Pachyscalpellum heltzeli has recently been described in more detail in this paper (online; urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:BE62D227-BCCE-46E2-A8B5-69EB05A95522): Gale, Andrew S., John W. M. Jagt, and Stijn Goolaerts. “Cirripedes (Thoracica, Crustacea) from the Maastrichtian of Kalaat Senan, Tunisia.” Cretaceous Research, vol. 118 (2021): 104650. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2020.104650.

The author of the article asks whether it is possible to practice post-anthropocentric hermeneutics. He expresses the need for opening the hermeneutic thought to the problem of what is non-human, especially in the context of contemporary diagnoses of the Anthropocene, climate crisis, ecological crisis, etc. Such a postanthropocentric correction of hermeneutics is possible due to the notion of “understanding” which can be extended towards understanding of non-human others and towards understanding with non-human others. This coincides with insights which have been formulated within animal studies, ecocriticism, posthumanism, etc. In order to make such an extension happen, however, a biopolitical correction of hermeneutics is also required, which would restore the hermeneutic subject to the biological and material life.

In this text I am collecting and interpreting Michel de Montaigne’s reflections on the horses and horse-riding. I argue that there are two basic problems in which this theme was used by Montaigne: the fragility and unexpectedness of human life and body-mind relation. In both fields Montaigne proposed a re-evaluation in relation to the classical culture. In the first one, by interpreting Plato’s “practice of death” as an art of exposing oneself to an unexpected, and in the second, by linking mind activity with the bodily processes.

Teleologia – wywodzące się od czasów starożytnych przekonanie, że wszystkie gatunki istnieją w określonym celu (Stwórca powołał je do życia, nadając im role), ma się zdumiewająco dobrze we współczesnej szkolnej edukacji i praktyce zarządzania środowiskiem. Prowadzi to do przyjęcia założenia o człowieku jako „dobrym ogrodniku”, który wybiera gatunki pożyteczne i usuwa szkodliwe, planując i egzekwując ich liczebność oraz obszar występowania. Tego rodzaju podejście jest w sprzeczności ze współczesną wiedzą o plastyczności gatunków i ekosystemów, które zmieniają się na skutek złożonych zjawisk przyrodniczych. W efekcie powstaje konflikt pomiędzy tymi, którzy chcą chronić wybrane gatunki z powodu tego, że spełniają one określoną funkcję, którą my lub Stwórca im nadaliśmy (dostarczają dobra lub usługi ekosystemowe), oraz tymi, którzy chcą chronić Przyrodę dla niej samej.

Since ancient times, people have been fascinated by animals. They are such a close element of the biosphere, that it is not possible for them to go unnoticed. Treating animals as sacred beings is one of the primary elements of totemism – belief in kinship with the class of objects (in this case animals). It is clearly visible in the culture of Australian aborigines. The paper presents, through the scope of mystic relation aborigines-animals, the role of platypus in the culture of indigenous inhabitants of Australia. It is also an attempt to fill the gap in the humanist discourse about animals because to this day platypus haven’t had any monographic study in the field of religious studies, cultural studies or even animal studies. By analyzing the stories from the Dreamtime, the text shows the mythical genesis of this mammal, the origin of its characteristic features, and it functions in the life of a tribe, especially in the light of aquatic symbolism.

In the scientific study, the images of animals, which function in the texts, were examined. Propaganda created in the Soviet Union. They were targeted at a specific group social – people who share the view into the existence of God. Propaganda in its content referred to the Slavic folklore. Monsters, hyenas, jackals, rodents, hydras and insects serve the creators to introduce “aliens” or “enemies.” Based on the analysis of metaphors, comparisons, compounds phraseological and other means of expression are presented in a way that discredits how people are discredited, and so are the animals. Stereotypical perception of living beings, disdainful attitude towards them and prejudices had an impact on inducing certain attitudes and behaviours (anxiety, disgust, hatred) in the recipients, which in the end strengthened the process of stigmatization, discrediting and marginalisation. Soviet propaganda, using images of animals perceived as beings with much lower statutes. It has contributed to the social exclusion of religious groups and strengthened the power of stigma, that’s already been given to some living organisms.

