2018

Helena Petruňová

Učebnica je určená pre vyučovanie slovenského jazyka pre začiatočníkov (úroveň A1, A2 podľa SERR), zahraničných študentov lekárskej fakulty, odboru všeobecné lekárstvo a zubné lekárstvo. 

Učebnica AKO POUŽÍVAŤ SLOVENČINU V LEKÁRSKOM PROSTREDí  – základy slovenčiny pre študentov medicíny obsahuje 13 lekcií, ktoré sú vhodné pre samoštúdium a pre prácu s učiteľom na jazykovom seminári. Tematicky zamerané lekcie ponúkajú základy slovenskej výslovnosti, slovnej zásoby, krátke dialógy a jednoduchý výklad užitočnej gramatiky. Všetky cvičenia a aktivity umožňujú študentom osvojovať si a precvičovať bohatú lekársku slovnú zásobu a vybranú gramatiku v kontexte. Obsahujú kľúčové slová, slovné spojenia, jednoduché frázy a základné otázky, ktoré sa používajú v komunikácii lekára s pacientom. Dôraz sa kladie na funkčnosť jazyka pre získavanie údajov o zdravotnom stave pacienta, o jeho živote, rodinnom prostredí, o chorobách predkov, súrodencov a pod. Na konci učebnice sú tematicky zoradené užitočné slová a slovné spojenia z prostredia nemocnice, zoznam základných slovies a kľúč k cvičeniam.   

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Eva Žiaková - Lucia Tóthová (eds.)

Proceedings of the scientific conference with international participation held on December 8, 2017, in Košice

6th Annual Košice Days of Social Work

Social work addresses a wide range of social issues, some of which have been tackled since time immemorial, while others can be considered modern.

The proceedings of the scientific conference with international participation, titled Transformations in Social Work Over Time, are therefore dedicated to diverse perspectives on social work questions that remain relevant across time.

The contributions in this volume highlight not only the broad scope of the proceedings but also the multifaceted nature of social work itself.

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Miroslava Köverová - Margita Mesárošová (eds.)

The publication „Helping professions and self-care from the perspective of psychology and social work“ includes research studies focused on self-care, and the positive and negative effects of helping among specific groups of helping professionals – psychologists and social workers.

A number of Slovak as well as foreign authors contributed to the book of proceedings. The contributions are theoretical studies, research studies and case studies. The theoretical and research studies are focused on important issues of professional helping: self-care, compassion satisfaction, compassion fatigue, burnout, perceived stress, secondary traumatic stress, mindfulness, empathy, job satisfaction and turnover among psychologists and social workers.

Research interest in the phenomena is especially important in the context of the mental health of helping professionals and in reducing the negative consequences of helping. 

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Renáta Orosová - Katarína Petríková - Lucia Diheneščíková

Based on the analysis of self-reflection competences in future teachers, opinions of the mentor teachers and their recommendations and the set of pupil-oriented and educational process-oriented competences, a protocol for using self-reflection methods has been created. More precisely, it is a self-reflection teaching diary. It is an innovative method of self-reflection competence development in teaching students in their practical specialized preparation, particularly the self-reflective observation practice and conversation.

The Self-Reflection Teaching Diary is the outcome of the VVGS “Innovation in self-reflection competence development teaching methods in the practical specialized training of future teachers” grant project solving. It is an innovative and creative text-based tool not only for teaching students but also for university teachers specializing in their practical preparation as well as mentor teachers in primary and secondary schools. Its English version can be used by teaching students on their study stays abroad. It is also a transparent and unified tool in the practical preparation of future teachers aiming at the development of their self-reflection competences.

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Lukáš Katriňák (ed.)

Meeting of Young Historians VII.

Proceedings of contributions from the 7th scientific conference of young historians, organized by the Department of History at the Faculty of Arts of UPJŠ in Košice,

European Network Remembrance and Solidarity,

Centre of Social and Psychological Sciences SAS,

Historical Institute SAS,

and the Slovak Historical Society at SAS, held on October 25, 2017 in Košice.

