In synesthesia, a certain stimulus (eg grapheme) is associated automatically and consistently with a stable perceptual-like experience (eg color). These associations are acquired in early childhood and remain robust throughout the lifetime. Synesthetic associations can transfer to novel inducers in adulthood as one learns a second language that uses another writing system. However, it is not known how long this transfer takes. We found that grapheme-color associations can transfer to novel graphemes after only a 10-minute writing exercise. Most subjects experienced (...) synesthetic associations immediately after learning a new Glagolitic grapheme. Using a Stroop task, we provide objective evidence for the creation of novel associations between the newly learned graphemes and synesthetic colors. Also, these associations generalized to graphemes handwritten by another person. The fast learning process and the generalization suggest that synesthesia begins at the semantic level of representation with the activation of a certain concept (the inducer), which then, uniquely for the synesthetes, activates representations at the perceptual level (the concurrent). Thus, the results imply that synesthesia is a much more flexible and plastic phenomenon than has been believed until now. (shrink)

Predmet ovog rada je istraživanje i kritika nekih aspekata teorije Dejvida Luisa o tvrđenjima kojima se pripisuje znanje subjektu. U prvom odeljku izlažem skeptički paradoks i osnovne postavke epistemičkog kontekstualizma. U drugom odeljku objašnjavam na koji način Luis kombinuje teoriju relevantnih alternativa i epistemički kontekstualizam prlikom formulisanja svoje teorije o tvrđenjima kojima se pripisuje znanje subjektu. U trećem odeljku pokazujem da ova teorija dopušta postojanje znanja koje je zasnovano samo na ignorisanju i argumentujem da ova nepovoljna posledica proističe iz načina (...) na koji Luis formuliše pravilo verovanja u okviru svoje teorije. U zaključnom odeljku ukazujem na problematične aspekte i ad hoc karakter Luisovog pravila pažnje i tvrdim da je ono tako formulisano da bi omogućilo rešavanje skeptičkog paradoksa. Zaključujem da je Luisova teorija o tvrđenjima kojima se pripisuje znanje subjektu neodrživa u svom originalnom obliku. (shrink)

The author intends to present evolutionary and revolutionary changes in legal terminology. Legal terminology changes as a result of language usage, technological development, political and social changes and even economy reasons. The following research methods have been applied: the terminological analysis of the research material and the analysis of pertinent literature. The research material included legislation from the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada and Australia. The author focuses on terminological changes resulting from social transformations. Selected terms and (...) their transformation in respect to meaning and form are elaborated on in the paper. Finally, the author draws conclusions that translation of such terminology should aim at communication precision and many of them may be false friends in interlingual communication. (shrink)

Racism is a pervasive issue in patient care and a key social determinant of health. Clinical ethicists, like others involved in patient care, have a duty to recognize and respond to racism on both individual and systems-wide levels to improve patient care. Doing so can be challenging and, like other skills in ethics consultation, may benefit from specialized training, standardized tools and approaches, and practice. Learning from existing frameworks and tools, as well as building new ones, can help guide clinical (...) ethicists to systematically approach racism as it affects clinical cases. Here, we propose an expansion of the commonly used four-box method to clinical ethics consultation, where racism is considered as a potential factor in each of the four boxes. We apply this method to two clinical cases to highlight ethically salient information that might be missed using the standard formulation of the four boxes but captured with the expanded version. We argue that this expansion of an existing clinical ethics consultation tool is ethically justified insofar as it (a) creates a more just approach, (b) supports individual consultants and services, and (c) facilitates communication in contexts where racism impinges on effecting good patient care. (shrink)

W niniejszym artykule przedstawiliśmy filozoficzną argumentację na rzecz definicji doradztwa filozoficznego opracowaną przez Polskie Towarzystwo Doradztwa Filozoficznego. Omawiana profesja została pokazana jako forma ponowoczesnego poradnictwa dialogowego opierająca się na procesie filozofowania. Filozofowanie rozumiane jest przez nas zarówno jako forma pracy logiczno-analitycznej jak i towarzyszenie klientowi poprzez uważną obecność. Obecność ta warunkuje możliwość zadawania pytań o charakterze egzystencjalnym, umożliwia lepsze poznanie siebie, odnalezienie swojej filozofii życia oraz poszerzenie rozumienia podejmowanych kwestii. Zaprezentowaliśmy też metodykę pracy doradcy filozoficznego. Zaakcentowane zostały także niezbędne kompetencje, (...) które posiadać powinien doradca filozoficzny. (shrink)

