Here, we analyze how the set of nucleotides in the cell is equilibrated and how this generates simple rules that help the cell to organize itself via maintenance of a stable non‐equilibrium state. A major mechanism operating to achieve this state is thermodynamic buffering via high activities of equilibrating enzymes such as adenylate kinase. Under stable non‐equilibrium, the ratios of free and Mg‐bound adenylates, Mg2+ and membrane potentials are interdependent and can be computed. The adenylate status is balanced with the (...) levels of reduced and oxidized pyridine nucleotides through regulated uncoupling of the pyridine nucleotide pool from ATP production in mitochondria, and through oxidation of substrates non‐coupled to NAD+ reduction in peroxisomes. The set of adenylates and pyridine nucleotides constitutes a generalized cell energy status and determines rates of major metabolic fluxes. As the result, fluxes of energy and information become organized spatially and temporally, providing conditions for self‐maintenance of metabolism. (shrink)

We show that the bounded arithmetic theory V0 does not prove that the polynomial time hierarchy collapses to the linear time hierarchy . The result follows from a lower bound for bounded depth circuits computing prefix parity, where the circuits are allowed some auxiliary input; we derive this from a theorem of Ajtai.

First published in 1975, this is a book of general intellectual interest about the role of the university in contemporary society and that of university teachers in relation to their subjects, their students, and their wider political commitments. Alan Montefiore offers preliminary analyses of the family of concepts most often invoked in discussions of these problems, taking the central dispute to be between those who hold a 'liberal' view of the university and those who regard this notion as illusory, dishonest (...) or undesirable. Six academics, representing, discuss issues of substantive conflict in light of Montefiore's initial distinctions. The volume is of particular interest to students of political and social philosophy, and political and educational theory. It is also intended for a wider readership among those who care about the political status of the universities and recognize the importance and difficulty of the problems involved in this. (shrink)

_God Owes Us Nothing_ reflects on the centuries-long debate in Christianity: how do we reconcile the existence of evil in the world with the goodness of an omnipotent God, and how does God's omnipotence relate to people's responsibility for their own salvation or damnation. Leszek Kolakowski approaches this paradox as both an exercise in theology and in revisionist Christian history based on philosophical analysis. Kolakowski's unorthodox interpretation of the history of modern Christianity provokes renewed discussion about the historical, intellectual, (...) and cultural omnipotence of neo-Augustinianism. "Several books a year wrestle with that hoary conundrum, but few so dazzlingly as the Polish philosopher's latest."—Carlin Romano, _Washington Post Book World_ "Kolakowski's fascinating book and its debatable thesis raise intriguing historical and theological questions well worth pursuing."—Stephen J. Duffy, _Theological Studies_ "Kolakowski's elegant meditation is a masterpiece of cultural and religious criticism."—Henry Carrigan, _Cleveland Plain Dealer_. (shrink)

Scholars such as Michel Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu have shown how the body can become a site of oppression. But after all, the body can become a vehicle for resistance or emancipation. The contributors to this volume, referring to Richard Shusterman's concept of somaesthetics, show through various examples how this is possible. Moving away from Foucault’s and Bourdieu’s construal of the body as a site of oppression, the contributors to this volume draw on Richard Shusterman’s somaesthetics to argue that the (...) body can also be a vehicle for resistance and emancipation. (shrink)

For over a century, philosophers have argued that philosophy is impossible or useless, or both. Although the basic notion dates back to the days of Socrates, there is still heated disagreement about the nature of truth, reality, knowledge, the good, and God. This may make little practical difference to our lives, but it leaves us with a feeling of radical uncertainty, a feeling described by Kolakowski as "metaphysical horror." "The horror is this," he says, "if nothing truly exists except the (...) Absolute, the Absolute is nothing if nothing truly exists except myself, I am nothing." The aim of this book, for Kolakowski, is finding a way out of this seeming dead end. In a trenchant analysis that serves as an introduction to nearly all of Western philosophy, Kolakowski confronts these dilemmas head on through examinations of several prominent philosophers including Descartes, Spinoza, Husserl, and many of the Neo-Platonists. He finds that philosophy may not provide definitive answers to the fundamental questions, yet the quest itself transforms our lives. It may undermine most of our certainties, yet it still leaves room for our spiritual yearnings and religious beliefs. The final sentence of the book captures the hopefulness that has survived the horror of nothingness when Kolakowski asks: "Is it not reasonable to suspect that if existence were pointless and the universe devoid of meaning, we would never have achieved not only the ability to imagine otherwise, but even the ability to entertain this very thought--to wit, that existence is pointless and the universe devoid of meaning?" The answer, of course, is clear. Now it is up to readers to take up the challenge of his arguments. (shrink)

