In visual information processing, two kinds of vision are distinguished: vision-for-perception related to the conscious identifi cation of objects, and vision-for-action that deals with visual control of movements. Neuroscience suggests that these two functions are performed by two separate brain neural systems - the ventral and dorsal pathways. Two experiments using behavioural measures were conducted with the objective of exploring any potential interaction between these two functions of vision. The aim was to combine in one task methods allowing for the (...) simultaneous capture of both perceptual global processing and affordance extraction and to check whether they infi uence each other. This aim was achieved by employing the paradigms of Navon and Tucker and Ellis. A compound fi gure was created made up of objects with handles that might or might not have orientation congruent between levels. The results revealed that while the affordance effect occurred every time, the Navon effect appeared only when subjects focused their attention on object elements responsible for inconsistence within compound fi gure. Most importantly, even when these two effects occurred at once, they had no effect on each other. Results from the study failed to confi rm the hypothesis about interaction and gives support to the view that vision-for-perception and vision-for-action tend to act as separate systems. (shrink)
There is a continuing debate in the field of perceptual organization as to whether the locus of global processing is early or late perceptual, as previous studies have yielded contrary results. The conducted behavioural study explored this issue with the paradigm of collating global processing with other process of perceptual organization, namely illusory contours processing. Interaction between these two processes of perceptual organization would indicate that global processing has an early perceptual locus, whereas the lack of such interaction would suggest (...) the late perceptual locus of global processing. In experiment 1, the effect of global dominance was obtained with the use of a compound figure composed of geometrical shapes with real edges. Results showed that the processing of the figure at the global level was faster and that it disrupted the processing of the figures from the local level. In experiment 1b, the compound figure was composed of local geometrical shapes generated with the use of the line-end induced illusory contours. Local elements with illusory contours did not affect the processing of the hierarchical structure and the effect of global precedence occurred without any changes. In experiment 2a, a global advantaged effect within a compound figure with local elements with real edges was obtained in the paradigm of attention divided between levels of the hierarchical structure. When illusory contours of local elements of a compound figure were introduced to this paradigm, this again had no effect on the perceptual global advantage. The results demonstrate the lack of interaction between global processing and illusory contour processing, indicating that the locus of global processing is rather late perceptual. (shrink)
Piotr Kropotkin był najważniejszym przedstawicielem tzw. darwinizmu rosyjskiego oraz teorii pomocy wzajemnej, która podkreślała znaczenie współpracy wewnątrzgatunkowej w procesie doboru naturalnego oraz walki o byt. Na jej kanwie rosyjski badacz wysunął tezę o ewolucyjnych źródłach moralności, będącej problem badawczym w niniejszym artykule. Stanowi to jednocześnie powód dlaczego poza przedstawieniem wspomnianej tezy i jej założeń, w publikacji zilustrowana została także teoria pomocy wzajemnej. Zaproponowana przez Kropotkina wizja moralności suponowała, iż stanowi ona „przyrodzoną” właściwość ludzkiej natury. Podstawę dla niej stanowić ma (...) instynkt społeczny oraz jego przejawy, takie jak: równość, solidarność, sprawiedliwość, itd., a także pomoc wzajemna. Stawiało to propozycję rosyjskiego darwinisty w opozycji wobec dominujących trendów w myśleniu o ludzkiej moralności na przełomie XIX i XX wieku, zwłaszcza wobec tzw. darwinizmu społecznego i charakterystycznego dlań dualizmu moralnego. Ponadto zrywała z antropocentryzmem zakładając, iż poza gatunkiem ludzkim, także inne gatunki cechują się uczuciami moralnymi. (shrink)
Predictive processing (PP) has been repeatedly presented as a unificatory account of perception, action, and cognition. In this paper, we argue that this is premature: As a unifying theory, PP fails to deliver general, simple, homogeneous, and systematic explanations. By examining its current trajectory of development, we conclude that PP remains only loosely connected both to its computational framework and to its hypothetical biological underpinnings, which makes its fundamentals unclear. Instead of offering explanations that refer to the same set of (...) principles, we observe systematic equivocations in PP‐based models, or outright contradictions with its avowed principles. To make matters worse, PP‐based models are seldom empirically validated, and they are frequently offered as mere just‐so stories. The large number of PP‐based models is thus not evidence of theoretical progress in unifying perception, action, and cognition. On the contrary, we maintain that the gap between theory and its biological and computational bases contributes to the arrested development of PP as a unificatory theory. Thus, we urge the defenders of PP to focus on its critical problems instead of offering mere re‐descriptions of known phenomena, and to validate their models against possible alternative explanations that stem from different theoretical assumptions. Otherwise, PP will ultimately fail as a unified theory of cognition. (shrink)
Blumenthal-Barby et al. (2022) situate their discussion of philosophy and bioethics in the context of (reportedly) widely held assumption that, when compared to the early days of bioethics, the rol...