This paper discusses children's right to play and its bioethical importance for children affected by war. Against the background of the current military conflicts, it analyses physical, psychological, and institutional factors that limit children's right to play in a situation involving armed conflict. Considering that the lack of institutional support of play for children affected by war constitutes a failure to fulfil our societal and political obligation under Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, (...) this paper analyses the understanding of play adopted in this legal instrument. In line with the distinctions made in the Convention, it discusses the importance of play for children's life and survival, for their health and well‐being, as well as for the recovery of trauma experienced by children affected by armed conflict. It thereby aims to contribute to the recognition and protection of this right on the grounds of bioethics and healthcare. (shrink)

Climate change is one of the most urgent global problems that we are facing today. The causes are well understood and many solutions have been proposed. However, so far none of them have been successful. Ingmar Persson and Julian Savulescu have argued that this is because our moral psychology is ill-equipped to deal with global problems such as this one. They propose that in order to successfully mitigate climate change we should morally enhance ourselves. In this chapter we look into (...) their proposal to see whether moral enhancement is indeed a viable solution to the climate crisis. We conclude that due to various theoretical and practical problems it is most likely not. (shrink)

Dementia will soon be ranked as the world’s largest economy. At present, it ranges from the 16th to 18th place, with countries such as Indonesia, the Netherlands, and Turkey. Dementia is not only a financial challenge, but also a philosophical one. It provokes a paradigm shift in the traditional view of healthcare and expands the classic concepts of human personhood and autonomy. A promising response to these challenges is the idea of cooperative solidarity. Cooperative solidarity, contrary to its ‘humanitarian’ version, (...) promotes spontaneous teamwork and individual initiative. It obliges us not only to help 'the suffering, the troubled and the disadvantaged’, but above all to support those who already do so for spontaneous moral or affective reasons. In the field of dementia study, solidary initiatives are described within the framework of supportive care. (shrink)

The study is devoted to the study of actual state of the archival materials of V.S. Solovyov which are held in different funds of Russia. During the working process was carried out the analysis of Solovyov’s related materials in a number of archives of Moscow and St. Petersburg. In the context of this topic, documents from such archive funds as: RGALI, GARF, TsAGM, OR RSL (Moscow), OR RNL, IRLI RAS, RGIA (St. Petersburg) were reviewed. Particular attention was paid to the (...) 1880s as the least researched period of philosopher’s work in his biography due to the insufficient availability of sources and to the restrictions of spiritual censorship in connection with the church-political content of Solovyov’s works of this period (“The Great Debate and Christian Politics”, 1883; “The History and Future of Theocracy”, 1887, etc.). In this regard, special attention was paid to the Solovyov funds in such archives as RGALI (F. 446) and OR RNB (F. 718). In the course of the study, many storage units were identified containing unsorted, draft materials, notebooks and notes of the philosopher, which need to be systematized and studied. The work carried out allows us to establish the scale and determine the priority areas of current research on the creative biography and philosophy of V.S. Solovyov based on the study of primary sources in the archives of Russia. (shrink)

The concept of well being has become the main criterion to assess quality of life in contemporary society. Individual well-being describes the individual quality of life, while social well-being refers to quality of life in a society. Given that well-being has a multitude of dimensions, a unique definition of it is elusive to scholars. In this article social well-being is conceptualised as a dynamic process within the context set by social integration as one?s relationship to society and the community. This (...) includes the quality of interaction between the individual and society and one?s?social actualisation? understood as the realisation of one?s social capacities. Social actualisation also involves one?s ability to influence social processes and to benefit from social cohesion, which consists, in any society, of the quality, organisation and functioning of the social world. Hence the ability to impact society is an integral part of individual well being. This paper suggests that philosophical practice as a new paradigm in the humanities holds out promise for the improvement of both individual and social well-being. (shrink)

Two experiments probed the role of strategies used in social conflicts on perception of agency and communion. In study 1, persons who revealed prosocial orientation were perceived as less agentic, but more communal than those who revealed competitive orientation. In study 2 these findings were replicated in the context of organizational conflict, those who decided to use confrontational strategies were also perceived as more agentic, although less communal than these who used cooperative strategies. In line with the theory of power (...) effects on objectification of social targets, the perceived agency and communion were differently linked to superior’s and subordinate’s evaluation. While perceived agency predicted the subordinate’s evaluation, perceived communion predicted superior’s evaluation, but not the other way round. Moreover, perception of communion mediated the negative effect of confrontational strategies on supervisor’s evaluation. On the other hand, perceived agency suppressed the effect of strategies on subordinate’s evaluation. (shrink)

Do dziś twórczość XIX-wiecznej pisarki, Gabrieli Zapolskiej, znanej przede wszystkim z Moralności Pani Dulskiej, wzbudza wiele emocji. Nadal uważa się ją wyłącznie za buntowniczkę i skandalistkę, która nie zwracała uwagi na sprawy duchowe i nie poruszała w swojej twórczości tematów związanych z wiarą. Przedmiotem analiz zaprezentowanych w artykule są trzy utwory Gabrieli Zapolskiej o charakterze religijnym, w tym praktycznie nieznany pt. Z pamiętnika siostry zakonnicy.