Having been inspired by William Shakespeare’s Hamlet – a drama where both a ghost and a worm find their shelter – the author discusses contacts, interactions relations, and interdependence between human and non-human animals. During the investigation of his father’s “unnatural death,” Hamlet becomes aware of many natural phenomena, including organic cycle (in which worms play a crucial role). Although worms are culturally insignificant, they are significant organisms for ecosystems. As recyclers and fertilizers, they have real impact on ecosystem’s condition and equilibrium. The author exploits contemporary scientific knowledge to identify worms (mentioned in the play) by naming specific invertebrates in accordance with valid taxonomy. To refer to non-human Others, an innovative word – ‘The BioDiverse’ – is proposed. Additionally, Hamlet becomes an inspiration to reflect upon old and new funeral eco-practices, as well as the author’s future funeral – its place and form. The article is written from an ecocritical perspective.

Andrei Bely, like most Russian symbolists, absorbed and transposed mythical characters and stories into his work, especially those born in the ancient times. Centaurs derive their origins from Greek mythology and are most often presented as hybrid creatures (half man, half animal). In Bely’s view, they become a symbol of the dual nature of man who struggles with suffering resulting from the simultaneous belonging to two worlds: humans and animals, matter and senses, spirituality and dark urges. In Bely’s works, the image of these mythical animals serves as an element of an artistic game with the recipient (by analogy to the “games of centaurs”), in the course of which it becomes possible to read the artist’s attitude to the myth about these animals, to the surrounding reality, and finally – to oneself. The myth itself reveals its philosophical, psychological and hermeneutical potential. That is why in Bely’s works the presence of centaurs has a multidimensional character, built on the interpenetration of the tame and the alien, tempered and wild, real and cosmic. All this determines the transgressive quality of the myth of centaurs in the work of the Russian symbolist.

Literature usually represents a horse as a loyal companion of a man, a noble and intelligent animal. The image of a horse in some works, however, relies on their mystery, it evokes anxiety, fear. It symbolizes an internal unease or a drive to escape. Sometimes a horse is equated to the messenger of death; it personifies dark, incomprehensible forces that cannot be understood by a human mind. This aspect of the unexplored equine nature in Germanlanguage literature is addressed in this study.

Georg Trakl as well as Bolesław Leśmian used poetry to question about peoples’ relationship with the world and both of them noticed that – as Tadeusz Sławek in the article Ratujące niebezpieczeństwo postsekularyzmu wrote – “human could be saved or redeemed only thanks to something which is nonhuman and associated with animal or God.” This statement is for me the Anzatspunkt and allows to compare a poem entitled W locie by Bolesław Leśmian and a mysterious blaues Wild figure in Trakl’s pieces. This article attempts to show specific identity of an animal, which is usually defined as the other being. It is possible to observe this factor also on the language basis. The name “animal” – as Jacques Derrida noticed – violent by itself, is a harmful category. Leśmian’s godlike creature and blaues Wild are not easy to describe –
they make readers attentive to the text. This article attempts to analyse this problematic animal noun, because without understanding its nature it might be also impossible to solve the issue what “humane” and “divine” mean.

The literary works of Sever Gansovsky are an excellent example of modern eco-literature. For many years, the writer worked with the genre of eco-science fiction, which is engaged into the study of the nature of human existence and the interaction of humans with non-human animals. The methods of Human-Animal Studies, applied to science fiction works, allowed us to analyze the writer’s novels in the context of the latest research in eco-literature and bioethics. The object of this study is the novel Little Animal, written in 1969. The novel tells a story of a small boy who is particularly cruel to animals. Little Animal represents the creation of a man as an exponent of a new eco-culture. The novel shows the formation of a new cognitive model of the world, in which
animals are playing a mediating role between the man and the nature that is beyond the limits of human experience.

The article deals with the issue of refuting the negative perception of the wolf among the inhabitants of Alaska in the novel A Wolf Called Romeo by Nick Jans. The pejorative perception of the wolf’s existence has its source in the persecution of this predator that began in the 17th century. Nick Jans’ non-fiction novel relates to the seven-year coexistence of Juneau residents in Alaska with a lone, untamed wolf. This novel demythologizes stereotypical, negative beliefs about wolves. This song is an important voice on the policy of protecting wolves in Alaska and is a literary illustration of the stages of gradual change in the way people perceive wolves from a negative to an affirmative attitude.

