Katarzyna Kowalczyk

This paper is a review of the book by Rémi Brague, titled The Law of God. A Philosophical History of the Alliance, in which he aims to analyze the concept of divine law, assuming „[...] that human activity is based on norms derived from a divine source.” The author analyses this concept historically and philosophically, and thus searches for its historical conditions and reasons for its existence. Focusing mainly on the Middle Ages, he undertakes a critique of modern times and the modern concept of law, according to which it is merely a convention. He stresses that in pre-modern times law was treated as objective, because it was given by God and was closely connected with religion. Such understanding of law was common in all traditions, the history of which the author is following, and it constitutes the very foundation of European culture. In spite of certain differences in interpreting the idea of law, resulting from differences in the doctrines of Judaism, Islam and Christianity, on the grounds of all of them law possesses divine features—as determined and revealed by God, eternal and inherent to the nature of being.

Saying is experiencing: Affective consequences of complaining and affirmation In four experiments mood was measured before and after complaining or affirmation. Participants complained or affirmed either themselves or listened to such communications of another person. Mood decreased after complaining and increased after affirmation — a "saying is experiencing" (SIE) effect. This effect was found also in the cognitive load condition suggesting that automatic mood contagion underlies the SIE effect rather than mechanisms based on self-perception or self-awareness. Appropriateness of a topic for complaining appeared a boundary condition of the SIE effect: When a topic was considered by participants the most appropriate for complaining, the act of showing dissatisfaction with the topic led to mood improvement.