The paper focuses on the issue of truth-telling in non-fictional narratives of (in)justice. Based on examples of rape narratives, domestic abuse narratives, human trafficking narratives and asylum seeker narratives, I examine the various difficulties in telling the truth in such stories, particularly those related to various culturally conditioned ideas of how the world works, which at the same time form the basis of, among other things, legal discourse and officials’ decision-making processes. I will also demonstrate that such culturally conditioned ideas, (...) which are the basis of official discourse, can be considered within the category of both the social imaginary of the just world in the Taylorian sense of the term, and the social master narrative, which in the case of stories of (in)justice is often based on the just world hypothesis. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to provide a model that allows the representation and analysis of circularity in ethotic structures, i.e. in communication structures related to the speaker’s character and in particular, his credibility. The paper studies three types of cycles: in self-referential sentences, embedded testimony and ethotic begging the question. It is shown that standard models allow the reconstruction of the circularities only if those circular utterances are interpreted as ethotic arguments. Their alternative, assertive interpretation requires enriching the (...) existing models with a purely ethotic component related to the credibility of the performer of any (not necessarily argumentative) speech act. (shrink)

In this book, Katarzyna Kremplewska offers a thorough analysis of Santayana's conception of human self, viewed as part of his larger philosophy of life. Santayana emerges as an author of a provocative philosophy of drama, in which human life is acted out. Kremplewska demonstrates how his thought addresses the dynamics of human self in this context and the possibility of sustaining self-integrity while coping with the limitations of finite life. Focusing on particular aspects of Santayana's thought such as his (...) conception of the tragic aspect of existence, and the role of the doctrine of spirit in his philosophical anthropology and critique of culture, this book also sets Santayana's thought in substantial dialogue with other thinkers such as Heidegger, Bergson, and Nietzsche. Like Santayana's philosophy, this book seeks to build passages between theoretical reflection and practical life with the possibility of a good life in view. (shrink)

Dans toutes les dimensions de la communication verbale, le virtuel s'efface devant l'actuel, mais le sens "absent" ne cesse d'escorter le sens « present ». Il le sous-tend, l'informe et, quelquefois, pointe le bout de son nez. En s'inscrivant dans la perspective de la sémantique microstructurale, ce livre se propose de revisiter le virtuel linguistique pour saisir ses rapports avec le domaine de l'actuel, en envisageant la virtualité dans l'optique interprétative qui mobilise tout un éventail de mécanismes sémantico-discursifs de la (...) production du sens en contexte. (shrink)

This book is about beliefs, language, communication and cognition. It deals with the fundamental issue of the interpretation of the speaker's utterance expressing a belief and reporting on beliefs of other people in the form of oratio obliqua. The main aim of the book is to present a new account of the problem of interpreting utterances expressing beliefs and belief reports in terms of an approach called Default Semantics.

We show that the variety of equivalential algebras with regularization gives the algebraic semantics for the -fragment of intuitionistic propositional logic. We also prove that this fragment is hereditarily structurally complete.

We effectively construct the finitely generated free equivalential algebras corresponding to the equivalential fragment of intuitionistic propositional logic.

This article uncovers the intellectual traditions behind Dio Chrysostom's Oration 20: On Anachôrêsis. The examination reveals a variety of subtexts and traditions with which Dio engages, and shows that at its core the text inspects three types of lives promoted by three philosophical schools: Epicurean, Stoic and Peripatetic. They are never referred to directly, however, which raises questions concerning Dio's strategy of not acknowledging the sources of the ideas with which he engages. The article also develops our understanding of anachôrêsis (...) and the controversies surrounding it in pagan antiquity. (shrink)

It is widely accepted that the machinery of multicultural societies and liberal democratic systems is dependent upon various forms of dialogue - dialogue between political parties, between different social groups, between the ruling and the ruled. But what are the conditions of a democratic dialogue and how does the philosophical dialogic approach apply to practice? Exploring the multifaceted nature of the concepts of dialogue and democracy, and critically examining materializations of dialogue in social life, this book offers a variety of (...) perspectives on the theoretical and empirical interface between democracy and dialogue. (shrink)

