The aim of this paper is to discuss the concept of distributed cognition in the context of classic questions posed by mainstream cognitive science. We support our remarks by appealing to empirical evidence from the fields of cognitive science and ethnography. Particular attention is paid to the structure and functioning of a cognitive system, as well as its external representations. We analyze the problem of how far we can push the study of human cognition without taking into account what is (...) underneath an individual’s skin. In light of our discussion, a distinction between DCog and the extended mind becomes important. (shrink)

The aticle presents several different ways of popularizing scientific knowledge. It is not scientific in the sense that it is not a report on a systematic study of the literature or empirical research. It is a tool room: a repository we can turn to in search of tools to help us solve a problem. The article offers three tools. The first is a typology of forms of participation in science. I treat the typology as a tool, too, because defining a (...) problem can be seen as part of the problem-solving process. It's important to understand that there are different forms of science popularization and citizen science participation: each form requires different competencies and will work in a different situation. It's also important to understand that there is a difference between science communication (i.e., what scientists do as part of their work) and science communication (i.e., dissemination of scientific results outside of science). These are two different modes of communication and require separate skills. The second tool is a set of heuristics that may be of interest to those already parsing science communication, but having difficulty communicating science. The last tool is a proposal for a science popularizer's checklist. It is based on my own experience. Anyone interested in science communication can check this tool in action, modify it for themselves, or create their own list, which I encourage you to do. (shrink)

The paper is an introduction to the anthropology of infrastructures. We define how infrastructure is understood on the grounds of anthropology and science and technology studies. We show what is the significance of various infrastructures for the functioning of modern and late societies. The text discusses extensively the methodological challenges of studying infrastructures. We not only explain why analyzing infrastructures is difficult but also discuss several methodological tricks we can resort to when trying to uncover infrastructures. We elaborate the methodological (...) guidelines on the margins of two research projects. The first dealt with social aspects of epidemics, and the second with urban clusters of innovative companies. (shrink)

O tym, że nauka polega na rozwiązywaniu problemów, pisało już wielu autorów. Jednak kto rozwiązuje owe problemy? Jakie mechanizmy wykorzystuje się w tym celu? Odpowiedź na te pytania nie jest wcale oczywista. Kiedy spojrzymy na standardową wizję nauki, łatwo dostrzeżemy w niej opowieść, w której główne role odgrywają jednostki dokonujące przełomowych odkryć. Jest to historia gigantów, którzy wyznaczają nowe ścieżki rozwoju ludzkości - historia, która jest zarazem heroiczna i sentymentalna. Jednocześnie jest to wizja, która zakłada, że nauka to praca przede (...) wszystkim (jeżeli nie wyłącznie) intelektualna. Problem w tym, że ta wizja w żaden sposób nie przystaje do funkcjonowania współczesnej nauki. Jak zatem to wszystko działa? Jaka jest rola jednostki w procesie naukowym? Jakie funkcje pełnią czynniki społeczne i materialne? Jak rzeczywiście wygląda praktyka rozwiązywania problemów? To pytania, od których wychodzi autor pracy "Modele, artefakty, kolektywy". Książka ta jest oryginalną próbą syntezy współczesnych studiów nad nauką i technologią. Autor rozpoczyna od klasycznych podejść filozoficznych Thomasa Kuhna i Ludwika Flecka, rekonstruuje najważniejsze elementy socjologii wiedzy naukowej, by przejść do współczesnych antropologicznych i kognitywnych analiz praktyk badawczych. Efektem jest nie-heroiczna i nie-sentymentalna wizja nauki, w której kluczowe role odgrywają kolektywny wymiar procesu badawczego oraz interakcje uczonych z elementami ich materialnego środowiska - zarówno skomplikowanymi instrumentami laboratoryjnymi, maszynami obliczeniowymi, jak i prozaicznymi przedmiotami codziennego użytku. (shrink)

The authors' commentary on Bruno Latour's "Technology is society made durable" provides the reader with an opportunity to become acquainted with actor-network theory.

