It is argued that the legacy of the Vienna Circle played a very important role in the intellectual quest of modern philosophy. No matter how the concept of logical positivism is buried by “continental philosophy”, or ideologically motivated philosophers, or even the latest initiatives of the contemporary philosophy of science, the scientific worldview remains invariant. The traditions of the work of logical positivists remain relevant both for the development of modern philosophy of science and as guidelines indicating the way to (...) get rid of the idle talk (“meaninglessness”) of political slogans and manifestos. (shrink)

The article discusses the methodology for studying reflective systems, which are very specific objects of study. However, such objects include almost all phenomena of the socio-humanitarian sciences, including scientific knowledge. It is noted that in the era of the “sixties” original concepts of reflexive analysis arose in Russian philosophy, among which the three most striking ones, associated with the names of V.A. Lefebvre (1936-2020), G.P. Shchedrovitsky (1929-1994), M.A. Rozova (1930-2011). The main attention is paid to the methodology that was built (...) within the framework of the theory of social relay races by M.A. Rosova. It is shown how systems with reflection function and why they are able to rebuild, changing the order of sociality. (shrink)

The content-analysis of the Russian federal and regional basic legislation on the cultural policy has indicated a need in a deep revision of all existing regulatory legal acts, which support the state cultural policy implementation towards building a universal terminology and vesting the functions on the cultural policy implementation in the government as opposed to the statement of the departmental specific approach to the culture.

In the still highly politicized question of rupture or continuity between the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, elements of continuity are not hard to find, nor should this be a surprise, since a new state arose in the same geographical space and made use of the economic, intellectual, and demographic resources inherited from the Russian Empire. At the same time, the Soviet Union could not have been more different than the Russian Empire. It rejected a number of key elements (...) of the sociopolitical project that underlay the nationalizing tsarist empire and introduced radically new political and social principles for organizing that space. In particular, the Bolsheviks purposefully engaged in dismantling the tsarist efforts to build a great ethnic-Russian nation to stand at the center of the Russian Empire’s nationalities policy. The irreversible disintegration of post-Soviet space into separate nationalizing states became possible only toward the end of the twentieth century. At the same time, the imperial nature of the modern post-Soviet Russian core permits us to say that the imperial logic has survived. This is where we can find an element of inescapable continuity. We present studies of “continuities” and “ruptures” in modern academic discourse and in an updated format, gravitating toward “empirically nuanced” tools for analyzing multiple historical temporalities. (shrink)

Sympathy is a powerful principle in human nature, which can change our passions, sentiments and ways of thinking. For the 18th century Scottish philosopher David Hume, sympathy is a working mechanism accountable for a wide range of communication: the ways of interacting with the others’ affections, emotions, sentiments, inclinations, ways of thinking and even opinions. The present paper intends to find a systematic reading of Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature from the point of view of what the mechanism of sympathetic (...) communication implies in terms of strengthening our action of understanding, of being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of others. Hume’s description of the sympathetic mechanism appears to suggest that sympathetic passions come upon us purely by natural means in a passive manner, without the active use of any of our faculties. Consequently, scholarly attention is drawn to the mechanistic character of the sympathetic process; its automatic nature is emphasized to such an extent that some experts even find it to be completely void of any reflective process. The current study investigates to what extent the sympathetic process can actively be modified and in what manner sympathetic feelings can be generated as described in Hume’s system of emotions. The paper identifies at which points the otherwise mechanically and passively operating process of sympathetic feelings is open to be modified by actively altering or strengthening certain skeletal points of the mechanism. I argue that the alterations can be initiated by the person who receives the sympathetic feelings and also by the person whose passions are transmitted, moreover even by a third party. In a seemingly mechanic model, there is room for altering or at least amplifying one’s sympathetic feelings. (shrink)

The article is dedicated to the memory of Kostiantyn Dmytrovych Ushynskyi (1823-1871), an outstanding Ukrainian teacher-philosopher, founder and developer of the theoretical foundations of education based on the cooperation of pedagogy and psychology (the middle of the 19th century). In general, the purpose of the article is to update the scientific achievements of prominent compatriot. The article’s goal is detailed in such tasks: the assertion of Ukrainianness as the source or origin of K. Ushynskyi’s personality and creativity; the substantiation of (...) the features of his life philosophy, mentality (the priority of the value of the human soul, heartcentred meaning of human being in the comprehension of life; high personal emotionality, but subject to will; love for the native foundations), which total combination nourished the thinker’s ideas about pedagogical anthropology; substantiation of the peculiar intertextuality of the K. Ushynskyi’s book “Man as an object of education. An attempt at pedagogical anthropology” (1868–1869); an attempt to characterize the worldview and philosophical meanings of K. Ushynskyi’s construction of the psychological and pedagogical foundations of the educational process (cultural conformity, nature conformity, activity as the basis of education), which remains not only the historical heritage of Ukrainian humanitarian thought, but also a variant of an anthropologically sharpened worldview landmark for modern educators. It has been established that in the documentary substantiation of K. Ushynskyi’s belonging to Ukrainian culture, the contribution of the modern local historian and teacher V. Terletskyi became the most important. It is shown that the appeals made by K. Ushynskyi to the thoughts, ideas, opinions of numerous European scientists, writers, historical figures, polemics and dialogues with them on the pages of the book ensured the transition to the creation of a text as a stereophonic intersection with other texts. The author of the article tries to substantiate this feature of the book as a kind of intertextuality of the analyzed scientific work. (shrink)

