The questions concerning control over the environment are becoming increasingly more significant. From ecology to medicine, from bioethics to transhumanism, there are many different issues reflected and acted upon, which have an important common element, namely underlying premises about the relationship between the natural biosphere and humans. Hans Jonas, in his book The Imperative of Responsibility: In Search for an Ethics for the Technological Age, first published over 40 years ago in German as Das Prinzip Verantwortung: Versuch einer Ethik für (...) die technologische Zivilisation, proposed philosophical and ethical foundations for understanding this relationship. One of the underestimated Hans Jonas’ reflections concerns the characteristic of power. The paper analyzes the concept of power presented along with the imperative of responsibility, as well as three different degrees of power characteristic for Jonas’ approach to the notion of power. The paper presents this structure of power and the underlying philosophical considerations that constitute a basis for it. It also provides an argument that these considerations may be used as a framework for understanding many contemporary challenges and ethical responsibility in the technological age. (shrink)

The article deals with the oldest criticism of Anaximander’s monism, for which we have evidence, found in John Philoponus’ commentary on the first book of Aristotle’s Physics . Philoponus’ argumentation is analytically examined and explained, its premises brought to light and its conclusions evaluated. It is shown how his inquiry, although anticipating modern discussions about the classification of Anaximander’s doctrine in terms of ‘monism’ and ‘pluralism’, differs from the contemporary approach to the problem when it comes to both results and (...) methodology. (shrink)

As shown in (Łukowski, Gensler, 2013), the paradox of the stone is a failed attempt to show that “omnipotence” is a contradictory concept. An element of the argument presented there is that God, while unable to lift the stone, can nevertheless annihilate it. This work considers the amplification of the paradox of the stone to the form generated by the question: can God create a stone which He will not be able to lift, nor, once created, will He be able (...) to destroy. (shrink)

This interdisciplinary study introduces readers to Friedrich Schleiermacher’s diverse pathways of reflection and creative practice that are related to the field of translation. By drawing attention to Schleiermacher’s various writings on a range of subjects (including philology, criticism, hermeneutics, dialectics, rhetoric and religion), the author makes it clear that the frequently cited lecture Über die verschiedenen Methoden des Übersetzens (On the Different Methods of Translating) represents but a fraction of Schleiermacher’s contributions to modern-day insights into translation. The analysis of Schleiermacher’s (...) various pathways of reflection on translation presented in this book leads to the conclusion that translation is part of the essence of the world, as it is a fundamental tool of our cognition and a foundation of our existence. In Schleiermacher’s works, transfer, translation, mediation, and communication underpin our very existence in the world and our self-awareness. At the same time, they represent fundamental categories for a project that focuses on the consolidation and assimilation – through translation – of that which is foreign, different, diverse. (shrink)

As far as existence of enduring subjects of change is concerned, Roman Ingarden's substance ontology stands in direct opposition to Whitehead's process metaphysics. However, with regard to domain of necessary relations, both systems are deeply platonic. Thus in this paper I pursue towards revealing some parallels and differences between both systems regarding views on ideal entities, necessary relations and pure possibilities. I examine whether having assumed contrary concepts of reality (substantial/procesual) both philosophers are forced to accept diverse conclusions in respect (...) to ideal entities domain. I also point out some crucial problems that are to be found in both systems: what is the ground of necessary relations – is it a nature of so called ideal qualities, or is it content of ideas (Ingarden); is it an individual or a relational essence of eternal objects, so called "primordial nature of God", or evolving actuality (Whitehead). Finally I investigate whether points of convergence between both concepts could serve as a basis for some modifications to overcome relevant problems. (shrink)

The ancient paradox of Protagoras had the opinion of an unsolved problem. The two solutions proposed in the 20th century by W. Lenzen and L. Aqvist are considered to be the best. In fact none of them may be treated as proper. In the paper we show that both of authors avoid contradiction solely by means of mere neglect. However quite a simple solution seems to be feasible when the paradox is approached as an amphibolic construction, thus an ambiguity.

