The Author discussed in his article the problem of ethic foundations of promoters of psychohistory. He argues that psychotherapeutic inclinations of scholars resulted in the alienation of this approach within historical sciences, what — in the end — did not prevent psychohistorians from becoming active outside the closed circle of the discipline.

The Author discussed in his article the problem of ethic foundations of promoters of psychohistory. He, argues that psychotherapeutic inclinations of scholars resulted in the alienation of this approach within historical sciences, what - in the end - did not prevent psychohistorians from becoming active outside the closed circle of the discipline.

The article discusses the issue of proper names defined as symptoms of culture. The first part is of a theoretical character and develops the theory of symptomatology of culture in the context of semiotics (Ch. Peirce), psychology and psychoanalysis (S. Freud and J. Lacan), and onomastics. Symptomatology of culture is a practice of interpreting a certain group of texts of culture and extracting common qualitative traits within them. This is especially in the case of those traits specific to them and often encountered, which could testify to particular serious and deeply-rooted social phenomena leading to their appearance. In the empirical part the author presents a way of using (onymic) symptomatology in practice to research modern culture. She uses the examples of popular psychological and auto-therapeutic guidebooks and treats them as linguistic symptomatic forms of the most significant linguistic and cultural phenomena along with their social causes and functions which are often dysfunctional or abnormal in character. The analysis comprises the most typical conceptual and syntactic constructions encountered in the group.

The article begins by briefly introducing the main points of Freud’s approach to dream interpretation. Then, against this background, we discuss Wittgenstein’s understanding of dream interpretation, referring to both his personal dreams and his comparison of dreams with movies. The purpose of this article is to analyze some of Wittgenstein’s descriptions of dreams. At the core of his interpretation, unlike with Freud’s unconscious, is the idea of consciously perceiving a meaningful relationship between the dreamer’s mental state when awake and the content of his or her dream. The discovery of this relationship can, according to Wittgenstein, be achieved in various ways, for example by comparing dreams to movie presentations.

In these remarks I make the attempt to draw a picture of the tradition, as well the modern forms of panpsychism, parapsychology and psychoanalysis. What connects these notions is situating those notions either outside the disciplines or at least on the edge of them. The problem is not just the fact that they did experienced various transformations and some of them did get closer to the criteria of being scientific. And on other occasions they distanced themselves from those criteria. Another issue is the fact that these criteria also changed what was considered scientific in one period, in another was perceived as pseudoscience, quasiscience or even parascientific. It had and still has to this day an important influence on what is often higher regarded in social terms. ie. pseudo- and quasiscientific theories rather than real science.

The author presents the concept of man in the philosophy of Erich Fromm. The article consists of two parts. In the first part, the author presents how Fromm characterised the existential situation of man; in the second part he describes love as the main factor in the action and development of a human being. Man is part of nature, subjected to the rules of its laws, but he also transcends nature by the ability to use mind. A human subject is aware of his/her limitations and weaknesses with regard to nature. He/she feels lost and lonely in relation to other people and the natural world. Therefore, s/he looks for the frame of orientation and references. This search is the most important existential problem. Love is the solution to all problems of human existence. According to Fromm, man is the subject of love.

The issue of unconsciousness, correlated with the topic of a human’s sexual life, is one of the most significant philosophical trends in Nikolai Berdyaev. Focusing on this issue, the Russian thinker perceives the ambiguous assessment of psychoanalysis as the groundbreaking phenomenon of his times. Berdyaev’s attitude towards Sigmund Freud’s and Carl G. Jung’s theories oscillates between approval and negation, and is shaped on the plane of ontological deconstruction. According to Berdyaev, psychoanalysis allows people to realize the presence of gender energy as well as indicates the need for sublimation. However, the transformation of sex drive into the source of production is not possible without the spiritual principle – something that is not taken into consideration in psychoanalysis, which is, as Berdyaev claims, its greatest weakness.

The article presents Tennessee Williams’ play Suddenly Last Summer (1958) which is little-known in Poland. It was written while the playwright started to undergo a psychoanalytic therapy and is commonly considered as one of his most personal plays. The author of the article puts the play in the context of Williams family life, especially his sister’s mental disorder (which lead to unsuccessful lobotomy), his relationship with his mother and his father and his own mental health problems. An important theme of the play is cruelty, present as well in other Williams dramatic works (for example Orpheus Descending or Sweet Bird of Youth) and evident particularly in a short story Desire and the Black Masseur written shortly before famous A Streetcar Named Desire. Another theme is the sacred, often present in Williams’ work as a reference both to Christianity and ancient pagan rituals.

This article considers the role of the sister figure in Bruno Jasieński's early verse. His poems as well as various facts from his biography leave little doubt that this highly significant role was filled by Irena Zysman, his sister. The key to the dialectic of her presence/absence in the poet's life and work is to be found in the concept of melancholy. Although Jasieński would hardly be credited with that kind of sensibility, the relationship with his sister does show that melancholy was part of his psychological makeup. Moreover, by bringing in psychoanalytical analysis, the article shows how his melancholy morphed into mania, a transformation which in a way fuelled his political engagement.

This article explores the darkened and rarely visited zones of Maria Dąbrowska’s Noce i dnie [ Nights and Days] (1932–1934), a tetralogy of novels usually read as a realist family saga. In its broad panorama children and childhood have a very important place, yet what seems to have largely been ignored is the enigmatic nature of childhood and child's role as a locus of mystery. With the help of tropes of the folk imaginarium (primarily the iconic Grimms’ Fairy Tales), and conceptual tools borrowed from Sigmund Freud, Bruno Bettelheim, Jacques Lacan and Julia Kristeva, the article analyzes Dąbrowska’s multi‑layered and elusive characters, caught up in an endless strife trying in vain to tame the chaos within themselves and to get to grips with the threatening uncanniness of the world outside.