Within the framework of broader processes in Latin America Argentina has seen a progressive policing of the governance of security. Criminal policies in recent decades have focused on police militarization, increased incarceration, spatial segregation and judicial expansion that especially affect the sectors that are economically most impoverished. I am interested in showing, from ethnographic cases, how the dynamics of delinquency mainly affect young men from popular sectors, both residents and police. Each one of the deaths and disappearances with which I (...) have been working in my investigations reflects these complex daily frames of the economy defined as “illegal.” In these contexts we usually see young people’s mothers who are responsible for generating complaints and patrimonializing death, thus confronting the hegemonic meanings that stigmatize them, making it possible to narrate them “from below” and endowing them with their own emotions, versions and experiences that the relatives mobilize around them. (shrink)

In her Nobel speech in 2019, Olga Tokarczuk presented the category of tenderness as a new way of narrating the contemporary world. This article is a proposal for the analysis and interpretation of tenderness in ethical and aesthetic terms. (1) From an ethical perspective, tenderness is interpreted as an extension and complement of feminist relational ethics, i.e., the ethics of care. In the proposed approach, tenderness is a broader and more universal quality than care in the feminist understanding. This article (...) opens with a brief discussion of feminist interventions in ethics, with particular emphasis on the ethics of care. Next, the differences between care and tenderness are enumerated and described, in order to show how tenderness can serve as an extension and complement of the feminist ethic of care. These considerations are guided by the question of why tenderness is a better—more appropriate and more responsive to contemporary challenges—moral guidepost than care. (2) From the aesthetic perspective, tenderness is the negation of a contemplative, distanced, impersonal, and rational view of reality. As an aesthetic imperative, tenderness implies engaged experience of the beauty of reality in all of its manifestations. Therefore, in the last part of the article, existential tender attunement is described in aesthetic terms, as a position serving to sensitize others to the beauty and complexity of the post-anthropocentric world. (shrink)

Неопределенность общих параметров социальной ситуации в современной России нередко приводит в тупик работу рефлексивного самосознания. Западные читатели склонны интересоваться религиозной стороной русской мысли. Однако в ней есть также и вполне «светская» философия в своих классических формах - эпистемология, этика, политическая философия и др. Постсоветская философия в России характеризуется значительной открытостью к Западу и, в частности, к современной французской философии. Le caractère assez confus de la situation générale actuelle en Russie y engendre une atrophie de l’activité réflexive. Les Occidentaux s’intéressent souvent (...) au côté religieux de la pensée russe. Mais il y a aussi, actuellement, une philosophie « laïque » , et cela sous les formes classiques : épistémologie, éthique, philosophie politique, etc. La philosophie de la Russie postsoviétique se caractérise par une grande ouverture à l’Occident, et en particulier aux philosophes français actuels. The somewhat confused character of the general situation in Russia leads to an atrophy of reflexive activity. Westemers are often interested in the religious side of Russian thought. But there also exists today a “secular” philosophy, developed according the classical canon: i.e., epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, etc. The philosophy of post-Soviet Russia is characterized by a great openness towards the West, and particularly with respect to contemporary French philosophers. (shrink)

Artykuł stanowi próbę artystycznej i estetycznej analizy dzieła Chrystus św. Jana od Krzyża Salvadora Dalego jako obrazu realizującego główne postulaty estetyki postmodernizmu. Zastosowana perspektywa badawcza ma na celu wyjście poza tradycyjną zależność polegającą na wskazywaniu tego, co postmodernizm przejął od wcześniejszych nurtów awangardowych, w szczególności od surrealizmu. Proponowana odwrócona perspektywa odsyła do innej, wzbogacającej relacji: wskazuje bezpośrednio na to, co surrealizm odkrył i w artystyczny sposób wykorzystał na długo przed nastaniem estetyki postmodernizmu.

What could be meant by «trauma»? Trauma can be regarded as a single event which has actually occurred and has fundamentally changed life of society, has shifted self-perception people had and greatly changed the potential future for these people. Trauma can also stand for some process which started to unfold after a catastrophic event and remains ongoing. Assuming a fact that that trauma can be regarded in various ways, it can also stand for some situation of deprivation, when people realize (...) that they were deprived of something, trying to find or regain what was lost through the present. At the same time, trauma can be regarded as a story line, when we realize that something has happened and try to tell about it in different ways in various genres, using the same or very similar images. By trauma we can also mean something which is called a unifying event, i.e. that something which creates us. Trauma is not something naturally existing, but on the contrary it is constructed by the society; individual and social traumas are very different. There is also a gap between the event and its representation: this gap is the trauma process. All of us, regardless of specifics of history of the nation we belong to, exist in a post-catastrophic time and bear the burden of responsibility for past but not fully comprehended horrors. Deep experiencing of a catastrophic event, a collapse of all usual human relationships, prearranges a transition to cataleptic consciousness, practicing oblivion and forming a particular subject, i.e. a post-traumatic subject, a subject of time-after, who gets crucified between the ever-lasting pain, i.e. something that never ceases to generate pain, something which remains in memory, and a power of oblivion, functioning as a defense mechanism. The relation between memory and trauma represents a very central focus in the memory and trauma studies and has been analyzed by several scholars. (shrink)

