cetăţeni; VI. dezvoltarea la nivel naţional a disponibilităţii serviciilor e-guvernare, inclusiv pentru grupurile dezavantajate; VII. îmbunătăţirea competenţelor digitale ale persoanelor din grupurile dezavantajate.

100 years from the birth of professor and sociologist Vasile V. Caramelea

100 de ani de la nașterea profesorului Vasile V. Caramelea

Author(s): Cornel Constantinescu / Language(s): Romanian / Issue: 4/2015

Iulian Stănescu, Cătălin Zamfir, (coord.), România la răscruce. Opțiuni pentru viitor, București, Editura Pro Universitaria, 2015

Iulian Stănescu, Cătălin Zamfir, (coord.), România la răscruce. Opțiuni pentru viitor, București, Editura Pro Universitaria, 2015

Author(s): Corina Popa / Language(s): Romanian / Issue: 4/2015

Iulian Stănescu, Puterea politică în România. De la comunism la noul capitalism (1989-2014), București, Editura Pro Universitaria, 2014

Iulian Stănescu, Puterea politică în România. De la comunism la noul capitalism (1989-2014), București, Editura Pro Universitaria, 2014

Author(s): Flavius Mihalache / Language(s): Romanian / Issue: 4/2015

ON SOME ASPECTS OF TADEUSZ KANTOR’S “PANORAMIC SEA HAPPENING”

O pewnych aspektach Panoramicznego Happeningu Morskiego Tadeusza Kantora

Author(s): Jerzy Hanusek / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 4/2014

Keywords: Maria Pinińska-Bereś;Tadeusz Kantor;Panoramiczny Happening Morski;happening;

„Panoramiczny Happening Morski” Tadeusza Kantora był jednym z najważniejszych i najgłośniejszych wydarzeń artystycznych w Polsce pod koniec lat sześćdziesiątych XX wieku. W artykule omawiam udział w tym happeningu Marii Pinińskiej-Bereś. Do tej pory, poza relacją samej artystki, nie były znane obiektywne świadectwa tego udziału. Został on przemilczany przez Kantora i w konsekwencji wymazany ze zbiorowej pamięci. Artykuł ostatecznie rozstrzyga problem udziału Marii Pinińskiej-Bereś w happeningu Kantora. Staram się zrekonstruować atmosferę towarzyszącą temu wydarzeniu oraz motywy, którymi kierował się Kantor.

ALIENATION, FICTION, NARRATION – THE FORMS OF NOVEL DESCRIPTION OF SOCIAL BEING

Alienacja, fikcja, narracja – formy (o)powieści bytu społecznego

Author(s): Natalia Juchniewicz / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 4/2014

Keywords: literatura;alienacja;fikcja;narracja;powieść

Tekst podejmuje problem znaczenia literatury, a zwłaszcza powieści, jako symptomu alienacji (Karol Marks), która może się wyrażać w kreacji światów możliwych przez fikcję (Paul Ricoeur), w ideologii (György Lukács) oraz anty-fikcji (Odo Marquard). Analiza tropów literackich w koncepcjach ekonomiczno-społecznych demaskuje nie tylko narracje społeczno-historyczne, ale i naukowo-filozoficzne (Hayden White, Hans Kellner).

On Poetic Discourses and Ways of Expression of ‘Empty’ and ‘Silence’ Categories in the Chinese Lyric Poetry of Six Dynasties (Liu Сhao, III‒VI A.D.) and Tang (VII‒X) Epochs

On Poetic Discourses and Ways of Expression of ‘Empty’ and ‘Silence’ Categories in the Chinese Lyric Poetry of Six Dynasties (Liu Сhao, III‒VI A.D.) and Tang (VII‒X) Epochs

Author(s): Martina Kravtsova / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2014

Keywords: China;lyric poetry;poetic means;sensory perception;audial;visual,‘empty';‘silence';spiritual movement;self-concentration;verses with eremitic motifs;verses on amorous themes;Taoism;Buddism

