Methodological Inspirations in the Research of Literary Science I.

Soňa Lovašová - Katarína Šiňanská - Magdaléna Halachová  - Vladimír Lichner (eds.)

The central theme of the conference is violence in social work. Violence in social work appears in various forms, whether it involves working with clients who are victims of different types of violence or dealing with aggressive clients where the social worker themselves becomes the victim. Violence in society is rapidly increasing, and social work is a science that must necessarily adapt to society; this is its essence. Therefore, managing aggressive situations in any form is an important part of a social worker's personal skill set.

Unfortunately, protecting social workers from violence will gradually become a necessity, and in the future, we may not avoid training in self-defense and reducing aggression as part of professional preparation or lifelong education.

The aim of this collection is to present the issue of violence in social work from various perspectives to both the professional and lay public. We hope that this serious problem will receive increasing attention and that the individual contributions will help readers understand the extent of the problem of violence in social work.

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Ján Sabol

Literary, but especially film production has entered new, so to speak culturally anthropological contexts over the past period. As the technological base of this new art evolved, its position and character changed in the socio-cultural context of human existence and society.

Film and the media world in a broader context are no longer just the domain of art or media disciplines but are entering a wider framework of socio-cultural-anthropological scientific disciplines. Increasingly, people are confronted with a new phenomenon of virtual worlds, virtual dimensions that influence real reality through their actions and thoughts.

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Iveta Bónová - Lucia Jasinská

Language culture is not only for linguists; it is a professional publication suitable as a textbook, in which we attempt to describe and explain the most frequent phenomena of speech practice in an innovative way.

These phenomena are observed not only in the media environment but also in the academic sphere, which, with regard to the communication sphere (mass media communication, scientific research), are often used incorrectly and thus subconsciously penetrate the language awareness of all language users.

This includes those for whom language is a working tool with a primarily representative function (teachers at all levels of schools or radio and television workers).

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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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Kristína Bosáková

The textbook for the course of Philosophical Anthropology should help the students of philosophy in major subject as much as of philosophy as minor in combination with other study programs in social sciences and STEM disciplines, to develop their own ideas and opinions about the question of human being in the philosophy. Its aim is to make a short introduction into the field of philosophical anthropology and to educate the students in the most important topics of the discipline.

Every chapter consist of the theoretical part and of the practical analysis of the text, which is followed by three questions at the end of each chapter. Students, who will later become the philosophy teachers, shall learn how to discuss and teach several topics from the philosophical anthropology in their future classes. Therefore, the textbook is suitable as much for the pedagogical as for the non-pedagogical study programs.

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Eva Žiaková - Lucia Tóthová et al.

The scientific monograph was developed within the framework of the grant project Vega 1/0230/15 entitled "Social and Personality Characteristics of Oncological Ill Men and Women as one of the most important factors of sociotherapy with this group of men and women clients", with the aim of finding some common personal characteristics oncological men and women patients, to focus on choosing their coping strategies that can be significant in terms of oncological disease as well as suggesting ways and means of using the basic methods of sociotherapy as one of the most important methods of social work in working with this group of men and women clients, from the knowledge of their personal and social characteristics.

It is also a starting point for other necessary steps, namely to link the results of research to prax the themselves oncologists to hospitals, their outpatient clinics and patients as well as to support the merit of developing the sociooncology, a specific science discipline.

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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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Mikuláš Jančura - Maroš Melichárek (eds.)

The textbook is derived from the outcomes of the eleventh annual student scientific conference, which took place in December 2022.

The student scientific conference is an integral component of the curriculum within the Department of History at the Faculty of Arts, UPJŠ, and has been implemented since 2011. Its primary objective is to provide a platform for Bachelor's and Master's degree students to present segments of their original research as part of their thesis development.

The purpose of this textbook extends beyond the mere publication of these diverse thematic texts. It also strives to emphasize the significance of exceptional pedagogical initiatives and the added value of university education for students, manifested through the dissemination of their scholarly output.

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Soňa Gabzdilová

The educational system (schooling) is one of the most effective tools for shaping the young generation in any advanced society. Schools not only create the knowledge base necessary for fulfilling the demands of the economy and the social sphere, but they also shape the national and ideological identity of each member of society. The school plays a decisive role in forming positive values, but it can also become a breeding ground for xenophobia and racist attitudes. The school has an irreplaceable role in creating national consciousness, identification with one's own nation, its history, the heroic deeds of ancestors, and the meaning of its existence.

After the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, there were fundamental geopolitical changes in Central Europe. One of these was the creation of Czechoslovakia, a state founded on radically different principles than pre-war Hungary. The founders of the Czechoslovak Republic (CSR), the personalities who decisively determined the character of the political system in the newly established republic, did not belong to the privileged classes of the previous regime. Unlike Hungary, where political power was controlled almost without exception by the nobility, the elite in Czechoslovakia consisted of men who were radical critics of Austria-Hungary.