In the present paper I present the metalinguistic solutions to the ‘lost disagreement’ problem proposed Sundell and Plunkett [2013] and Barker [2012]. I argue that metalinguistic negotiations about taste, even though successful in explaining the intuition of disagreement in a vast number of cases, are not an accurate solution to the disagreement problem in contextualism when it comes to the most paradigmatic case of “tasty”. I also argue against the account of faultless disagreement explained via vagueness of taste predicates [Barker, (...) 2012]. I believe that the notion of faultlessness employed in the discussion of vagueness [Wright, 1994] is a different notion than the one employed in the discussion of taste discourse [Kölbel, 2003]. (shrink)

The book, which constitutes part of the current feminist research as broadly understood, deals in particular with issues related to the philosophical approach to women’s experience. The main thrust of the research is to ask questions such as: What is women’s experience? Is it generally possible to speak of women’s typical experiences? Does it influence knowledge, and if so, how? Does it influence women’s perception and interpretation of art, and if so, how? And finally, taking a broader perspective: can women’s (...) experience serve as a basis for distinguishing philosophical theories specific to women? Within the framework of feminist philosophy developed since the 1960s and 70s, researchers have employed the concept of women’s experience, but this concept has not yet been comprehensively elaborated and defined. Importantly, women’s experience also plays an essential role in the project of feminist esthetics, whose isolation from traditional esthetic reflection has been proposed by certain feminist authors. Therefore, the book also discusses the problem of the relationship of women’s experience in the feminist approach to the feminist esthetics postulated by researchers both male and female. The book takes the position that feminist philosophy is an integral part of traditional philosophical research, a part in which the feminist perspective is applied. This perspective is understood as a theoretical research tool, applied in the humanities and social sciences, in order to unmask the gender-related elements in traditional discourses and to determine their impact on the results of the conducted research, i.e., the knowledge obtained thereby. In this sense, the feminist perspective is of an evaluative and critical but also transformative nature, because the purpose of its application is to appreciate and highlight women and the phenomenon of womanhood as well as to incorporate gender-related categories within philosophical reflection and academic research. This goal is expressed in the practical demand for a transformation of sociopolitical practice and theory that takes women’s ways of experiencing reality into account. In this approach, the feminist perspective paradoxically brings us closer to the attainment of more universal, holistic, and gender-transcending knowledge. The order of the considerations presented in the book was dictated by their main objective: a philosophical approach to and description of women’s esthetic experiences. The first part comprises a reconstruction of the historical development of feminism, in which three waves of feminism―which, from the perspective of a contemporary researcher, constitute a historically complete field of research―are discussed in a synthetic manner. The first part of these considerations concludes the introduction to feminist philosophy, specifically through the reconstruction of selected critical arguments advanced by feminist researchers regarding the traditional theory of cognition. The second part of the book covers issues in the field of feminist philosophy. The considerations presented here are focused on the concept of women’s cognitive experience, of which women’s experience of an esthetic character constitutes a particular type. Hence, studies of feminist epistemology are presented first, followed by studies of feminist esthetics. Analysis of the esthetic experiences of women is carried out in two stages: first, through reference to a philosophical approach to women’s cognitive experiences, and second, on this basis, through indicating fundamental differences between feminist and androcentric understandings of esthetic experiences. Although critical references to feminist ideas and solutions appear in many places in the book, on the most general level the considerations presented here are consistent with the feminist ideal of merging theory and practice. Feminism, in essence, has grown from socio-political practice and evolved toward detailed philosophical and scientific theories. Importantly, these theories are continually being revised and creatively developed. Feminist researchers refer to women’s life practices because it is the latter that determines whether a given theory adequately addresses problems affecting women. Therefore, the research presented in the book is focused on women’s experiences, which, in the author’s opinion, constitute the reference point for any and all reflections taking the feminist perspective into account. -/- . (shrink)

Maria Gołaszewska (1926–2015), a Polish philosopher, was associated throughout her life with Poland’s oldest academic institution, the Jagiellonian University in Cracow. She was a student of the phenomenologist Roman Ingarden, himself a student of Edmund Husserl. During the postwar and communist years in Poland, Gołaszewska conducted research focusing on issues related to art and aesthetics. She created her own conception of empirically and anthropologically oriented aesthetics, which I believe is a prime example of a theory that accounts for the perspective (...) of gender, and in this sense should be acknowledged as an important contribution to contemporary gender-sensitive/feminist philosophy. In the article, I present Gołaszewska’s life, academic career, and philosophy as a cognitively valuable response to feminist philosophy’s search for a suitable description of women’s experiences related to art and aesthetic perception. (shrink)