The written Chinese language has a broad scale of lexical meanings for articulating the ‘empty’ and ‘silence’ categories in all their essential aspects. The present study is limited to a discussion of the kong 空 cognitive term, in its single semantic case only, as ‘empty’ (‘emptiness’), coinciding normally with ‘silence’ (ji 寂, jing 靜); and of two poetic scenarios, which can be roughly defined as ‘dwelling in empty mountains’ and ‘dwelling in [an] empty chamber.’ The first of these is most typical of Tang lyric poetry, especially the works of Wang Wei 王維 (ca 701‒ca 761); the second, of poetry on amorous themes beginning with the individual verses of the second century A.D. In this paper I argue that in spite of all essential differences between these scenarios ‒ one praising living alone as escaping from social existence, the other representing living alone as loneliness, i.e. having an utterly negative sense ‒ both are grounded at bottom on ancient views of vision and audial perception. Their archetypical background is formed by the idea of spiritual movement, implying the ‘cutting off ’ of sensory perception in favour of self-concentration, which leads to the sharpening of receptive faculties for gaining keener and keener perception of all external things. Above all, the ‘empty’ and ‘silence’ categories appear to universally express the abundance of one’s surroundings and inner conditions, including mentality and feelings, which places these categories among the chief artistic techniques of Chinese lyric poetry.

The Interpenetration of Art and Philosophy in East Asian Poetry: the Metaphysical Threat to the Platonic Hierarchy

The Interpenetration of Art and Philosophy in East Asian Poetry: the Metaphysical Threat to the Platonic Hierarchy

Author(s): Sandra Wawrytko / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2014

Keywords: Buddhism;China;Japan;Korea;philosophy;poetry

Why should art matter to a philosopher? In the context of Asian philosophy it is clear that a distinctive aesthetic underlies artistic expression encountering reality in such diverse art forms as Japanese haiku, Chinese landscape paintings, contemporary Ko-rean cinema, and even Bollywood films. Art has informed and guided politics in Asia, where artist philosophers continue to function as reformers and revolutionaries chal-lenging the status quo en route to connecting with reality. This is especially true in the case of Asian poets. In sharp contrast, the Euro-centric tradition of philosophy has ten-ded to marginalize and even denigrate the arts. Plato famously observed ‘there is an old quarrel between philosophy and poetry’ (Republic, 607b5‒6), seeking to circum-scribe the role of poets in his ideal state. This essay will focus on East Asia, both in terms of its historical embrace of poetry and contemporary manifestations. Special emphasis will be given to Buddhist poets from China, Korea, and Japan who wield po-etry as a form of upāya or skillful means to evoke, provoke, or document awakening. Buddhist epistemology challenges and dissolves the dualistic preconceptions that assume the existence of an insurmountable divide between ‘self ’ and ‘other,’ inner and outer, human and Nature. This may also yield important insights into why Plato and his followers have been so obsessed with the inherent power of the poet to undermine their vision of philosophy and the task of the philosopher.

Spontaneous Expression and Spontaneous Improvisation ‒ What Contemporary Improvising Artists Can Learn from Chinese Artists-Philosophers

Spontaneous Expression and Spontaneous Improvisation ‒ What Contemporary Improvising Artists Can Learn from Chinese Artists-Philosophers

Author(s): Rafał Mazur / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2014

Keywords: spontaneous expression;spontaneous/free improvisation;Daoist strategy;Chinese aesthetics

Spontaneous expression is a unique method of artistic creation that emerged from within a circle of Chinese Confucian scholar-philosophers for whom artistic creation comple-mented their philosophical activities. Free improvisation is a new phenomenon of the European art scene. It is typified by spontaneous, often ad hoc creation, without prior preparation of the act or the object. I want to illustrate the similarities in the strategies of creation between ‘spontaneous expression’ and ‘free improvisation’ and the extent to which the philosophical foundations and resulting strategies of the former can be used in the latter, demonstrating the philosophical basis for this artistic discipline. I will primarily consider the mind of the creator, and justify the thesis that the state of mind, or mental attitude, necessary for the practice of spontaneous expression could be useful in the de-velopment of the practice of free improvisation in contemporary art (European art here would be inaccurate). A ‘method without method’ built on the basis of Chinese philosophy can help generate a strategy to develop and improve the skills of improvisation among contemporary European artists and contribute to the development of a contemporary philosophy of free improvisation. It is my opinion that these are fields that lie fallow. This would be an attempt to adapt the strategy of creation borne of original Chinese philosophy to contemporary artistic activities and aesthetic studies: a kind of transcultural bridge.