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Ľubov Vladyková

The present monograph titled Evolutionary Ethics: Selected Issues and Challenges discusses a range of problems, theoretical concepts, and beliefs from the perspective of evolutionary ethics. The term evolution has become one of the central terms in contemporary science and philosophy.

In social sciences in general, and in socio-biology and evolutionary psychology in particular, evolution has had great impact on our understanding of the genesis of culture. Evolutionary theories play a similar role within the theory of consciousness and of the mind (evolutionary epistemology). The interrelation between our evolutionary past and our sense of good and evil is also a subject of heightened interest in ethics; it has in fact become one of its challenges. The concept of evolution challenges the way we create thought patterns through which we understand, or hope to understand, ourselves and the world around us.

This monograph represents a general summary of selected issues in evolutionary ethics, touching upon various aspects of current research into evolutionary ethics and the related domains of evolution, science, ethics, and morals. Evolutionary ethics has become a project which presupposes that in order to understand the essence and basis of morals one must turn to the process of evolution of thought, and to the theories put forth by evolutionists, specifically evolutionary biologists.

The structure of this monograph, as well as its potential usefulness for research and education clearly show that the analysis of the problems discussed here has significant implications for domains far removed from the purely theoretical parts of moral philosophy or biology. The advantage of such discourse is that it enables the implementation of evolutionary ethics in social and ethical issues of public interest (for example Sex Literacy, Sex Education), and this should be recognised and welcome.

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Dušan Šlosár - Vladimír Lichner

This university textbook aims to provide readers with knowledge of the philosophical foundations, meaning, and purpose of mediation, based on research and analysis of mediators' activities. In countries where mediation services operate, their staff often include graduates of social work departments.

An individual approach to both the perpetrator and victim of a criminal offense requires knowledge and skills from social work, psychology, sociology, communication, and related fields tied to social work. The principles of social work apply not only in social policy and social care but also in justice. A mediator’s mission is to facilitate alternative resolutions to unlawful acts while preserving the purpose of legal proceedings as defined by valid legal norms. They fulfill this mission through specific methods of individual social work applied in the justice sector. The mediator’s focus extends beyond the current conflict to uncover related issues, activate parties to resolve disputes, and prevent new conflicts.

Special attention is devoted to the philosophical foundations of mediation in Slovakia. We provide an overview of mediators’ core activities and mediation types used to uphold justice in Slovakia. We analyze mediation goals, the roles of parties involved, and procedural steps. In applying mediation, we explore its potential and implementation in both legal and social work contexts.

As indicated, mediation cannot be understood solely as a specialized activity in criminal justice, as it has broader applications in non-judicial dispute resolution, such as family or community work, which are often overlooked by the public. The mediator’s approach to diverse target groups is grounded in theoretical frameworks. From this foundation, we derive activities expected of mediators in the future. Expanded activities arise from concrete situations encountered during mediation.

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Tatiana Žiaková - Dušan Šlosár

The last decade marks not only the average life expectancy increase in healthy population, but also life expectancy increase in group of people with intellectual disorders/disabilities. Due to their diagnosis that defines and classifies them into specific categories, people with intellectual disability are finding themselves in a constant confrontation with obstacles negatively affecting the saturation of their existential needs. It creates mostly educational, social, cultural, psycho-social and economical disadvantage in the context of their lives. Consequently, their active potential is weakened, making it unable for them to influence public affairs in society from a position of an adult or elderly citizen. Building up on this condition, the focus of this monograph is on understanding and explanation of prevailing concept of social inclusion and related concepts of social exclusion. These concepts influence the way we tend to define and think about the character of society, as such.

Simultaneously, we are examining that the quality of coexistence between dominant population and people with intellectual disabilities is dependent on the development of attitudes and opinions of major population towards this specific minority. These attitudes reflect the extent of social tolerance and at the same time serve as a quantification of moral values and equity in the society, whether it concerns any type of small everyday help or professional and institutionalised long-term support.