Piotr Cyciura Human Freedom and MetaphysicsHuman freedom is in a sense the topic of metaphysics. Freedom is usually regarded as what is the most perfect in the reality. For man being perfect is the same as acting in the way which is proper for him only, viz., acting in a rational manner. However, what man desires is more perfect than what he is. The human existence is participated whereas what man aims at in the most rational manner is the (...) Existence itself. Therefore God (as loved and known) guarantees the human freedom. The value is everything that brings us closer to Him – everything save God and persons – provided we offer it to Him. It is our choice whether we make whatever is ours obey to God or not. However, what is eventually achieved is not what is ours but we ourselves – living in the Life itself. There are no borders for the human freedom in the physical world; whatever bears upon us, i.e. what is natural, could become an offering, whereas what is offered to Him in the way He cannot reject it is the only absolute value. Keywords: freedom, values, metaphysics, God. (shrink)
The concept of power shapes both the political philosophy and the general worldview of the modern age. For this reason, two areas of philosophy - ontology and political philosophy - which were hitherto treated separately, must be brought together. Freedom, Equality, Power brings out the ontological framework shared by the political philosophies of Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau. In the last chapter, the author uses the results of his earlier analyses as the stepping stone for developing some themes belonging to ontology (...) in general. (shrink)
Topic modeling—a text‐mining technique often used to uncover thematic structures in large collections of texts—has been increasingly frequently used in the context of the analysis of scholarly output. In this study, we construct a corpus of 19,488 texts published since 1971 in seven leading journals in the field of bioethics and philosophy of medicine, and we use a machine learning algorithm to identify almost 100 topics representing distinct themes of interest in the field. On the basis of intertopic correlations, we (...) group the content‐based topics into eight clusters, thus providing a novel, fine‐grained intellectual map of bioethics and philosophy of medicine. Moreover, we conduct a number of diachronic analyses, examining how the “prominence” of different topics has changed across time. In this way, we are able to observe the distinct patterns in which bioethics and philosophy of medicine have evolved and changed their focus over the past half a century. (shrink)
In the paper I explore the relations between a relatively new and quickly expanding branch of artificial intelligence –- the automated discovery systems –- and some new views advanced in the old debate over scientific realism. I focus my attention on one such system, GELL-MANN, designed in 1990 at Wichita State University. The program's task was to analyze elementary particle data available in 1964 and formulate an hypothesis (or hypotheses) about a `hidden', more simple structure of matter, or to put (...) it in contemporary terms –- the discovery of quarks. The central thesis of my paper is that systems like GELL-MANN not only discover (or rediscover) the hidden structure of matter, but also provide independent strong evidence in favor of scientific realism about entities involved in that structure. I make an attempt to show how an argument for scientific realism about sub-microscopic entities can be constructed that would parallel Ian Hacking's `argument from coincidence' presented with respect to microscopic objects in his famous book Representing and Intervening. (shrink)
The article presents the question of understanding divine causality and its analogical character in the context of Thomas Aquinas’s teaching on Divine Providence. Analyzing Aquinas’s texts concerning the relation of God’s action towards nature and its activities it is necessary to emphasize the proper understanding of mutual relations between secondary causes and the primary cause which are not on the same level. Influenced by the reflection of M. Dodds and I Silva, the author of the article refers to Aquinas’s biblical (...) commentaries which have not been discussed so far from the perspective of the character of God’s action. In the final part of the article, metaphors used by Thomas in reference to the relation of God towards the world will be presented. (shrink)
The truly philosophical issue in machine conscioiusness is whether machines can have 'hard consciounsess'. Criteria for hard consciousness are higher than for phenomenal consciousness, since the latter incorporates first-person functional consciousness.
Was Heidegger a 'realist' or an 'idealist'? The issue has been and continues to be hotly debated in Heidegger scholarship. Here it is argued that the much more desirable realistic interpretation of Heidegger can be sustained, provided his theory of moods is given its due. Moods, I argue, are not only 'equiprimordial' with Dasein's understanding of being, but are also irreducible to the latter. It is often held - correctly, as it seems to the author - that Heidegger's idealism is (...) all but inevitable if Dasein's awareness of entities is grounded only in Dasein's understanding of being. But in Being and Time Heidegger speaks also of how what there is is 'disclosed moodwise'. The essay closely analyzes this specifically moody mode of disclosure, and shows both its autonomy vis-à-vis the understanding of being and its function of securing, for Dasein, an access to a truly independent reality. (shrink)