The Great Body Has No Shape, the Great Art Is Embodied. Conception of Body in Zhang Huan’s Performance Art

The Great Body Has No Shape, the Great Art Is Embodied. Conception of Body in Zhang Huan’s Performance Art

Author(s): Rafał Banka / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2014

Keywords: Zhang Huan;contemporary Chinese art;body;Chinese philosophy

Zhang Huan (b. 1965) can be considered a pioneering contemporary performance artist in China. His position on the Chinese art scene is highly regarded not only from a historical perspective. The use of the artist’s body as a means of expression can serve multiple purposes, which can touch upon, e.g. social or political issues, and seldom re-flects the role of the human body as a vehicle for mediation. Through his artistic activity, the artist tries to discuss this issue based on the Chinese philosophical intuitions of this aspect of human existence. In our paper, we shall try to examine the theoretical founda-tions of the artist’s approaches to performance and illustrate them with selected works.

The Hierarchy of the Transcendentals According to the Advaita Vedānta

The Hierarchy of the Transcendentals According to the Advaita Vedānta

Author(s): Marta Kudelska / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2014

Keywords: advaita;nirguna;transcendental;satyam;dharma;bonum;ananda

In advaita vedānta, the status of real existence is ascribed to the Brahman only. The Brahman is the transcendental ultimate reality and it is not possible to describe it by any attribute. The present paper will focus on the problem of values. What is the status of values according to the pure monistic system? When advaita vedāntists call the empirical world sad-asad-anirvacanīya (real-unreal-indefinable), are we entitled to speak about the existence of values? And if they are real, what does ‘real’ mean in this context?All the attributes by which we describe the world can be grasped in groups. This division depends on the way in which we experience the world. One group encom-passes objects experienced by the external organs, by the senses; its realm is responsi-ble for aesthetic values. The second group leads to discrimination; its domain is ethics. The third prejudges the status of the world and advances metaphysical arguments. These three groups are arranged hierarchically. This order includes the cosmological and the soteriological model as well; thus the vision of the world in classical Indian thought appears as total harmony.

Notes Towards Defining ‘Theory’ (Śāstra) in Sanskrit; Systematic Classification Presented in Rājaśekhara’s Kāvyamīmāṃsā

Notes Towards Defining ‘Theory’ (Śāstra) in Sanskrit; Systematic Classification Presented in Rājaśekhara’s Kāvyamīmāṃsā

Author(s): Katarzyna Pażucha / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2014

Keywords: Śāstra;theory;Rājaśekhara;Kāvyamīmā ṃ sā;Vedas;vedā ṅ ga-s;vidyā-s;vidyāsthāna-s;theoretical writing

Even though the genre of śāstra is one of the most familiar and important constituents of the cultural and intellectual history of South Asia, it did not receive the proper atten-tion and the term itself remains obscure. Also in the tradition of Sanskrit letters itself the scope and nature of śāstra, it would seem, is not precisely delineated. Using the dis-cussion presented by Rājaśekhara, the tenth century poet and theoretician, in his Kāvy-amīmāṃsā, this article will try to bring together recent evaluations of the genre with a contextualized discussion of the tradition’s selfunderstanding.

The Image of the World in Yijing 易经 – an Attempt to Identify the Intellectual Context Proper to Chinese Philosophy

The Image of the World in Yijing 易经 – an Attempt to Identify the Intellectual Context Proper to Chinese Philosophy

Author(s): Anna Iwona WÓJCIK / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2014

Keywords: Confucianism;Daoism;images of world;ways of thinking of Chinese philosophy;thing;truth;world

Before we think about reality, before we talk about it or remain silent, first we have some of the most basic images. What do philosophers brought up in the given cul-ture have in mind when they use the term ‘reality’? In this article I attempt to iden-tify and elaborate the intellectual context proper to Chinese (especially Confucian and Daoist) philosophical culture, by presenting its most general features. How deep must we probe to find the internal network of sense that is the basis of Confucian, and Daoist images of reality? What we are looking for can be found by trying to think in a context that is broader than the merely linguistic context. This broader context is that provided by philosophical understanding of the terms: ‘world,’ ‘individual being,’ ‘thing,’ ‘truth,’ ‘wisdom.’