Currently, the concept of engagement is crucial in the field of learning and school achievement. It is a multidimensional concept (e.g., behavioral, emotional, and cognitive dimensions) that has been widely used as a theoretical framework to explain the processes of school engagement and dropout. However, this conceptual framework has been scarcely used in the field of homework. The aim of the present study was to analyze the role of intrinsic motivation, perceived homework utility, and personal homework attitude as precursors of (...) student homework engagement (behavioral engagement) and, at the same time, how such engagement is the precursor of academic achievement. Seven hundred and thirty students of Compulsory Secondary Education (7th to 10th grade) from fourteen schools northern Spain participated. A structural equation model was elaborated on which intrinsic motivation, perceived utility and attitude were observed variables, and student engagement (time spent on homework, time management, and amount of teacher-assigned homework done) and academic achievement (Mathematics, Spanish Language, English Language, Social Science) were latent variables. The results reveal that (i) intrinsic motivation is a powerful precursor of student behavioral engagement (also perceived utility and attitude, although to a lesser extent) and (ii) academic achievement is closely linked to the level of student engagement, qualifying the results of many of the previous studies conducted from a task-centered perspective (as opposed to a person-centered perspective). (shrink)

In the paper, I pose the question of how, on artistic, aesthetic, and philosophical levels, decoration and domestic handicrafts as subversive strategies enable the undermining and breakdown of class-based and patriarchal divisions into high and low, objective and subjective, public and private, masculine and feminine. I explore whether handicrafts, in accordance with feminist postulates, are transgressive, transformative, and inclusive. I link handicrafts with the feminist perspective, since, in the second half of the twentieth century, it was precisely the feminist movement (...) that initiated significant changes in the social and cultural perception of women, femininity, and gender relations. Thus I apply this perspective in the first place to the analysis of selected works of contemporary art in which handicrafts is used not only as a means of artistic expression but also as a subversive aesthetic strategy. I also demonstrate how the world of fashion transforms and aesthetizes handicrafts, whose presence in fashion makes it an area in which, in addition to imperatives and aesthetic values, social attitudes, ethical values, and world views are shaped. Finally, referring to the works of selected feminist authors (Mary Field Belenky, Mary Daly, Evelyn Fox-Keller, Donna Haraway), I show how these researchers have metaphorically interpreted handicrafts as specifically feminine ways of creating and developing knowledge. (shrink)

Introduction. The article is focused on studying the self-knowledge techniques used in Buddhism and their application in teaching philosophy. The relevance of the study is due to the search for new approaches to studying philosophy, including approaches related to philosophical practice, as well as the interest of modern scientists in the problem of consciousness. The problem of consciousness is interdisciplinary and its study is of practical importance for philosophers, psychologists, linguists, specialists in artificial intelligence. Buddhism as a philosophical doctrine provides (...) rich material for the study of the phenomenon of consciousness, which does not lose its relevance today. A feature of the Buddhist approach to consciousness is that it has an axiological orientation that is directly related to the problem of self-knowledge. The practices of self-knowledge used in Buddhism enable a person to become happier and more harmonious, which is so important for each of us. The aim of the study is to conduct a philosophical analysis of Buddhist practices of self-knowledge and self-transformation in order to use them in the educational process. Methods: the author uses general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, deduction and induction; phenomenological method to identify the intentions that are key for consciousness. The author also uses the hermeneutical method to interpret Buddhist texts. The method of introspection as self-observation of consciousness is used in Buddhist meditation techniques. The scientific novelty of the study is that we approach the study of extensive material on Buddhism in the context of the problem of selfknowledge, which is inextricably linked with the Buddhist concept of consciousness. The revealed and studied Buddhist techniques of self-knowledge have been adapted for teaching philosophy. Results. A philosophical analysis of the literature on Buddhism in the context of the problem of self-knowledge was carried out. As a result of the analysis, Buddhist techniques for working with consciousness, such as meditation, the method of pondering Zen koans, the method of getting rid of material attachments, or the practice of austerities, were studied and described. A philosophical analysis of various Buddhist meditation techniques showed that they are based on the Buddhist concept of consciousness, which denies the existence of an individual “I”, considers the “I” to be nothing more than a combination of various dharmas, therefore the purpose of meditation in Buddhism is to identify oneself with one’s own “I”, to achieve a state of voidness in which we must comprehend our true identity. The method of pondering Zen koans is also one of the techniques for working with one’s consciousness in Buddhism. As a result of deliberation of these paradoxical miniatures, a person goes beyond the boundaries of logical thinking; there is a transition from the level of profane consciousness to the level of deep consciousness. The basis of the method of getting rid of material attachments or the practice of austerities in Buddhism is the concept of the middle path. We have established a similarity between the method of getting rid of material attachments, the concept of the middle path and minimalism as a way of life. Findings. Elements of the Buddhist practices of self-transformation can be successfully used in the teaching of philosophy at the university as a practical aspect of studying this discipline, forming students with the idea of philosophy as a way of life leading to positive self-transformation. Studying the practical aspects of Buddhist philosophy contributes to the formation of tolerance, awareness, education of humanism and altruism, and the skills of psycho-emotional self-regulation. (shrink)