Estetyka F. Schillera jest ogólną filozoficzną teorią piękna, sztuki i kultury. Ideał człowieka - doskonale rozwinięte Jednostki ludzkiej - pochodzi z inspiracji myśli Kantowskiej, jednakże Schiller próbuje przedstawić go w odmienny sposób. Nawiązując do antycznego wzorca człowieka pięknego i dobrego zarazem (Kalos Kagathos), podejmuje Schiller polemikę z antropologicznymi konsekwencjami metafizyki myśliciela królewieckiego., U Kanta najważniejsze problemy ludzkie, poszukiwanie istoty człowieczeństwa i formuły życia najbardziej z nią zgodnego, wyrażają się w języku etyki, w pojęciach: dobrej woli, autonomii moralnej, imperatywu kategorycznego. U (...) Schillera poszukiwanie zasady jedności i pełni człowieka (harmonijnego połączenia elementu racjonalnego z tym, co zmysłowe i emocjonalne) zatrzymuje się w sferze sztuki i zostaje przełożone na język piękna. W sztuce i dzięki sztuce (wychowaniu estetycznemu) spełnia się to wszystko, co decyduje o duchowej wielkości człowieka, jego twórczej aktywności. Ze sztuki emanuje wzorzec pięknego człowieczeństwa, w niej osiągnięta zostaje wolność. Faktem pozostaje wszakże, iż po 1796 r. Schiller wyraźnie nawiązuje i powraca do postulatów etyki Kanta. Myśl o pełnym urzeczywistnieniu ideału "homo aestheticus” jest zastąpiona przez program, który wskazuje na perspektywę transcendencji. Element piękna przeobraża się w kategorię wzniosłości, patetyczności, a jednostka ludzka w tragicznej katharsis przeżywa swoją wielkość. Estetyka przeobraża się w metafizykę. Z tego punktu widzenia można ocenić estetyczny program Schillera jako formę przejściową od filozofii Kanta do poglądów jego następców - Schellinga i Hegla. (shrink)

Microbiota-gut-brain research is a fast-growing field of inquiry with important implications for how human brain function and behaviour are understood. Researchers manipulate gut microbes to reveal connections between intestinal microbiota and normal brain functions or pathological states. Many claims are made about causal relationships between gut microbiota and human behaviour. By uncovering these relationships, MGB research aims to offer new explanations of mental health and potential avenues of treatment. So far, limited evaluation has been made of MGB's methods and its (...) core experimental findings, many of which are extensively reiterated in copious reviews of the field. These factors, plus the self-help potential of MGB, have combined to encourage uncritical public uptake of MGB discoveries. Both social and professional media focus on the potential for dietary intervention in mental health, and causal relationships are assumed to be established. Our target article has two main aims. One is to examine critically the core practices and findings of experimental MGB research and to raise questions about them for brain and behavioural scientists who may not be familiar with the field. The other is to challenge the way in which MGB findings are presented. Our positive goal is to suggest how current problems and weaknesses may be addressed, in order for both scientific and public audiences to gain a clearer picture of MGB research and its strengths and limitations. (shrink)

Pragmatics and dialectics are two disciplines which have been amongst the first and most important partners for argument studies in the exploration of the complex realm of communication. Treating argumentation as a construct consisting of premises and conclusion allows for investigating some interesting properties of the phenomenon of reasoning, but does not capture a variety of aspects related to the usage of natural language and dialogical context in which real-life argumentation is typically embedded. This special issue explores some of the (...) fascinating research questions which emerge when we move beyond logic into the territory of the pragmatics and dialectics of argument. (shrink)

The aim of the article is to examine the representation of ageing in selected issues of the Polish women’s magazine Twój Styl. With reference to Wolf’s concept of the “beauty myth,” the article argues that ageing is presented as a threat to women’s psychological integrity. Although the theme of old age is rarely directly addressed in the magazines, its presence is implied in the advertised anti-age beauty products. Based on semiotic theory and Cognitive Metaphor Theory, the paper demonstrates that the (...) advertising of anti-ageing beauty products serves the function of controlling ageing female bodies, which are positioned outside of the mainstream concept of femininity. (shrink)

