The book by professor Stanisław Kowalczyk, renowned scholar in the field of social philosophy, is, without doubt, one of the most important studies on the idea of freedom. The concept of freedom is as old as mankind. It has many meanings and has been interpreted in many different ways. For instance, we also have the word „liberty," which means „freedom or right" and is synonymous with the word freedom, which means „the condition of being free." The author indicates that (...) in our times the notion of freedom is most frequently used; however, it is often misused or deceptive. Mass media and people of all walks of life talk of liberty; everyone talks of freedom and, for many, it is the highest value. Longing for freedom is rooted in the heart of every human being, for freedom is an existential correlate and the fulfilment of the rational human being. The semantic confusion about the notion of freedom leads to many misuses of the concept. Personalism, as a philosophical concept in which a person stands in the centre of all discussion, serves as a framework for the author's delineation on the concept of freedom. He further states that the appropriate understanding of this value is possible in the context of the personalistic interpretation of a human being. This is the focus of this informative and insightful book. (shrink)

Artykuł analizuje problem kosztów powstałych w wyniku realizacji obowiązku udzielenia pomocy osobie znajdującej się w niebezpieczeństwie. Autorzy prezentują trzy odmienne stanowiska dotyczące tego problemu, rozważając scenariusz, w którym osoba decyduje się, z własnej woli lub przymuszona za pomocą prawa, uratować inną osobę, w sytuacji, w której taka pomoc wiąże się z naruszeniem praw trzeciej strony. Przykładowo, A ratuje tonącego B, ale w trakcie ratowania narusza prawa C. Pytanie, które stawiają autorzy brzmi: zakładając, że istnieje obowiązek udzielenia pomocy osobie znajdującej się (...) w niebezpieczeństwie, kto powinien ponieść koszty odszkodowania za naruszenie praw trzeciej strony? Autorzy rozważają następujące możliwości: koszty pomocy powinny zostać poniesione przez (a) ratującego, (b) osobę, której prawa zostały naruszone, (c) ratowanego, (d) całe społeczeństwo. (shrink)

In its formative period the state welds together groups of kindred language, religion and customs. A nation bereft of a state structure has a small prospect of survival, since it is weaker than nations which possess their own apparatus of force. The former is constantly endangered and is often helpless before the latter. The struggle for statehood is hence the most conscious expression of the effort to maintain national distinctness. Moreover, a nation deprived of statehood enjoys small prestige among its (...) own group members, nor can it create an image which arouses the respect of other nations.A striking phenomenon in the investigation of the state and the nation is the parallelism in the condition of their origin.The nation thus arises as a result of an extended processes of integration ; white the consolidating nature of national awareness makes it analogue of the state organization as a universa[ organization.It is possible to distinguish three types of nation-building processes :a) within the framework of native state organization which arises directly as a result of an external threat,b) within the bouddaries of farmer colonies which are accepted as the national state borders,c) the shaping of national entities of the foundation of federated forms of the state.An analysis of the different variants of historica[ experience suggests certain general propositions :1. The emergence of the state, or at least of a state organism, as a rule precedes the formation of the nation ;2. because of its general all-embracing character the state organization is the decisive factor of the nation-building process.The author deals also with the problem of the federal state and the national question. The different types of federations influence the national problem in different ways. (shrink)

In this paper we argue that the human form should be seen to exist, in a longitudinal way, throughout the continuum of human growth and development. This entails that the moral value of that form, which we link analytically to the adult, interacting, social and rational being, attaches to all phases of human life to some extent. Having established this we discuss the consequences it has for the moral status of the human embryo. We then apply this argument, and the (...) resulting moral status, to the area of reproductive technology. In doing this we show that there are certain regulations and controls which ought to apply to the use of these infertility treatments. (shrink)

The article reviews the book Philosophia Vitam Alere. Prace dedykowane Profesorowi Romanowi Darowskiemu SJ z okazji 70-lecia urodzin, edited by Stanisław Ziemiański S.J.

The Cognitive Science of Religion represents a contemporary attempt at a naturalistic explanation of religion. There is debate as to whether its account of how religious beliefs arise is reconcilable with the religious account, which holds that religious beliefs are caused by God. In my paper, I argue that these two accounts cannot be reconciled when it comes to the specific question of how Christian religious beliefs arise if one accepts an important theological doctrine of the supernaturality of Christian belief. (...) This doctrine implies that there can be no natural explanation for how Christian beliefs arise because they are a gift of divine grace. This leads to a conundrum for Christian theists: they can either reject the CSR account of how their religious beliefs arise, or they can reject the supernaturality of Christian belief. I argue that the latter is preferable. I then draw on the work of the theologian Denis Edwards to illustrate how one can drop this doctrine without abandoning some other fundamental tenets of Christian theology. (shrink)

In his book Między ukryciem a jawnością [Between Hiddenness and Openness] (2023), Professor Jacek Wojtysiak argues that on the assumption of atheistic naturalism, no convincing explanation can be given for the ‘great fact of faith,’ that is, the phenomenon of the historical persistence and universality of the belief in the existence of God. The purpose of this paper is to challenge this thesis. Drawing on selected theories from the field of the Cognitive Science of Religion, I sketch a naturalistic explanation (...) of how religious belief arises. (shrink)

Historically, Ehrenfest’s theorem is the first one which shows that classical physics can emerge from quantum physics as a kind of approximation. We recall the theorem in its original form, and we highlight its generalizations to the relativistic Dirac particle and to a particle with spin and izospin. We argue that apparent classicality of the macroscopic world can probably be explained within the framework of standard quantum mechanics.