This monograph focuses on presenting professional care for people with mental disability in form of social services as a dominant type of support in our local environment. We show that the quality of social services inevitably depends on degree of professional competences social workers possess. The significance of professional competences social workers are capable of using is reflected in the degree of the competence and adequacy of their performance. The primary aim, in relation to which professional competences should be accustomed, is to enhance meaningfulness and dignity in life of mentally disabled receivers of the social services.

Competences of social workers are a dynamic phenomenon that modifies along the development of society and also with the frequently altering needs of people with intellectual disability as receivers of the social service. For this reason we designed the presented research to reflect our goal to reappraise the scope of professional competences and define the required professional functions of social workers working with people with intellectual disability.

This monograph is dedicated not only to professionals working with this group of people but also aims at answering basic questions to practical issues that families with a intellectualy disabled member are coming into contact with.

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Linda Babušík Adamčíková - Gabriel Koscelanský - Mária Petriková (eds.)

Proceedings of the VI. Annual International Scientific Conference of Students and Young Researchers organized on May 11–12, 2017 by the Department of Political Science of the Faculty of Arts at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, the Department of Political Sciences and Public Administration at Uzhhorod National University, the Research Institute of Central Europe, and the Res publica Association.

Presented publication is an outcome from the international scientific conference for students and young scientists that took place on 11th and 12th May 2017 at the Department of Political science, Faculty of Arts, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. The main aim of the presented is to bring up outcomes of research of young scientists and students from Slovakia, as well as from abroad.

This conference proceedings contains 19 papers in Slovak, Czech and English language. Papers are dealing with current issues of theory and practice of politics and international relations. We can find paper analyzing globalization, international terrorism, topic of EU or development of European states. The conference proceedings contents also papers regarding the far-right parties, role of women in  politics and integration migrants in Slovak republic.

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Lukáš Šutor (ed.)

The proposed anthology represents for many doctoral students their first entry into the publishing environment of scientific genres. The studies in such cases contain the essence of future dissertation works, which represent the creative pinnacle of doctoral studies. In addition to providing doctoral students with the opportunity to publish scientific outputs, we also consider the anthology a space for interdisciplinary encounters and mutual enrichment. However, interdisciplinarity is not merely a characteristic of the anthology as a whole but also of some studies.

Most notable interdisciplinary approaches are observed in literary studies. The traditional subject of research into artistic texts is enriched in individual studies by examining theatrical and film works (Peter Getlík), linguistic aspects of phrasemes (Ivana Hudiková), musical elements (Terézia Kulíková), visual art (Dominika Petáková), and digital spaces of new media (Alexandra Popovičová). From other disciplines, we highlight Miroslava Süčová Vernarská’s study, which extends psychological research into sociological and linguistically communicative contexts (the concept of metaphor), or conversely, Zuzana Šoltésová and Dušan Šlosár’s contribution, analyzing eating disorders from their disciplinary background in social work.

Both mentioned disciplines also include contributions with traditional research subjects. Nikola Fabiny from psychology analyzes consequence expectations in the context of goal selection and achievement. Jana Plavnická and Dušan Šlosár’s co-authored study from the Department of Social Work presents a multi-perspective analysis of integration barriers for immigrants in Slovakia. Within their own disciplines, both philosophy contributions operate: Juraj Brenišin interprets the ethical aspects of Avicbron’s Fons vitæ, while Michal Kručko examines Edmund Husserl’s unfinished work through a comparative lens of his students Jan Patočka and Roman Ingarden. The anthology concludes with Lukáš Lukačín’s study (written in English), which explores the semantic-grammatical category of modality in the verbs MAY and CAN within legal-administrative documents of the European Union.

The representation of academic disciplines and doctoral students’ individual creative outputs in Doktorandské miscelaneá 4 is thus appropriately diverse. We present this publication to the broader academic community as a representative overview of trends in young scholars’ thinking across the spectrum of humanities and social sciences doctoral programs at the Faculty of Arts, UPJŠ in Košice.

Lukáš Šutor

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Vladimír Lichner - Dušan Šlosár et al.