This book, provides a critical approach to all major logical paradoxes: from ancient to contemporary ones. There are four key aims of the book: 1. Providing systematic and historical survey of different approaches – solutions of the most prominent paradoxes discussed in the logical and philosophical literature. 2. Introducing original solutions of major paradoxes like: Liar paradox, Protagoras paradox, an unexpected examination paradox, stone paradox, crocodile, Newcomb paradox. 3. Explaining the far-reaching significance of paradoxes of vagueness and change for philosophy (...) and ontology. 4. Proposing a novel, well justified and, as it seems, natural classification of paradoxes. (shrink)

ABSTRACT How can we understand the term ‘utopia’ and does the adjective ‘utopian’ discredit the social thought to which it refers? The author discusses the role of utopia in the emergence of social sciences and alludes to Immanuel Wallerstein and his analysis of utopistics. He also defends the hypothesis that in the times of political, economic and ecological crisis which is sweeping through Europe and the world in the first decades of the twenty-first century, utopian thinking may be reborn not (...) only as a way of showing possible social alternatives, but also as a means of democratizing public debate and the existing status quo. In this perspective, utopianism can be invigorating not only for democracy, but also for independent and critical social thought. Social utopias, which contributed to the rise of the mass workers’ movement in the nineteenth century, today may become a force mobilizing human imagination and sensitivity to the struggles for a more emancipatory and democratic social order. (shrink)

The 20 th Cracow Methodological Conference took place on May 30-31, 2016, at the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences in Kraków. The meeting brought together physicists, cosmologists, mathematicians and philosophers interested in research program called philosophy in science started and popularized by Michał Heller. It is worth noting that the 20 th Cracow Methodological Conference was dedicated to Professor Heller and can be considered as a contribution to the celebration of the 80 th anniversary of his birthday.

An attempt at moral interpretation of Hegelian 'struggle for recognition'. The Author shows how the Hegelian figures of 'Lord' and 'Bondsman' can be used to explain social role and importance of the idea of tolerance in the context of group moralities and the universal morality. The text is built of three parts: the author sketches the connection of the traditional idea of tolerance and sociological understanding of morality on the basis of Hegel's understanding of recognition. In the second step, he (...) gives an outline of Hegelian two accounts of mutual recognition, finally the author shows the moral dimension of recognition, as referred to the idea of tolerance and universalistic morality. (shrink)

This article surveys briefly the main concepts of the nation and nationalism, and notes the wide range of interpretations. A distinction is drawn between Liberal and integral nationalism, the use of the Polish term nacjonalizm, and the alleged basic difference between nationalism in Western and Eastern Europe.The second part of this article is devoted to Walicki’s theses and contributions. They are characterized by a rejection of the concept of the artificiality of the nation, of “constructivism” and the “imagined community” model. (...) He does it not only on purely theoretical grounds but on the basis of an examination of the origins and development of Polish nationalism and patriotism which the above-cited writers have ignored. He concludes that only a profound knowledge of Polish history—sadly lacking in Western literature—would permit a more nuanced presentation of the general phenomena of nation and nationalism in Europe. (shrink)

L’article aborde la problématique des actes normatifs de droit pénal adoptés en Pologne dans les années 1944–1956. L’auteur essaie de répondre à la question : comment le régime politique et l’idéologie stalinienne ont-ils influencé la manière de rédiger les textes juridiques de cette branche du droit lors des plus grandes répressions par le pouvoir d’après-guerre en Pologne? À partir de 1944, le droit pénal a été adapté aux besoins des autorités communistes, contrôlées par l’Union soviétique. Dans la période analysée, on (...) a introduit en Pologne plus de cent actes normatifs englobant des dispositions pénales. L’idéologisation du droit pénal est visible dans toutes les parties des actes normatifs : titres, préambules et dispositions juridiques. On retrouve dans leur contenu les valeurs politiques, économiques et sociales fondamentales pour l’idéologie du stalinisme, dont les thèses ont été mises en œuvre en Pologne après la fin de l’occupation allemande. (shrink)

