Volume XIII (2008)

The legal nature of the right to life is a fundamental aspect of any discussion regarding the exercitation of this right by any human being. Therefore the State must respect a person’s right to life, if this right has a correlation in the person’s right to choose death can only be explained juridically by determining first the legal nature of the right to life. The thesis this article argues for is that the right to life contains two elements: a personal right to life, which appears as soon as a person is conceived, and a detached right to life, which belongs to society in general beginning with the moment when the foetus is viable. The first element which forms the right to life ceases at the moment when the person dies, while, sometimes, the detached right ceases or appears as a diminished social interest beginning with a moment anterior to death. Under these conditions, the legal nature of the right to life is situated during most of a person’s life at the confluence of the notions right and liberty. The paper argues for that, in principle, the right to life is not a liberty, therefore one cannot give it up in a valid way. However, in certain situations, the detached right to life may be diminished to such an extent that the right to life can pass as a liberty, composed in fact of the personal and subjective right to live which anyone may give up in a valid way. Consequently, as regards the voluntary interference with the right to life, the state cannot be obliged to give assistance to suicide, but it can be compelled to accept the impunity of euthanasia in certain conditions analyzed in the study.

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This paper traces the ethical consequences implicit in the collapse of the animal/human boundary. This boundary became suspect as early as the mid-17th century, but it was Darwinian evolution that gave the lethal blow to the distinction. There are two aspects in which the concept of evolution by natural selection gained ethical relevance: the one is the evolution of ethics, the other is the ethics of evolution. Although Darwin himself was engaged mostly in the former, his social scientist followers, such as Herbert Spencer, elaborated on the latter. However, whereas the Social Darwinists pretended to justify values on a scientific basis, their theories were based on the uncritical identification of their pre-existent value choices with the “ways of nature.” After the resurgence of biological inquiries into morality following World War II, leading sociobiologist E. O. Wilson claimed that the biologization of ethics is unavoidable. However, his results were self-contradictory that further left the main focus of ethics untouched and were prone to fall back into Social Darwinism. Environmental ethicists also capitalize on the Darwinian notion of the evolution of ethics. While their effort to use evolution as a justification for particular moral practices is still questionable, their interpretation of living structures as adapted normative systems is far more promising. The critical examination of the fact/value dichotomy in relation to moral as well as amoral living systems is crucial in a biologically sensitive moral philosophy that wants to avoid the pitfalls of its predecessors.

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In my article I demonstrate the motivation theoretical connections of philosophical praxis / counseling. I argue that this approach is capable of clarifying the peculiarity of this new discipline of applied philosophy as philosophy, and the range of its competence and relation to other assistance professions, accordingly (psychotherapy, pedagogy, social work, etc). According to the article’s approach, philosophical praxis is not merely the application of philosophy to independently appearing life problems, but is itself a kind of practice, or in the language of tradition the praxis of theory (Aristotle), which at the same time always means life practice/philosophy. In the words of Czech philosopher Jan Patočka, it is “such a universal enlightening, which does not derive from the light of meaning, but is inflamed by life, when stumbling upon the hard cornerstones of its boundaries”.

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This article investigates the meanings of life in political philosophy. There are two answers to the question concerning the legitimacy of life in political philosophy. The first, negative answer is connected to Arendt, the second is connected to Michel Foucault, who delineated the genesis of biopolitics in Western tradition and argued that, ever since the classical age, “deduction” based on the practice of sovereign power has become merely one element in a range of mechanisms working to generate, incite, reinforce, control, monitor, optimize, and organize the forces of life. Nowadays, the capacity to manipulate our bare biological life, rather than simply govern the aspects of forms of life, implies biopolitics which contests how and when we use these technologies and for what purposes. The author of this article emphasizes the significance of the common treatment of biopolitics and sovereignty. Political philosophy demonstrates that there is irreducible difference between these types of power, but it is necessary to analyze them simultaneously. There are several tendencies (for example, biosecurity) that prove the importance of sovereign power for the practice of biopolitics. Nevertheless, sovereignty without biopolitics is exposed to weaknesses and regression. The task for political philosophy is to articulate the dynamic relations between sovereignty and biopolitics today.

