Building on our diverse research traditions in the study of reasoning, language and communication, the Polish School of Argumentation integrates various disciplines and institutions across Poland in which scholars are dedicated to understanding the phenomenon of the force of argument. Our primary goal is to craft a methodological programme and establish organisational infrastructure: this is the first key step in facilitating and fostering our research movement, which joins people with a common research focus, complementary skills and an enthusiasm to work (...) together. This statement—the Manifesto—lays the foundations for the research programme of the Polish School of Argumentation. (shrink)

Abstract.We present the results of research carried out as a part of the project Current Controversies about Human Origins: Between Anthropology and the Bible, which focused on the supposed conflict between natural sciences and some branches of the humanities, notably philosophy and theology, with regard to human origins. One way to tackle the issue was to distribute a questionnaire among students and teachers of the relevant disciplines. Teachers of religion and the natural sciences (biology, chemistry, and physics) and students of (...) theology, philosophy, and the natural sciences (specializing in biology and/or anthropology) were asked to answer eleven questions concerning the perception of the conflict between evolutionism and creationism, the definitions of creation and evolution, the existence of a human spiritual element, and the ways of interpreting the Bible, especially the first chapters of the book of Genesis. We present selected results of this questionnaire. (shrink)

[A] man does not consist of memory alone. He has feeling, will, sensibilities, moral being…. And it is here … that you may find ways to touch him.—A. R. Luria1.

Heated debates stemming from the confrontation of scientific knowledge with the biblical picture of the creation of man, which had followed the publication of Darwin's theory of evolution, became far less prominent in the second half of the 20th century. This was due to two factors: first, the theory of evolution was partly accepted in theological circles and at the same time biologists showed a growing awareness of the limited epistemological scope of the competence of the natural sciences. This lesson (...) from the history, however, seems to have been forgotten by many who now and again return to controversies which more often than not are caused by ideological quarrels over religion, with true scholarship being too easily lost from sight. The paper reminds some of the history of the controversy in question and suggests that at least some of the current problems regarding evolution˗and˗ creation controversy may have already found their solutions. In part 1, “The Theory of Evolution and the Creation of the Human” it deals with the general issue of human origins. In part 2, “Monogenism and Original Sin” it explores the notion of the ‘first human’ as it is employed in biology and in theology, and shows its completely different meaning in these two realms of knowledge which helps to resolve the recurrent controversy over monogenism. (shrink)

(Purpose) The purpose of the study is to present Thomas Piketty’s demand view on the issue of growing income and wealth inequalities in highly industrialized countries. It should be indicated here that in his research, Piketty not only explains the mechanism of growing inequalities, but also defines the tools to tackle inequalities (a combination of theoretical and pragmatic views). (Methodology) The aim of the study is achieved through the literature review method as well as the descriptive methods, complemented by comparative (...) analysis. (Results) Piketty’s considerations clearly show that the problem of income and wealth inequalities will not disappear spontaneously, so market automatism will not only not eliminate their causes, but also will not create conditions for a fair distribution of production outcomes between capital and labor. Therefore, reducing the level of inequality requires a return to the concept of the welfare state. (Contribution to the discipline) The conducted analysis may become part of a larger research project showing the relationship between the level of economic development and its impact on the scale of income and wealth inequalities. (shrink)

In his work on internality, identification, and caring, Harry Frankfurt attempts to delineate the organization of agency peculiar to human beings, while avoiding the traditional overintellectualized emphasis on the human capacity to reason about action. The focal point of Frankfurt’s alternative picture is our capacity to make our own motivation the object of reflection. Building upon the observation that marginal agents (such as young children and Alzheimer’s patients) are capable of caring, I show that neither caring nor internality need to (...) depend on the phenomena of reflectiveness. I develop alternative interlocking accounts of caring and internality that are independent of both reflectiveness and evaluation, but that can still do justice to the central role of carings in the organization of agency characteristic of human persons. (shrink)

