There are various authors who discussed the nature and manner of the existence of aesthetic values and the characterisation of aesthetic experience, among others, Thomas Acquinas, Roman Ingarden, Władyslaw Tatarkiewicz, Stanisław Ossowski, and Mieczysław Wallis. Taking into consideration their positions, the author claims that, potentially, each object as a coincidence of respective qualities is suitable for an aesthetic attitude. It may appear aesthetically somewhat, such that it alone may move (with its contents), i.e. it may draw attention, stir, delight, arouse (...) fancy, affect strongly. All this may be done ..disinterestedly\", therefore without any reference to the practical sphere (to the sphere of usefulness, profit), nor should this object be a source of pleasure (,,cause good composition\"). (shrink)

The article presents the philosopher A. B. Stępień (born 1931). In the first part, against the background of philosophical trends of the 20th century, the main components of A. B. Stępień’s philosophical standpoint are characterised. The author of the article includes among them: in epistemology − anti-sceptical, anti-relativist and realist views; in metaphysics − theism and stress on the possibility of rational argumentation for existence of God; in axiology − objectivist views, especially in the field of existence of (...) moral values and norms derived from them. The next part of the article is devoted to a discussion of A. B. Stępień’s didactic activities with a special stress on his contribution to the development of Polish philosophy after World War II. (shrink)

In order to understand what we are talking about when we talk about joint attention, I will scrutinize how the mainstream view that builds on representational and intentionalist theories of mind is constituted. My aim is to show that much of the theory of joint attention is quite narrowly constructed and comes with tacit disciplinary biases that exclude much of what is existentially important in our practices of sharing our perceptions and guiding others to attend to the world in novel (...) ways. By using the frameworks of classical phenomenology and enactivist theories of mind, I aim to show how we, in our interactions, share our perceptions even with beings that are distinctly different from us. And, that this _difference_ in our personal worldview, our cognitive capacities, and our sensory modalities should be seen as a constitutive aspect of our practices of shared attention. I will articulate attention as a revelatory practice that aids us in discovering a shared world through the plurality, rather than similarity, of our perceptual actions. Attention is, in this sense, not solely driven by subjective intentions; it is also formed and co-constituted by my being addressed by the other. (shrink)

KNOWN - UNKNOWN GOD. REMARKS ON DEVELOPMENT OF THE DOCTRINE OF UNKNOWABILITY OF GOD IN CHRISTIAN AUTHORS FROM SECOND TO SIXTH CENTURY The Fathers of the Church from the beginning of the Christian thought were under a strong influence of the Greek philosophy which was in this time understood mainly as the path to unity with the Supreme Being. Christian Apologists tried to convince in their apologies that Christianity is the true philosophy because it allows to reach its goal in (...) the best and the most certain way. Apologists commonly claimed that thanks to the biblical revelation Christians have the knowledge of God which is the most perfect and accurate. We can observe such claims also in the writings of Alexandrian Fathers for whom God is somehow known even at the highest mystical experiences. The Christian doctrine of the knowledge of God changed radically in the fourth century AD in the writings of Cappadocian Fathers who defended the orthodox faith against the Arians. The most famous of them - Eunomius claimed that the essence of God is to be unbegotten. Basil the Great and Gregory of Nyssa answered him that we cannot know the essence of God and none of his attributes can be understood as his essence. The Cappadocian Fathers were the founders of the Christian doctrine of unknowability of God, and they formulated it in the precise philosophical language. They also made a great contribution to the further development of this doctrine. Dialectic arguments showed only one aspect of unknowability of God; another one was the darkness in the ultimate mystical experience. Gregory of Nyssa explained it well in his Life of Moses, but this teaching reached its ultimate figure in writings of Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagite - unknown author from the end of the fifth century AD. Pseudo-Dionysius claimed that the best knowledge which we can have of God is ignorance. The man can reach this knowledge only at the highest stage of mystical life at the apophatic way. The conclusion of this brief analysis of unknowability of God in the Patristic tradition is the statement that there were two main stimulants of its evolution: theoretical and mystical. For both of them the key role played the Greek philosophy which was an inspiration in creative explanation of the Holy Scripture made by the Fathers of the Church. (shrink)

The present article commences analyzing the origins and influences of the religious discourse on the configuration of the modern constitutional discourse and the contributions of the jus-positivism in the consolidation of this sacred-civil language. The second issue is the definition of the U.S. Constitution as a mixed and not as a democratic constitution, with regard to the influences of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero and Polybius to the Drafters of the first modern constitutional text; stability and equilibrium took preference over democracy in (...) a wide sense. I also analyze how the Drafter’s decision has conditioned the modern constitutional system up to the present. (shrink)

A complete history of Islamic political thought from early Islam to the present Now in its 2nd edition, this textbook describes and interprets all schools of Islamic political thought, their origins, inter-connections and meaning. It examines the Qur'an, the early Caliphate, classical Islamic philosophy and the political culture of the Ottoman and other empires. It covers major thinkers such as Averroes and Ibn Taymiyya as well as a number of lesser authors, and Ibn Khaldun is presented as one of the (...) most original political theorists ever. It draws on a wide range of sources including writings on religion, law, philosophy and statecraft expressed in treatises, handbooks and political rhetoric. The new edition analyses the connections between religion and politics, covering the most recent developments in Islamic political thought and the most recent historical scholarship. It ends with a critical survey of reformism and Islamism from the late-19th century up to the present day. (shrink)