"[An] important essay by a philosopher who more convincingly than any other I can think of demonstrates the continuing significance of his vocation in the life of our culture."--Karsten Harries, The New York Times Book Review With The Presence of Myth , Kolakowski demonstrates that no matter how hard man strives for purely rational thought, there has always been-and always will be-a reservoir of mythical images that lend "being" and "consciousness" a specifically human meaning. "Kolakowski undertakes a philosophy of culture (...) which extends to all realms of human intercourse--intellectual, artistic, scientific, and emotional. . . . [His] book has real significance for today, and may well become a classic in the philosophy of culture."-- Anglican Theological Review. (shrink)

We prove that any proof of a [Formula: see text] sentence in the theory [Formula: see text] can be translated into a proof in [Formula: see text] at the cost of a polynomial increase in size. In fact, the proof in [Formula: see text] can be obtained by a polynomial-time algorithm. On the other hand, [Formula: see text] has nonelementary speedup over the weaker base theory [Formula: see text] for proofs of [Formula: see text] sentences. We also show that for (...) [Formula: see text], proofs of [Formula: see text] sentences in [Formula: see text] can be translated into proofs in [Formula: see text] at a polynomial cost in size. Moreover, the [Formula: see text]-conservativity of [Formula: see text] over [Formula: see text] can be proved in [Formula: see text], a fragment of bounded arithmetic corresponding to polynomial-time computation. For [Formula: see text], this answers a question of Clote, Hájek and Paris. (shrink)

Leszek Kolakowski discusses, in a highly original way, the arguments for and against the existence of God as they have been conducted through the ages. He examines the critiques of religious belief, from the Epicureans through Nietzsche to contemporary anthropological inquiry, the assumptions that underlie them, and the counter-arguments of such apologists as Descartes, Leibniz, and Pascal. His exploration of the philosophy of religion covers the historical discussions of the nature and existence of evil, the importance of the concepts (...) of failure and eternity to the religious impulse, the relationship between skepticism and mysticism, and the place of reason, understanding, and in models of religious thought. He examines why people, throughout known history, have cherished the idea of eternity and existence after death, and why this hope has been dependent on the worship of an eternal reality. He confronts the problems of meaning in religious language. (shrink)

Wychodząc od metaforycznego (figuralnego) ujęcia problemu zła, w oparciu o wybrane przemyślenia Leszka Kołakowskiego, rozważania składające się na artykuł zmierzają do namysłu nad „złem w polityce” w sensie niedomagań i nadużyć wolności: pokus władzy autokratycznej i totalitarnej. Dotyczą antropologicznego i politycznego przekraczania granic wolności kosztem (aż do zniesienia) wolności innych. Evil Politics or Trouble with the Devil. Reflections on the Political Demonology of Leszek Kołakowski Proceeding from a metaphorical (figurative) account of the problem of evil, and based on (...) class='Hi'>Leszek Kołakowski’s selected thoughts, this paper’s considerations aim to deliberate on “evil in politics” in the spirit of the shortcomings and excesses of freedom: namely, the lure of autocratic and totalitarian power. At issue is how the bounds of freedom are anthropologically and politically transgressed at the expense (to the point of abolishing) the freedom of others. (shrink)

We show, under the assumption that factoring is hard, that a model of PV exists in which the polynomial hierarchy does not collapse to the linear hierarchy; that a model of S21 exists in which NP is not in the second level of the linear hierarchy; and that a model of S21 exists in which the polynomial hierarchy collapses to the linear hierarchy. Our methods are model-theoretic. We use the assumption about factoring to get a model in which the weak (...) pigeonhole principle fails in a certain way, and then work with this failure to obtain our results. As a corollary of one of the proofs, we also show that in S21 the failure of WPHP (for Σb1 definable relations) implies that the strict version of PH does not collapse to a finite level. (shrink)

