The purpose of this article is to analyze the constitutional considerations of the possibility of establishing the Ombudsman as a body to receive reports of violations of the law under the authority of Directive Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of October 23, 2019 on the protection of whistleblowers. The results of the research lead to the conclusion of the possible admissibility of such a solution, but with the need for appropriate system changes. However, the (...) author recommends entrusting this competence to a newly created body. (shrink)

The text provides an introduction to the issue of articles on whistle-blower protection. The articles included in the separate substantive part of the issue Studies in Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric focus on the idea of whistle-blowing, as well as on the protection of whistleblowers under the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU) 2019/1937 on the protection of whistleblowers (the so-called Whistleblower Protection Directive). The texts present the issues of protection of whistleblowers from an interdisciplinary perspective, the (...) presented themes concern law, legal history, psychology, as well as compliance and management. (shrink)

In the last decade, many problematic cases of scientific conduct have been diagnosed; some of which involve outright fraud others are more subtle. These and similar problems can be interpreted as caused by lack of scientific objectivity. The current philosophical theories of objectivity do not provide scientists with conceptualizations that can be effectively put into practice in remedying these issues. We propose a novel way of thinking about objectivity for individual scientists; a negative and dynamic approach.We provide a philosophical conceptualization (...) of objectivity that is informed by empirical research. In particular, it is our intention to take the first steps in providing an empirically and methodologically informed inventory of factors that impair the scientific practice. The inventory will be compiled into a negative conceptualization, which could in principle be used by individual scientists to assess objectivity of scientific practice. We propose a preliminary outline of a usable and testable instrument for indicating the objectivity of scientific practice. (shrink)

Research indicates that emotional mimicry predominantly occurs in response to affiliative displays, such as happiness, while the mimicry of antagonistic displays, like anger, is seldom observed in social contexts. However, contextual factors, including the identity of the displayer (e.g. social similarity with the observer) and whose action triggered the emotional reaction (i.e. to whom display is directed), can modulate the meaning of the display. In two experiments, participants observed happiness, sadness, and anger expressed by individuals with similar or different social (...) attitudes in response to actions from either a participant or another person. Results demonstrated that three manipulated factors – displayer social similarity, whose action caused an emotional display, and the type of emotional display – affected participants’ perception of the display. In turn, mimicry was predominantly observed in response to happiness (Experiments 1 and 2), to a lesser extent to sadness (Experiment 1), and not to anger. Furthermore, participants mimicked individuals who were more socially similar (Experiment 1), while whose action caused an emotional reaction did not influence mimicry. The findings suggest that when the context mitigates the meaning of negative or antagonistic facial displays, it does not necessarily increase the inclination to mimic them. (shrink)

Rationality of faith. Relationship between faith and reason in Thomas Aquinas: The rationality of the Christian faith has been an issue debated for centuries. The relationship between faith and reason is an intrinsic reality of Christian thought. But on the other hand from the beginning the Christianity it was a form of religion based on the assent of faith and not on a human justification. Here comes the heart of the problem in the relationship between Christian faith and reason, because (...) the object of faith is not obvious. Instead, in general terms the rational knowledge is based on evidence and the principles of logic. But the act of faith, as evidenced by St. Thomas, is something more than the simple rationality: “act of the intellect gives assent to the divine truth under the influence of the will moved by God’s grace”. It is intended to demonstrate, on the basis of the thought of St. Thomas, that his position clearly can be considered as an attempt to achieve a balance covering the relationship between faith and reason. On the one hand, faith does not fall into irrationality of fideism. On the other hand, the faith in the thomistic conception has not been reduced to a form of rationalism. An attempt to read again the thomistic thought can be very fruitful to promote a dialogue between faith and reason. (shrink)

Question 6: Whether God as infinite is an object of theology from the Prologue to the Commentary on the Sentences written by William is a polemic with Giles of Rome and Henry of Ghent. The former contends that God is the subject of theology through the specific notion, namely as Saviour, while the latter asserts that God’s infinity is accessible to men’s knowledge only if it is understood as something added to the proper object of theology, i.e. to God. William (...) sharpens Henry’s criticism of Giles and puts forward thesis claiming that God’s infinity is knowable as the direct object of theology. William’s proof of the cognoscibility of infinity paved the way to John Duns Scotus’s developed conception of infinity as the principal divine attribute. (shrink)