A being has moral standing if it or its interests matter intrinsically, to at least some degree, in the moral assessment of actions and events. For instance, animals can be said to have moral standing if, other things being equal, it is morally bad to intentionally cause their suffering. This essay focuses on a special kind of moral standing, what I will call “full moral standing” (FMS), associated with persons. In contrast to the var- ious accounts of what ultimately grounds (...) FMS in use in the philosophical literature, I will propose that the emotional capacity to care is a sufficient condition of an individual’s FMS as a person. In developing this account, I will appeal to a set of intuitions not previously mined for this purpose: those generated by conflicts of interests between different life phases of a single individual. (shrink)

Belief in the causative power of words as a manifestation of magical thinking in late childhood The purpose of the research was to present one of the manifestations of magical thinking in late childhood, i.e. belief in the causative power of words, and relations between this phenomenon and language. One hundred and three primary school students, grades 4 to 6, aged 10 to 13 were studied. A significant relation was found between belief in the direct effect of words on reality, (...) and correct comprehension and number of phraseological units concerning the causative power of words. (shrink)

Goal – The great depression forced changes in the economic program of the Christian Democracy. Indicating the exceptional role of the Upper Silesian heavy industry in the economic potential of the Second Polish Republic, the program emerged from the criticism of the Sanation program of surviving the crisis. Research method – The study analyzes archival sources and literature on the subject, as well as statistical data. Results – In the years of the great depression, official state authorities, as well as (...) individual political groups formulated their own programs for overcoming the economic difficulties that were faced. Christian Democracy was one of these groups, but its program to combat the crisis was limited only to ad hoc measures aimed at mitigating the negative effects of the crisis. The activists of the Silesian Christian Democrats did not properly interpret the sources of economic difficulties, as they did not understand the core of the problem. (shrink)

The article reviews the book The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, by Philip G. Zimbardo.

We discuss applications of our account of moral status grounded in person-rearing relationships: which individuals have higher moral status or not, and why? We cover three classes of cases: (1) cases involving incomplete realization of the capacity to care, including whether infants or fetuses have this incomplete capacity; (2) cases in which higher moral status rests in part on what is required for the being to flourish; (3) hypothetical cases in which cognitive enhancements could, e.g., help dogs achieve human-like cognitive (...) capacities. We thereby show that our account does not have the counterintuitive implications alleged by DeGrazia and other critics. (shrink)

In our article (Zawadzki and Adamczyk 2021), we analyzed threats that novel memory modifying interventions may pose in the future. More specifically, we discussed how optogenetics’ potential for reversible erasure/deactivation of memory “may impact authenticity by producing changes at different levels of personality.” Our article has received many thoughtful open peer commentaries for which we would like to express our great appreciation. We have identified two main threads of objections. They are related to the potential applicability of optogenetics as a (...) therapeutic memory modification technology (MMT) in humans—applicability thread, and the normative value of authenticity, that is, the assumption that preserving authenticity is valuable (either in general or in the particular approach we adopted)—normative thread. Both of these threads concern fundamental issues: The former deals with the scientific credibility of the case vignette on which our discussion is based, and the latter deals with the normative weight of our considerations. We think that addressing both of them can be instructive in a broader context as they reflect a more general disagreement among neuroethicists about the very purpose and method of our discipline. (shrink)

Optogenetics is an invasive neuromodulation technology involving the use of light to control the activity of individual neurons. Even though optogenetics is a relatively new neuromodulation tool whose various implications have not yet been scrutinized, it has already been approved for its first clinical trials in humans. As optogenetics is being intensively investigated in animal models with the aim of developing novel brain stimulation treatments for various neurological and psychiatric disorders, it appears crucial to consider both the opportunities and dangers (...) such therapies may offer. In this review, we focus on the memory-modifying potential of optogenetics, investigating what it is capable of and how it differs from other memory modification technologies. We then outline the safety challenges that need to be addressed before optogenetics can be used in humans. Finally, we re-examine crucial neuroethical concerns expressed in regard to other MMTs in the light of optogenetics and address those that appear to be unique to the memory-modifying potential of optogenetic technology. (shrink)

