Celem artykułu jest ukazanie podstaw prawnych i przebiegu sporu prawnego między królami Polski a władcami Hiszpanii dotyczącego praw do neapolitańskiego dziedzictwa królowej Bony, na które składały się księstwa Bari i Rossano, majątek ruchomy oraz pożyczka udzielona przez Bonę królowi Hiszpanii w wysokości 430 tys. dukatów zabezpieczona na komorze celnej w Foggii (tzw. sumy neapolitańskie). Skomplikowany i trwający półtora wieku spór dynastyczny dokumentuje kilka tysięcy różnego typu źródeł rozsianych po archiwach całej Europy od Krakowa po Simancas i od Neapolu po Sztokholm. (...) Część z nich, zwłaszcza z lat 1548–1572, została opublikowana w polskich i włoskich wydawnictwach źródłowych. Całość działań królów polskich w sprawie odzyskania spadku Bony nie doczekała się nowoczesnego opracowania, a jedynym pełnym opracowaniem jest popularnonaukowa książka Klemensa Kanteckiego wydana w 1881 r. Temat ten pojawiał się na marginesie w wielu pracach dotyczących Bony i Zygmunta Augusta, dziejów dyplomacji za ostatniego Jagiellona oraz w pracach dotyczących relacji polsko-hiszpańskich w XVI i XVII w. Punktem wyjścia analizy jest ustalenie sytuacji prawnej, w jakiej znajdowały się neapolitańskie posiadłości królowej w momencie podejmowania przez nią decyzji o wyjeździe z Polski. Na tym tle wskazano najważniejsze elementy gry dyplomatycznej, jaką Bona prowadziła z cesarzem Karolem V i królem Filipem II, oraz uwarunkowania jej powrotu do Bari. Śmierć królowej w listopadzie 1557 r. i jej testament, w którym księstwa Bari i Rossano zapisywała Filipowi II, a Zygmunt August dziedziczył jedynie dobra ruchome i sumy neapolitańskie, otworzyły nowy etap w dziejach sporu polsko-hiszpańskiego. Na potrzeby rokowań mających na celu odzyskanie całego spadku po matce Zygmunt August zbudował wyjątkowo rozległą i dobrze funkcjonującą sieć dyplomatyczną. Niepowodzenia w odzyskaniu Bari i Rossano spowodowały, że król zdecydował się na mediację cesarza w toczonym sporze z królem Hiszpanii. Arbitraż stwarzał dla Zygmunta Augusta nową sytuację prawną i modyfikował sposób i zakres działania. Wydaje się, że król nie do końca uświadamiał sobie, w jak skomplikowany labirynt prawno-administracyjny wprowadza sprawę spadku po matce i wkracza w świat odmiennych obyczajów i mentalności. Ostatecznie królowi udało się odzyskać jedynie część majątku ruchomego i zachować prawo do sum neapolitańskich, które wraz ze śmiercią Anny Jagiellonki przeszły na własność Rzeczypospolitej. W konsekwencji kolejni królowie elekcyjni aż do czasu wojny o sukcesję hiszpańską zabiegali w Madrycie i Neapolu o regularną wypłatę odsetek z sum neapolitańskich. (shrink)

A set-theoretical proof of Gowers’ Dichotomy Theorem is presented together with its application to another dichotomy concerning asymptotic l 2 basic sequences.

The general aim of this book is to provide an elementary exposition of some basic concepts in terms of which both classical and non-dassicallogirs may be studied and appraised. Although quantificational logic is dealt with briefly in the last chapter, the discussion is chiefly concemed with propo gjtional cakuli. Still, the subject, as it stands today, cannot br covered in one book of reasonable length. Rather than to try to include in the volume as much as possible, I have put (...) emphasis on some selected topics. Even these could not be roverrd completely, but for each topic I have attempted to present a detailed and precise t’Xposition of several basic results including some which are non-trivial. The roots of some of the central ideas in the volume go back to J. Luka siewicz’s seminar on mathematicallogi. (shrink)