The paper deals with the problem of the social construction of the Self in socio-phenomenological perspective. I am trying to explore the idea, that the shortcomings of the so-called classical Self-models can be clearly explicit in the light of socio-phenomenological approach. Heuristic power of transcendentally phenomenological conception of the Ego and Alter Ego is examined as well as its further development in the framework of phenomenological tradition in the social sciences. Turning to postmodern tradition in the social thinking, I am (...) trying to argue, that significance of phenomenological approach to the problem of the social construction of the Self consists in the fact, that it mediates “classic” Self-theories in European social thinking and further developed radical forms of cognitive constructivism which paves the way to postmodern deconstruction. (shrink)

The article deals with the philosophical problem of the objectivity of knowledge in relation to the ideas and postulates advanced by feminist critics from the 1960s on. To this end, I take the historical perspective into account and present successively selected threads of feminist criticism of the traditional theory of knowledge, followed by selected positive aspects of feminist epistemology. First of all, I discuss feminist criticism of the androcentric research model, which is based on the doctrine of the disembodied, detached (...) objectivity of the subject and object of research as well as of knowledge itself. Next, I present selected feminist approaches to knowledge which constitute cognitively valuable proposals for the transformation of the traditional theory of knowledge through the application in philosophical reflection and research of the feminist research perspective. (shrink)

Problem kobiecej tożsamości jest zagadnieniem żywym we współczesnym dyskursie feministycznym. Szczególne miejsce zajmuje on zwłaszcza we francuskiej myśli feministycznej, reprezentowanej między innymi przez liberalną feministkę Élisabeth Badinter. Najnowsza książka filozofki, zatytułowana Konflikt: kobieta i matka, stanowi szczegółowe opracowanie obowiązujących obecnie poglądów na naturę kobiety jako matki, która pragnie także realizować swoje własne, indywidualne potrzeby. Stąd tytułowy konflikt wartości, będący podłożem współczesnego kryzysu kobiecej tożsamości. Początki tożsamościowego myślenia kobiet przypisuje się matce europejskiego feminizmu, Simone de Beauvoir. Badinter, kontynuując tożsamościowe rozważanie de (...) Beauvoir, analizuje wpływ myślenia naturalistycznego i maternalistycznego na obowiązujący obecnie status kobiet. Filozofka zajmuje się także wyjątkowym przypadkiem Francuzek, które ze względu na historyczną specyfikę realiów życia we Francji jako jedyne realizują współcześnie model spełnionej kobiety i zaangażowanej matki. (shrink)

I argue that the increased rate of innovation in eighteenth-century England cannot be understood without accounting for the unprecedented level of contact between England and other societies as a consequence of sixteenth-century colonialism. I propose cultural interconnectedness and in-group cooperation as two potential alternative explanations for the psychological changes and innovative behavior described by Baumard.

Nakładem wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu w Walencji ukazała się w 2008 roku książka brytyjskiego profesora Iana Ground’a, zatytułowana ¿Arte o chorrada? (tytuł oryginału: ang. Art or bunk?). Ian Ground jest wykładowcą Uniwersytetów w Edynburgu oraz Newcastle, przedmiotem jego zainteresowań filozoficznych jest estetyka oraz zagadnienia sztuki współczesnej. Długoletnie doświadczenie w pracy ze studentami stało się dla niego inspiracją do podjęcia próby przybliżenia odbiorcy idei sztuki współczesnej. Celem autora nie jest jednak podanie bezpośredniej odpowiedzi na pytanie: jak poradzić sobie w świecie sztuki współczesnej, ale (...) dostarczenie określonych narzędzi, pomocnych w zetknięciu z tego rodzaju sztuką. W zamyśle autora, narzędzia te pozwolą odbiorcy dokonać fundamentalnego osądu: czy ma do czynienia z dziełem sztuki, czy też ze zwykłym „śmieciem” i pospolitą „bzdurą” (ang. bunk, hiszp. chorrada). ¿Arte o chorrada? to próba stworzenia elementarnego podręcznika, prezentującego metodę analizy dzieła, które stało się dla nas wyzwaniem oraz zawierającego propozycję pewnych rozwiązań, nie zawsze będących gwarancją osiągnięcia sukcesu. Podobnie jak wiele innych prac związanych z tematem sztuki XX wieku, książka Iana Ground’a nie jest niezawodnym remedium na wszelkie bolączki odbiorcy sztuki współczesnej. Możemy ją raczej potraktować jako solidne zestawienie tez, na których autor opiera swoją propozycję rozumienia dzieł sztuki i w konsekwencji, konstruktywne podejście do omawianego problemu. (shrink)