This article examines, in a comparative perspective, the integration policy of the two, in many respects, very similar, neutral states, with particular emphasis on the period after the signing of the Single European Act. Despite the converging political and economic objectives, the decisions of both countries were determined by different economic and political conditions. For Austria, the integration processes were perceived as an important step, towards reconstruction of the economy, the abolition of trade barriers with the most important economic partner. (...) In political terms integration – enhanced Austria’s position within European Community. Unlike the Austrian Government, the authorities in Bern have acted under much more polarized conditions. Neutrality played still very important role in its international policies and the social fears connected mostly to the loss of political and economic independence were vivid. The Swiss authorities were thus forced to choose the bilateral path, which was not preferred by EU countries, but more socially acceptable, and therefore easier to implement. (shrink)

According to Gawande, Lazaroff “chose badly.” Gawande suggests that physicians may be permitted to intervene in choices of this kind. What makes the temptation to intervene paternalistically in this and similar cases especially strong is that the patient’s choice contradicts his professed values. Paternalism appears less problematic in such cases because, in contradicting his values, the patient seems to sidestep his own autonomy. This chapter addresses the dangers of overextending this interpretation. I argue that it is not so easy to (...) judge when a person is not genuinely exercising autonomy, and that choosing contrary to one’s own values does not necessarily amount to sidestepping one’s autonomy. The key insight is to recognize the importance of the attitude of caring as an integral part of some expressions of autonomy. This will allow us to develop an alternative picture of minimal autonomy, according to which it is possible to choose against one’s values while genuinely exercising autonomy. For practical purposes, in medicine and elsewhere, this means that, in cases like Lazaroff’s, those tempted toward paternalism must exercise particular caution before they deem a choice to be disen- gaged from autonomy: even if a choice contradicts the person’s own values, it might be rooted in caring, and then, despite initial appearances to the contrary, it may still command the highest level of protection against paternalism. (shrink)

In this article, we present ethnographic material collected among the Telengits, mainly in the Kosh-Agach district of the Republic of Altai (Russian Federation). Analysis of Telengit concepts and practices shows a person as a complex network of relations and therefore a composite entity. Each of the terms that the Telengits use and which could be translated as 'soul' corresponds to various aspects, potentialities, and powers of a person; at the same time, a person is also a part of a larger (...) composite entity — Altai. It is easier to grasp the Telengit way of acting and conceptualizing the world if we see those notions as tools that help people to come to terms with particular situations and tasks and not as a structured set of mental representations. (shrink)

While issues of efficacy and specificity are crucial for the future of neurofeedback training, there may be alternative designs and control analyses to circumvent the methodological and ethical problems associated with double-blind placebo studies. Surprisingly, most NF studies do not report the most immediate result of their NF training, i.e. whether or not children with ADHD gain control over their brain activity during the training sessions. For the investigation of specificity, however, it seems essential to analyze the learning and adaptation (...) processes that take place in the course of the training and to relate improvements in self-regulated brain activity across training sessions to behavioral, neuropsychological and electrophysiological outcomes. To this aim, a review of studies on neurofeedback training with ADHD patients, which include the analysis of learning across training sessions or relate training performance to outcome, is presented. Methods on how to evaluate and quantify learning of EEG regulation over time are discussed. “Non-learning” has been reported in a small number of ADHD-studies, but has not been a focus of general methodological discussion so far. For this reason, selected results from the brain-computer interface (BCI) research on the so-called “brain-computer illiteracy”, the inability to gain control over one’s brain activity, are also included. It is concluded that in the discussion on specificity, more attention should be devoted to the analysis of EEG regulation performance in the course of the training and its impact on clinical outcome. It is necessary to improve the knowledge on characteristic cross-session and within-session learning trajectories in ADHD and to provide the best conditions for learning. (shrink)