Virtual objects, such as online shops, the elements that go to make up virtual life in computer games, virtual maps, e-books, avatars, cryptocurrencies, chatbots, holograms, etc., are a phenomenon we now encounter at every turn: they have become a part of our life and our world. Philosophers—and ontologists in particular—have sought to answer the question of what, exactly, they are. They fall into two camps: some, pointing to the chimerical character of virtuality, hold that virtual objects are like dreams, illusions (...) and fictions, while others, citing the real impact of virtuality on our world, take them to be real—an actual part of the real world, just like other real objects. In this article, we defend the thesis that both sides are wrong. Using Roman Ingarden’s phenomenological ontology, we advocate a position according to which a virtual object is a computationally grounded intentional object that has its existential foundation in computational processes, which are compliant with a certain model of computation. We point out that virtuality is framed by some kind of ideal mathematical objects: i.e., mathematical models of computation, which in turn fall, each of them, under their respective ideas. We also refer to the idea of natural computation, which in conjunction with the ontological analysis carried out leads to the thesis that an object can be more or less virtual. (shrink)

The article reviews the book Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, by Daniel C. Dennett.

Philosophers have no time. They are tired with philosophising. They doze off or even die of fatigue over yet another review, opinion, article, translation of works of an English-speaking philosophical genius, publishing and editing of a book. They are exhausted by the obligatory teaching, bored with listening to conference papers, depressed by defences of post-doctoral theses, hopeless against plagiarism, out-of-breath chasing credits, worn out by English articles, crumpled and ill-treated by institutions, tired with maintaining and co-creating them, jaded by the (...) speed of information transfer, weakened by the absence of lively thought, knackered by the number of graduates and languid due to their quality, depressed by discord, exhausted by the continuous game of getting lost and finding oneself in science and the Academy. -/- In this ruffle, shabbiness and depletion they undertake with difficulty yet another fight for philosophy, in which they often represent the lost cause and happen to be merciless to each other, sometimes they give up and even moan. Their tiredness is accompanied by heavy steps and sluggishness. Barely alive they keep on living. Somewhere they find the energy, they live for something, serve something. In the article, following the smartest of philosophers, Socrates, and his defence speech, the speech in defence of his life, we explain where the philosophers find the energy, what they live for and what, often in contradiction to their own declarations, they serve. (shrink)

It is an attempt to exemplify the style of Wierciński’s scientific approach. The first part (A. Zamojski) presents his concept of the peculiarity of the specific human nature which is polarized into the animal side versus the human potential. The second part (R. Stefański) describes the anthropological concept of ideological development with the focus on the notion of ideological control subsystem. The latter can be employed as a tool of surveying the internal consistency of social organizations.

This article examines the use of mathematical concepts in philosophy, focusing on topology, which may be viewed as a modern supplement to geometry. We show that Plato and Parmenides were already employing geometric ideas in their research, and discuss three examples of the application of topology to philosophical problems: the first concerns the analysis of the Cartesian distinction between res extensa and res cogitans, the second the ontology of possible worlds of Wittgenstein's Tractatus, and the third Leibniz's monadology. We also (...) consider the role of topology in mathematical explanations of the sort found in science, arguing that it can perform a role in philosophy that is of comparable importance. (shrink)

From an ontological point of view, virtuality is generally considered a simulation: i.e. not a case of true being, and never more than an illusory copy, referring in each instance to its real original. It is treated as something imagined — and, phenomenologically speaking, as an intentional object. It is also often characterized as fictive. On the other hand, the virtual world itself is extremely rich, and thanks to new technologies is growing with unbelievable speed, so that it now influences (...) the real world in quite unexpected ways. Thus, it is also sometimes considered real. In this paper, against those who would regard virtuality as fictional or as real, I claim that the virtual world straddles the boundary between these two ways of existence: that it becomes real. I appeal to Roman Ingarden’s existential ontology to show that virtual objects become existentially autonomous, and so can be attributed a form of actuality and causal efficaciousness. I conclude that the existential autonomy and actuality of virtual objects makes them count as real objects, but also means that they undergo a change in their mode of existence. (shrink)

Proceedings of a conference held June 26-30, 2007 at Opole University, Poland. -/- This volume explores the three normative sciences that Peirce distinguished (aesthetics, ethics, and logic) and their relation to phenomenology and metaphysics. The essays approach this topic from a variety of angles, ranging from questions concerning the normativity of logic to an application of Peirce’s semiotics to John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme.”.