Tension Between Illusion and Reality in Zhuangzi’s ‘Dream of the Butterfly.’ Philosophical Analysis of Western Reception

Tension Between Illusion and Reality in Zhuangzi’s ‘Dream of the Butterfly.’ Philosophical Analysis of Western Reception

Author(s): Agnė Budriūnaitė / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2014

Keywords: allegories in Daoism;Zhuangzi;illusion;reality;forgetting

One of the most important allegories of Daoism is the ‘Dream of the Butterfly’ in the second chapter of the Zhuangzi (Qi wu lun). Sometimes it is supposed to be a rep-resentation of all Daoist or even all Chinese philosophy in the West. This allegory encompasses fundamental Daoist notions, such as spontaneity, ‘free and easy wan-dering,’ non-action (wu wei), natural self-alternation (ziran), the no-perspective of a sage and the understanding of correlation between life and death. The purpose of this paper is a philosophical analysis of the relationship between illusion and real-ity in the Zhuangzi looking from the ‘Western’ perspective. To achieve this, I will re-view some of the most distinct English translations of the allegory that show possible multiple meanings of the allegory and many fundamentally different, sometimes op-posite interpretations of it and discuss the significance of the relationship between illusion and reality. There is a huge body of academic literature about translating and interpreting the texts ascribed to the Zhuangzi. I will mention only some of the commentaries and will pay more attention to other stories of the Zhuangzi, looking there for the explication and explanation of the main ideas found in the ‘Dream of the Butterfly.’

To Be Harmonious with the Heaven, the Others and the Self: Late-Ming Christian Literati Li Jiugong’s Meditation and His Comparative Scriptural Interpretation

To Be Harmonious with the Heaven, the Others and the Self: Late-Ming Christian Literati Li Jiugong’s Meditation and His Comparative Scriptural Interpretation

Author(s): Bin You / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2014

Keywords: comparative scripture;interreligious dialogue;Catholic literati;Li Jiugong

From the perspective of comparative scripture, this paper is using the Shen si lu (Med-itations) by Catholic Literati Li Jiugong as a case study to investigate the dialogue and interaction between Confucianism and Christianity in the late-Ming period. Li’s theol-ogy, incorporating the three aspects of being in harmony with Heaven, other people, and oneself, is expressed in Confucian terminology. It represents the late-Ming Chi-nese theological understanding of God, human nature, and society. The paper analyses Li’s strategy of comparative scripture by which Confucian scriptural resources were reinterpreted, appropriated, and intertwined with the Christian meaning system. Fi-nally, the paper also discusses the significance of using the methodology of compara-tive scripture in interreligious dialogue and in furthering the indigenization of Chris-tianity in China.

The Virtue Reality of Humanistic Buddhism by Ven. Yinshun

The Virtue Reality of Humanistic Buddhism by Ven. Yinshun

Author(s): Chengyou Liu / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2014

Keywords: Humanistic Buddhism;samadhi;virtue reality

Samadhi is one of the most important ways in Buddhist practice. Why must we prac-tice samadhi? What is the effect of practicing samadhi? Has it limitations? Ven. Yin-shun, who was called the spiritual mentor of the Humanistic Buddhism, had written an important article named To Practice samadhi: To Practice One’s Mind and Idealist Mystery. According to Ven. Yinshun, someone will easily lead to deviating from the Buddhism if he practices meditation without prajnā. I think this is the problem about the virtue reality in Humanistic Buddhism.

Body ‒ Tradition ‒ Expression. Remarks om Japanese Culture

Body ‒ Tradition ‒ Expression. Remarks om Japanese Culture

Author(s): Leszek Sosnowski / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2014

Keywords: Europe;Japan;culture;body;expression

The way the Japanese attribute the meaning to their world and how it becomes under-standable to them seems particularly attractive. This attitude underlies the fundamen-tal difference between the European and Japanese culture. A Westerner seeks to fully disclose the world, unveiling all its secrets. Accordingly, various strategies to achieve this goal have been developed in the Western culture, leading to different results. All scientific (philosophical) and non-scientific (commonsense) stands share a common conviction that truth is a Holy Grail of cognition, and that it is equally unattainable. The Japanese have been shaped by three religions: Shinto, Buddhism and Confucian-ism, and these regulate every aspect of their private as well as social functioning. An internal participant has no difficulties to adjust to the requirements of a particular re-ligion. Likewise, the truth also acquires different meanings depending on the context. For an external observer, however, the overlapping of these diverse domains of life creates a problem, as it results in an original but complicated culture.