Archiwum Filozofii Prawa i Filozofii Społecznej

Journal of the Polish Section of IVR (ISSN:2082-3304)

IVR

Animal welfare under socialism: Anthropocentrism, instrumentalization, and ideology in the GDR

Dr hab. Martyna Łaszewska-Hellriegel, prof. UZ

University of Zielona Góra

Pomeranian University of Słupsk

English abstract: This article investigates the German Democratic Republic’s (GDR) approach to animal welfare through the lens of Marxist ideology, focusing on the tension between utilitarian principles and anthropocentric values. It aims to analyze how the GDR’s socialist framework, which prioritized collective welfare and economic productivity, influenced its policies toward animals, often reducing them to mere instruments for human benefit. The study assumes that the GDR’s Marxist ideology shaped its policies and practices, including those related to animal welfare. It employs a methodological approach that comprises an analysis of official state policies, propaganda materials, and dissenting voices from that period. By examining these sources, the article seeks to uncover the ideological underpinnings and practical outcomes of the GDR’s approach to animal welfare. The research reveals that the GDR’s animal welfare policies were deeply rooted in anthropocentrism and utilitarianism, prioritizing industrial efficiency and agricultural output over ethical considerations. Despite its socialist rhetoric, the GDR often treated animals as economic resources, highlighting a contradiction between its professed commitment to socialist humanism and its actual treatment of non-human beings. The study also identifies broader ideological conflicts inherent in applying Marxist principles to animal welfare, particularly the difficulty in reconciling economic priorities with ethical concerns. This article contributes to the growing field of interspecies ethics by providing a unique examination of animal welfare within a state socialist system. It offers new insights into the complexities of applying Marxist ideology to non-human entities, shedding light on the tensions between utilitarian practices and ethical imperatives. By analysing the GDR’s approach, the study not only enriches historical understanding but also provides a framework for contemporary discussions on sustainable agriculture, animal rights, and the ethical dimensions of human-animal relationships.

Keywords: GDR (German Democratic Republic), animal welfare, Marxist ideology, anthropocentrism, utilitarianism, animal rights

Language: English

Published: Number 3(44)/2025, pp. 20-37.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2025.3.20

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Number of downloads: 144

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The influence of Marxism on the interpretation of law in Poland (some remarks concerning the theory of legal interpretation by Jerzy Wróblewski)

Dr hab. Joanna Helios, prof. UWr

Dr hab. Wioletta Jedlecka, prof. UWr

University of Wrocław

English abstract: The aim of this article is an attempt to conceptualize Jerzy Wroblewski’s theory of legal interpretation in the context of examining the influence of Marxism on interpretative practices. One of the legal theorists who undertook the task of demonstrating that Jerzy Wroblewski’s theory of interpretation is characterized by a philosophical stance rooted in the adoption of Marxist premises as the foundational philosophical assumptions underlying theoretical activities in legal science is Zbigniew Pulka. This article discusses three topics: (1) the Marxist philosophical stance – Marxist axiology, (2) people’s legal interpretation, (3) the clarificatory concept of interpretation.

Keywords: interpretation, Marxism, communism, J. Wróblewski, clarificatory concept of interpretation

Language: English

Published: Number 3(44)/2025, pp. 7-19.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2025.3.7

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Number of downloads: 198

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Issue 1(42)/2025 of the „Archiwum…” is now available

Welcome to the issue 1(42)/2025 of the „Archiwum Filozofii Prawa i Filozofii Społecznej”. The issue begins with acknowledgments addressed to Dr Paweł Skuczyński for his commitment and many years of work in the Editorial Board of the „Archiwum Filozofii Prawa i Filozofii Społecznej” (the text can be found here). The issue includes the following texts:

Articles:

Dr Filip CYUŃCZYK

Constitutionalized by the Past. The Role of National Identity and Collective Sense of Experience in Central European Constitutionalization

Dr Paweł KŁOS

Information Civilization and the Law: Significance of Limiting Factors. Introductory Insights

Dr Paulina KONCA

Judicial Update of the Meaning of a Legal Text in Three Questions

Prof. dr hab. Beata POLANOWSKA-SYGULSKA

Around Selected Themes in the Moral Philosophy of Joseph Raz: Part I

Dr Martyna PŁUDOWSKA, Prof. dr hab. Andrzej SĘKOWSKI

Psychological Competences of Mediators. Selected Aspects of Creative Thinking in the Process of Mediated Conflict Resolution

Dr hab. Tomasz WIDŁAK, prof. UG

Pygmalion’s Digital Dream: An Outline of Legal-Philosophical Problems of Human Digital Twins in Medical Applications

 

Reviews:

Dr Joanna M. DUTKA

Bartosz Wojciechowski, Tożsamość narracyjna jako warunek autentycznej podmiotowości prawnej [Narrative Identity as a Condition for True Legal Subjectivity], series: Jurysprudencja [Jurisprudence], t. 21, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, Łódź 2023, pp. 180

The issue is available here.