Handling Digital Brains proves that ethnography of the laboratory is still capable of making a significant contribution in the field of social studies on science and technology. The reviewed work presents details of interactions between researchers, as well as between researchers and their material equipment, which are key to explaining the methods of solving research problems when analyzing brain scans generated during fMRI experiments. Significantly, the reconstructed multimodal embodied practices shed light not only on the process of scientific cognition, but (...) also on a broader spectrum of human cognitive activities. The book constitutes a challenge of a kind to neurocognitive sciences. As the author shows, cognitive neuroscientists utilizing fMRI declare that they study the embodied mind; yet, in practice, they reduce the body to the brain, and cognition – to purely internal processes. Such a model of cognition, (tacitly) assumed by experimental neurocognitive scientists, turns out to be insufficient when used reflexively in order to explain the way neuroscientists themselves solve problems. (shrink)

In this paper, we argue that several recent ‘wide’ perspectives on cognition (embodied, embedded, extended, enactive, and distributed) are only partially relevant to the study of cognition. While these wide accounts override traditional methodological individualism, the study of cognition has already progressed beyond these proposed perspectives towards building integrated explanations of the mechanisms involved, including not only internal submechanisms but also interactions with others, groups, cognitive artifacts, and their environment. The claim is substantiated with reference to recent developments in the (...) study of “mindreading” and debates on emotions. We claim that the current practice in cognitive (neuro)science has undergone, in effect, a silent mechanistic revolution, and has turned from initial binary oppositions and abstract proposals towards the integration of wide perspectives with the rest of the cognitive (neuro)sciences. (shrink)

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has led governments worldwide to implement unprecedented response strategies. While crucial to limiting the spread of the virus, “social distancing” may lead to severe psychological consequences, especially in lonely individuals.MethodsWe used cross-sectional and longitudinal designs to investigate the links between loneliness, anxiety, and depression symptoms and COVID-19 risk perception and affective response in young adults who implemented social distancing during the first 2 weeks of the state of epidemic threat in Poland.ResultsLoneliness was correlated with ADS and with (...) affective response to COVID-19’s threat to health. However, increased worry about the social isolation and heightened risk perception for financial problems was observed in lonelier individuals. The cross-lagged influence of the initial affective response to COVID-19 on subsequent levels of loneliness was also found.ConclusionThe reciprocal connections between loneliness and COVID-19 response may be of crucial importance for ADS during the COVID-19 crisis. (shrink)

Online media misinforming society and the social acceptance of this phenomenon. This article is an attempt to research the phenomenon of institutionalized lying, which in the author’s opinion is the practice of websites aiming to maximize the readership of their content to the detriment of the fairness and objectivity. First, an introduction to the basic concepts of media ethics and their source in general ethics will be presented. Then, a description of the changes which have taken place in the media (...) over the past several years will be shown in order to identify potential sources of the problem and there is a review of opinions available on the Internet. The next step was to examine sample content published by selected websites, along with descriptions of the techniques and methods used by publishers that may be ethically questionable, and can be described as a lie. At the end there is an attempt to investigate the level of knowledge about this treatment and its acceptance by the Internet community as a process of institutionalized lying. The author also provides some ideas how to solve this problem. (shrink)

The theoretical framework of the study was the Stressors-Emotions model. The aim of the study was to investigate the mediating role of job-related negative affectivity, and the moderating role of emotional suppression in the relationship between workplace aggression and counterproductive work behaviour. It was expected that workplace aggression would be linked to CWB directly and indirectly and that suppression of negative emotions would intensify the effects of workplace aggression. Two hundred and five nurses participated in the study. The regression analysis (...) with interactional effect was applied to test the research hypotheses. The results confirmed the direct and the indirect effect of workplace aggression on CWB. Two of the three analyzed emotions moderated the effects of workplace aggression on jobrelated negative affectivity and CWB. Results of the study partially support the notion of the Stress-Emotion model and provide further insight into processes that lead to CWB. (shrink)

The present paper investigates the question of whether right-libertarians must accept easements by necessity. Since easements by necessity limit the property rights of the owner of the servient tenement, they apparently conflict with the libertarian homestead principle, according to which the person who first mixes his labor with the unowned land acquires absolute ownership thereof. As we demonstrate in the paper, however, the homestead principle understood in such an absolutist way generates contradictions within the set of rights distributed on its (...) basis. In order to avoid such contradictions, easements by necessity must be incorporated into the libertarian theory of property rights and the homestead principle must be truncated accordingly. (shrink)

This article reviews the book Philosopher’s Crystal: The Treacherous Terrain of Tassatarius by Marcin Dolecki.