We show that for every enumeration degree $a there exists an e-degree c such that $a \leq c , and all degrees b, with $c \leq b , are properly Σ 0 2.

The aim of this article is to describe and evaluate fair trade – a form of development assistance and trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. Fair trade contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to and securing the rights of marginalized producers and workers – especially in the South. Fair trade focuses in particular on commodities or products which are typically exported from developing countries to developed countries such as (...) coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine, fresh fruit or flowers. The genesis of fair trade, its main assumptions and controversies related to the implementation of the system are presented. (shrink)

In order to achieve a desired effect of tax legal interpretation, its linguistic mechanisms are frequently insufficient. Elements of paralinguistic interpretation are more and more often indispensable. It applies inter alia when domestic tax law regulations must be verified in the light of the EU tax law. However, the study depict interpretative problems regarding the institution of remuneration of excess payments, which is regulated in Polish tax law. Considerations presented in this article confirm that legal interpretation of tax law is (...) a complicated process. It is important to establish correct system connection between the analyzed legal regulations and other provisions, often contained in other legal acts. Moreover, it seems necessary to refer to the purpose-oriented interpretation of the law. Only then a chance for a satisfactory final result of the provision’s legal interpretation can be guaranteed. What is more, such an effect will create an element being a part of a logically composed and arranged unity. (shrink)

We show that in the presence of the torsion tensor \, the quantum commutation relation for the four-momentum, traced over spinor indices, is given by \. In the Einstein–Cartan theory of gravity, in which torsion is coupled to spin of fermions, this relation in a coordinate frame reduces to a commutation relation of noncommutative momentum space, \, where U is a constant on the order of the squared inverse of the Planck mass. We propose that this relation replaces the integration (...) in the momentum space in Feynman diagrams with the summation over the discrete momentum eigenvalues. We derive a prescription for this summation that agrees with convergent integrals: \^s}\rightarrow 4\pi U^{s-2}\sum _{l=1}^\infty \int _0^{\pi /2} d\phi \frac{\sin ^4\phi \,n^{s-3}}{[\sin \phi +U\varDelta n]^s}\), where \}\) and \ does not depend on p. We show that this prescription regularizes ultraviolet-divergent integrals in loop diagrams. We extend this prescription to tensor integrals. We derive a finite, gauge-invariant vacuum polarization tensor and a finite running coupling. Including loops from all charged fermions, we find a finite value for the bare electric charge of an electron: \. This torsional regularization may therefore provide a realistic, physical mechanism for eliminating infinities in quantum field theory and making renormalization finite. (shrink)

The objective of the paper is to present the significance of general rules of tax law resulting from the new draft tax ordinance for the taxpayer’s situation. The aim of this paper is to present a general overview of the newly introduced rules of tax law. This study may be the basis for further studies in the field of subject principles. The analysis covered the rules referring to: support of the taxpayer in fulfilling tax obligations, actions of tax authorities in (...) a way that inspires taxpayer’s trust, equal treatment of taxpayers, presumption of the taxpayer’s honesty, not abandoning the established practice of resolving cases in the same factual and legal state. Within the framework of this paper, research hypotheses concerning the impact of these rules on the legal situation of the taxpayer have been positively verified. These rules will have an impact on the improvement of the taxpayer’s situation, which has to face the complicated legal environment. This environment forms the complex tax law system, as well as the intricate and complicated language used by the legislator in making tax law regulations in Poland. This confirms the need to introduce changes resulting from the new draft tax ordinance. (shrink)

The purpose of the essay is to critically analyze the influence of J. Derrida’s deconstruction on David J. Gunkel’s book Deconstruction (MIT Press 2021). Gunkel’s handbook is aimed at making deconstruction a tool of critical thinking accessible to non-professionals. It turns out that accomplishing this task comes at the expense of precisely the critical potential of deconstruction itself. Gunkel is well aware that his arguments are sometimes superficial and overlook deeper problems that should be addressed. Such a failure takes the (...) form of a fetishistic denial, which in psychoanalysis is summarized by the formula “I know well, but all the same.” In turn, deconstruction itself, insofar as it is separated from Kant’s transcendental philosophy and Hegel’s dialectics, becomes an academic ideology. Restoring its proper subversive potential can only be done by returning to a philosophy of reflection, in which the thinker himself must ultimately consider his own position as an author and bring it under criticism. This is the path that Gunkel avoids, because he could then no longer be the author of a handbook on deconstruction, rather than someone who practices deconstruction. -------------------------- Received: 4/11/2022. Reviewed: 13/12/2022. Accepted: 20/12/2022. (shrink)

We show that for every enumeration degree $a < 0'_e$ there exists an e-degree c such that $a \leq c < 0'_e$, and all degrees b, with $c \leq b < 0'_e$, are properly $\Sigma^0_2$.