Truth vs. Post-Truth. „It is not true, but it could be.”

E-book

Milan Olejník

The history of ancient Greece and Rome represents the culmination of achievements made by ancient civilizations in political, economic, and social spheres, as well as in understanding humanity and the world, and in art. The Greeks were the first in human history to establish a system where a certain part of society—full-fledged citizens—had the opportunity to freely participate in political decisions. They could vote, be elected to offices within the political system, and discuss issues affecting community life.

A high level of education and the pursuit of rational explanations for natural phenomena enabled the Greeks to reach a level of knowledge that European nations only achieved in the modern era. Greek accomplishments in sculpture, architecture, and literature remain an inspiration to this day.

Despite a gap of more than two millennia, their thinking and actions are relatable; their victories and defeats resonate with us, offering lessons even today.

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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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E-journal

Renáta Orosová

The scientific-professional journal Edukácia focuses on issues related to education and upbringing in the fields of primary, secondary, and higher education. It emphasizes the current state and prospects of educational practice, contemporary aspects of pre-service teacher training, social pedagogy, special pedagogy, as well as pedagogical and psychological aspects of upbringing in basic educational institutions from the perspective of the broader pedagogical community. It is intended for researchers, young university lecturers, doctoral candidates, as well as professional and teaching staff, with the aim of presenting trends in education and stimulating discussion on current issues in the presented areas of upbringing and education.

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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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Zuzana Buráková

The English language study materials are intended for students of geography and general ecology at the Faculty of Science of Pavol Jozef Šafárik University. Their aim is to broaden communicative language competencies at an intermediate level of English proficiency, with an emphasis on the students’ field of study.

The individual chapters are based on the need for specialization within the various natural science disciplines and on preparing students to present their academic results not only at home, but also abroad. The study material contains a variety of texts, quizzes, exercises, maps, etc., which further illustrate the issues relevant to the field.

This material is intended to serve as a foundation for the future creation of even more precise materials needed for teaching specialized foreign language courses.

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E-book

Adriana Jesenková (ed.)

The topic of gender equality in the university and academic environment in Slovakia remains in a highly ambivalent position – often overlooked and marginalized, instrumentalized and perceived as an alien element or a formal necessity, but most frequently exposed to numerous misunderstandings and misinterpretations.

The intention of the presented publication and its authorial collective is to contribute to shaping and cultivating an environment where it is possible to discuss issues of gender relations in the academic environment objectively, develop research from a gender perspective, and primarily implement gender equality policy as one of the tools for democratizing the academic sphere and the university. The collection was created within the framework of the project VVGS-2018-749, "Creating a Gender Equality Plan at UPJŠ in Košice," and presents various contexts and perspectives from which to consider issues of gender equality at the university. Individual authors focus on the topic of gender equality from philosophical, philosophical-legal, and legal perspectives in their texts.

The final text presents the findings of qualitative research, which was part of the mentioned project, their interpretation, and conclusions from the perspective of further implementation of gender equality policy at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice. We understand the publication as an invitation to discussion, critical thinking, and research, and thus to creating a university as we can be.

Adriana Jesenková

The peer-reviewed collection of scientific works is distributed under the Creative Commons 4.0 – Attribution CC BY-NC license, which allows non-commercial use of the work provided that the names of the authors are mentioned.

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E-book

Silvia Kontírová a kol.

Pedagogical practice is an organizational form of higher education training for prospective teachers, implemented through mandatory pedagogical practice subjects.

These subjects have an integrative and practical-training character, building upon the theoretical and practical instruction provided to students at the faculty. They are conducted within the scope defined by curricula in the conditions of specialized workplaces (training schools) and under the supervision of qualified professionals (training teachers). Unlike other higher education subjects, pedagogical practice primarily provides students with opportunities for independent creative teaching in real school environments.

The practical activities of students in training schools are characterized as supervised, monitored, and evaluated by designated entities.

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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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E-book

Eugen Andreanský

The presented monograph aims to critically map the understanding of the concept of possible worlds.

The first chapter describes the formation of the semantics of possible worlds, along with indicating some problems it brings, which were incisively revealed primarily by W. V. O. Quine. In the next two chapters, the work focuses on more modern views on the nature of possible worlds, with the main attention given to the dichotomy between the possibilist and actualist approach to the question of modalities, alongside which it is necessary to assess other distinctions (essentialism - anti-essentialism, realism - reductionism (or ersatzism or fictionalism), naturalism - non-naturalism, etc.). Increased attention in the work is specifically devoted to the possibilism of D. Lewis and the actualist concepts of S. Kripke, A. Plantinga, R. M. Adams, N. Rescher, D. Armstrong, and J. Hintikka.

An unconventional approach to the issue of possible worlds is captured in the fourth chapter. It is primarily dedicated to the significant concept of Jaakko Hintikka, which works with the notion of epistemic possible worlds and documents the inclination towards the modification and relativization of modal discourse. The conclusion provides an evaluation of the discussion that touches on the main problems associated with considerations of possible worlds.

