Publikacja niniejsza stanowi pokłosie refleksji nad poznaniem nie-istnienia (śmierci) zwierząt, zwłaszcza w perspektywie zmian, jakie zachodzą w humanistyce (filologii), pod wpływem odkryć, które dokonują się w przyrodoznawstwie (zoologii); w gruncie rzeczy tom rejestruje (i charakteryzuje) proces (r)ewolucji świato(p)oglądu.

Prace, jakie tom zbiera, wpisują się w ramy (w porządku alfabetycznym), m.in. etnologii, filozofii, kognitywistyki, literatury, prawa, sztuki, teologii. Prezentowane w zeszycie teksty stanowią plon studiów, jakie prowadzą badacze rozmaitych orientacji i proweniencji, którym – co decydujące – bliska (a przynajmniej: nieobca) jest koncepcja zoofilologii zaklętej w ideę animal studies. Tym samym zawartość numeru wyznacza sui generis jednogłos w wielogłosie.

Tom, jaki oddajemy do rąk Czytelnika, zawiera zarówno artykuły i komunikaty, jak i recenzje oraz sprawozdania. Teksty, jakie zeszyt gromadzi, realizują nierzadko odległe od siebie wzorce gatunkowe: od bardziej zdyscyplinowanych rozpraw naukowych po mniej rygorystyczne formy interpretacyjne. Tym, co wszystkie te prace łączy, jest nie tylko podejmowana tematyka i przyjęty profil oglądu, ale również ranga poruszanych zagadnień i naukowy poziom ich opracowania.

Based on the fish tank symbolism in the dream books some features are derived and determined. These features are typical for the reception and feeling of the so called imaginative pictures which are typical for imaging, 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). There are 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 the element which fills up a fish tank as well as the projection of its positive (the negative in the aspect of its lack). On the other side in a non-visible but perceptible way the subject that is observing them in a fish tank and ten with a human being and that human being is identified with that subject. All those elements
mentioned above together with characterized semantics of those images (i.e. a fish tank with reptiles and fish inside it) are the key to understand another consciousness to transfer a person into the other existence, with the interpretation of the visible and non-visible world but experienced by a human.

The subject of the article is a scientific reflection on the behaviours of domestic animals in the face of human death. Using the rich folkloristic and ethnographic material, the author has distinguished three types of roles in which – in folk beliefs – animals are incarnated: (a) death harbingers, (b) mourners, feeling sad and regret after losing a loved one, (c) the last travelling companions. The analysis proved that the roles played by animals in the face of the death of a loved one implement the principle of „solidarity with life” – a key principle of traditional peasant culture, the basis of life and a keystone of existence in the group.

The changes in thinking about the world are manifested in linguistic changes. Pet cemetery is a good example to observe the changing relations between humans and animals. Various types of tombstones and the inscriptions they bear, not accompanied by formal regulations or consistent convention – although undoubtedly inspired by the exemplar of human cemetery – are a testament of particular relationships (attachment, friendship, love) that existed between dead pets with their owners. They also document how the social and cultural status of pet companions changes gradually – how the animals are no longer assumed as living beings without souls, and they become persons, rightful family members gaining the right to respect, memory and decent burial. But the change is a process which meets a resistance manifested in linguistic attempts to tear human and animal deaths apart.

The aim of this study is to describe the phenomenon of pet cemeteries on an example of the Pet Cemetery in Rzędziany, Podlaskie Voivodeship. The material, which was used for the analysis was obtained by ethnographic field studies carried out in the municipality of Tykocin. The article focuses on the aesthetic patterns, as well as on social reception of the cemetery. The design of the graveyard shows the patterns of commemoration of the dead pets and the strength of human-animal bond. As indicated by the research, the idea of the cemetery is rather extraneous for the community members, but the place is slowly taking root in the local cultural landscape.