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The aim of this paper is to show that terrorism is such a usage of death which essentially is inseparable from the secret. We could describe terrorism as the breeding ground of terror and anxiety turned into an instrumentand evoked by death-causing, respectively by death-causing presented as constantly possible – that is: threatening – in its secret unidentifiability. For the power of terror consists exactly in the quite particular instrumentalization of death, as well as of man’s attitude towards death – especially the instrumentalization of the fear of death. One basic and essential characteristics and aspect of this instrumentalization is the secret. It is exactly the secret that organizes, articulates, wraps and brings to reality terrorists as individuals, terrorist organizations, their activity, aims, instruments, members, plans and in short all their deeds. In the terrorist act exactly “this” secret blows fatally into (and often also blows up in) the public… Therefore the secret is not “one” feature or “attribute” of death-causing terrorism, on the contrary, it is the atmosphere and the horizon in which terrorism is outlined as the mode of existence of the being called “man” – and in which, hence, it must be considered. Consequently, the war on terrorism (too) should/must widen into a “fight” against the denial of death. A fight which should/must be fought (after all) not only and not exclusively and mainly on the secret fields, but, on the contrary, in the depth and womb of history – which becomes more and more visible in the fractures of history by means of present day terrorism.

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Besides birth and death, marriage represents one of the fundamental demographic phenomena through which we can diagnose a population. The introduction of civil marriage into Transylvania by means of law XXXI, XXXII and XXXIII from 1894 represented a breaking-point which opened the way for extensive transformations regarding society and mentality in the communities referred to. The impact caused by the introduction of civil marriage equalled the announced changes: both the society and the authorities reacted in a specific way to the anticipated “forcible modernization”.

The present study investigates the discourse regarding the introduction of civil marriage from the Transylvanian press of the years 1893, 1894, 1895 (I am referring to a series of newspapers and periodicals such as Foaia Poporului, Gazeta de Transilvania, Telegraful român, Unirea, Familia, Minerva, Vulturul, Calicul etc.), analyzed on the basis of studies written on this issue and archival materials. Three interpretative levels are suggested: primary level – the official discourse of civil authorities regarding the necessity of these laws –, secondary level – the resistance of the clergy against the introduction of civil marriage seen as a measure with serious moral consequences – and the third level intending to analyze the public opinion and the attitude of Transylvanian people towards civil laws from the end of the 19^th century.

All these categories of sources and the interpretative levels aim to diagnose and analyze the attitudes for or against (as well as the arguments used by both sides) the introduction of civil marriage as a modernizing factor of the Transylvanian society at the end of the 19^th century.

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The analysis of the Săpânţa cultural phenomenon requires first of all the considering of the relation between tradition and innovation, and the manner it manifests itself in the cemetery of Săpânţa. Even if the painted, tall and narrow funerary crosses so peculiar for Săpânţa have performed the role of a substitute of the defunct, being at the same time the display surface for the epitaphs generally celebrating life, I still consider them an innovation introduced by Ioan Stan Pătraş. He intuitively exploited the local traditions of poetry, painting and architecture. Confusions still exist also with regard to the chronology of Pătraş’ concept; however, I advance the opinion that Pătraş’ art dates back to 1934.

The funerary inscriptions from Săpânţa have been considered, at least on the level of public opinion and present-day oral culture, as expressions of a secular and even socialist morality. However, I claim that they are an integral part of the system of popular aesthetic attitudes with a defensive value, emphasizing the value of life and the community axiologies which perpetuate themselves even after death.

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The present article discusses the problem of language in the historical works of August Treboniu Laurian, an important man of culture and a revolutionary from the middle of the 19^th century. The paper analyses the stylistic elements, contextualizing the presence and conformation of these indicators, often varying from one work to the other. The paper discusses elements of spelling, vocabulary, and historical terminology, which is Laurian’s case take on a Latinist form, standing as evidence for his purist conviction appearing in most of his works. Moreover, these aspects are also treated from the perspective of their contribution to the historiographic expression of the 19^thcentury. A major point of the article is the attempt to place the structure of Laurian’s work in Hayden White’s famous scheme for 19th century historians (presented in his Metahistory), in which the consideration and relating of a historical construction follows the direction of formal argument, structure, ideological implication, and basic stylistic devices.

