Ana Kuburić Zotova

This paper explores how a mindfulness disposition (defined as inclination and inner capacity of paying sustained, non-reactive attention to present-moment experience) influences cognitive information processing and epistemic performance. Drawing on a systematic review of psychological, neuroscientific, psychotherapeutic, and philosophical literature, it examines the cognitive effects of mindful awareness of experience. The reviewed studies report improvements in perceptual discrimination and comprehensiveness, interpretative accuracy, source evaluation, cognitive flexibility, and openness to alternative hypotheses. These processes are foundational and prerequisite for the development of key epistemic dispositions discussed in virtue epistemology and critical thinking theory – a topic that has rarely been addressed. The paper argues that while a mindfulness disposition enhances epistemic competence, its benefits become especially pronounced when combined with analytical and proactive skills. The analysis also considers parallels between secular mindfulness and experiential approaches in phenomenology, hermeneutics, and pragmatism, suggesting broader interpretative relevance.

The paper will show the results of a research on the role of religion in the reconciliation process that took place on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2012 to 2019. The first part of the paper will show the views of the general population from 2606 respondent. The second part will show a qualitative analysis of the content of the interview with the representatives of three traditional religious communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The interview was conducted from the summer of 2018 until spring 2019, with people who are prominent in their public role in society with professors of religious universities, religious school directors and religious teachers who were part of this sample, patrons of Orthodox, Islamic, Roman Catholic, Judaism and Protestant theologians. The results of the survey show that there are potentials for building a stable process of reconciliation. Primarily, the right to choose is for the common good of all citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to create an atmosphere of acceptance, understanding and respecting differences of members of different national backgrounds and religious traditions. There are many ways to realize the process of reconciliation, and those that are recognized are open dialogue about the past, admitting and apologizing, recognizing the victims and respecting their religious identity, giving special attention to minority groups that feel vulnerable in certain areas. Religion has potentials for reconciliation if their believers accept both the differences and the commonalities of others. Religious leaders, more than lay people, are in a position to contribute to reconciliation.

This article depicts empirical research conducted in the Western Balkans and Bulgaria (project Balkan Monitor 2006 conducted by the Gallup Europe) that is geared towards the trust that citizens have in national and international institutions, as well as people in general. Empirical research provides a realistic picture of trust as seen from the inside. According to the data collected, within the general population, the strongest percentage was given to neighbors, followed by the police and European Union. A considerable degree of attention was given to interreligious confidence and focus was placed on the number of adepts of a particular faith and the degree of confidence. From Islam, Orthodoxy and Catholicism to Protestantism, the degree of confidence diminishes, as well as the number of adherents, which points out to the relationship between minority and majority. The findings suggest that the degree of trust towards religious communities comes as a dominant attitude which means that these are the institutions that merit the greatest degree of trust. The exceptions are Albania and Kosovo where NATO comes first, whereas in Serbia NATO comes last. Ex- communists enjoy trust from 4% of the respondents whereas 24% completely rejects them. 8% of the respondents have a lot trust in people in general whereas 9% have no trust in people at all. For the purposes of this paper we will depict only a number of questions related to the degree of trust in various countries.