Call for Papers – 31.03.2025

All interested researchers are invited to submit proposals for articles to be included in the thematic issue of “Archiwum Filozofii Prawa i Filozofii Społecznej”. The provisional title of the issue is “Freedom of speech of a university teacher: Between the known and the unknown”. It will consist of English and Polish-language texts.

The aim of the volume is to take a multifaceted look at the above-mentioned problem area. The issues addressed may cover fields such as: freedom to conduct scientific research and to communicate the results obtained; freedom of expression in academic teaching; autonomy and self-governance of higher education institutions. The framework of the volume includes analyses of relevant laws (from Polish or any other jurisdiction), historical-legal research and philosophical reconstructions of the idea of the university and the academic ethos, as well as socio-cultural diagnoses of the specific situation of the contemporary academy in Poland and worldwide.

As an invitation to collectively identify what we know about the scope of academic freedom of expression, and what remains unclear and thus requires further research and discussion, we present the following sample questions for consideration:

  1. What expectations are formulated in the broadly understood public debate about academic research and teaching practice? To what extent do values such as truth, the development of knowledge, and the practical usefulness of results inform these expectations?
  2. What are the limits of academic freedom of expression? Should its scope be different from the freedom of expression of those who do not have such a role? Does the role in question affect the scope of the freedom of expression he or she expresses outside the purely professional sphere (research and teaching), for example in public debate or in the private sphere?
  3. What factors determine the limits of a university teacher’s freedom of expression? To what extent does the scope of this freedom depend on the context of a given society (historical, cultural, etc.)?
  4. How do the changes in the structure of social communication brought about by the development of new technologies, in particular the Internet, affect the freedom of expression of an academic teacher?
  5. To what extent is academic discourse responsible for the state of the public sphere? With regard to this question, is it possible to make a generalisation about people in the academy, or does the specific field they represent have an impact on the answer?
  6. Should the academy maintain neutrality in relation to ongoing political disputes at the domestic and global levels? If so, what precisely constitutes such neutrality? If not, what are the limits and requirements for the academy and its individual representatives to engage in such disputes?

The volume will be edited by Dr Paweł Jabłoński (UWr), Prof Przemysław Kaczmarek (UWr) and Dr Mateusz Wojtanowski (UWr) as the fourth issue of the “Archiwum” in 2025. Article proposals should be sent to mateusz.wojtanowski2@uwr.edu.pl by 31 March 2025. Texts have to be prepared according to the editorial standards used by the “Archiwum” (detailed guidelines for authors are available at: https://archiwum.ivr.org.pl/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Editorial-standards-ENG-zm.1.docx, with a maximum of 35,000 characters, including spaces and footnotes). For any further information, please contact the editors of the volume: pawel.jablonski@uwr.edu.pl, przemyslaw.kaczmarek@uwr.edu.pl, mateusz.wojtanowski2@uwr.edu.pl

Issue 3(40)/2024 of the „Archiwum…” is now available

Welcome to the issue 3(40)/2024 of the „Archiwum Filozofii Prawa i Filozofii Społecznej”. The issue includes the following texts:

Articles:

Prof. UMK dr hab. Łukasz DOMINIAK

Libertarianism, Jusnaturalist Skepticism, and the Argument from the Legitimate Use of Force

Michał KORDZIŃSKI

The European Union as a Community of Well-Ordered Peoples? Object-Oriented Interpretation of John Rawls’ Law of Peoples. A Contribution to Future Research

Dr Wiktor KRZYMOWSKI

About the Pro-Constitutional Interpretative Directive In Dubio Pro Vita Humana

Prof. UŁ dr hab. Jerzy LESZCZYŃSKI

Political Agonism and Thinking About Law and Jurisprudence

Mgr Grzegorz LIPIŃSKI

The Understanding of Principles in Criminal Procedural Law

Mikołaj TRUSZKOWSKI

Formulating the Provisions on Entry into Force of a Generally Applicable Normative Act: Critical Analysis Engendered by the 2023 Act Amending the Electoral Code

Revews:

Mgr Agata DĄBROWSKA, Prof. UŁ dr hab. Jerzy LESZCZYŃSKI

Wojciech Zomerski, W kierunku demokratycznej nauki prawa? Dogmatyka, edukacja, postanalityczność. Warsaw 2023, pp. 383

Reports:

Dr Mateusz PĘKALA

I Górska Rajdokonferencja Filozofii Prawa Społeczny wymiar rządów prawa, Beskid Żywiecki, 12–14.04.2024

The issue is available HERE.