It is very difficult to refer to any act of extremism or action having extremist characteristics, or to exclude it unambiguously. The boundary between extremism and accepted, conformal behavior is very broad and vaguely worded. Each company tends to set certain criteria to determine what can be considered as unwanted, violent, radical or extreme, or what signs of such a manifestation do not have. Therefore, when comparing the individual countries of the European Union in this area, we come across a different definition of what is or is not considered to be radical or extremist. In essence, the level of tolerance to some of the manifestations and the setting of indicators for the evaluation of the proceedings as extremist.

The presented monograph aims to present the basic social contexts of extremism and radicalization in the form of their philosophical and theoretical backgrounds, influencing the factors, the basic directions. In the author's work, the authors focus on the target group of adolescents, which they consider to be one of the most endangered groups in society in terms of development of the radicalization process. At the conclusion of the monograph is also offered the criminal level of these phenomena, which is not unavoidable in terms of complex analysis.

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Štefan Jusko

The stimulus for this monograph was my two studies on Heidegger’s interpretation of Nietzsche’s ideas of the will to power and eternal return of the same, published in Heidegger and Modern Metaphysics (supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency, APVV-14-0706, under the leadership of V. Leška and M. Sobotka). In the submitted monograph, I present both studies in expanded (particularly “Will to Power as Art”) and refined versions (“Eternal Return of the Same”) and add a third chapter addressing the question of the meaning of interpreting philosophical texts, which themselves are interpretations of other texts.

In seeking an appropriate approach to the meaning of interpretation, I conclude that—generally—the purpose of interpretation is to uncover the productive dimension of the interpreted text, which can only be revealed if the interpreter enters the text openly and as neutrally as possible. If the interpreter does not open themselves to the text, allowing it to interpret them in turn, interpretation remains trapped. I believe that without mutual openness between interpreter and interpreted, interpretation has no meaning and typically becomes either rejection or misinterpretation—a form of violence.

In the third chapter, which I consider foundational, I attempt to “balance” the interpretive context of “Heidegger–Nietzsche” from the first two chapters through a reversible context of “Nietzsche–Heidegger,” albeit with the risk that my interpretation of Nietzsche’s thought—specifically his ideas of eternal return and will to power—may remain subjective, even if unintended as misinterpretation. Ultimately, the ambition of the third chapter is to explore intersections between the two philosophers, one of which—a rudimentary yet significant overlap—I identify as Heidegger’s concept of being-in-the-world, reinterpreted through Nietzsche’s lens. It is Nietzsche who challenges us to adopt a self-defined stance toward the world, to confront what it means to be in the world.

The challenge for me—and perhaps the reader—is to remain faithful to oneself, which is only possible by persisting in the context of mutual interpretation between interpreter and interpreted, regardless of who/what is interpreting or being interpreted. For the context of being-in-the-world is always co-created by both sides.

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Gabriel Eštok - Gabriela Szabariová - Matúš Béreš (eds.)

Presented publication is an outcome from the scientific conference for students and young scientists that took place on 12th and 13th May 2016 at the Department of Political science, Faculty of Arts, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. The main aim of the presented is to bring up outcomes of research of young scientists and students from Slovakia, as well as from abroad. Many of the presented papers have become integral part of qualification theses of their authors.

This conference proceedings contains 22 papers in Slovak, Czech and English language thematically creating four different parts.

Papers regarding international relations or issues exceeding a level of state power are dealing with issues of globalization, counterculture, international terrorism, extremism and a role of the EU in the Arctic. Papers dealing with the situation in the Slovak republic and abroad cover reform of security in Slovakia and in Romania, issue of dealing with totalitarian history of the states of the Visegrad group as well as development of funding of education system in Slovakia since 1919. In case of authors focusing on the socio-political situation in Slovakia we can find papers analyzing role of a reeve in city of Košice, first great political conflict during a rule of Vladimír Mečiar in Slovakia, role of Roma population in political environment in Slovakia, but also those concerning local activist or action groups and examining attitude of nursing care students towards euthanasia. The conference proceedings contents also four papers regarding theoretical or philosophical issues.

Their authors focused on topic of social state, social equality, democratic theories and transformation of human nature in “post-human” era.