The special links between money and history transcend that routine course of events with which are associated the great - majority of the works of mankind. It is rare to come across articles that since their initial manufacture have preserved their form almost intact for twenty-five centuries, and thus for almost the entire historical span of the civilized world, while playing an identical role in the lives of societies as diverse as those of Europe and the whole of Asia. It (...) is rare, furthermore, to find articles that are of such generalized use and interest, often even the source of common feelings. Finally, similar articles are rare, if they exist at all, which—as is the case with money—may be just as closely connected with the great currents of the political, economic and social history of entire nations and continents as with the personal fates of individuals and families: in other words, articles whose presence might equally well record the succession of epochs as the passage of days. (shrink)

part, whole, ideal quality, foundation, unity, space, topoontology, topophilosophy, formal ontology, topology, mathematical philosophy, topology, topology of the person, topology of mind, mathematics in philosophy, mereology, mereotopology, phenomenology, Benedict Bornstein, Edmund Husserl, Roman Ingarden, Kurt Lewin, René Thom.

Values, Valuations, and Axiological Norms in Richard Rorty's Neopragmatism sympathetically discusses Richard Rorty's neopragmatist philosophy. This book brings together a range of interpretations and possibilities on a variety of humanistic topics, including philosophy, literature, culture, film, economics, social issues, politics, and more. Skowroński involves the work of philosophers such as Kant, Dewey, Santayana, and Kołakowski as he delves into various philosophical problems using the lens of Rorty’s neopragmatist thought.

It is a well-known fact that mathematics plays a crucial role in physics; in fact, it is virtually impossible to imagine contemporary physics without it. But it is questionable whether mathematical concepts could ever play such a role in psychology or philosophy. In this paper, we set out to examine a rather unobvious example of the application of topology, in the form of the theory of persons proposed by Kurt Lewin in his Principles of Topological Psychology. Our aim is to (...) show that this branch of mathematics can furnish a natural conceptual system for Gestalt psychology, in that it provides effective tools for describing global qualitative aspects of the latter’s object of investigation. We distinguish three possible ways in which mathematics can contribute to this: explanation, explication and metaphor. We hold that all three of these can be usefully characterized as throwing light on their subject matter, and argue that in each case this contrasts with the role of explanations in physics. Mathematics itself, we argue, provides something different from such explanations when applied in the field of psychology, and this is nevertheless still cognitively fruitful. (shrink)

It is a well-known fact that mathematics plays a crucial role in physics; in fact, it is virtually impossible to imagine contemporary physics without it. But it is questionable whether mathematical concepts could ever play such a role in psychology or philosophy. In this paper, we set out to examine a rather unobvious example of the application of topology, in the form of the theory of persons proposed by Kurt Lewin in his Principles of Topological Psychology. Our aim is to (...) show that this branch of mathematics can furnish a natural conceptual system for Gestalt psychology, in that it provides effective tools for describing global qualitative aspects of the latter’s object of investigation. We distinguish three possible ways in which mathematics can contribute to this: explanation, explication and metaphor. We hold that all three of these can be usefully characterized as throwing light on their subject matter, and argue that in each case this contrasts with the role of explanations in physics. Mathematics itself, we argue, provides something different from such explanations when applied in the field of psychology, and this is nevertheless still cognitively fruitful. (shrink)