God Owes Us Nothing reflects on the centuries-long debate in Christianity: how do we reconcile the existence of evil in the world with the goodness of an omnipotent God, and how does God's omnipotence relate to people's responsibility for their own salvation or damnation. Leszek Kolakowski approaches this paradox as both an exercise in theology and in revisionist Christian history based on philosophical analysis. Kolakowski's unorthodox interpretation of the history of modern Christianity provokes renewed discussion about the historical, intellectual, (...) and cultural omnipotence of neo-Augustinianism. "Several books a year wrestle with that hoary conundrum, but few so dazzlingly as the Polish philosopher's latest."--Carlin Romano, Washington Post Book World "Kolakowski's fascinating book and its debatable thesis raise intriguing historical and theological questions well worth pursuing."--Stephen J. Duffy, Theological Studies "Kolakowski's elegant meditation is a masterpiece of cultural and religious criticism."--Henry Carrigan, Cleveland Plain Dealer. (shrink)

Modifying the methods of Z. Adamowicz's paper Herbrand consistency and bounded arithmetic [3] we show that there exists a number n such that ⋃m Sm (the union of the bounded arithmetic theories Sm) does not prove the Herbrand consistency of the finitely axiomatizable theory $S_{3}^{n}$.

Résumé L’auteur interroge la relation complexe que la peinture de Bernard Villers entretient avec la culture du livre et avec la pratique de l’édition. En effet, le livre – dans tous les sens du terme – a profondément marqué sa démarche de peintre. Il s’agit donc d’analyser l’impulsion que le livre a pu donner à la pratique et aux stratégies picturales. Plusieurs aspects de cette fascination pour la possibilité de faire de la peinture en faisant des livres sont donc passés (...) en revue à la recherche d’une cohérence : les inspirations littéraires, l’inscription du livre dans le quotidien, le livre comme objet, etc., mais surtout l’utilisation du recto et du verso en peinture. (shrink)

Poland, after social-politic-economic transformation in 1989, became a capitalistic, free-market country. In this conditions human being can be perceived as an object, not a subject of economic life. Therefore the import ant issue is to take up problems associated with human subjectivity. And human subjectivity is expressed in his personal dignity.

We introduce the notion of a Minkowskian Branching Structure ("MBS" for short). Then we prove some results concerning the phenomenon of funny business in its finitary and infinitary variants.

At the beginning of Book I of the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle says that “the good is the same for an individual as for a city”. The good in question is εὐδαιμονία – the highest good achievable for human beings. In Book X, we learn that contemplative activity meets best the requirements set for eudaimonia. Even if we agree that contemplative activity is the good for an individual, how should we understand the claim that contemplation is also the good for a (...) city? I start by reminding readers that for Aristotle the Nicomachean Ethics is essentially a political enquiry and should be read together with his Politics. I focus on the teleological character of his political philosophy and the interlinking of the concepts of the good, nature, form, end and function. Then, I look at Aristotle’s two closely-connected statements that polis exists by nature and that men are political animals. Having taken into account Aristotle’s opinion regarding the imperfection of this world, which is exemplified by the vulnerability of human lives to fortune, luck and accidents, I conclude that Alasdair MacIntyre’s concept of the political community as a common project explains well how contemplation could be the end of polis. Only very few individuals can achieve the highest good and they can do it only if they have the support of the political community. But all the inhabitants of a polis structured towards achieving the highest good benefit from living in a well-ordered community whose constitution reflects the objective hierarchy of goods. (shrink)

The subject of this study considers the role played by the two models in transformation of Polish society: the knightly ethos and the bourgeois ethos. The main research question is whether these patterns are competitive with each other or complementary? Must the chivalric ethos disappear from social consciousness so that a bourgeois ethos can appear in its place, or are these value systems complementary? In the literature on the subject, as well as in common knowledge, one often encounters claims that (...) one can be either a romantic or a pragmatist, and that it is impossible to combine these two attitudes neither in the sphere of ideas nor in action. It is for this reason that the romantic approach derived from the chivalric ethos is now often analyzed within the framework of the so-called critical theory. In other words, it is deconstructed in order to make room for a paradigm that appeals to utilitarianism and constructivism. The thesis of this article is as follows: the romantic chivalric paradigm, despite many differences, is not opposed to the bourgeois paradigm. These approaches serve to realize the same values and virtues, but under different historical conditions and in dissimilar social and civilizational contexts. The text is based on the analysis of the two ethical models presented in sociological literature, in selected literary texts, and in biographies of selected historical figures. The conclusion presents findings of the undertaken analysis. In the author’s opinion, the two ethoses can play positive roles in Poland’s modernization and they are not completely mutually exclusive, as it is the case in some approaches analyzing social transformations that took place in Poland in the 19th and 20th centuries. This conclusion is also valid in the times of change that Poland is facing today. (shrink)