In the presented monograph, some representative concepts of possible worlds, or possible individuals, are clarified, and the overall process is indicated from assessing possible worlds as ideal logical constructs through their relativization by separate domains of individuals for individual worlds and further through the relationship of attainability to financial, impossible, and non-standard possible worlds.

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Dušan Šlosár

The monograph Social Institutions and Social Organizations analyzes the issues of society, spheres of society, models of social coexistence, social system, social institutions and social organizations that arise within individual social institutions. From social institutions, the monograph focuses on culture, religion, education, politics, health and economics.Individual social institutions are analyzed from several sociological perspectives, which allows the creation of a broader view of the analyzed issues.

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Dušan Šlosár

The monograph offers an insight into radicalization pull and push factors, influencing which is the competence of helping professionals.Radicalization is conditioned by the current social, economic, cultural and political context, i.e. the time-space in which radicalization occurs.It is this fact that directs the content of the monograph to factors that can be considered triggering and influencing factors of radicalization processes as well as radicalization itself.

The monograph systematizes knowledge about radicalization from the point of view of pull and push factors, which have been identified as factors of radicalization in professional literature, research reports and other verified sources, including Internet resources focused on radicalization and processes of radicalization, as well as available interventions to influence or prevent radicalization.The monograph mainly focuses on the analysis of pull and push factors that are related to radicalization and radicalization processes.

The monograph offers the results of research carried out through qualitative methodology.The research focused on issues related to radicalization in the research sample consisting of radicalized and non-radicalized respondents.The research focused on the investigation of pull and push factors related to radicalization, which can occur in the family, school or work environment, among peers, in the wider social environment related to the social and political climate in society and the influence of mass media.

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Renáta Panocová

The university textbook "Theories of Intercultural Communication" is primarily intended for master's degree students of translation and interpreting, as well as doctoral students of British and American Studies.

The goal of the textbook is to familiarize students with key theories in the field of intercultural communication. Eight chapters cover a selection of current theories focused on defining cultural dimensions, identity management and negotiation, accommodation and adaptation, anxiety and uncertainty management, and current research on the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.

The final chapter provides a historical overview of intercultural communication theories and outlines key research questions for the future.

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Vladimír Lichner - Dušan Šlosár

The scientific monograph focuses on the issue of adolescent risk behaviors on the internet in the form of its problematic use in the context of valid theories and practices of a social work. Text of the monograph is divided into four parts.

The first part focuses on the multidisciplinary definition of a risk behavior on the internet. It offers an up-to-date literary overview of the issue through the latest, especially foreign, theoretical knowledge.

The second part focuses on the problematic use of the internet in contexts of valid origins of the social work. The third part focuses on the presentation of the most important psychosocial factors correlating with the problematic internet use in the adolescent´s group. The theoretical knowledge is supplemented by the authors research into the present factors.

The final part is application-oriented and focuses on the possibilities that the social work offers at the praxis level to prevent and solve the presented problems.

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Adriana Saboviková

The monograph deals with the post-millennial media discourse in the UK and aims to popularize the currently used methodological framework in the form of a case study.

The theoretical basis is provided by the introductory chapters, which deal with the topic of migration and newspaper discourse in the UK. The methodological framework represents an increasingly popular combination of corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis, which is introduced not only theoretically but also practically used in the presented case study. The case study compares the language used in the British newspapers before and after the lifting of labor market restrictions in the UK for Bulgarians and Romanians, specifically in 2013 and 2014.

The research is based on the identification of special language patterns used in the compiled corpus to characterize Bulgarians and Romanians, specifically paying attention to nouns, verbs and numerals. By doing such research, scholars can identify the role of media discourse in depicting social reality.

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Jana Balegová

University textbook „Cursus Latinus - textbook“ is intended for students of the study program Latin language and literature. It is divided into „Introduction“ and 37 lessons. The content of lessons is morphology, sentence syntax and selected phenomena of case syntax of the Latin language. Each of the lessons contains a grammatical explanation, followed by sentences designed to demonstrate the forms of grammatical phenomena and the required vocabulary (Dictionary). Using these examples, students learn the basic principles of translation from Latin into Slovak and from Slovak into Latin. The textbook also includes a Latin-Slovak dictionary containing the entire vocabulary used in the textbook. The „Cursus Latinus - textbook“ is intended for the interpretation of grammar and the acquisition of grammatical phenomena of the Latin language under the guidance of the teacher. A parallel exercise book (Cursus Latinus – exercise book) is used to practice Latin grammar at home. The exercise book includes a key to the exercises and a Latin-Slovak dictionary containing vocabulary from the textbook and the exercise book. University textbook „Cursus Latinus - textbook“ is available electronically in PDF format.

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