The article analyzes the activity of the greatest classic of the Islamic philosophy - Ibn Sina, aimed at the revision of Aristotelianism, mainly in terms of its synthesis with Islamic monotheism. Preferential attention is paid to the metaphysical section of Avicennian multivolume encyclopedia “The Healing”. Instead of Aristotelian God / the Prime Mover as the final cause, which serves as the source of the movement of the world, Avicenna establishes God / Necessary Being, who acts as the Giver of being. (...) Developing the ontological foundation of creationism, i.e. the creation of every thing in the world, the philosopher introduces a distinction between essence and existence, which will pass through the subsequent history of philosophy. Ibn Sina thoroughly modifies the Aristotelian doctrine of the unity of God and His essential cataphatic attributes. The intellectual narcissism of God, Who only knows Himself in Stagirite, he changes with the concept of Divine Omniscience and His providence of all existents. Ibn Sina transforms Aristotelian eternalism into eternalistic creationism, modifying the emanationist scheme of cosmogenesis advanced by al-Farabi, in which the process of proceeding of the existents from the First Principle appears as an intellectual act. The Muslim philosopher complements Aristotelian cosmology with the doctrine of angels, whom he identifies with cosmic intellects and souls as the governors of the celestial spheres. Avicennian radical innovation is in the doctrine of Active Intellect, who is not only the ruler of the sublunar world, but actually is its demiurge. This intellect is assigned with the function of the illumination of the human intellect, as well as with the role of the archangel Gabriel the transmitter of divine revelation according to Muslim tradition. From the philosophical perspective, Avicenna develops alien to Aristotelianism topics related to the prophecy and revelation, the immortality of the soul and its otherworldly fate. (shrink)

The purpose of the article is to analyze the identity policy implemented within the Union State of Belarus and Russia and determine the ways of its improving. Methods and materials: materials include acts of the Union State of Belarus and Russia and materials from Russian and Belarusian media; the methodological basis was laid by general scientific methods (system analysis, ascent from the abstract to the concrete, ascent from the individual to the general, synthesis, comparative method) and special legal and political (...) science scientific methods (formal legal method, method of legal hermeneutics, institutional-functional and system-structural approaches, content analysis method). Results and conclusions: the formation of the Union State of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation is inscribed in a complex multilevel context of international and domestic political processes, which co-determine opportunities and settle limitations for the unification strategies. The authors analyze the international and domestic factors that determine the slow character of the integration process. The authors propose one of the possible integration vectors. This vector assumes implementing a multi-level identity policy, which aims at forming a coherent political community at the heart of the Union State and needs today comprehensive development and legal and institutional support. The authors show that implementing this policy is possible only within the framework of the citizenship development. The article formulates some directions of this policy, which currently have not fully revealed their unifying potential and need further improvement. (shrink)

Bertrand Russell’s Critique of the Arguments for the Existence of God The paper presents Bertrand Russell’s critique of arguments for the existence of God. I divided the theistic arguments which Russell criticizes into three groups. The first group involves arguments concerning the relation between Universe and God: the First Cause argument, the Natural law argument and the argument from Design. The second group is related to the concept of God as a moral Lawmaker and it contains the argument from morality (...) and the argument from remedy for injustice. The last group of arguments pertains to the relation between God and human beings. Here, I consider Russell's reflections on the validity of the argument from religious experience and his approach to the issue of the foundation of religion. The aim of this article is to consider whether Russellian argumentation against evidence for God's existence is justified. Keywords: Bertrand Russell, existence of God, argument, philosophy of religion, evidence. (shrink)

The aim of the article is to analyse selected threads of Olga Tokarczuk’s literary work and selected artworks of Patricia Piccinini as a posthumanist critique of anthropocentrism. My analysis will be guided by the question of how art clarifies and helps us to understand a world in which boundaries between species are crossed and dualistic divisions – nature/culture, human/animal, human/machine – no longer apply. I will show that art is a space of expression in which the subjectivity of posthumanist hybrids (...) is given the chance to infiltrate universal consciousness and break down the anthropocentric monolith of western European culture. The article will also cite the posthumanist postulate of decentralization of the human subject, as implemented artistically by Tokarczuk and Piccinini in their works. This postulate signifies the need to accept the new responsibility a human being bears as part of a larger, heterogeneous whole (Donna Haraway), as well as to develop a posthumanist ethics (Rosi Braidotti). With reference to one of Tokarczuk’s essays, I propose to describe this new ethics as ‘sensitive ethics’. (shrink)

In my paper, I propose a certain classification of evaluative expressions. I hypothesize that the basic criterion to distinguish between evaluative and descriptive terms is the faultless disagreement test. Next, I discuss a few kinds of phenomena which seem to render this distinction dubious: context–sensitivity, vagueness and using descriptive terms to express evaluative judgments. Further, I investigate Ch. Kennedy’s proposal according to which gradable adjectives can express two kinds of subjectivity. I modify this account by postulating another sub-class of subjective (...) adjectives which are not subjective due to vagueness and which are not evaluative either as they do not necessarily encode any valence. I propose a linguistic test to identify these expressions. Finally, I check where my classification of adjectives places the predicate of personal taste “tasty”. I suggest that “tasty” is both evaluative and experiential and additionally, it carries a condition of its own use, that is the information that can be used to positively assess the taste of something. This, I argue, makes it similar to thin evaluative terms as it carries no descriptive component at all. (shrink)