The subject of this paper is the analysis of the factors that have the greatest importance regarding the implementation of the principles of social responsibility in transnational corporations. International standards for assessing corporate social responsibility define the framework and guidelines in the evaluation of the corporation in this regard. From the company's point of view, the involvement in social activities is used primarily for improving their own image. Companies try to reconcile the desire for profit with social considerations and environmental (...) protection, however, this process is very complex. Corporations should carry out these policies and implement appropriate procedures. Additionally, consumers want to see the use of the CSR principles in practice, so corporations should measurably help the local community and/or support social organizations. In this context, the corporation may serve a wide audience, communities, and have a significant impact on the environment. The paper will attempt to answer the question regarding which factors affect the application of CSR in corporations. (shrink)

The article is devoted to the Roman Kurkiewicz essays. He is a philosopher, but is also a wellknown newspaper, radio and television journalist. The publication Klapsy polskie contains selected essays printed in ‘Przekrój’. They are alphabetically arranged and concern many issues important for Poles at the time. Political, economic, sporting and cultural events are the starting point for general discussions on the human and the world. Kurkiewicz writes about difficult and controversial topics. The article describes selected examples of different kinds (...) of essay titles. The author refers to the literature, press and TV movies. Selected examples demonstrate the richness of the author’s ideas. (shrink)

The paper aims at indicating opportunities and threats faced by gender studies in Poland. The author presents institutional problems, which limit dynamic development of the discipline and its impact on the society. She also discusses tensions between an academic affiliation of gender studies and its political aspirations rooted in the tradition of feminist movement. Finally, the author describes recent methodological debates on gender discourse—its theoretical inspirations and practical use.

The article reviews the book Ekofilozofia [Ecophilosophy], by Zdzisława Piątek.

The purpose of the article is to contribute to the discussion about the relevance of existential issues in contemporary education. Analysis presented in the paper is related to the problems of self-awareness, becoming oneself and self-development. First, the author begins by depicting the meaning of human existence in the light of philosophy. The following aspects have been analyzed: being true to one’s own beliefs and values, recognizing personal truth, making existential choices and finding one’s own voice. A special attention is (...) paid to the language as an essential, constitutive element of being. Second, the article attempts to consider some educational implications resulting from the existential approach to education. Some of the issues discussed are learning to philosophize and to discover meaning, the concept of encounter in education and the role of language in self-development. While describing them the author indicates that the ignoring of crucial existential questions in education contributes to spiritual vacuity in life of young people and reduces educational thinking merely to instrumental, pragmatic problems concerning qualification and transfer of communicative skills. (shrink)

This distinctively interdisciplinary approach to the subject encompasses filmmaking, psychoanalysis, philosophy and popular culture and offers a unique insight into documentary film practice from a psychoanalytic perspective. At the heart of the enquiry is belief that ‘transference-love’ is present in the documentary encounter. With a focus on testimony-driven film and a foreword by Michael Renov, who calls this book 'a radical and compelling account', _Psychoanalysis and Ethics in Documentary Film _covers a range of topics including: Four fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis (...) and documentary film A review of documentary film practice A personal account of the author’s relationship with a subject of her own work A thorough interrogation of the ethics of documentary Ideal for film studies scholars, psychoanalysts, psychotherapists and psychotherapeutically engaged professionals, as well as filmmakers, culture studies students and anyone interested in the process of documentary-making and contemporary culture, this work offers a unique approach. (shrink)