Niniejszy artykuł jest literaturoznawczą interpretacją opowiadania Czuwanie i towarzyszącej mu ilustracji postmodernistycznego australijskiego artysty Shauna Tana, którego dzieła wpisują się w dyskursy posthumanizmu. Wybrany utwór to dzieło wyjątkowe, dalekie od klasycznych realizacji tematów prozwierzęcych w najnowszej literaturze dziecięcej. Utwór analizuję przez pryzmat studiów nad zwierzętami, praw zwierząt oraz ich podmiotowości, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem debaty nad redefiniowaniem śmierci zwierzęcia towarzyszącego w XXI wieku. Opowiadanie Tana jest znakomitym przykładem literatury skierowanej do młodego odbiorcy pozbawionej właściwego dla niej, niebezpiecznego chwytu narracyjnego określanego jako „sentymentalna antropomorfizacja zwierząt”, która sprawia, że postrzegamy zwierzę jako bohatera tekstu kultury przez pryzmat doświadczeń i emocji człowieka. Proponuję także wykorzystanie utworu do zaaranżowania projektu edukacyjnego w szkole podstawowej zatytułowanego Nieantropomorficzny obszar pamięci o zwierzętach, opatrzonego mottem: „Jak często się zdarza, że nie dostrzegamy zwierząt, choć nieustannie dzielimy z nimi świat?”.

Niniejszy artykuł stanowi interpretację powieści kanadyjskiej autorki Barbary Gowdy z 1998 roku zatytułowanej The White Bone (Biała kość). Akcja powieści toczy się w Kenii w latach 80. XX wieku – a więc w okresie największego w historii kraju „słoniobójstwa”. Jej bohaterami są właśnie słonie, poszukujące mitycznego Bezpiecznego Miejsca. Powieść Gowdy często klasyfikowana jest jako postkolonialna, bo narracja prowadzona jest na przekór dyskursowi kolonizacji. Jednocześnie stanowi ona próbę opowiedzenia doświadczenia słoni, narrator zaś staje się tu tłumaczem i łącznikiem między zwierzętami dwóch różnych gatunków. Wyobrażenia dotyczące tego, co zwierzę myśli i czuje zawsze odbywają się kosztem antropomorfizacji tego zwierzęcia. Przedstawiona tu analiza sugeruje jednak, że antropomorfizm nie musi pociągać za sobą antropocentryzmu, a może wskazywać drogę do empatii.

Montana w 1907 roku była miejscem, gdzie hodowcy bydła toczyli wojnę przeciw wilkom, a myśliwi opowiadali historie o wilkach wyjętych spod prawa. W tym samym roku pewna mieszkanka pogranicza zdecydowała wychować i oswoić dwa wilcze szczenięta. W czasach, gdy dominowały uprzedzenia wobec drapieżników, Evelyn Cameron próbowała odnaleźć się w świecie zarówno mężczyzn, jak i wilków. Relacje z tych starań zachowały się w pamiętnikach, listach oraz na fotografiach pozostawionych przez Cameron. Artykuł jest próbą prześledzenia historii prześladowań wilka w Montanie w latach 1880–1930, widzianej oczami Evelyn Cameron, oraz ukazania zmiany w postrzeganiu tego gatunku poprzez historię dwóch wilczych szczeniąt imieniem Tussa i Weecharpee.

The article provides is a comparison of the names of human and animal sounds, which belong to a larger collection of vocabulary that defines the world of auditory perceptions. The historical, grammatic and semantic regularities are identical to them. Differences are noticed in detailed meanings and in the pragmatic of these names, which includes among other things, a much higher incidence of the names of human sounds. Linguistic relativism is more closely covered by the names of animal sounds. The widespread use of animal names for sounds in relation to humans is accompanied by regular negative value and the expression of contempt against the person designated as sound performer.