This Research Topic addresses the first Sustainable Development Goal, which is to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere.” Progress toward this goal is measured by a number of individual targets and indicators. As highlighted in the UN’s most recent SDG progress report, the slowdown in poverty reduction since 2015 has been greatly exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. In 2020, for example, around 120 million people were pushed back into extreme poverty, representing the first increase in extreme poverty in over (...) 20 years. Along with workers in the informal economy, the pandemic has also disproportionately impacted young and female workers. At present, the goal of eradicating poverty by 2030 is not on course to be met, with around 600 million people expected to be living in extreme poverty in 2030. Against the backdrop of the growing climate crisis, significant efforts are therefore needed to bring the 2030 target within reach. * This Research Topic will address the first Sustainable Development Goal from a sociology-specific perspective. It will enquire about the framing and elaboration of the goal, its adaptation to particular geographical contexts, stakeholder involvement in it, and influence and impact of social mobility and social stratification studies on it. Given the setbacks to poverty reduction across the world resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s edition of the Research Topic will focus particularly on the challenges and complexities of poverty reduction in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. (shrink)

Naszym dążeniem nie jest osiągnięcie ostatecznych rozwiązań w kwestii Cóż jest prawda? , obraliśmy skromniejszy cel. Podtytuł O prawdzie nie sugeruje, iż praca stanowi kompendium wiedzy o problemie prawdy w całej filozofii współczesnej. Rezygnujemy bowiem z ujęć syntetycznych i systematycznych, w zamian chcemy skupić się na obiektywnych i rzetelnych prezentacjach i interpretacjach wybranych koncepcji prawdy w poglądach Martina Heideggera, Johna Graya, Xaviera Zubiriego, Jacques'a Derridy, Johna Rawlsa i Stefana Swieżawskiego. Zdaniem autorów tekstów, poglądy tych właśnie filozofów wskazały nowe drogi myślenia (...) o prawdzie bądź twórczo nawiązywały do ujęć tradycyjnych. My ufamy, iż pozwolą one dostrzec panoramę filozoficznych dyscyplin debatujących o prawdzie (ontologia, epistemologia, filozofia polityki, historiozofia) oraz dylematy związane z prawdą, które są ważne dla innych dziedzin wiedzy i życia codziennego, w różnych jego aspektach (prywatnym, społecznym, politycznym). (shrink)

Some subfamilies of κ, for κ regular, κ λ, called -semimorasses are investigated. For λ = κ+, they constitute weak versions of Velleman's simplified -morasses, and for λ > κ+, they provide a combinatorial framework which in some cases has similar applications to the application of -morasses with this difference that the obtained objects are of size λ κ+, and not only of size κ+ as in the case of morasses. New consistency results involve existence of nonreflecting objects of singular (...) sizes of uncountable cofinality such as a nonreflecting stationary set in κ, a nonreflecting nonmetrizable space of size λ, a nonreflecting nonspecial tree of size λ. We also characterize possible minimal sizes of nonspecial trees without uncountable branches. (shrink)

The aim of the paper is to point out the modelling choices that lead to different systems of deontic action logic. A kind of a roadmap is presented. On the one hand it can help the reader to find the deontic logic appropriate for an intended application relying on the information considering the way in which a deontic logic represents actions and how it characterises deontic properties in relation to (the representation of) actions. On the other hand it is a (...) guideline how to build a deontic action logic which satisfies the desired properties. (shrink)

A calculus of names is a logical theory describing relations between names. By a pure calculus of names we mean a quantifier-free formulation of such a theory, based on classical propositional calculus. An axiomatisation of a pure calculus of names is presented and its completeness is discussed. It is shown that the axiomatisation is complete in three different ways: with respect to a set theoretical model, with respect to Leśniewski's Ontology and in a sense defined with the use of axiomatic (...) rejection. The independence of axioms is proved. A decision procedure based on syntactic transformations and models defined in the domain of only two members is defined. (shrink)