A fitting example was the most influential figure of interwar Czechoslovakia, President Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. Despite his origins, Masaryk was perceived by both Czechs and Slovaks as the founder of the state, a legendary figure whose political and social influence far exceeded the powers of the presidential office.

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Ivica Hajdučeková

The development of this bilingual coursebook evolved as part of project KEGA Nr. 020UPJŠ-4/2013 headed by prof. PhDr. Ján Gbúr, CSc., and emerged from earlier research which had successfully analysed realist and modernist Slovak literature from a gender perspective. Based on initial interpretations which drew from philosophical, sociological and historiographical approaches, we were able to anticipate the issues which could be raised in other texts and thus establish a hypothesis for the subsequent literaryscientific research. Our research has also been influenced by the continually evolving nature of gender studies, and we have therefore decided to adopt a somewhat unusual approach in this coursebook and briefly examine some contemporary texts thereby creating an intentional shift in our timeline. The modern works of Z.Kepplová and U. Kovalyk have raised a number of interesting issues, and a study of the interwar work of M. Urban reveals further interpretations on the basis of gender. After this brief overview, we return to the main focus of the study: gender approaches to Slovak literature of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The study focuses on the complexity of male-female relationships in the work of both male and female authors of realist and modernist literature at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. Works by the founding generation of realism and late realism were analysed, with particular attention being paid to the fiction of M. Kukučín, J. Čajak, J. G. Tajovský, J. Jesenský, E. M. Šoltésová, T. Vansová, Ľ. Podjavorinská and B. S. Timrava. The works of H. Gregorová and Ľ. Groeblová were also studied as prime examples of Slovak literary modernism. 

We hope that this bilingual coursebook will allow realist and modernist Slovak fiction, and the Slovak national literary tradition in general, to receive wider critical renown beyond the borders of Slovakia and also to demonstrate its place in contemporary literary theory.

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Soňa Lovašová

The theme of self-care is currently a significant trend, emerging as a protective factor in numerous demanding life situations. The implementation and internalization of self-care are highly desirable in certain life phases. One of the challenging life stages is considered to be higher education. Pursuing studies at a university entails substantial life changes: a new social circle; novel forms of academic workload; the initiation of interpersonal relationships; and the process of self-independence. Self-care offers students the opportunity to establish order in their lives, to pause and contemplate the meaning of things, and to maintain well-being. The aim of the textbook is to assist students in understanding the concept of self-care, its potential benefits, and strategies for implementation. It provides various examples, case studies, and worksheets for initial engagement with self-care practices.

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Maroš Melichárek

The history of the Balkans (not just in the 20th century) and its nations have had an irreplaceable place at the Department of History, Faculty of Arts, UPJŠ in Košice for several years. Therefore, this textbook is a logical culmination of this established trend. It represents the third publication focused on Southeastern Europe, as in 2015 a monograph titled International Relations in the 19th and 20th Centuries I (Nations of Southeastern Europe in International Politics, 1804 – 1856) was published, and in 2020 Nations of Southeastern Europe under International Politics from 1856 to 1913.

Logically then, this publication complements the literature portfolio (both thematically and chronologically) for students interested in this still turbulent region. Previous works are scientific monographs that can also be used during pedagogical processes; however, this work is directly aimed at students and their needs.

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Kristína Bosáková

Attempting to confront Gadamer's teachings not only with the giants of Greek philosophy but also with Hegel and Heidegger is no easy task. However, Gadamer's entire historical-philosophical work is most prominently associated with these ancient thinkers and the two geniuses of German philosophical thought. Therefore, there is no avoiding it. Without this confrontation, all my efforts would be, in a certain sense, futile. Whether and how I succeed is another question. Every reader will surely form their own judgment.

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Juraj Schenk et al.

The scientific journal Sociálne a politické analýzy (Social and Political Analyses) serves as an interactive electronic platform for communication and the presentation (publication) of experts and their work in the fields of basic and applied research and analyses within sociological, psychological, political, and methodological contexts. It is a medium focused on intensively supporting research activities and analyses within an interdisciplinary framework, facilitating the exchange of experiences, fostering collaboration, and revitalizing the production of scientific work in this area.

The publication section of the journal offers space for works such as:

- Original sociological, psychological, and political studies and analyses in any areas of social life

- Methodological studies

- Research reports

- Studies from qualification theses Research and analysis projects

- Reviews

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Kristína Bosáková

Pokus o konfrontáciu Gadamerovho učenia nielen s velikánmi gréckej filozofie, ale aj s Hegelom a Heideggerom nie je jednoduchá úloha. Celá Gadamerova historicko-filozofická tvorba je však najvýraznejšie spojená s týmito antickými mysliteľmi a s dvoma géniami nemeckého filozofického myslenia. Preto niet vyhnutia. Bez tejto konfrontácie by bolo celé moje úsilie v istom zmysle zbytočné. To, či a ako sa mi to podarí, je už iná otázka. Každý čitateľ si určite vytvorí svoj vlastný úsudok.