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The aim of this study is to outline how the cultural model of the hero-traitor functioned in the second half of the 20^th century. The investigation focuses on the case study of the communist martyr hero, Lazăr of Rusca’s figure, heroized in the context of the political show trial of Timişoara held in the summer of 1949 and diffused by the propaganda machinery of the communist regime from Bucharest (party press, literature, monuments, denominations); on another level, we take into consideration the two modalities of representing Lazăr of Rusca in the rural community he came from: a) the way in which he was depicted by the anticommunist partisans and b) the image outlined by the narrative of the family members, which applies strategies for preserving the social prestige of the family in the post-socialist period.

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The study analyzes from an aesthetic and a hermeneutical point of view three music pieces expressing sorrow and paint. The first is the memorable passage of J. S. Bach’s St. John Passion reproducing Christ’s last sorrowful words – es ist vollbracht, the second, the Andante doloroso of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 31. in A-flat major, Op. 110, and the third the final movement of Tchaikovsky’s sixth and last symphony, the SymphonyPathétique.

In all three the intercategorial reflections place us into states of our emotionally experienced existence such as the forms of sorrow, loss, trials sometimes heightened to the extent of paroxysm. In the aesthetic approach of these compositions we find the numerous versions of fear, anxiety, fright, and in these always resounds the Aristotelian memento of fear and pity.

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The paper presents the engravings made by Theodor Aman, a 19^th century Romanian artist, preserved in the Special Collections Department of the Lucian Blaga Central University Library, donated by Gheorghe Sion to the institution in 1923. Theodor Aman, who learned the various techniques of engraving in Paris, was mainly interested in Romanian history and traditions, representing in his works prominent historical figures, scenes from national history, characteristic Romanian customs and figures. A pioneer of Romanian graphic art he elevated the art of engraving to the rank of art in Romania.

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The present paper tries to emphasize aspects related to the life and activity of Károly Szabó, prominent personality of the Hungarian culture in Transylvania in the 19^th century, well-known historian and bibliographer.

Károly Szabó was first librarian of the Transylvanian Museum Society beginning with the year 1860, first Director of the Cluj University Library in the period 1872–1890, Professor of the History Department of the Ferencz József Royal Hungarian University in cluj and the Rector of this institution in the academic year 1882–1883.

He lived between 1824 and 1890 and dedicated his entire life, all his energies and creative power to old Hungarian history, the study of historical sources in their original languages (he was familiar with several classical and modern languages), the translation of numerous texts, the elaboration and editing of a considerable number of books, studies and articles, and to his library and bibliographic work. His bibliographic activity resulted in his chief work entitled: Régi Magyar Könyvtár (Old Hungarian Bibliography) which is the basis of all modern Hungarian retrospective bibliographical works, and its author, Károly Szabó is considered the founder of Hungarian national bibliography. This work, which consists of 3300 pages contained by 4 volumes, belongs to the first patrimonial collections owned by the Lucian Blaga Central University Library in Cluj.

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This paper presents the development, functioning and importance of the national and international interlibrary loan and document delivery service of the Lucian Blaga Central University Library. Interlibrary loan is a service meant to ensure citizens’ fundamental right to information. By its means readers can obtain certain original documents or copies missing from a library’s collections from another library from the country or from abroad. The continuously increasing number of readers, and the small funds allocated for purchasing new publications greatly increases the importance of this service in our library.

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The paper presents the collection and activity of the Media Centre of the French Cultural Centre in Cluj. Being part of a worldwide network of French cultural institutions, the Media Centre helps its visitors in their French language studies, offers them information on France and Francophone countries, on French culture and society. As a media centre its collection comprises besides books and periodicals a great number of CDs, DVDs and videotapes. By means of this varied collection and cultural programmes and events which take place here the media centre encourages the dialogue between cultures and cultural exchanges.

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