The Department will conduct research in the field of philosophy of culture and rhetoric.

 

Philosophy of Culture

 

  • On the basis of realistic philosophy, research is being conducted on the current and future situation of Western civilization. Since 2001, every year since 2001, the Department's employees have been organizing International Symposia in the series “The Future of Western Civilization”. Until 2019, 18 such Symposia were held. The following issues were addressed: The future of Western civilization, Culture towards technology, Philosophy and education, Man and the State, Politics and religion, Evolutionism or creationism, Justice - ideas and reality, Terrorism - past and present, Civilizations towards multiculturalism, John Paul II against totalitarianism, Identity of the West in the face of global migration, Catholic University: threats and perspectives, Philosophy and civilizations, Pedagogy - science or ideology?.
  • The texts of the papers have been published in 7 volumes of materials, and in recent years they have been published in the philosophical journal “Man in Culture”, which is published by the employees of the Department. All issues of this journal are available on the website: http://www.czlowiekwkulturze.pl/
  • Since 2006, every year, at the Catholic University of Lublin the Department's employees have been organizing the “O. Jacek Woroniecki Memorial Lectures”, during which several days of classes and lectures are given by professors representing various scientific centers in Europe and the USA. So far they have been attended by: Prof. Peter Redpath (St. John's University, New York), Prof. Thomas A. Michaud (Wheeling Jesuit University, West Virginia), Prof. Brendan Sweetman (Rockhurst University, Kansas City), Curtis Hancock (Rockhurst University, Kansas City), Prof. Fulvio Di Blasi, Prof. Richard J. Fafara, Prof. Edward M. Macierowski, Prof. Stephen Chamberlain, Prof. John Dudley.

 

In the years 2020-2023, visits of further invited professors are planned, among others: prof. John P. Hittinger, Professor of Philosophy in the Center for Thomistic Studies, Director St John Paul II Institute, University of St. Thomas, Houston; prof. Curtis Hancock (Rockhurst Jesuit University, USA); prof. Thomas Michaud (Wheeling University, USA).

 

Rhetoric

 

In addition, the Department will continue research in the field of rhetoric in culture and start research on the philosophical basis of rhetoric. These areas seem to be important on rhetorical grounds and require rediscovering their wealth of contexts and codes in culture. Rhetorical communication in this area has been greatly enhanced by audiovisual means. However, both forms of argumentation and toposes in culture still benefit from a rich tradition dating back to Greek antiquity. At the same time, contemporary literature constantly emphasizes the combination of philosophy and rhetoric. This makes rhetoric more and more often the subject of research by philosophers, informal logicians and communication theorists. This is a reference to the classical rhetoric still strongly present in the research. This combination of old and modern threads of rhetorical communication will become the main research field of the Department. In this context the analysis of anthropological conditions of rhetorical communication will also be undertaken, with particular emphasis on the occurrence of persuasive processes in man himself. This issue touches upon the problem of credibility and anthropological mechanisms of persuasion, referring to human moral action, as well as the problem of human safety in rhetorical communication. The tasks outlined above will be realized by individual employees of the Department in the years 2019-2022.

The scientific and research work of the Department will be aimed at deepening the issues of rhetoric and developing them in terms of indicating the philosophical basis necessary for their interpretation. The realization of these tasks will also take place by organizing a scientific conference of at least national scope and preparing articles for journals and scientific monographs. The works of the Department will also focus on stimulating practical activities, consisting in the organization of demonstrations, workshops or speeches, illustrating on specific examples how motives function in rhetorical communication. It will aim at engaging students in detailed research in this area, which will become the basis for the diploma theses prepared within the seminar.