Celem niniejszego artykułu jest przedstawienie politycznej, gospodarczej i kulturowej roli chińskiego Wielkiego Kanału w świetle rękopisu _Historiae Sinarum Imperii _polskiego jezuity Tomasza Szpota Dunina (1644–1713), który przez ponad dwadzieścia lat badał archiwa rzymskie, poszukując informacji na temat działalności jezuitów w Chinach. Pośród licznych informacji o charakterze kulturowym, gospodarczym i etnograficznym rękopis Tomasza Szpota Dunina zawiera również wiadomości o obecnie najdłuższym na świecie sztucznym kanale transportowym, czyli chińskim Wielkim Kanale, który przez wielu badaczy jest uznawany za większy cud techniki niż Mur (...) Chiński. Do odtworzenia tytułowego zagadnienia wykorzystano głównie rękopis _Historiae Sinarum Imperii _oraz inne źródła drukowane i literaturę przedmiotu. Rękopis Tomasza Szpota Dunina zawiera rozproszone informacje dotyczące Wielkiego Kanału, miast położonych nad jego brzegami i samych okoliczności podróży po tej rozbudowanej sieci rzek i kanałów. Informacje obecne u Szpota możemy podzielić na dwie kategorie: wtórne, czyli zapożyczone ze źródeł wcześniejszych – jak np. z tekstu Mattea Ricciego – oraz pierwotne, czyli opisy, które Szpot pozyskał jako pierwszy w trakcie swojej długoletniej pracy w Rzymie. (shrink)

Autorzy artykułu argumentują, że libertarianie (tacy jak Murray Rothbard, Stephan Kinsella), którzy jednocześnie podpisują się pod zasadą proporcjonalności w obronie własności prywatnej oraz pod poglądem, iż posiadanie prawa własności prywatnej oznacza posiadanie prawa do jej obrony, popadają tym samym w dylemat polegający na tym, iż jeżeli jedynym sposobem obrony prawa własności prywatnej jest jego nieproporcjonalna obrona, to to własności tej - wbrew temu, co ów pogląd głosi - nie towarzyszy prawo do jej obrony. Najlepiej uzasadnionym sposobem wyjścia z tego dylematu (...) jest osłabienie peremptoryjności praw własności prywatnej, czyli skonceptualizowanie tychże praw jako absolutnych jedynie w słabym sensie tego słowa (korzystając z dystynkcji zaproponowanej przez Matthew H. Kramera). Z kolei libertarianie, którzy tak jak Walter Block chcieliby wybrnąć z rzeczonego dylematu poprzez zastąpienie zasady proporcjonalności zasadą delikatności, popadają w innego rodzaju problemy (nieintuicyjność moralną czy ogólną niekoherencję), co jest tylko kolejnym argumentem na rzecz tezy, iż osłabienie wymogów praw własności prywatnej jest najlepiej uzasadnionym sposobem przezwyciężenia rozważanego tu dylematu. (shrink)

In “Evictionism and Libertarianism,” published in this journal, Walter Block defends the view that, although the fetus is a human being with all the rights to its body, it may nonetheless be evicted from the woman’s body as a trespasser, provided the pregnancy is unwanted. We argue that this view is untenable: the statement that the unwanted fetus is a trespasser does not follow from the premises that the fetus uninvitedly resides in the woman’s body and that the woman is (...) a full self-owner. For this statement to follow, one more statement would have to be true; namely, the woman would have to hold her self-ownership rights specifically against the fetus, and for this to be the case, the fetus would have to have a correlative duty to the woman to abstain from interfering with her body. This statement, however, is false. (shrink)

Murray Rothbard claims that it is “evident that our theory of proportional punishment—that people may be punished by losing their rights to the extent that they have invaded the rights of others—is frankly a retributive theory of punishment, a ‘tooth (or two teeth) for a tooth’ theory.” The present paper argues that it is not. The role that Rothbard assigns for victims in determining punishment justifies classifying his theory of punishment as corrective rather than retributive, for vesting victims with rights (...) over punishment defeats the retributive justice requirement that criminals are punished solely because they deserve it and in accordance with their respective deserts. Instead of giving offenders what they objectively deserve, the Rothbardian theory of punishment allows victims to seek compensation in various forms, including revenge. (shrink)

The aim of this article is attempt to reconstruct the model of Western Culture, which appears on field of contemporary philosophy of culture. This view basis on the division of the culture into 3 periods: pre-modernity, modernity and post-modernity. Modernity is initiated with intensive increase of rationalization, disenchantment of the world, as well as with faith in reason and improvement. Post-modernity stems from disappointment of reason and fear of consequences of technical progress. Reason and Progress are treated as substitute for (...) traditional myth and religions. Pre-modernity are background for those analyses. Nowadays this is the model of interpretation for social and intellectual events observed in Western culture. That model deals with general and permanent crisis of culture. The essence of this crisis is fragmentation of the human world (break-up of fundamentals of philosophical and scientific inquiry as well as everyday morality) and 'myself'. (shrink)