Using the tools and definitions provided by performance studies (Richard Schechner, Jon McKenzie, Erika Fischer-Lichte, Małgorzata Sugiera, Dariusz Kosiński and others) as well as by newer post-human turn (Ewa Domańska) the author analyses the phenomenon of burying domestic animals on sites located on the outskirts of populated areas (resembling the old cholera graveyards). Animal burial sites are denied the term ‘cemetery’ by official legislation which reserves the notion only for human necropolises. Almost every suggestion of establishing an animal cemetery in Poland is met with highly emotional reactions and protests. Itself being acts of social performance, the protests evoke burial as a social performance art, where the community participates in an event based on a standard Christian funeral ceremony. The unstandardized character of the animal’s funeral challenges this view. In the act of animal burial an oppressive gaze of a society is juxtaposed with an intimate one. The confrontation becomes a chance for the society for a self-reflection and transformation. Hence one may prove that the animal burials have a significant performative power and can have social and cultural impact.

In the past three hundred years zoological gardens have undergone a series of profound conceptual and organisational changes. This article provides a brief historical outlook on the evolution of zoos from royal menageries to modern facilities, focusing on its most striking aspect – the gradual transformation from bare exhibitions of animal species into representations of whole habitats. The author presents a few main historical factors leading to that change and outlines possible paths of future development.

Choć kwestia zwierzęcej śmierci i umierania od dawna zwraca uwagę badaczy z kręgu animal studies, coraz częstsze jej pojawianie się w obszarze studiów religioznawczych jest zjawiskiem interesującym i stosunkowo nowym, które domaga się rozważenia. W badaniach ogniskujących się na religii coraz więcej uwagi poświęca się ostatnio nie tyle rozmaitym znaczeniom, jakie przypisywane są obecności zwierząt w ludzkim doświadczeniu religijnym (gdzie figurują one jako przedmioty, symbole i ciała), ile bardziej kontrowersyjnej kwestii samych zwierzęcych reakcji na śmierć istot im bliskich. Zdaniem niektórych badaczy, ta ostatnia może być także rozpatrywana jako rytualna i protoreligijna, co daje szansę na rewizję antropocentrycznego ujęcia religii jako fenomenu czysto kognitywnego. Sposoby przeżywania śmierci przez wyższe zwierzęta (jak dokumentuje to etologia), w dużej mierze zbiorowe i ceremonialne, podkreślające cielesną kruchość (vulnerability) i potrzebę wyrażenia żalu w rytuałach żałoby, wydają się bliskie ludzkiemu rozumieniu religijności jako szeregu społecznych zachowań, które stanowią odpowiedź na doświadczenie cierpienia, utraty i tajemnicy otaczającej czyjeś odejście. W tym kontekście istotne więc wydaje się zadanie pytania, dlaczego wszelka próba określenia zwierzęcych zachowań mianem religijnych budzi – wśród większości ludzi deklarujących swoją przynależność do wiary – niemal instynktowne negatywne reakcje. Jakie procesy semiotyczne, filozoficzne i polityczne przyczynić się mogły do uznania, że religia to obszar czysto ludzki, a co więcej, definiowany przez pryzmat różnicy ludzko-zwierzęcej? Czy istnieje coś, co Derrida nazwałby trwałą ofiarniczą strukturą zachodniego myślenia (gdzie pojęcie ofiary oznaczałoby nie tylko powszechną zgodę na przemoc wobec zwierząt, usankcjonowanie faktu ich śmierci na potrzeby człowieka, ale także zamknięcie przed zwierzętami możliwości udziału w tym, co religijne w charakterze innym niż przedmiot ofiary)? Artykuł podejmuje te kwestie, argumentując na rzecz zwierzęcej religijności, opierając się na nieantropocentrycznym ujęciu żałoby w pracach Judith Butler oraz analizując literackie i artystyczne strategie przedstawiania śmierci zwierząt, które poprzez swoje akcentowanie wymiaru religijnego zyskują emancypacyjny charakter, w utworach D.H. Lawrence’a oraz Iana McEwana.

In vitro studies are alternative for in vivo studies carried on living organisms. They involve cell populations for both normal and cancer cells. The processes inside cells might be base for defining whole body processes. Starting with fundamental unit of every living organism which is cell, we can distinguish two main types of cell death – apoptosis and necrosis. Human organism is built from 10¹³–10¹⁴ cells of 300 different cell types. During cell division new cells are created and their number is strictly controlled in programmed cell death – apoptosis. Mainly old or damaged cells commit suicide and are removed from organism. This is natural phenomenon and every change in mechanisms of proliferation or apoptosis cause changes and damage in whole organism. Homeostasis in organism depends on correct action of death and survival system. The patterns of equilibrium in nature relies on similar regulation profiles, in which it is similar to death of singular organisms in population or species. It implicates death as natural phenomenon maintaining balance in the world.