In the opinion of Jan Wawrzyniak, the attitude of humans towards other non-human persons is characterised by ethological falsehood. In relations with other creatures humans show species-oriented chauvinism. On the basis of a survey study concerning the colloquial understanding of the symptoms of “inhuman”, “bestial” or “animalistic” behaviour we may describe the functioning of these notions among average users of the Polish language. The paper aims at presenting the results of the survey concerning the colloquial functioning of the notions: inhuman, bestial and animalistic. Fifty people, students of the first-degree university course in Philology took part in the research, with the use of the because-test and free association method.

This paper is an analysis of idioms containing the name of the animal (animalistic phraseology) in Polish and Croatian and animal lexemes that can have the function of negative expressions of man – zooinvective. Attention is paid to anthropocentric treatment of animals in phraseology, using them to negative evaluation human traits and behaviors, such as: stupidity, cruelty, stubbornness, too much sex drive, gluttony, drunkenness, falsehood, dishonesty, ugliness, awkwardness. Animalistic phraseology also pays attention to the aspect of bad treatment of pets (dog, cat) and farm animals (horse, ox, donkey, domestic fowl). The phenomenon of negative treatment of some animals may be a manifestation a kind of “hate speech,” because it favors the creation and consolidation of negative stereotypes and cultural portraits of some representatives of the fauna world.

The article focuses on the Russian and Polish proverbial and idiomatic units (mainly of folk origin) typical for describing the human intellect and foolishness containing the zoonyms referring to some birds and mammals. The analysis of the Russian material shows high frequency of animal names referring to birds, especially hens and geese which in the folk/mythological reflection receive a lot of negative features. These features are the symbols of foolishness and narrow-mindedness. On the other hand, the Polish proverbial and idiomatic material shows that the similar symbolism is reflected by the representatives of some mammals.

The image, in general, is understood as an image, an image or a likeness. Nowadays, this concept is associated with its shaping and reception in order to influence the environment. Thinking about the image, first of all, its personal connotations are taken. Can you therefore analyze the image of an animal, and more specifically a horse? It turns out that yes, because this representative of the even-toed ungulate, accompanying man in his life since prehistory, appeared in art, including film. He was honored to be his object or rather subject. Among the many roles he had to play, there was also a humanizing role – the therapist. The aim of the article was to show the image of the horse as a therapist in selected film examples and its analysis.

Unpredictable and misunderstood, felines continue to mesmerize, attract and, at the same time, terrify human beings. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries cats were terrorizing humans as witches’ familiars, incarnation of Devil and messengers. Nowadays, they are able to convey the same sense of insecurity and menace with a sole appearance in a story. With a number of pets portrayed in radio dramas, cats are undoubtedly the most frequently depicted ones. Radio drama is an excellent medium to portray cats’ elusiveness and mysterious powers. Being the “blind medium” radio drama is able to convey the misconceptions and beliefs about cats most intuitively. In Koty to dranie by Jerzy Janicki the stereotypes about cats take control over man’s common sense, the thoughtless cruelty towards them being depicted as a sudden and surprising action. Grochola in Kot mi schudł offers an interesting study on much too common ill treatment of felines, the worthlessness of cats in human eyes, and, on the other hand, the ability of cats to change human lives, loneliness being the main focus of the radio drama. Felines tend to be quite persuasive, thus it is the cat, more often than any other animal, that not only is able to change the track of events in the plot, but also provides a particular bridge between contrasting worlds or conventions. Cat is never just a cat. It is the beginning, the main body, and the conclusion in the invisible world of radio drama with all archetypical notions that they may possess.

In the ancient times horse riding took over the heart of aristocracy. The horse was considered as a unique creation, which was a representation of noble origin. In ancient Greece, the rider was identified with a warrior. Around the horses appeared a lot of political and social meanings, especially important in the Middle Ages and the early modern period. An important role, that horses used to have in the society, was reflected in the art: painting and sculpture. The Republic of the Nobles was a country that loved horses more than others, gave them new symbols and meanings.