Autorka artykułu, opierając się na metodologii badań biograficznych, analizuje dwa nieznane listy Elizy Orzeszkowej adresowane do Amelii Jeleńskiej. Są one częścią niewielkiego zbioru korespondencji znajdującego się w archiwum wileńskiej pisarki Emmy Jeleńskiej-Dmochowskiej, prywatnie córki Amelii Jeleńskiej. Analiza listów pozwala pogłębić wiedzę na temat życia towarzyskiego i spraw prywatnych Elizy Orzeszkowej oraz przybliżyć mało znaną postać Amelii Jeleńskiej. W artykule został także podkreślony walor edytorski odnalezionej korespondencji. Do chwili obecnej uznawano ją za zaginioną. Archium Elizy Orzeszkowej nie zawiera bowiem żadnego listu (...) do Amelii. Listy do niej wprowadzają tym samym jeszcze jednego adresata do grona stu kilkudziesięciu występujących w opublikowanych dotąd edycjach korespondencji Elizy Orzeszkowej. Odnalezione listy Elizy Orzeszkowej do Amelii Jeleńskiej w jakimś stopniu niuansują naszą wiedzę na temat biografii Orzeszkowej, szczególnie w odniesieniu do życia osobistego. Pokazują bowiem pisarkę u schyłku życia, zaledwie trzy lata przed śmiercią, jako osobę z jednej strony bardzo cierpiącą z powodu nękających ją chorób, z drugiej poszukującą serdecznej i bliskiej relacji. Z Amelią Jeleńską połączyło ją wiele: wiek, pochodzenie, status ekonomiczny, zaangażowanie w działalność charytatywną i życiowe doświadczenia, jak konieczność sprzedaży majątku czy też wdowieństwo. Więź, która wytworzyła się między nimi, wydaje się obustronna, choć historia w tej sprawie nie oddała głosu Amelii. (shrink)

The aim of the article is to describe the contribution of the ethics of care, understood as an element of the feminist theory and a philosophical and theoretical discourse, to ref‌lection on the state. Three care ethics proponents are the starting point of this article. Carol Gilligan analyses concepts particularly related to women’s moral development – the value of relations and care which is bound to these concepts. Martha Nussbaum’s political thought focuses on the need to revise the political concept (...) of the person and proposes the inclusion of care into the idea of a just state. Sibyl A. Schwarzenbach conceives civic friendship as a form of public care among equal citizens, which refers to mothers’ care for their children. Each of these authors considers the political model of the state based exclusively on justice to be insuf‌ficient. By introducing the concept of care, they show the importance of dependence and relations among people understood as biological beings. Here arguably lies the hope for developing a more extensive model of political thought than that which is merely based on justice understood as freedom among equals. The care ethics perspective takes account of both inequality (dependence) and relations. (shrink)

The first comprehensive study of Santayana’s political thought as connected to his cultural criticism. It ranges over topics such as Santayana’s political ontology, his criticism of democracy, liberalism, and communism, his views on freedom and forms of human servitude.

Frankfurt-style examples aim to undermine the principle that moral responsibility requires the ability to do otherwise, which in turn requires the availability of alternate possibilities.1 They are thus considered a reason for refuting incompatibilism. One lesson drawn from Frankfurt-style examples is exemplified by the compatibilist account of Fischer and Ravizza.2 They accept the impact of Frankfurt-style cases and hold that the incompatibilist requirement of regulative control, which involves the agent’s ability to perform the action and her ability to perform the (...) contrary action, must be dropped. In its stead, they propose the weaker requirement of guidance control, which only demands the agent’s causal control over the action for which she is to be held responsible. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to characterize varieties of Heyting algebras with decidable theory of their finite members. Actually we prove that such varieties are exactly the varieties generated by linearly ordered algebras. It contrasts to the result of Burris [2] saying that in the case of whole varieties, only trivial variety and the variety of Boolean algebras have decidable first order theories.

The aim of the paper is to propose an understanding of idealization in terms of Nowak’s unitarian metaphysics. Two natural interpretations of the procedure are critically discussed and rejected as inadequate. The first account of idealization is unable to explain why idealized factors cease to exert influence on the investigated magnitude. The second account of idealization solves this problem but does so at the cost of blurring the distinction between idealization and abstruction. Moreover, it faces the consequence that the process (...) of idealization instead of leading to a sharper understanding of phenomena will normally result in making the picture more and more probabilistic. I propose a third account of idealization in unitarian terms that solves all three problems. (shrink)

The recognition of the close relation between the concept of action and the concept of responsibility goes at least as far back as Aristotle. His account of voluntary action could be seen as being the source of two general strategies for understanding the concept of action.1 One such approach is to determine when something is not an action first by studying a variety of interfering conditions. (e) The agent’s ϕing was a mere happening (non-action) iff external forces caused him to (...) ϕ. But Aristotle described those cases as ones where the principle of action is not in the agent,2 generating what might be thought of as a corresponding picture of what it means for a performance to be an action. (shrink)