Ludzie z kryjówek – Newly Reconceived

The article presents an attempt at a new understanding of Józef Tischner’s essay Ludzie z kryjówek. The context of this inquiry is ‘spiritual emergency’ as a diagnostic category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (fifth edition). Tischner’s essay is analysed from a dramatic and dynamic perspective. The main aim is to describe the journey from chains in the cave to liberation. Inner freedom is achieved by integrating social work, contemplation and philosophy.

* Tekst został przygotowany w ramach grantu „Józef Tischner – polska filozofia wolności a myśl europejska” (Narodowy Program Rozwoju Humanistyki – 11H 13 0471 82) realizowanego przez Instytut Myśli Józefa Tischnera w Krakowie.

From Hamburg to Strasbourg: Some Remarks on Municipal Welfare Measures between the Late 18th and the Early 20th Century

The article is a short essay in social work history, strongly inspired by the two-volume book Geschichte der sozialen Arbeit (History of Social Work) by Wolf-Rainer Wendt (2017a, 2017b). From the many themes the German historian of social work discusses in this book I chose one which I consider particularly important. It is a path of institutional development in German urban policies leading from the assumptions of the Enlightenment humanism to modern welfare solutions. From the late 18th to the early 20th century particular poor relief policies were invented and implemented by authorities of fast developing cities in order to prevent the negative effects of mass poverty that accompanied large-scale industrialization. Subsequently, some of those inventions became part of the national legal system. The selection of the discussed problems however subjective is motivated by the hope to throw some light on the sources of contemporary welfare solutions in Central Europe and in Poland.

Sense of Meaning in Life among College Students

The aim of the study was to examine the strength of the sense of meaning in life among students and to check its relationship with professed values and goals, as well as to indicate which values are most important for students. The results are based on the author’s study of 250 students of Kraków’s universities, carried out due to pandemic conditions by means of an online questionnaire. The majority of the respondents demonstrated an average strength of the sense of meaning in life and the most frequently indicated most important values for them were health, love and independence. The strongest correlations with the sense of meaning in life were friendship, love and family, and somewhat weaker correlations were religious faith and richness of experiences. People with a clear purpose in life had a stronger sense of meaning in life.