Konie stanowią jeden z najpopularniejszych tematów w sztuce islandzkiej. Figura konia islandzkiego (Icelandera) może być intepretowana jako część tożsamości narodowej Islandczyków: od czasów osiedlenia Islandii, konie były obecne podczas budowania państwa oraz tworzenia narodu. Stąd poniższy tekst przedstawia symboliczne znaczenie konia w Islandii poprzez przyjrzenie się dwóm strefom: sacrum (wierzenia oraz mitologia nordycka) i profanum (praca, życie codzienne). Motyw konia rozpatrywany jest tutaj zarówno w tradycyjnych przedstawieniach (w sztuce i literaturze), jak również we współczesnej narracji sztuk wizualnych (malarstwa i filmu). Wywód oparty jest na (ko)relacji konia i człowieka w Islandii, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem tego jak człowiek traktował i przedstawiał konia, oraz jak blisko żyły ze sobą te dwa gatunku na przestrzeni lat.

Od kilku lat obserwuje się wysoki poziom skali przemytu zwierząt. Dane statystyczne Ministerstwa Finansów za poprzedni rok wskazują, że w 2018 roku w Polsce zatrzymano 13 811 okazów CITES. Rozmiar oraz charakter zjawiska przesądzają o tym, że problem ma globalny zasięg. Ogromne znaczenie w fazie reagowania na zjawisko mają krajowe, międzynarodowe oraz unijne regulacje prawne. Zwrócić należy także uwagę na niehumanitarne traktowanie zwierząt podczas przemytu. W pracy zaprezentowano teoretyczne ujęcie problemu, skalę zjawiska oraz działania, które mogą przyczynić się do jego zwalczania.

The article will attempt to show criminal consequences against people who abandon animals according to the Polish law. What is more, the purpose of this paper is to show animal abandonment as one of animal cruelty crimes. In addition, it will systematize applicable penalties taking into consideration Polish criminal law. All in all, it will present animal abandonment according to the Polish civil law, including animals’ legal status in area of property law and movable possessions. To sum up, the article will discuss difficulties which may cause taking of evidence against this kind of criminals, due to actual judicial practice and data of the empirical study.

The deputy’s draft bill amendment about the Animal Protection Act submitted to the Marshal of the Sejm in November 2017 was one of the most ambitious attempts in the Third Republic of Poland to improve the legal protection of animals. The loudest proposal in the project was to prohibit the rearing and breeding of animals for the purpose of obtaining fur from them. In the article, the Authors reflect on the reasons for the political failure of this project. In the conditions of such strong centralization of political power, was the resistance from big business really decisive? What political conditions would have to be met for such far-reaching socio-economic changes motivated by public morality and environmental protection? Why this issue aroused so many contradictory emotions in political discourse? What is more important: economic profits based on cruelty to animals or life of sentient, autonomous beings?

Based on the fish tank symbolism in the dream books some features are derived and determined. These features are typical of the reception and feeling of the so-called imaginative pictures which are typical of imagining, feeling, experiencing and realizing of the conceptual-assessing and sensitive impressions. The assumptions connected with the observation of the object, as well as with being there (i.e. in a fish tank), are presented and discussed. These are the features which are determined both separately and mutually and they describe the states in question. The reptiles and fish (mentioned in the title), according to the interpretations quoted, are both the element which fills up a fish tank and the projection of its positive character (or a negative
one in the case of its absence). On the other hand, in a non-visible but perceptible way they become involved with the subject that is observing them in a fish tank and then with a human being and that human being is to some extent identified with that subject. All those elements mentioned above, together with the characterized semantics of those images (i.e. a fish tank with reptiles and fish inside), are the key to understanding the way the human consciousness is able to transfer itself into another existence, with the interpretation of the visible and non-visible world as experienced by the human.

The text is an attempt to reflect on the possibility of going beyond a language focused on human interests and human perspective. The pretext is the extensive and very learned book by Anita Jarzyna Post-koiné. Studies on Non-anthropocentric (Poetic) Languages (Łódź 2019), the author of which is looking for unobvious places (in selected literary works), enabling talking about some non-violent forms of contact with the animal, and even about the possibility of expressing its otherness in the human language. The most contentious topics are the problem of the subject (also the writer), the issue of the creative human/animal difference and the balance between the duties of the interpreter and the dreams of the activist.