The article uses the example of Kevin Warwick’s robot with the living brain (Robot Gordon) to review the phenomenon of brain organoids creation, one of the applications of which is to replace animals in neurological experiments. However, in this context the question whether it is possible to compare brain and non-cerebral organoids (organ-on-chip) arises. The author thinks that use of an isolated brain is dangerous from the ethical point of view. Along with the progress of technology, laboratory brain organoids are going to become more sophisticated, which can lead to the creation of a conscious subject which suffering will go unnoticed.

Until recently, received wisdom held that it is a uniquely human privilege not only to be able to encounter reality with the aid of reason and language, but also to live with the awareness of one’s own mortality. The distinction accorded death and the experience of dying for humans results from the fact that human culture is not only in many ways importantly related this tragic experience but issues directly from it. Without the awareness of death there would not be culture and its, precisely, enduring achievements: the existence of culture represents the paradoxical effect of the ‘tanataphobia’ that haunts us. Today, however, more and more evidence has been gathered suggesting that animals also experience death in some way. Changes in their behaviour and mood may be the result of a variety of factors, but it is undeniable that the death of another individual has an effect. Evidence suggests that the effects may be lasting, because the sense of sadness, mourning and even deep depression may the result of that event of death related as it is to emotional and social bonds. Even if their requiem takes the form of yelping and groaning, this does not reduce their ‘mourning’ to a meaningless frown in a purely unreasoned and uninterrupted existence-persistence.

The aim of the article is to present the dilemmas that researchers may face, combining more than one research perspective. We are starting from sociological or ethnological research that focus on the stories of animals’ caregivers after the animal experiencing death of a companion. They are anthropomorphic and close to the urban legends. Although correct from the point of view of social research, they do not take into account the biological and psychological context. Examining the experience of mourning animals other than human requires giving a voice to those who will not answer researchers’ questions. However, having a wider perspective and trying to do transdisciplinary science, it becomes a duty to take into account even such knowledge, which will be inconsistent with the current research results. Another problem arises when trying to combine these points of view in such a way as not to alienate the respondents or researchers and at the same time get the most probable version of reality.

The essay approaches the problem of a possible differentiation between the death of the animal and that of the human being. Stepping beyond the Cartesian sharp dichotomy of the human and animal life, we follow the line of such philosophers as Montaigne, Spinoza, and Hume, who were radically critical towards the unwarranted claims of anthropocentric phantasies. Interpreting poetic texts of Emily Dickinson and Ted Hughes we demonstrate that reflecting upon animality we can get a new insight into the place and meaning of death in our lives as well as into foundations of our speech.

The article is an attempt to non-anthropological read the fragment of Pan Tadeusz about an animal cementery. In the light of indigenous knowledge, Mickiewicz’s “matecznik” seems to be a relic of the animistic imagination, in which human and non-human persons have similar ontological status. Basing on the folk tradition rooted in the direct experience, the poet also anticipates quite modern natural science diagnoses – about the “spiritual life of animals” and their convergent with human mortual customs.

The article analyzes the most tragic work of Ivan Shmelev about time at the end of the Civil War in Russia, about the “epic” The Sun of the Dead. The tragedy of the story that is in its title gradually grows and intensifies in accordance with the dynamics of the plot action, realized in the motives of survival-dying and impending apocalypse. In the picture of the dying world, animals have an exclusive role, they are destined to be the first to go for sacrifice, whether they are birds (peacock, eagle, hawk, pigeons, etc.) or domestic animals (horse, cow, dog, cat). In the development of their characters, a special function is performed by zoonyms that allow each of them to be personified and to emphasize the value of the life of any being.