The aim of the paper is to present two natural deduction systems for Intuitionistic Sentential Calculus with Identity ( ISCI ); a syntactically motivated \(\mathsf {ND}^1_{\mathsf {ISCI}}\) and a semantically motivated \(\mathsf {ND}^2_{\mathsf {ISCI}}\). The formulation of \(\mathsf {ND}^1_{\mathsf {ISCI}}\) is based on the axiomatic formulation of ISCI. Its rules cannot be straightforwardly classified as introduction or elimination rules; ISCI -specific rules are based on axioms characterizing the identity connective. The system does not enjoy the standard subformula property, but due (...) to the normalization procedure non-subformulas can label only leaves of proofs. In \(\mathsf {ND}^2_{\mathsf {ISCI}}\), we propose only two general identity-related rules, in reference to the treatment of the identity connective in First-Order Logic. (shrink)

Why does a baby who is otherwise cognitively similar to an animal such as a dog nevertheless have a higher moral status? We explain the difference in moral status as follows: the baby can, while a dog cannot, participate as a rearee in what we call “person-rearing relationships,” which can transform metaphysically and evaluatively the baby’s activities. The capacity to engage in these transformed activities has the same type of value as the very capacities (i.e., intellectual or emotional sophistication) that (...) explain unimpaired adult humans’ high moral status. We attempt to extend this account to individuals with severe cognitive impairments. (shrink)

Do physicists believe that general relativity is true, and that electrons and phonons exist, and if so, in what sense? To what extent does the spectrum of positions among physicists correspond to philosophical positions like scientific realism, instrumentalism, or perspectivism? Does agreement with these positions correlate with demographic factors, and are realist physicists more likely to support research projects purely aimed at increasing knowledge? We conducted a questionnaire study to scrutinize the philosophical stances of physicists. We received responses from 384 (...) physicists and 151 philosophers. Our main findings are (1) On average, physicists tend toward scientific realism, and slightly more so than philosophers of science. (2) Physicists can be clustered into five groups. Three show variants of scientific realism, one is instrumentalist, and one seems undecided or incoherent. (3) Agreement with realism weakly correlates with approval of building a bigger particle collider. (4) Agreement with realism weakly correlates with the seniority of physicists. (5) We did not find correlations with other factors, such as whether physicists focus on theoretical or experimental research and whether they engage with applied or basic research. (shrink)

Although there is much research on the relationships of corporate social responsibility and employee-related outcomes, a systematic and quantitative integration of research findings is needed to substantiate and broaden our knowledge. A meta-analysis allows the comparison of the relations of different types of CSR on several different outcomes, for example to learn what type of CSR is most important to employees. From a theoretical perspective, social identity theory is the most prominent theoretical approach in CSR research, so we aim to (...) investigate identification as a mediator of the relationship between CSR and employee-related outcomes in a meta-analytical mediation model. This meta-analysis synthesizes research findings on the relationship between employees' perception of CSR (people, planet, and profit) and employee-related outcomes (identification, engagement, organizational attractiveness, turnover (intentions), OCB, commitment, and job satisfaction), thereby distinguishing attitudes and behavior. A total of 143 studies (N= 89,396) were included in the meta-analysis which was conducted according to the methods by Schmidt and Hunter (except of the meta-analytical structural equation model). Mean effect sizes for the relationship between CSR and employee-related attitudes and behaviors were medium-sized to large. For attitudes, the relationships were stronger than for behavior. For specific types of CSR, average effect sizes were large. Identification mediated the relation between CSR and commitment, job satisfaction, and OCB, respectively. Based on our results, we give recommendations concerning the design of CSR initiatives in a way that benefits employees. (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)

This article concerns information and information services in the modern stations of commercial radios. It includes types of messages, information and news used in radio programs.

Artykuł przedstawia proces twórczy Wiesława Myśliwskiego. Skupia się szczególnie na dwóch aspektach pracy pisarza. Pierwszy z nich Myśliwski określa terminem „bezradność owocująca”, to stan, który bezpośrednio poprzedza pisanie. Drugi określiłam jako „teorię pierwszego zdania”, a pojęcie to utworzyłam na bazie wypowiedzi pisarza. Artykuł zawiera analizę pierwszych zdań powieści Wiesława Myśliwskiego. Sygnalizuję możliwość zestawienia „bezradności owocującej” z innymi, choć podobnymi, koncepcjami procesu twórczego m.in. Emila Ciorana czy Sandora Maraiego.