The paper is devoted to Janusz Czelakowski’s contributions to action theory and deontic logic. Various approaches to formal action theory are listed and some of them, including Maria Nowakowska’s theory, propositional dynamic logic (PDL) and sees to it that (STIT) logic, are briefly introduced. Logic of performability and deontic action logic with a goal-oriented obligation are recognized as the main contributions of Czelakowski to the field. The essentials of both theories are presented and commented. Their relation to STIT and PDL (...) is outlined. (shrink)

This article aims to show that our acceptance or non-acceptance of certain facts is influenced by our adoption of a philosophical world-picture as a kind of background knowledge on the basis of which one decides what does or does not exist, and what is true or false. For this purpose, I discuss the positions of the existential Thomists, as well as those of Wittgenstein and Abel, while also occasionally invoking the work of Putnam and Fleck. To begin with, it is (...) demonstrated that philosophical facts are accepted on the basis of a world-picture that is itself a tangle of facts, values, and theories exhibiting varying degrees of generality. Whether we embrace them or not is thus not determined by any sort of direct experience. There are no neutral philosophical facts. Our world-picture suggests what sort of facts we are prepared to accept, and what methods we use to explain them. It is on precisely this that the heuristic role played by world-pictures in “creating” philosophical facts depends. (shrink)

In the paper we examine the method of axiomatic rejection used to describe the set of nonvalid formulae of Aristotle's syllogistic. First we show that the condition which the system of syllogistic has to fulfil to be ompletely axiomatised, is identical to the condition for any first order theory to be used as a logic program. Than we study the connection between models used or refutation in a first order theory and rejected axioms for that theory. We show that any (...) formula of syllogistic enriched with classical connectives is decidable using models in the domain with three members. (shrink)

We consider the existence of coherent families of finite-to-one functions on countable subsets of an uncountable cardinal κ. The existence of such families for κ implies the existence of a winning 2-tactic for player TWO in the countable-finite game on κ. We prove that coherent families exist on κ = ωn, where n ∈ ω, and that they consistently exist for every cardinal κ. We also prove that iterations of Axiom A forcings with countable supports are Axiom A.

$(X_\alpha: \alpha is a strong chain in ℘(ω 1 )/Fin if and only if X β - X α is finite and X α - X β is uncountable for each $\beta . We show that it is consistent that a strong chain in ℘(ω 1 ) exists. On the other hand we show that it is consistent that there is a strongly almost-disjoint family in ℘(ω 1 ) but no strong chain exists: □ ω 1 is used to construct (...) a c.c.c forcing that adds a strong chain and Chang's Conjecture to prove that there is no strong chain. (shrink)

It is our intention to re-investigate only a few of the innumerable epistemological problems concerning Paley's argumentation for the existence of God. Nowadays this argumentation is commonly considered as invalid. Modern philosophers believe that the Humean Dialogs on Natural Religion and the Darwinian theory of evolution deprived Paley's reasoning of any cognitive validity. This judgment seems to us unjustified. We shall try to demonstrate that the very meaning and the logical structure of Paley's argumentation are continuously misunderstood, and that critics (...) have attacked rather a false image of Paley's cognitive pathway. Furthermore, we will show that Paley actually argues for the existence of a single agent producing biological organs. Indeed Paley demonstrates, that a biological organ is a kind of objective whole, and by necessity one produced by a single agent. However, Paley's form of argumentation is not sufficient to indicate whether this agent might be identified with a divine Creator, or Aristotelian "soul" building and commanding biological organs, or the recently discovered, described and deciphered deoxynucleotide polymer present in the reproductive biological cell. (shrink)