In the broadest possible terms, this paper aims at exploring the relation between death and insects in Samuel Beckett with a special emphasis put on the fact that it is insects that form one of the most repetitive and complex animal figures in his oeuvre. Surprisingly, his otherwise desolate and bleak spaces – despite the inherent anthropocentric framework they are founded on – are inhabited by the plethora of nonhuman species. Insects are here no exception; Beckett’s writings are abundant in references to flies, bees, hornets, wasps, or ants. The paper begins with confronting Alain Badiou’s take on Beckett with Rosi Braidotti’s and Giorgio Agamben’s theories, including the anthropological machine. It is argued that, contrary to the human figures condemned to ceaseless agony and torment deprived of the ultimate horizon of death, insects belong entirely to the realm of death in Beckett; in other words, they struggle to breach through the wall of life. In order to prove that, I discuss the unclear ontological status of Worm in The Unnamable. Moreover, the paper reconstructs Moran’s relation to his bees, depicted in Molloy, including his insightful study of the waggle dance and the discovery of their cadavers. Finally, the paper focuses on the logic of a swarm, which Beckett seems to be fascinated with, and the metonymies of insect tropes and technology, whose Thanatic aspects disclose the unsettling connections between humans and nonhumans in Beckett’s works.

Western imagination describes a fly as an abject. It causes disgust and, as such, belongs to the “other world” of condamned and unwanted beings that define the end of humanity. This is the concept, which Tadeusz Rozewicz seems to undermine in The Hunger Artist Departs (1976). In Scene Four the main character of the play mourns for the fly he accidentally crushed in his hand, and furthermore he makes his “last confession” over insect’s corpse. This essay tries to examine the play with thanatological context (death of a fly as phantasmatic experience of protagonist’s own death). It also highlights funeral aspects of the work, which – together with The Trap (1982) and a poem interrupted conversation (1991) – expresses Rozewicz’s lament on Franz Kafka.

An extremely interesting issue in the field of literature is the question of aesthetic and ethical dimensions of animal death. Is a calm death while being asleep, in a friendly environment, with no streaming blood involved,more ethical,because it is aesthetically “nicer”? How do these two categories relate to one another when it comes to animal death? In the Polish language, the verb used to refer to an animal that stops to be alive is “zdychać” (die), whereas to a human– “umierać” (pass away). Is there a sense of community betweenthe animal and human fate in the face of death? Attempts to find the answers to these questions may be found in modern dramas, withPawitren by Iwona Korszańska as one of the most interesting ones in terms of the discussed problem. In the text written by this author, animals and humans are equalized sharing the common fate, and their death is not differentiated between“zdychanie” (dying of animals) and“umieranie” (passing away of humans), but rather equivalent and equal. In the social performances presented in the drama, the inseparable couple, Eros and Thanatos,marks the life of a human and an animal to the same degree.

Is animal death grievable and do animals grieve their dead? The answer to these questions depends on the narratives one subscribes to. In the dominant narrative of the Western world, human death is treated with respect and animal death is either invisible or instrumentalized. In this article I am considering the consequences of challenging this narrative from the sites of enunciation that are marginal to modernity and, thus, do not replicate its hyperseparated dualism (Val Plumwood’s phrase). First, I introduce the holistic imaginary of indigenous Americans on the example of Linda Hogan’s novel Solar Storms. Next, on the example of Olga Tokarczuk’s Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the Dead, I move to the perspective of Duszejko – a self-exile from European modernity. Both novels demonstrate that iconographies of death (and life) make a real difference in our relationship to the nonhuman other.

In this article, the focus in placed on the works of Valentine Rasputin in which the attitude that the characters have towards animal slaughter, of which they are both witnesses and executers, constitutes to some extent the determiner of their human quality. Above all, Selling Bear’s Skin and Live and Remember are analyzed. The former deals, on the one hand, with the humanization of an animal that seeks revenge and its consistent pursuit while following the hunter. On the other hand, the evolution of the main character’s attitudes from thoughtless animal slaughter for the sake of material profiteering to the holistic perception of the world and nature, in which every being has the right to live, is observable. The latter work, in turn, depicts just the reverse process, mainly the moral degradation of the human being, evidenced by unwarranted slaughter of a defenseless animal. In the context of the perspective on the sacred dimension of nature, the attitude of the main character might be interpreted as an antireligious mode of human behavior.