In recent years part of the literature on probabilistic causality concerned notions stemming from Reichenbach’s idea of explaining correlations between not directly causally related events by referring to their common causes. A few related notions have been introduced, e.g. that of a “common cause system” (Hofer-Szabó and Rédei in Int J Theor Phys 43(7/8):1819–1826, 2004) and “causal (N-)closedness” of probability spaces (Gyenis and Rédei in Found Phys 34(9):1284–1303, 2004; Hofer-Szabó and Rédei in Found Phys 36(5):745–756, 2006). In this paper we (...) introduce a new and natural notion similar to causal closedness and prove a number of theorems which can be seen as extensions of earlier results from the literature. Most notably we prove that a finite probability space is causally closed in our sense iff its measure is uniform. We also present a generalisation of this result to a class of non-classical probability spaces. (shrink)

We show that for each n ≥ 1, if T2n does not prove the weak pigeonhole principle for Σbn functions, then the collection scheme B Σ1 is not finitely axiomatizable over T2n. The same result holds with Sn2 in place of T 2n.

In this paper we give a positive answer to a problem posed by Hofer-Szabó and Rédei (Int. J. Theor. Phys. 43:1819–1826, 2004) regarding the existence of infinite Reichenbachian common cause systems (RCCSs). An example of a countably infinite RCCS is presented. It is also determined that no RCCSs of greater cardinality exist.

The aim of the article is to indicate that there is quite strong support in the text of the Nicomachean Ethics for the argument that its inquiry is “political” rather than “ethical” in character – the textual evidence provides reasons to challenge the traditional belief that Aristotle separated ethics from politics and started the rise of ethics as a new branch of philosophy. In addition, one can posit a hypothesis that the reader, whom Aristotle had in mind while writing what (...) we now know as the Ethics, was a politician-lawgiver. So the reader aimed at in the Ethics is the same as the reader aimed at in the Politics – a politician-lawgiver. The Ethics and the Politics are a two-part but inseparable compound that together make a textbook for a politician-lawgiver. Both parts should be read together because the one cannot be understood correctly without the other. Aristotle studies human good not from the point of view of the individual but from the point of view of the human community. The highest human good – the philosopher’s eudaimonia – is achieved not by individual effort but as a result of good laws and a well-organized life in a polis. (shrink)

We show that the arithmetical theory -INDx5, formalized in the language of Buss, i.e. with x/2 but without the MSP function x/2y, does not prove that every nontrivial divisor of a power of 2 is even. It follows that this theory proves neither NP=coNP nor.

We point out a yet unnoticed flaw in Dutch Book arguments that relates to a link between degrees of belief and betting quotients. We offer a set of precise conditions governing when a nonprobabilist is immune to the classical Dutch Book argument. We suggest that diachronic Dutch Book arguments are also affected.

Globalization is a cultural phenomenon. The authors present the thematically multi-dimensional and theoretically complex contribution of Polish research on globalization. They do not approach globalization as an abstract process, instead exploring it through the lens of clearly defined factors.

Celem artykułu jest próba rekonstrukcji rozwoju duchowego Zaratustry, głównego bohatera dzieła Nietzschego Tako rzecze Zaratustra. Ów rozwój polega na osiąganiu trzech stadiów świadomości: fazy konformistycznego wielbłąda, przepełnionego negacją lwa i finalnie dziecka afirmującego życie. Metodologia badań zastosowana w artykule opiera się na analizie, rekonstrukcji i syntezie tekstu Tako rzecze Zaratustra. Przeprowadzone badania osadzone są w kontekście tezy Heideggera o komplementarności głównych aspektów nietzscheanizmu: woli mocy i wiecznego powrotu. Zaratustra, aby przeistoczyć się w lwa, a następnie w dziecko, będzie musiał odkryć (...) i zaakceptować ową komplementarność. Głównym antagonistą proroka jest duch ciężkości, symbolizujący negację życia i destruktywną miłość bliźniego. (shrink)