The youngest population in society is recognized as that at the healthiest stage of life but is burdened by the occurrence of premature death that should be avoidable. There is a need to use adequate statistical methods in assessing the health status of the population of developmental age. The aim of the study was to analyze trends of mortality in children and adolescents by age and gender in the Podlaskie Voivodeship in the years 2003-2012 by joinpoint regression and to identify (...) the causes of mortality. The mortality rate was analysed according to gender and the age groups: 0, 1-4, 5-9, 10-14 and 15-19 years in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. The data were obtained from the Central Statistical Office for the period 2003-2012. Differences in mortality levels between age and gender subgroups were obtained by the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Join- point regression was used to analyze the trends in mortality. The nomenclature of ICD-10 was used to assess the causes of mortality of children and adolescents. In the Podlaskie Voivodeship in the years 2003-2012 in the 0-19-year-old age group, the highest proportion of deaths (42.4%) occurred during the first year of life. There were differences in mortality rates between boys (8.0/104) and girls (3.1/104) in the 15-19-year-old age group (p < 0.01), and also between the 1-14-year-old and 15-19-year-old age groups (p < 0.01), both among boys (2.1/104 vs. 8.0/104) and girls (1.5/104 vs. 3.1/104). Monotonous trends were shown regarding total mortality rates in infants. There was a drop in the mortality rate of infant girls (AAPC = 5.3%, p < 0.05) and boys (AAPC = 4.7%, p < 0.05). Changes in the direction of the total mortality rate trend were visible in the population of boys aged 1-14 years, in which, between 2003 and 2010, a significant reduction in mortality (AAPC = 9.5%) was observed, while in the years 2010-2012 the trend was not significant. No statistical evidence was found that mortality changed among girls in the 1-14-year-old and 15-19-year-old age groups. Deaths in infancy were due to perinatal conditions and congenital mal- formations. The main causes of mortality in the 1-19-year-old age group were external causes, mainly traffic accidents and intentional self-harm. Joinpoint regression indicated a uniform decrease of mortality in the years 2003-2012 except for boys from 1-14 years old, for whom the decreasing trend was for the years 2003-2010 with subsequent stabilization. The main problems are still infant deaths due to perinatal conditions, traffic accidents and intentional self-harm in boys in the 15-19-year-old age group. (shrink)

The first mention of Charles Sanders Peirce we find in Polish philosophical literature is in the third volume of Historia filozofii (History of Philosophy) by Władysław Tatarkiewicz, edited for the first time in 1931 in Lwów. Władysław Tatarkiewicz was a Polish philosopher and historian of philosophy and his History of Philosophy has been until now the most popular history of philosophy textbook in Poland. However, in Tatarkiewicz’s History of Philosophy, there is no chapter devoted to Peirce...

Tributes to Professor Andrzej Kopcewicz - Agnieszka Salska New Media Effects on Traditional News Sources: A Review of the State of American Newspapers - Richard Profozich Review of The Body, ed. by Ilona Dobosiewicz and Jacek Gutorow - Grzegorz Kość “Taste good iny?”: Images of and from Australian Indigenous Literature - Jared Thomas Speaks with Teresa Podemska-Abt Engaging the “Forbidden Texts” of Philosophy - Pamela Sue Anderson Talks to Alison Jasper.

It is largely uncontroversial that to love some person or object is (among other things) to care about that person or object. Love and caring, however, are importantly different attitudes. We do not love every person or object about which we care. In this work, we critically analyze extant accounts of how love differs from mere caring, and we propose an alternate view in order to better capture this distinction.