George Santayana (1863-1952), a Spanish-American philosopher, is an influential personage on the cultural stage in English- and Spanish-speaking countries. His numerous books and papers on topics as varied as epistemology, ontology, aesthetics, ethics, anthropology, value theory, and American studies, along with his best-selling novel, his sophisticated poetry, and his famous autobiography, make him a vivid and profound source of reflection on the history of American and European thought, as well as a stimulus for future work. Santayana's exceptionality was appreciated by (...) William James and Josiah Royce, his most eminent colleagues in Harvard University's Department of Philosophy, and has been discussed by such respected authors as John Dewey, Bertrand Russell, Charles Hartshorne, Eric Voegelin, Alfred Schutz, Richard Rorty, Hilary Putnam, Arthur Danto, and Ferdinand Savater, among others. This book aims to understand Santayana by considering his often provocative views on America. Other scholars have reconstructed his thought at various times and in a variety of ways, but no one has yet considered Santayana's approach toward America in a serious and profound way (at least not in the English language). This book attempts to convince the reader that the impartiality of Santayana's philosophy, its transcendence of cultural limits and mental borders, makes it a living philosophy, and that this is the strongest aspect of Santayana's thought. (shrink)

In Germany a number of dictionaries of foreign words as lexemes were created. The author cites about 460 dictionaries of foreign borrowings from the period 1800–2007. Dictionaries of borrowings can be divided into three categories: dictionaries of foreign words that do not have the objective of eliminating borrowed words, but describe them in a neutral manner, Germanising dictionaries whose main purpose is to eliminate the use of foreign words and replace them with native words. There are suggested word replacements for (...) foreign lexemes, and the lexeme citation is devoid of grammatical and phonetic information, Germanising and explanatory dictionaries: mixed form: here there is a description of the foreign code, but also proposals to replace some borrowings with German equivalents. In this latter category we include the dictionary which is the subject of this article; that of Johann Christian August Heyse. (shrink)

Twenty Years of Poland's Euro-Atlantic Foreign Policy During the years 1989-1991, after a deep transformation of the internal system and the international order in Europe, Poland pursued a sovereign foreign policy. The new policy had the following general goals: 1) to develop a new international security system which would guarantee Poland's national security; 2) to gain diplomatic support for the reforms conducted in Poland, including primarily the transformation of the economy and its adaption to free market mechanisms, which were designed (...) to result in economic growth; and 3) to maintain and increase the international prestige of Poland and the Poles, who had been the first to commence the struggle to create a democratic civil society in the Eastern bloc. Implementing this new concept of foreign policy, Poland entered the Council of Europe in November 1991. The following year, Warsaw started to strive for membership of NATO, which was achieved in March 1999. A few years later, Polish leaders pursued policies in which Poland played the role of a "Trojan horse" for the USA. This was manifested most clearly during the Iraqi crisis of 2003, and in the following years, particularly in 2005-2007. From spring 1990 Poland aspired to integration with the European Community; in December of the following year it signed an association agreement, which fully entered into force in February 1994. In the period 1998-2002 Poland negotiated successfully with the European Union and finally entered this Union in May 2004. In subsequent years Poland adopted an Eurosceptic and sometimes anti-EU position. The new Polish government, established after the parliamentary election of autumn 2007, moved away from an Eurosceptic policy and pursued a policy of engagement with European integration. (shrink)

The contributions gathered here demonstrate how categorical ontology can provide a basis for linking three important basic sciences: mathematics, physics, and philosophy. Category theory is a new formal ontology that shifts the main focus from objects to processes. The book approaches formal ontology in the original sense put forward by the philosopher Edmund Husserl, namely as a science that deals with entities that can be exemplified in all spheres and domains of reality. It is a dynamic, processual, and non-substantial ontology (...) in which all entities can be treated as transformations, and in which objects are merely the sources and aims of these transformations. Thus, in a rather surprising way, when employed as a formal ontology, category theory can unite seemingly disparate disciplines in contemporary science and the humanities, such as physics, mathematics and philosophy, but also computer and complex systems science. (shrink)