_Toward an Architecture of Enjoyment_ is the first publication in any language of the only book devoted to architecture by Henri Lefebvre. Written in 1973 but only recently discovered in a private archive, this work extends Lefebvre’s influential theory of urban space to the question of architecture. Taking the practices and perspective of habitation as his starting place, Lefebvre redefines architecture as a mode of imagination rather than a specialized process or a collection of monuments. He calls for an architecture (...) of jouissance—of pleasure or enjoyment—centered on the body and its rhythms and based on the possibilities of the senses. Examining architectural examples from the Renaissance to the postwar period, Lefebvre investigates the bodily pleasures of moving in and around buildings and monuments, urban spaces, and gardens and landscapes. He argues that areas dedicated to enjoyment, sensuality, and desire are important sites for a society passing beyond industrial modernization. Lefebvre’s theories on space and urbanization fundamentally reshaped the way we understand cities. _Toward an Architecture of Enjoyment_ promises a similar impact on how we think about, and live within, architecture. (shrink)

Resiliency, stress appraisal, positive affect and cardiovascular activity In accordance with the undoing hypothesis, evoked positive affect speeds up the cardiovascular system recovery in a stressful situation. An attempt was made to replicate this finding in an experimental study. Individuals characterized by high resiliency levels are capable of more efficient utilization of positive emotions in a stressful situation. Since in earlier research no relationship had been found between resiliency and a tendency to appraise stress as a challenge, this study investigated (...) a possible mediating function of a more specific dimension of cognitive appraisal, i.e. that in terms of activity-oriented challenge appraisal. The study shows that evoked positive affect does not lead to a faster recovery. However, highly resilient individuals turned out to achieve higher levels of positive affect in a stressful situation; this effect was mediated by challenge-activity appraisals. (shrink)

We provide to readers the 11th volume of the "Czech-Polish-Slovak Studies in Andragogy and Social Gerontology" series. We are delighted to announce that the presented study is the result of the work of scientists from seven countries: Austria, China, Ghana, Hungary, Japan, Poland, and Russia. This international collection of texts is part of the global discourse on the determinants of adult education and the functioning of people in late adulthood. The 11th volume is a collection of research results that show (...) both the positive and negative dimensions of ageing through the prism of research experience from various geographical and cultural areas. The researchers invited to the presented volume tried to illustrate the issues assigned to the following topics: ageing with dignity; retirement age; assumptions and conditions resulting from living in the home; the relationship between challenges concerning life expectancy and needs; care and ageing services; and foundations and potential changes in pension systems. The research results presented in this volume have a common denominator, which is caring for the quality of life of the older people regardless of their place of residence. Thus, the study "Between Successful and Unsuccessful Ageing: Selected Aspects and Contexts" brings new insights from scientists who scrupulously characterize the complexity of processes that affect the positive and negative conditions of functioning in old age, which is a mosaic of various nuances. Inviting readers to familiarize themselves with the content of the monograph, we would like to thank the reviewers who contributed to the improvement of the quality of the texts and open new fields for participation in further joint publishing projects. (shrink)

The author aims to explain the notion of rationality as an analytical tool. The main thesis is that rationality must be understood as a set of local rules. As rationality occurs in many cases, one can talk about pluralism of rationality. However, the author criticises the popular interpretation of ‘local rationality’. He refers to the concept of language-games developed by Ludwig Wittgenstein. He advocates the conservative interpretation of Wittgenstein’s works, which is in contrast to the relativistic and emancipatory interpretations. The (...) text can be treated as an exegesis of Wittgenstein’s theorem: ‘Thinking is surrounded by a nimbus. Its essence, logic, presents an order: namely, the a priori order of the world; that is, the order of possibilities, which the world and thinking must have in common.’. (shrink)

In herein article an attempt of problem solution connected with anomaly detection in network traffic with the use of statistic models with long or short memory dependence was presented. In order to select the proper type of a model, the parameter describing memory on the basis of the Geweke and Porter-Hudak test was estimated. Bearing in mind that the value of statistic model depends directly on quality of data used for its creation, at the initial stage of the suggested method, (...) outliers were identified and then removed. For the implementation of this task, the criterion using the value of interquartile range was used. The data prepared in this manner were useful for automatic creation of statistic models classes, such as ARFIMA and Holt-Winters. The procedure of calculation of model parameters’ optimal values was carried out as a compromise between the models coherence and the size of error estimation. Then, relations between the estimated network model and its actual parameters were used in order to detect anomalies in the network traffic. Considering the possibility of appearance of significant real traffic network fluctuations, procedure of updating statistic models was suggested. The results obtained in the course of performed experiments proved efficacy and efficiency of the presented solution. (shrink)