The article presents the problem of animal death in the perspective of contemporary posthuman research in the field of animal studies. Manifestations of animal characters were discussed on the example of works by a contemporary Polish writer – Krystyna Kofta. Selected topics from Kofta’s works (Kot, Syf and Pawilon małych drapieżców) serve to illustrate the relationship between the fate of a woman and an animal as victims of patriarchal culture.

The subject of the article is the issue of human/non-human death, animal mourning, mimetic desire and death drive in the novel by Paul Auster, Timbuktu. Particularly noteworthy is the relationship between Willy G. Christmas (a man) and Mr. Bones (a dog), presented in the context of Donna Haraway’s concept of companion species. The fate of Mr. Bones after Willy’s death reveals different kinds of interspecies relationships: from taking care of a stray dog to its adoption and changing it into an oedipal animal. The suicidal death of the main non-human character can be perceived as a desire to meet Willy again in the underworld (Timbuktu) an expression of longing for a lost friend, and the act of repetition of Willy’s (human) death, but also as a conscious choice of the dog.

Celem artykułu jest zbadanie relacji pomiędzy zwierzęcością i śmiercią we współczesnej literaturze postkolonialnej pochodzącej z luzofońskiej części Afryki (czyli dawnych kolonii portugalskich), ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem powieści Wyznanie lwicy (A confissão da leoa) autorstwa mozambickiego pisarza Mii Couto. Jego twórczość znana jest z zainteresowania animizmem i tym, co nadprzyrodzone, stąd często kategoryzuje się ją pod szyldem „magicznego realizmu”. Jednakże w Wyznaniu lwicy Mia Couto zajmuje się raczej złożonym związkiem pomiędzy ludzką i zwierzęcą śmiercią, co wedle autora artykułu należy odczytywać z zupełnie innej perspektywy: wielorakie transmutacje postaci w fabule powieści wskazują na postkolonialne pragnienie renegocjowania granic pomiędzy zwierzęcością a tym, co (trans)ludzkie.

The paper consists of considerations about the harm of killing sentient animals and is inspired by the John Sanbonmatsu’s criticism of Peter Singer’s views, as well as elements of Tom Regan’s animal rights theory and Elizabeth Harman’s concept of animal stages. Selected criteria relevant to considerations about the acceptability of killing are analyzed, such as having a preference to live and a psychophysical identity over time, as well as the compatibility of philosophical views with the common intuition regarding the harm of taking life.

The Baroque emblem in an allegorical form conveys certain ideas to the reader. Man of the Baroque era perceived the world as a book. All elements of the universe served as signs, and certain ideas were conveyed with their help. The Baroque emblem, being a combination of the signs in question, represented an allegorical image. Death, the death of animals in particular, could teach a person a moral lesson, that is why the death of animals is represented quite widely in the emblem books. Emblems often contain a certain precept or denunciation of a vice, but they can point to a role model. Deer, lion, phoenix are represented most often in the emblems depicting the death of animals.

This paper aims at the problem of the representation of passivity in the selected Lucian Freud paintings. Artist depicts naked men, sleeping or possibly in the state of lethargy, accompanied by sleeping whippet dogs. Human nakedness appear as shameless, almost “animalistic”, contrasting thus sharply with the dog’s graceful and free poses. Artist claimed that he wanted to represent human animality, his nakedness and corporeality. His works disrupt traditional man-animal, culture-nature dichotomies. Man and dog together form a peculiar community of passivity, they accompany each other in the state of motionless rest and withdrawal from the world.

The article deals with the subject of art made with body parts of animals. The motive of a dead animal has been present in art since its beginning; in cave paintings and later in Flemish still lives. Yet it is contemporary art that tries to go even further. Instead of representing dead bodies, the artists simply use them. They could be “mere” dead flies, or giant sharks. Andrzej Pitrus discusses taxidermy, which normally is not considered a proper art, but many “real” artists use this technique as well. Some ethical issues are also discussed, because many of the works are nowadays sold for steep prices. Where does the critical art end, and exploitation start? It is hard to answer this question, which nevertheless sould be asked.

The Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation does not only guarantee respect for human dignity, but it also states that dignity of living beings is to be respected and protected. This article presents the concept of the aforementioned dignity, followed by an indication of the sources of many interpretation problems which can be caused by this neologism. Furthermore, an attempt was made to answer the question, based on an analysis of the Animal Protection Act provisions, whether the recognition under the law that animals have dignity, will translate into their better treatment, guaranteeing them welfare or decent death. The article also shows the position of the Federal Court in relation to the concept of dignity based on the case of giving permission to carry out animal testing.

The authors analyse the political dialogue regarding wolf protection between pro-nature nongovernmental organizations, hunters and politicians in Poland. Despite strong pressure of hunting lobbies legal status of the wolf has changed significantly, from animal heavily persecuted after Second World War to species strictly protected in whole country since 1998. In 21st century opposition towards wolf protection is fuelled by hunters and politicians connected with them. The analysis shown that strong voice of non-governmental organizations is needed to sustain wolf protection in Poland.

Books by Bernd Heinrich became very popular literature describing basic rules of functioning of ecosystems. Heinrich describes also working routine of scientists who try to discover those rules. In Heinrich’s writings, I note however a very visible link – which can be defined as covering animals’ death. In my text I try to unmask this fact. I also debate why this method of hiding animals’ death by using euphemisms and understatements is performed.

The Zoo Story to tytuł pracy Petera Friedla, która w 2007 roku stała się symbolem documenta 12 w Kassel. Austriacki artysta w głównej sali – documenta-Halle – umieścił naturalnej wielkości żyrafę, a właściwie jej wypchane ciało. Brownie, bo tak nazywała się żyrafa, od lat 90. była mieszkanką zoo w palestyńskiej Kalkilii. Zmarła w 2002 roku podczas drugiej intifady, kiedy ze strachu wywołanym bombardowaniem tragicznie wpadła na żelazne ogrodzenie. Friedl, posługując się ciałem zwierzęcia, chciał ustanowić nowy rodzaj narracji na temat konfliktu izraelsko-palestyńskiego: przenosząc do galerii fragment rzeczywistości Zachodniego Brzegu, miał przedstawić alternatywę zarówno wobec sprawozdawczych materiałów dokumentalnych prezentowanych w mediach, jak i wobec fabularyzowanych historii opowiadających o wojnie. [...]

W niniejszym tekście rozpatruję praktyki wykorzystywania zwierząt w sztuce, skupiając się przede wszystkim na przykładzie wystawy amerykańskiego artysty Jimmiego Durhama Boże dzieci, poematy, która prezentowana była w Muzeum Sztuki w Łodzi od marca do maja 2018 roku. Podejmuję próbę zarysowania kontekstu i przedstawienia różnorodności sposobów używania zwierząt przez artystów, jednocześnie odwołując się do kontrowersji wywoływanych podobnymi praktykami, wynikających z dysonansu między – często wątpliwym moralnie – procesem wykonawczym dzieł sztuki, a ich krytyczno-politycznym wydźwiękiem. [...]

Dziesiąta edycja Forum Etycznego, zatytułowana Moralny status zwierząt, odbyła się w dniach 20–22 czerwca 2018 roku w Uniwersytecie Pedagogicznym im. KEN w Krakowie, przy ul. Podchorążych 2. Był to jubileusz, gdyż Forum Etyczne odbywa się – z inicjatywy dr hab. prof. UP Doroty Probuckiej – już od 1998 roku, regularnie co dwa lata. Warto przypomnieć, że temat przewodni każdego dotychczasowego Forum Etycznego był odmienny, jednak zawsze związany z moralnością oraz wartościami etycznymi, jak Etyka i odpowiedzialność czy Współczesne oblicza dobra.

Emocje wpisane w egzystencję zwierząt. Między empatią a okrucieństwem. Red. Eugenia Łoch, Dariusz Piechota, Agnieszka Trześniewska. Wydawnictwo Naukowe Katedra, Gdańsk 2018 (Publikacja polskojęzyczna, wydana w miękkiej oprawie, 360 stron)

Kleur. Colours of Maastricht. Maastricht 2018. Team Programma & Innovatie, Gemeente Maastricht (eds.) (published in Dutch and English, paperback, 116 pp.)