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Vladimír Lichner - Dušan Šlosár

Issues of punishment are directly linked to a state’s criminal policy, which is an inseparable part of its social policy. Historically, the state has held a unique dominant position in the realm of punishment. Once the conditions for imposing a penalty are met, the state fulfills its obligation by sentencing through independent courts. However, it does not address questions of satisfaction, which belong to the victim. The victim may be a specific physical person or legal entity that suffered harm due to the criminal act. This harm simultaneously affects civil society as a whole. The state prioritizes its duty to punish and decide on the matter over compensating the harmed individual or civil society.

By mediation in criminal cases, we mean extrajudicial facilitation of resolving disputes between the offender and the harmed party, with the assistance and personal participation of a mediator. The mediator, as an independent and impartial person, helps parties identify their interests and supports them in finding shared, practical, and realistic solutions to the points causing their conflict. Probation refers to monitoring, supervising the accused, defendant, or convicted individual, as well as providing individual assistance to the offender and encouraging them to lead a lawful life. This reduces the risk of recidivism, or repeated criminal behavior.

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Ivica Hajdučeková - Peter Getlík (eds.)

Proceedings of Selected Lectures and Abstracts

Grant project VEGA No. 1/0736/15 Methodological Basis of Literary (re)interpretation in Slovak and World Literature (the head of the project: prof. PhDr. Ján Gbúr, CSc.), whose realization lasted for four years (2015 – 2018) at the Department of Slovak Studies, Slavonic Philologies and Communication of Faculty of Arts of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, brought several lecture events with the participation of experts from Slovak and Czech academical space. The original and progressively accomplishing project goal was to continue the tradition of exactness and support its implementation into our everyday scientific thinking and literary-scientific exploration. Each of fourteen invited lectures was a unique, professionally inspiring and humanly enriching meeting.

On that account there is a nontraditional project output: the proceedings of selected lectures and abstracts (abstracts were translated into English language by Mgr. Dominika Petáková, internal postgraduate student of literary science at Department of Slovak Studies, Slavonic Philologies and Communication) titled Methodological Inspirations in the Research of Literary Science I., which is intended for academical and study purposes at universities. The topics of the lectures were completed successively according to interest and demands of research team and current scientific research of invited guests.

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Lenka Lukáčová - Eva Žiaková

The burnout syndrome in the simplest sense is a state of total physical and psychological exhaustion. Its cyclical course may be misleading, often underestimated and neglected on the part of a burned-out individual, as well as by its surroundings. The neglection of warning signals strengthens the field of its occurrence and impact.

Monography is one of the methods with which we strive to draw attention to the problem of burnout syndrome in the performance of a helping profession. Based on this, we have focused on determining the frequency of occurrence of burnout syndrome in assisting professions based on predetermined risk factors (specific profesion, length of practice, motivators) in order to verify, confirm or refute  predefined factors. The subject of this research was also to examine the correlation between the aforementioned factors, the quality of professional life and the strategies for managing stress and stress situations.

The monography is intended for helping profesions e.g. social workers, nurses, doctors etc. We also believe that, this monography will be also benefit for a wider range of helping professions, as well for all those involved in the his problematics.

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Margita Mesárošová - Jozef Bavoľár - Miriam Slavkovská 

The current situation in the world education system, which declares the need to educate students for knowledge society, for improving the graduate employability is behind the motivation of authors to address competencies and key competencies for the knowledge society.

The authors present theoretical and empirical investigations based on the application of scientific methods of competency assessment and the use of contemporary scientific paradigms. The starting point is the concept of competencies in the context of current approaches of scientific psychology, which resonates in the official documents of the European Union and has been elaborated and enriched by the authors. The monograph focuses on a selected set of competencies, namely: competence to act as a self-regulated person, self-development, decision-making competencies, social and metacognitive competencies in the context of motivation. Knowledge about nature, the structure of competencies are presented, as well as their relations with personal and environmental variables.

The effort of the authors is also aimed at making available knowledge about the possibilities of assessing these competencies using current methods. Authors communicate the results of the creation and verification of competency assessment methods. The implementation of the research results presented in the monograph is perspective in the education and counseling of the target group of university students.