Stein’s theory of empathy lies at the intersection of the phenomenological findings of E. Husserl and M. Scheler. By presenting the issue of “empathy” in a broader framework, including intentionality, the originality of experience, the issue of personality and the individual identity, as well as the so-called world of values, namely the culture, I argue for a dynamic, process-oriented concept of dealing with feelings, namely diapathy. -/- Koncepcja Edyty Stein rozumienia drugiego człowieka jest znana z jej dysertacji O zagadnieniu wczucia. (...) Niemniej, gruntowne przebadanie struktury osobowości ludzkiej, jakie podjęła w Filozofii psychologii i humanistyki, rzuca nowe światło na tę kwestię. Stein dokonuje swoistej syntezy Husserlowskiego prymatu prawdy i Schelerowskiej koncepcji miłości, unikając przy tym idealizmu i woluntaryzmu, którym obarczone są te stanowiska. Steinowska koncepcja znajduje kontynuację w fenomenologii M. Merleau-Ponty’ego i R. Barbarasa. (shrink)

Kategoria integralności może być różnie rozumiana. Autorzy tekstów zamieszczonych w tomie opierają się na koncepcji Kena Wilbera AQAL. Głównymi jej składowymi są koncepcja Czterech Ćwiartek, ujmująca w sposób systemowy rzeczywistość i pozwalająca analizować związki między różnymi jej fenomenami, oraz Dynamika Spiralna, dotycząca rozwoju kulturowego, systemów i świadomości człowieka. Perspektywa integralna znalazła wyraz w ich publikacjach począwszy od 2005 roku, wcześniej – w praktyce akademickiej, a zwieńczeniem tego wstępnego etapu poszukiwań wilberowskich była konferencja naukowa „Ciało – Edukacja – Umysł” (2008) i (...) monografia pod tym samym tytułem (2010). Koncepcja Wilbera wzbudziła zainteresowanie w środowisku pedagogicznym akademickim i wśród praktyków. Między innymi Marzanna Bogumiła Kielar w monografii Integralna wizja Kena Wilbera i jej zastosowanie w edukacji (2012) dokonała rekonstrukcji koncepcji Wilbera, Zbigniew Kwieciński nawiązał do niej w wystąpieniu otwierającym VIII Zjazd Pedagogiczny w 2013 roku. Na UMK odbyły się też studia podyplomowe „Dyrektor jako lider oświaty”, których treści zostały skonstruowane na podwalinach koncepcji AQAL Wilbera. Do tej pory ukazały się następujące nasze monografie, w których AQAL zastosowano jako narzędzie opisu i wyjaśniania: P. Błajet, Ciało w kulturze współczesnej (2006), B. Przyborowska, P. Błajet, Szkice o wychowaniu agonistycznym (2008), P. Błajet, Miłość. Rozwój. Wychowanie (2010), P. Błajet, Od edukacji sportowej do olimpijskiej (2012), B. Przyborowska, Pedagogika innowacyjności: między teorią a praktyką (2013), P. Błajet, (Nie)przypadkowa edukacja (2016). „Kategoria integralności w edukacji” stanowi pokłosie licznych spotkań i dyskusji z myśleniem Wilbera w tle lub jako wątkiem wiodącym, stanowi rozszerzenie i pogłębienie, autorski wkład, a czasami krytyczną analizę myśli tego autora. (shrink)

By pure calculus of names we mean a quantifier-free theory, based on the classical propositional calculus, which defines predicates known from Aristotle’s syllogistic and Leśniewski’s Ontology. For a large fragment of the theory decision procedures, defined by a combination of simple syntactic operations and models in two-membered domains, can be used. We compare the system which employs `ε’ as the only specific term with the system enriched with functors of Syllogistic. In the former, we do not need an empty name (...) in the model, so we are able to construct a 3-valued matrix, while for the latter, for which an empty name is necessary, the respective matrices are 4-valued. (shrink)