Formulating the Provisions on Entry into Force of a Generally Applicable Normative Act: Critical Analysis Engendered by the 2023 Act Amending the Electoral Code

Mikołaj Truszkowski

Lodz University 

English abstract: This article critically analyses the provisions on entry into force, based on the provisions of the 2023 Act Amending the Electoral Code, which made the entry into force of certain normative solutions dependent on a deadline specified in the announcement of the competent centralnauthority of state administration. However, this construction is not found in the directives for the construction of legal acts, specified in the Principles of Legislative Technique of 2002. Additionally, the article also draws attention to legal problems resulting from the use of such blameworthy legislative practice, including in the context of the presumption of widespread familiarity with the law. Moreover, this announcement, in accordance with statutory regulations, was subject to promulgation in the Journal of Laws of the Republic of Poland, although this is not reflected in the Act on the Promulgation of Normative Acts and Certain Other Legal Acts. Therefore, this legislative maneouvre should be considered unacceptable and, consequently, in some cases, inconsistent with Article 2 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, which establishes the principle of a democratic rule-of-law state. In order to justify the presented thesis statement, the author analyses the provisions of the Act Amending the Electoral Code, discusses the conceptual apparatus and theoretical constructs in the context of law-making practice, using the hermeneutical and formal-dogmatic methods. The research opens up the field for broader considerations on compliance with the Principles of Legislative Technique in the law-making process.

Keywords: legislative technique, legislation, statute, legislative process, the Sejm (lower chamber of the Polish Parliament)

Language: Polish

Published: nr 3(40)/2024, pp. 68-77.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2024.3.68

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Number of downloads: 205

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The Understanding of Principles in Criminal Procedural Law

mgr Grzegorz Lipiński

University of Szczecin

English abstract: The aim of this article is to present various ways of defining the principles of law in criminal procedural law and to examine whether the science of the Polish criminal procedure draws on the achievements of general theory of law or whether it attempts to create its own concept in this regard. In this study, in order to answer the research question, an analysis is conducted of both current and historical perception of principles in the criminal procedure and an assessment is made of the extent to which individual authors rely on the traditional model of perception of the principles of law, or whether they apply their own viewpoint in this regard due to what they see as particularities of the criminal procedure or the incompatibility of general concepts. The result of the presented work is an answer to the question how the principles of law are perceived in the Polish criminal procedure, taking into account the division into the principles of criminal procedure, the main principles of criminal procedure in an abstract or concrete understanding, the principles of criminal proceedings as defined or undefined principles, codified or uncodified ones, or as codified and defined principles, codified and undefined ones, or uncodified ones, as well as lists of these principles and their systems.

Keywords: criminal proceedings, theory of law, principles of law

Language: Polish

Published: nr 3(40)/2024, pp. 54-67.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2024.3.54

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Number of downloads: 201

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Political Agonism and Thinking About Law and Jurisprudence

prof. UŁ dr hab. Jerzy Leszczyński

Lodz University

English abstract: The article contains a polemic with the thesis that populism and the unveiling of the hitherto hidden political nature of law have resulted in a crisis of legal discourses. In addition, it argues against recognizing democratic/liberal hegemony as the main cause of these phenomena. Criticism of democratic liberalism from a political point of view provides little basis for announcing that jurisprudence has lost its credibility and its reconstruction should mean the overt politicization of legal discourses. Such a position is not an element of Ch. Mouffe’s agonistic theory. On the contrary, the project of agonistic democracy assumes maintaining legal democratic institutions that require political neutrality. The rule of law and the law meeting the requirements of the normative idea of law should be considered as political demands. Only then can law as normativity be contrasted with the factuality of law as the sovereign’s decision. This duality is visible in the concept of the state of emergency (C. Schmitt). To a large extent, the article is a polemic with the works of A. Sulikowski.

Keywords: agonism, Mouffe, politicalness, law, rule of law, Sulikowski

Language: Polish

Published: nr 3(40)/2024, pp. 41-53.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2024.3.41

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Number of downloads: 195

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