Following on the arguments adumbrated in his previous works, Piotr Hoffman here argues that the notion of and concern with violence are not limited to political philosophy but in fact form the essential component of philosophy in general. The acute awareness of the ever-present possibility of violence, Hoffman claims, filters into and informs ontology and epistemology in ways that require careful analysis. In his previous book, Doubt, Time, Violence , Hoffman explored the theme of violence in relation to Descartes' (...) problematic of doubt and Heidegger's work on temporality. The pivotal notion deriving from that investigation is the notion of the other as the ultimate limit of one's powers. In effect, Hoffman argues, our practical mastery of the natural environment still leaves intact the limitation of human agents by each other. In a violent environment, the other emerges as an insurmountable obstacle to one's aims and purposes or as an inescapable danger which one is powerless to hold at bay. The other is thus the focus of an ultimate resistance to one's powers. The special status of the other, as Hoffman articulates it, is at the root of several key notions around which modern philosophy has built its problematic. Arguing here that when the theme of violence is taken into account many conceptual tensions and puzzles receive satisfying solutions, Hoffman traces the theme through the issue of things versus properties; through Kant's treatment of causality, necessity, and freedom in the Critique of Pure Reason; and through the early parts of Hegel's Logic. The result is a complete reorientation and reinterpretation of these important texts. Violence in Modern Philosophy offers patient and careful textual clarification in light of Hoffman's central thesis regarding the other as ultimate limit. With a high level of originality, he shows that the theme of violence is the hidden impulse behind much of modern philosophy. Hoffman's unique stress on the constitutive importance of violence also offers a challenge to the dominant "compatibilist" tradition in moral and political theory. Of great interest to all philosophers, this work will also provide fresh insights to anthropologists and all those in the social sciences and humanities who occupy themselves with the general theory of culture. (shrink)
W swojej ostatniej monografii Piotr Stanisław Mazur podejmuje problematykę metafizyki klasycznej, starając się ją zaktualizować, rozszerzyć, uwiarygodnić, zwłaszcza w odniesieniu do antropologii filozoficznej, która miałaby być budowana na jej podstawach. To zainteresowanie metafizyką, jako wiedzą o całości rzeczywistości, badanej w aspekcie istniejącego bytu, ma kilka swoich przyczyn. Do najważniejszych z nich należy współczesna krytyka metafizyki klasycznej oraz coraz częściej podnoszone kwestie dotyczące tego, jak rozumieć realność istnienia. W swojej najnowszej monografii Mazur podejmuje próbę obrony tomistycznej metafizyki przez wskazanie na (...) jej nowe, poznawcze możliwości związane z podstawami antropologii. Formułuje szereg pytań dotyczących istnienia człowieka, a konkretnie, na czym polega specyfika istnienia człowieka i co je charakteryzuje. (shrink)
Citizen identification systems (known also as ‘ID card systems’, or ‘national identity management systems’, even though those definitions are not identical) are receiving a mixed acceptance, with their privacy, security and usability being criticised, specifically in the UK. This paper investigates whether it is possible to improve social acceptance of such systems in cases where they are incompatible with the perceived value of privacy, but without significantly changing their original architecture. The paper analyses requirements using four different scenarios that address (...) long-term privacy issues. Relatively small alterations to such systems are suggested that may significantly improve their adoption. (shrink)
Piotr Buczkowski/Poznari THE LEVELS OF CONSCIOUSNESS Some remarks on sociology of knowledge /. Introduction Sociology of knowledge is a subbranch of social ...
The widespread idea that infinitesimals were “eliminated” by the “great triumvirate” of Cantor, Dedekind, and Weierstrass is refuted by an uninterrupted chain of work on infinitesimal-enriched number systems. The elimination claim is an oversimplification created by triumvirate followers, who tend to view the history of analysis as a pre-ordained march toward the radiant future of Weierstrassian epsilontics. In the present text, we document distortions of the history of analysis stemming from the triumvirate ideology of ontological minimalism, which identified the continuum (...) with a single number system. Such anachronistic distortions characterize the received interpretation of Stevin, Leibniz, d’Alembert, Cauchy, and others. (shrink)
On the Notion of Communicational Grammar in Political Linguistics Any communicational grammar may be viewed as a linguistic study concerned with rules responsible for efficient communication, and can be used as a tool for researching almost any issue that falls under the term political linguistics-a sub-field of linguistics which analyzes how ideologies are put into service to legitimate power and inequality. From the linguistic point of view we would perceive discourse to be a dynamic and changing phenomenon, profoundly rooted in (...) its nonverbal context. The core of any discourse is established by particular texts formed by their speaker/writer. The meaning of the texts and their decoding by the hearer/reader seems to depend to a great extent not only on the cognitive processes that take place in the mind of the information receiver but also on the contextual embeddings which are: a) the situational embedding, that is where the text is produced ; b) the social embedding, that is within what social group the text is produced ; and c) the cultural embedding, which is apparently the most difficult to grasp, for it directly translates into what we understand under the nebulous term culture. The cultural embedding of texts should be held responsible for the projected associations it may induce in the receiver of textual messages and at the same time types of nonverbal cultural scripts and schemata that are supposed to accompany a verbal text. In light of the above, a model in which one has certain verbal texts that trigger certain socially and culturally specific behaviors can be called the communicational grammar of a particular discourse. (shrink)
The paper explores possible influences that recent developments in the field of a branch of AI called Automated Discovery Systems might have upon some aspects of the old debate between Francis Bacon’s inductivism and Karl Popper’s falsificationism. Francis Bacon advocates mechanical induction as the legitimate, infallible method of science, and Karl Popper proposes his famous falsificationist view, according to which science proceeds by subsequent conjectures and refutations, and the question about where scientific hypotheses come from neither needs, nor is capable (...) of, logical analysis. The traditional method of discussing such methodological debates relies on the analysis of various historical examples of discoveries in order to see how well the two models of scientific method account for them. (shrink)