My Ph.D. dissertation written under the supervision of Prof. Tomasz Placek at the Institute of Philosophy of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. In one of its most basic and informal shapes, the principle of the common cause states that any surprising correlation between two factors which are believed not to directly influence one another is due to their common cause. Here we will be concerned with a version od this idea which possesses a purely probabilistic formulation. It was introduced, in (...) the form of a general principle, by Hans Reichenbach in his posthumously published book "The Direction of Time". The central notion of the principle in Reichenbach's formulation, and of the current essay, is that of screening off: two correlated events are screened off by a third event if conditioning on the third event makes them probabilistically independent. Reichenbach's principle marks also the beginning of a new field of philosophy: namely, that of ``probabilistic causality''. For the most part, the current essay can be seen as an effort at checking how far one can go with the purely statistical notions revolving around Reichenbach's idea of common cause. In short, the answer is ``surprisingly far''; in some classes of probability spaces all correlations between ``interesting'' events possess explanations of such sort. However, this fact lends itself to opposing interpretations; more on that in the conclusion. Chapters 6 and 7 contain mathematical results concerning these issues. The screening-off condition requires an equality of a probabilistic nature to hold; chapter 8 is a short discussion of slightly weakened versions of the condition, which hold if the sides of the above mentioned equality differ to a small degree. In chapter 2, after some mathematical preliminaries, we study the various formulations of the principle which might be said to stem from the original idea of Reichenbach. We also examine a few of the most salient counterarguments, which undermine at least some of the formulations. Chapter 3 is of a formal nature, dealing with various probabilistic notions which can be thought of as generalizations of Reichenbach's concept of common cause. The next chapter concerns the relationship between the idea of common causal explanation and the Bell inequalities. In chapter 5 we briefly present the form of Reichenbach's principle which can be found in the field of representing causal structures by means of directed acyclic graphs. (shrink)

In a recent paper in this Journal Iñaki San Pedro put forward a conjecture regarding the relationship between no-conspiracy and parameter independence in EPR scenarios; namely, that violation of the former implies violation of the latter. He also offered an argument supporting the conjecture. In this short note I present a method of constructing counterexamples to the conjecture and point to a mistake in the argument.

This paper investigates the prospects of developing a branching modal framework while keeping with the spirit of Humean Supervenience. It is argued that such an approach is bound to face hard problems regarding haecceitism and the notion of recombination. Possible directions for future philosophical developments of branching frameworks are suggested.

For any n, we construct a model of in which each formula is equivalent to an formula.

Art as Festival Art has been a privileged sphere in the sense that it appeales to art-receivers because of its power of taking them outside the sphere of everyday life (commonplaceness) and practicality. For the first time the philosophers of ancient Greece propagated this view. In this paper the Pythagorean and Aristotle’s views are considered; however they have different metaphysical bases, there is some aspect common to theirs aesthetics. In 20th century it is Helmut Kuhn, Hans-Georg Gadamer and Władysław Stróżewski (...) who express similar ideas and convictions about an exceptionality of the meeting between art and man. In the first part of the article (the ancient) notion of “leisure” (scholé) is presented, while in the second one the case of “festival”, Festlichkeit and Eigenzeit is taken into account. (shrink)

Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911) fut directement impliqué dans presque tous les grands débats philosophiques en Allemagne au tournant du XIXe et du XXe siècle : sur le rapport entre psychologie et logique, sur les conditions transcendantales de la conscience de soi, sur l'historicité de l'existence humaine, sur l'herméneutique et la question du sens, sur la philosophie de la compréhension ou encore sur la signification philosophique de la vie (de l'existence) et des valeurs. Certains de ces débats, notamment celui sur l'autonomie cognitive (...) des sciences humaines, ont été inaugurés par Dilthey lui-même. L'une des problématiques où un nouveau dialogue avec sa pensée pourrait se nouer aujourd'hui serait sans aucun doute, précisément, la question de la possibilité de la réconciliation des études objectives de l'histoire avec l'expérience que l'homme fait de l'historicité radicale de sa compréhension. En effet, Dilthey n'accepte pas que l'homme puisse se dérober à sa responsabilité face à l'histoire sous prétexte que l'histoire, elle, s'est déjà dérobée à sa compréhension. Tout au contraire : c'est parce qu'il en est responsable que l'homme ne peut se dérober à la compréhension de l'histoire, même si le chemin de la compréhension est long et pénible. (shrink)

We extend a result by Gallow concerning the impossibility of following two epistemic masters, so that it covers a larger class of pooling methods. We also investigate a few ways of avoiding the issue, such as using non-convex pooling methods, employing the notion of imperfect trust or moving to higher-order probability spaces. Along the way we suggest a conceptual issue with the conditions used by Gallow: whenever two experts are considered, whether we can trust one of them is decided by (...) the features of the other! (shrink)