It is our intention to re-investigate only a few of the innumerable epistemological problems concerning Paley's argumentation for the existence of God. Nowadays this argumentation is commonly considered as invalid. Modern philosophers believe that the Humean Dialogs on Natural Religion and the Darwinian theory of evolution deprived Paley's reasoning of any cognitive validity. This judgment seems to us unjustified. We shall try to demonstrate that the very meaning and the logical structure of Paley's argumentation are continuously misunderstood, and that critics (...) have attacked rather a false image of Paley's cognitive pathway. Furthermore, we will show that Paley actually argues for the existence of a single agent producing biological organs. Indeed Paley demonstrates, that a biological organ is a kind of objective whole, and by necessity one produced by a single agent. However, Paley's form of argumentation is not sufficient to indicate whether this agent might be identified with a divine Creator, or Aristotelian "soul" building and commanding biological organs, or the recently discovered, described and deciphered deoxynucleotide polymer present in the reproductive biological cell. (shrink)

We give geometric axioms for existentially closed Hasse fields. We prove a quantifier elimination result for existentially closed n-truncated Hasse fields and characterize them as reducts of existentially closed Hasse fields.

We investigate a speci c model of knowledge and beliefs and their dynamics. The model is inspired by public announcement logic and the approach to puzzles concerning knowledge using that logic. In the model epistemic considerations are based on ontology. The main notion that constitutes a bridge between these two disciplines is the notion of epistemic capacities. Within the model we study scenarios in which agents can receive false announcements and can have incomplete or improper views about other agent's epistemic (...) capacities. Moreover, we try to express the description of problem speci cation using the tools from applied ontology { RDF format for information and the Protege editor. (shrink)

Bioethics is a fairly new, but very popular, discipline broadly present in the public debate of the Western Societies. It deals with difficult tasks and challenges faced by scientists to find ethical, social or political solutions to various problems created by modern science and technological growth. An impressive exploration of several bioethical issues can be found in the works of the Polish Jesuit, philosopher and, now a retired professor, Tadeusz Ślipko. For decades, his scientific attention, apart from theoretical topics, was (...) focused on the issues important to everyday human life. He placed a lot of emphasis on finding ethical solutions to the difficult issues discussed in the postwar Poland. He authored the first Polish ethical monograph devoted exclusively to modern problems of medical and technological development and titled Limits of Life. Dilemmas of the Modern Bioethics, first published in 1988 and reprinted in 1994. (shrink)

We współczesnych dyskusjach dotyczących szczegółowych zagadnień z zakresu etyki medycznej sporo uwagi poświęca się kwestii odstąpienia od interwencji medycznej lub zasadności stosowania pewnych rodzajów terapii nie rokujących poprawy stanu zdrowia chorej osoby. W publikacjach autorów chrześcijańskich tematyka ta nie zajmowała nigdy centralnego miejsca, aczkolwiek różnego typu kwestie dotyczące kontynuacji bądź przerwania leczenia znaleźć można już na kartach wczesnochrześcijańskich filozoficznych i teologicznych traktatów i rozpraw. Dopiero współcześnie w związku z szybkim rozwojem nauk medycznych poświęca się temu zagadnieniu więcej uwagi. Niniejszy artykuł (...) przedstawia poglądy wybranych wczesnochrześcijańskich i scholastycznych myślicieli na kwestię odstąpienia od interwencji medycznych. Zachowane do naszych czasów teksty i opinie różnych autorów pozwoli nam, w pewnym stopniu, zrozumieć historyczny kontekst oraz kulturowe uwarunkowania proponowanych wówczas rozstrzygnięć etycznych. (shrink)

This article presents a general overview of philosophical issues undertaken in the work of Richard Otowicz, Jesuit and Professor of Moral Theology at the Pontifical Faculty of Theology in Warsaw. Within the set of views developed by him, the theological perspective undoubtedly assumes pride of place. Often, however, he refers to philosophical issues from which, in his opinion, one cannot escape—issues that bear directly on human life. What is especially striking is Otowicz’s hypothesis that bioethics is a kind of self-defense (...) reflex of mankind, who are attempting by means of it to intellectually grasp the issues relating to the unlimited expansion of technology. Developments and changes observed in the world are forcing humanity to rethink very fundamental issues, such as interpersonal relationships or the relationship of man to nature. (shrink)