Author Description

"The monograph opens an interdisciplinary discourse about the notion [of the soul] and the changes it has undergone over the centuries. (...) The aim of starting this interdisciplinary and international discussion on the phenomenon of the soul was to create a common research platform where to present the positions of representatives of different milieus within the humanities. (...) The monograph features studies by dozens of authors from research centres both in Poland and abroad. (...) The subject matter of the soul, spirit and spirituality is at the heart of the humanities, constituting a point of departure for research on the immaterial dimension of reality that connects the traditional and the present-day. Reflection about the essence of humanity and man’s existence in this world and questions about a continuation of this existence after physical death have accompanied mankind forever, no matter the time or place. The belief about a post-mortem form of being is attested in funerary rites conducted by both the primordial peoples and the advanced civilizations that have expressed the questions of the condition humana as religious and philosophical systems reflected in literature, the arts, the humanities, and language” (from the introduction by E. Masłowska).