W niniejszym artykule proponuję pewną klasyfikację wyrażeń ocennych. Uznaję, że podstawowym kryterium odróżnienia ich od wyrażeń deskryptywnych jest test bezbłędnej niezgody. Następnie omawiam kilka zjawisk, które mogłyby podawać w wątpliwość linię tego podziału: zależność kontekstową, nieostrość i używanie wyrażeń deskryptywnych do wyrażania sądów ocennych. Przytaczam propozycję Christophera Kennedy’ego, zgodnie z którą przymiotniki stopniowalne mogą wyrażać dwa rodzaje subiektywności. Modyfikuję to stanowisko przez postulat wyróżnienia dodatkowego podrodzaju wyrażeń subiektywnych, które nie są ocenne i proponuję test językowy, który pozwala je identyfikować. W (...) końcu sprawdzam, gdzie moja klasyfikacja umiejscawia predykat smaku „smaczny”. Sugeruję, że niesie on semantycznie zakodowaną pozytywną ocenę oraz warunek swojego użycia – tj. informację, że można go użyć do pozytywnego ocenienia smaku czegoś, co strukturalnie upodabnia go do terminów ocennych nietreściwych, nie mówi bowiem nic deskryptywnego. (shrink)

Resumen En el presente artículo estudio la asociación entre los conceptos de “materialismo” y “ateísmo” en The True Intellectual System of the Universe de Ralph Cudworth y las consecuencias metafísicas que el inglés encuentra en esas corrientes. El inglés ofrece una clasificación exhaustiva de los posibles ateísmos para mostrar sus errores y participar en la gestación de categorías que a la larga se considerarán historiográficas. En un segundo momento, presento el concepto de “naturaleza plástica” y el orden ontológico que Cudworth (...) ofrece como el correcto, en el cual se aprecia la influencia platónica y la subordinación de lo material a lo inmaterial. Así, en su metafísica, Cudworth sostiene un dualismo porque no rechaza la existencia de la materia, sino la utilización errónea que hacen de ella los ateos.In this paper I examine the association between the concepts of “materialism” and “atheism” in Ralph Cudworth’s The True Intellectual System of the Universe, and the metaphysical consequences that the Englishman establishes for those trends. Cudworth offers an exhaustive classification of possible atheisms in order to show their mistakes, and in this way he participates in the origination of categories which eventually will be considered as historiographical. I present then the concept of “Plastic Nature” and the ontological order that Cudworth thinks to be the correct one, and which exhibits the Platonic influence and the subordination of the material to the immaterial. Thus, in his metaphysics Cudworth maintains a dualism insofar as he does not reject the existence of matter but the wrong use that atheists make of it. (shrink)

The article considers the interpretation of the culture and philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Babylon in the texts of writers of the late nineteenth–early twentieth centuries. This topic was highly important and widely discussed in connection with the outstanding discoveries of archaeological expeditions in the 1900–1920s in the Valley of the Kings on the Nile. In his treatise “Tajna trekh: Egipet i Vavilon”, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, referring to religious views of the previous eras, attempted to find an ideological synthesis that could (...) unite and reconcile people in the hard times of wars and revolutions. Alexander Chayanov in his story “Puteshestvie moego brata Alekseia v stranu krest’ianskoj utopii” turned to the biblical symbolism of the Tower of Babel which sought to overcome, as it were, the chaos that engulfed society—to give a warning against rash prometheistic ideas. He examined the ability of man to fight against the power of fate, to remain true to himself and to his ideas. In his mystical stories there can be traced allusions to the mysteries of the goddess Isis. Their heroines bear chthonic features. Chayanov examined how the feeling of love can destroy or revive the hero depending on his integrity and readiness to undergo evolution in order to find harmony. (shrink)

The paper aims at tracing a collective portrait and the trajectories of a group of about forty women active in the communist movement after Poland had regained independence, and after the Second World War. I explore the relations between gender, communist activity, and the changing circumstances of the communist movement. I argue that interwar activities shaped women communists as radical, uncompromising, and questioning traditional femininity political agents, accepted as comrades at every organisational level. This image and identity, though, contributed to (...) the creation of the gender division of political work after the war, when women were assigned specific roles as guardians of revolutionary past. The post-war situation of state socialism with the communist party as the ruling party assigned women mainly to invisible, secondary positions. (shrink)

This article explores the ethics of physical and verbal interpersonal relations which express themselves as displacements and intersections of genres in Pedro Almodovar’s film Speak to her . Ethics must be understood here in the strict sense of care for the self, which always presupposes care for the other. I will argue that the film suggests the demetaphorisation of corporeal experience as a path towards ethical relations between people. I argue too that the film proposes a feminisation of the masculine (...) as a step towards a higher level of humanism and mutual comprehension. (shrink)

Although entrepreneurial intention has been widely studied using cognitive models, we still lack entrepreneurial vocation and, therefore, lack disruptive innovations. Entrepreneurship scholars have some understanding of the reasons underlying this weakness, although there is much room for improvement in our learning concerning how to promote entrepreneurship among university students, especially in the transformed context of digital technologies. This paper focuses on the early stages of start-up, and in particular seeks to evaluate what role social and psychological factors play in the (...) development of entrepreneurial intentions. Drawing on network theory, we consider the impact of social networks on entrepreneurial intention. Specifically, we analyze the influence of two types of social networks: face-to-face and online social networks, with the latter proving especially important in digital transformations. In addition, based on affective congruency theory, we relate affect with entrepreneurial intention. Particularly, we evaluate the influence of positive and negative dispositional affectivity on the formation of entrepreneurial intentions. Finally, since affect and emotions can also be related with social relationships, we analyze whether dispositional affectivities influence entrepreneurial intention through the mediation effect of social networks. Using structural equation modeling, we confirm the impact of both online and face-to-face social networks, as well as positive dispositional affectivity on entrepreneurial intention for 589 higher education students in Spain. However, negative dispositional affectivity is not seen to influence entrepreneurial intention. Furthermore, both face-to-face and online social networks are influenced by positive dispositional affectivity. Moreover, these two types of networks can even partially mediate the relationship between positive dispositional affectivity and entrepreneurial intention. Positive dispositional affectivity can thus influence entrepreneurial intention in two different ways: directly and indirectly through both face-to-face and online social networks. This study provides further insights and adds to the literature on affect, social networks, and entrepreneurial intention. From a broader perspective, we also contribute to the literature on disruptive innovations by explaining how the development of entrepreneurial intentions would have positive consequences for university students vis-à-vis achieving these disruptive innovations. (shrink)