The phenomenon of immersion mainly appears and relates to human existence in the interactive electronic environment. Immersion can produce an experience of electronically generated reality, which consists of feelings similar to those known from the experience of the physical world and can influence our sensuous and intentional attitude. A person enters the electronic world, frequently finding there the value of being and a sphere for her/his own activity, which can release personality and produce the kind of emotional attitude which sometimes (...) possibly does not appear in the physical world. Immersion was also described in electronic interactive art as a phenomenon which operates on the basis of aesthetic experience, where it is connected with feelings of being surrounded by outside influences, or with the “absorption” of perceiver by the work of art. The description of immersion on the basis of interactive artbecame the foundation for treating it as a general feature of art and also makes it possible to treat art as an immersive environment, where immersion becomes a historical notion, shaped by the historical development. (shrink)

The paper shows the history of the Academia Electronica – a virtual department of the Jagiellonian University, which has been in operation since 2007 in Second Life 3D graphic environment. The contributor focused on the transformation it underwent and problems which have been addressed for 14 years. Three aspects of the analysis have been identified with the first one concerning the philosophy of virtuality, the second – teaching in the 3D graphic environment, and the third one revealing the social importance (...) of an open university. This text is autobiographic, which means that it includes short memories on a number of events related to the development of the Academia Electronica as a university alongside the contributor’s personal reflections based on his long staying in the Second Life world. (shrink)

We study a logic whose formulae are interpreted as properties of a finite set over some universe. The language is propositional, with two unary operators inclusion and extension, both taking a finite set as argument. We present a basic Hilbert-style axiomatisation, and study its completeness. The main results are syntactic and semantic characterisations of complete extensions of the logic.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an analytical framework – derived from the Herbert L.A. Hart’s philosophy of law – for the study of the phenomenon of habit and custom from the perspective of normativity. Its starting point is the Hart’s concept of “internal aspect of rules” as a necessary criterion for the rule’s normative character. The internal aspect exists in two forms: the “recognition” based on specific rules, and “acceptance”. The concept of acceptance reveals a difference between (...) habit and custom, by capturing the normative character of the latter. The formation of the customs – by way of unprecedented punishment of a rule’s violation – reveals the ambiguity of the term “sanction” as referring to not only the external aspect, but also to internal aspect of rules. (shrink)

In recent decades, societal perceptions about sexuality have undergone immense changes, which in turn led to substantial reform of states’ criminal regulation of sexual misconduct. Traditional Angl...

The aim of this article is to present the normative content of article 53 clause 7 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2nd April 1997. The paper presents the subjective scope of the regulation, including the scope of subjects who enjoy the guarantee of the “right to silence” as well as the list of addressees of the prohibition. The analysis also presents the subjective scope of article 53 paragraph 7 of the Constitution, together with an indication of (...) the legal problems that occur in the practice of law in the context of obligations to respect the “right to silence”. The research includes substantive and formal assessment of the legal provision in question. (shrink)

This paper describes the process of reception of Catholic Modernism in Poland as well as the Polish contribution to this movement. It shows the Polish antimodernist perspective on modernistic thought. The neglect of Polish modernism was caused by the nationalistic character of the Polish theology and has resulted in absence of historical studies of Polish Catholic Modernism. Based on the results of archival and literature research the paper presents a variety of Polish Catholic Modernists and non-Catholic supporters of the modernist (...) thought. A unique place among Polish modernists belongs to Marian Zdziechowski (1861–1938) who was the only Polish participant of the international intellectual debate on the “modernisation” of Roman Catholicism. The paper analyses the development of Zdziechowski’s thought and shows that his main demand throughout the modernist debates was to create a new, more efficient apologetics, which would be grounded in the religious experience of the individual. (shrink)

This paper describes the process of reception of Catholic Modernism in Poland as well as the Polish contribution to this movement. It shows the Polish antimodernist perspective on modernistic thought. The neglect of Polish modernism was caused by the nationalistic character of the Polish theology and has resulted in absence of historical studies of Polish Catholic Modernism. Based on the results of archival and literature research the paper presents a variety of Polish Catholic Modernists and non-Catholic supporters of the modernist (...) thought. A unique place among Polish modernists belongs to Marian Zdziechowski (1861–1938) who was the only Polish participant of the international intellectual debate on the “modernisation” of Roman Catholicism. The paper analyses the development of Zdziechowski’s thought and shows that his main demand throughout the modernist debates was to create a new, more efficient apologetics, which would be grounded in the religious experience of the individual. (shrink)