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Veronika Vasiľová - Soňa Lovašová

The formation of social work as a scientific discipline is not a completed process because of with changes in society also change social problems that need to be identified and analyzed with the intention to develop methodological solutions aimed at preventing and interventing these social problems.For this reason, the field of social work as such is constantly expanding, as its dynamic nature makes it possible to respond to emerging social problems and react to the needs of society.

Social work in the school environment is a functioning science field abroad.In the conditions of the Slovak Republic, this area of social work is still missing.Therefore, the monograph deals with the possibilities of social work in the school environment in Slovakia. 

The monograph is primarily intended for the professionals working in the field of social work and in the third sector with children and youth.

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Lucia Tóthová - Dušan Šlosár

The publication "Manifestations of Radicalism and Extremism in Social Relations" is an input analysis of the individual areas that the authors want to focus on in their research activities in the study of radicalism and extremism. The context of the study is in the possibility of social work in influencing radical and extremist tendencies in those areas that we can designate as working fields of social work.

The authors of the individual papers focus on the theoretical definition of extremism and radicalism, types and forms of extremism, factors affecting the formation of the radical and extremist thoughts, focusing on specific target groups (especially youth) and the role of social work in the issue of radicalism and extremism, and they also represent the results of research in the field.

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Renáta Orosová - Lucia Diheneščíková - Katarína Petríková - Lívia Nemcová

Proceedings of Abstracts from the International Scientific Conference: Education and Training 2018: The 21st Century Educator and Their Perspectives in Educational Practice

The international scientific conference focuses on issues related to education and training in primary, secondary, and higher education institutions from the perspective of educators.

It emphasizes the current state and future perspectives of 21st-century educators in educational practice, addressing pedagogical and sociological aspects of education within foundational educational institutions. Additionally, it explores contemporary aspects of pre-service teacher preparation.

The conference is aimed at researchers, young university lecturers, doctoral students, as well as professional and educational practitioners. Its goal is to present the educator—whether a teacher, social pedagogue, or special educator—in a modern perspective, highlighting their essential collaboration in the context of education. Furthermore, it seeks to stimulate discussions on pressing issues within the fields of education and training in light of the current situation in the education sector.

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Ivica Hajdučeková et al.  

The four-year grant project VEGA No. 1/0736/15, titled Methodological Approaches to the (Re)Interpretation of Works of Slovak and World Literature (led by Prof. PhDr. Ján Gbúr, CSc.), conducted at the Department of Slovak Studies, Slavonic Philologies, and Communication at the Faculty of Arts, Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice between 2015 and 2018, yielded several outputs during its duration. In addition to individual scientific studies published in journals both domestically and internationally, the project resulted in: A proceedings volume from the international scientific conference Text in Contexts: Text in Interdisciplinary Interpretations (2018). A scientific monograph titled Spirituality in the (Re)Interpretation of Slovak Literary Works (2016). The collaboration culminated in two key complementary publications forming an interconnected whole:

Methodological Inspirations in Literary Research I (a collection of selected lectures and abstracts).

Methodological Inspirations in Literary Research II (a monograph).

An electronic collection of abstracts and video recordings from ongoing lecture colloquia—featuring notable figures from Slovak and Czech academia—and the scientific monograph were conceptually aligned, as evidenced by their shared titles differentiated numerically. This approach adhered to the project's aim of continuing a tradition of precision in literary research while emphasizing methodological pluralism. It also sought to promote contemporary, generationally diverse research within the academic environment of Eastern Slovakia, historically linked to Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice.

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Mária Bačíková - Anna Janovská

The textbook "Foundations of Methodology in Pedagogical-Psychological Research" is primarily intended for students of teaching academic subjects, but it will enrich anyone who needs to familiarize themselves with research methodology focusing on psychological and pedagogical sciences. In the textbook, students become acquainted with the basic principles of conducting research, the process of research implementation, and the basic methods of quantitative or qualitative approaches. The examples used in the textbook are mostly focused on research conducted in a school environment.