The article deals with the mechanisms of female employment. The author has set herself the task of comparing the conditions of employment of women during the Polish People’s Republic (PRL) and contemporary times. The main aim was to indicate the evolution of labour law relating to women workers from a series of instructions and regulations of the Council of Ministers defining the protection of women's work before 1974, through a variety of general rules applicable to all employees, to the regulations (...) contained in the Labour Code and also current legislation. The article attempts to assess the ethical actions taken by the state to improve the conditions of employment of women in the workplace. The text indicates the importance of the work in the lives of women. Occupational status and income level strongly influenced the behaviour of women, who in many cases took up work intended only for men due to the fact that during PRL it was only such work which would allow them to obtain a higher salary. The article indicates that today there is a special emphasis placed on the prohibition of restricting the employment of women in jobs and on the conditions of the employment of pregnant women. The author of this article has evaluated the legislation introduced by the state, which contributed to the increase in female activity in the labour market. However, in ethical terms of ethical it is very difficult to unambiguously assess the actions taken by the state for the protection of women's work in the PRL, but also in contemporary times. (shrink)

Motivation is a key factor in getting involved in education, as well as in other things. After all, the existence of objective prerequisites for education is only a necessary basis for its success, but the use of these conditions properly depends to a large extent on the adequate motivation of participants in the educational process. Therefore, proper motivation is a sufficient basis for making efforts to achieve a better result. However, efforts also need to be directed correctly: there is not (...) enough to be passionate about, something must be done in a way that is acceptable to others and understandable to them. Therefore, motivation is inevitably more or less related to legitimacy, i.e. the provision of normative activities. For each case there is the best motivation for it and proper legitimacy. Motivation refers to the identification of basic values of a certain type of activity, legitimation requires a clear understanding and recognition of certain norms that are generally accepted in this activity. At different stages of adulthood, the motivation and legitimation of its activities alternately play a priority role, although both of them are more or less present at all stages of personality development. Therefore, both the excessive opposition of motivation and legitimacy and attempts to consider one as part of the other are wrong – these are relatively self-sufficient mechanisms to ensure the success of individual behavior. Motivation and legitimacy are closely linked to the individual's acceptance of certain obligations and responsibilities, which are the basis for the individual's acquisition of certain rights. Unsuccessful motivation and inappropriate legitimation of an individual's behavior is a sign of his unsuccessful socialization, which risks losing the connection of the individual with the main social institutions of society – especially with the state. In the case of their successful implementation, motivation and legitimacy are an important means of effective inclusion of the individual in the functioning of social systems, as well as – in the improvement and development of such functioning. (shrink)

I take issue with Kalisch et al.’s formulation of PASTOR, arguing that care must be taken in understanding what is meant by “appraisal.” I examine the implications of PASTOR given two competing possibilities for what counts as an appraisal – first, if appraisal is restricted to conscious reflection on one’s circumstances, and second, if appraisal is expanded to include subconscious mechanisms of evaluation.

In this reply to the article by I.T. Kasavin “Creativity as a social phenomenon” the authors discuss the possibilities of the scientific precariat as a free creative class, which having entered the scientific community, will give it a new creative potential. The authors express some doubts that such a merger will preserve precariat's special creative spirit. The article draws attention to the diversity in understanding the nature, goals and values of creativity. The specificity of understanding creativity in the scientific community (...) is due to its rational and methodological guidelines, while the precariat is part of postmodern society, and its creative potential stems from a break with traditional rationalistic methodology. However, as long as peer review remains in the hands of the exclusively institutionalized scientific community, there is a high probability that the creativity of the precariat will be marginalized, and becoming part of the scientific community, the precariat will be forced to accept its epistemic values and lose the creative potential that is expected from them. The authors refer to P. Feyerabend’s theory of creativity, in which he rejects the subject-centered model of scientific creativity. According to Feyerabend, creativity is intersubjective in nature and grows organically from the sociocultural environment of the subject. The scientist creates following a cultural instinct, but the subject does not disappear from the creative process, since the cultural instinct is refracted through his individual style. If creativity is a reflection of the spirit of times, the precariat is the best way to embody it. In conclusion, a way for overcoming the social is outlined and, in a broad sense, the methodological problematic nature of the unification of the scientific community and the precariat, which the authors see in the general democratization and pluralism of society. (shrink)