By mastering the basic knowledge presented in the textbook, the reader will be able to conduct simple research in school conditions. At the same time, understanding the principles of research methodology helps with the critical evaluation of information from various sources. In preparing the textbook, we utilized our long-term experience with teaching the subject of research methodology, as well as with implementing many research projects. We believe that the simple language of the textbook and the abundance of practical examples will help students understand the basics of such complex issues as research methodology.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank the students of the Faculty of Arts and Natural Sciences at P. J. Šafárik University in Košice who attended the course "Foundations of Methodology in Pedagogical-Psychological Research" in the previous academic year for their inspiration, constructive comments on previous versions of the text, and ideas (or mistakes) that we drew upon in the textbook. We also thank other students who allowed us to use examples from their final theses in the textbook. The conclusion of the work is open because, as it turns out, we do not have a common denominator for both concepts that could decide on the correctness of one or the other concept. It is precisely in this that the Socratic question remains a serious philosophical problem today.

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Štefan Jusko

The goal of the monograph is to highlight the significant problem of interpreting the Socratic question, as its approach represents a method of interpreting the history of philosophy, specifically in our case, the interpretation of Socrates and Plato. The Socratic question can be grasped in diametrically different ways, as shown by Patočka and Nietzsche, among others. The former aligns with Socrates and innovatively updates his question for the present. The latter is ambivalent towards Socrates but ultimately labels him a decadent.

In the first part of the monograph, Patočka's characterization of human existence is presented, which he formulates as unified and morally firm. Patočka interprets the Socratic question as care for the soul, for its well-being, without deriving the concept of good from something positively defined but from the whole world, which can only be defined negatively due to its constant openness. This sphere of negativity is for Patočka something immensely positive because transcendence lifts humans from relative goods to the overall meaning, making them morally capable in the true sense. The good, i.e., the requirement for a surge, for a turn of humans from the world of things to the whole world, is for him a program that Socrates first formulated through his knowing ignorance.

The second part of the work is dedicated to Nietzsche's concept based on the non-unified nature of human existence, which is not derived from the whole world or overall meaning but from situational meaning. Nietzsche strives to prove that in every situation, human existence is exposed to two opposing perspectives, between which it is impossible to decide which is correct. He concludes that both perspectives are equally valid and mutually conditioned, meaning that the opposite of good, what threatens meaning, is a beneficial condition for situational meaning. He labels this level as immoral, as a sphere where human existence creates meaning outside the thinking of good and evil in opposition.

The conclusion of the work is open because, as it turns out, we do not have a common denominator that could decide on the correctness of one or the other concept. Precisely in this lies the fact that the Socratic question remains a serious philosophical problem even today.

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Iveta Bónová

The foundations of the presented work were developed alongside the emerging research on child language in Slovakia. An enthusiastic team of individuals from several scientific fields—psychology (Marína Mikulajová), speech therapy (Svetlana Kapalková), and linguistics (Daniela Slančová, Jana Kesselová, Zuzana Ondráčková, Stanislava Zajacová, Iveta Bónová)—met regularly, discussed, and sought ways to mobilize efforts to achieve their set goals: conducting research on the language of intact (healthily developing) children based on actual longitudinal observation.

I am very pleased and grateful to have been part of the team at the beginning of systematic research in the field of child language acquisition in Slovakia. As a member of this team and a co-researcher on several projects in this area, I had the opportunity to participate in research on child language, which is no longer "on the fringes" of scientific interest. It has become a serious, exact study supported by quantitative and qualitative data, conducted systematically "at an excellent scientific level" (Průcha, 2011, p. 14).

The research itself was naturally preceded by data collection. The technologies of the late 20th century enabled the replacement of the outdated diary recording method with what is now the most commonly applied approach to material collection—audio-visual recordings. The synthesis of analyzed data collected over time, its explanation, generalization, and integration into a broader interdisciplinary research context is all the more interesting and beneficial as it contributes to speech therapy practice. Thanks to the results of the latest research, intervention possibilities in speech therapy are expanding, and methods for (early) diagnosis and stimulation are being developed and refined.

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