Mimo iż przestrzenie miejskie nasycone są dziełami sztuki, pełniącymi ważne funkcje estetyczne, społeczne, edukacyjne, historyczne, obiekty te często są przez odbiorców niezauważane, nierozu­miane lub nieidentyfikowane jako sztuka. Autorka stawia tezę, że jedną z przyczyn takiego stanu rzeczy jest brak profesjonalnych podpisów. Celem tekstu jest analiza tablic informacyjnych wybranych obiektów znajdujących się w Łodzi. Porównanie zebranych przykładów wskazuje na różnorodne braki w treści podpisów, ich nieczytelność, niewłaściwe umiejscowienie, a nawet zu­pełne pominięcie jakiegokolwiek tekstu informującego o danym dziele. Poddane analizie zostały dwadzieścia (...) dwa obiekty wykonane po II wojnie światowej, reprezentujące różne gatunki sztuki i typy przestrzeni. Artykuł kończą lista postulatów, których spełnienia wymaga prawidłowe oznaczanie dzieł sztuki (sporządzona na wzór dziesięciopunktowego przewodnika opracowanego przez Muzeum Wiktorii i Alberta w Londynie) oraz propozycja przykładowej tablicy (dotyczącej konkretnego muralu), która mogłaby stać się rozwiązaniem standardowym. (shrink)

Trust is a fundament of decent and just health care. In a subtle relation between patient and physician trust not only fuels the process of therapy but also plays a therapeutic role itself. Trust is a precondition of successful cooperation – it lowers its costs, increases efficiency and brings satisfaction to the partners. Only altruistic trust acts as such. Philosophical arguments as well as experiments analysing birth of trust in health care praxis prove the validity of the altruistic model. Distinction (...) between these two models casts light on the contemporary health care crisis. Many of todays’ reforms improve only cognitive side of trust by increasing predictability and efficiency of the health care system, while neglecting its crucial – ethical side. Article analyses also ambivalent influence of new technologies on these processes. (shrink)

Authentication devices transform cheap paper into legitimate documents. They are the sensory, informational, and computational features that make up valuable papers like banknotes and passports, and they provide the confidence required in moments of exchange and passage. These devices – which include techniques like watermarks and specialized threads, proprietary substrates and inks, or RFID chips – are the product of security printing, an industry that continuously reinvents the possibilities of paper. Importantly, these components protect paper things from counterfeiting, allowing it (...) to function as an original and authentic copy and to do the logistical work of connecting quotidian materials to global networks. The value of valuable papers is therefore not purely extrinsic, socially or discursively established, but is also performed through its intrinsic material qualities. These are the authentication devices that are read, assessed, and trusted as paper things are circulated, and they are what securely connects paper to infrastructures of mobility. (shrink)

Niniejszy artykuł dotyczy słuszności diagnozy dokonanej przez McKenziego, że w filozofii Herberta Marcusego jest mowa o tym, co dzisiaj nazywa się performansem organizacyjnym. Ale głównym celem niniejszych rozważań jest znalezienie odpowiedzi na pytanie, czy propozycja stworzenia nowej cywilizacji przedstawiona przez Marcusego oraz próba teoretycznego pogodzenia zasady przyjemności z zasadą rzeczywistości jest możliwa. Marcuse przedstawia wizję nowego społeczeństwa jako alternatywę dla dotychczasowego społeczeństwa przemysłowego. Łączy on perspektywę Marksowską z Freudowską, a to dlatego, że uznał on, iż dopiero połączenie teorii sił wytwórczych (...) i rozważań psychoanalitycznych pomoże ustalić niezbędne warunki do powstania nowej, nierepresywnej rzeczywistości. Nawoływał do stworzenia projektu nowej zasady rzeczywistości, która nie wykluczałaby zasady przyjemności. Wydaje się jednak, że nie zauważył on faktu, iż siły mutacyjne niemalże niepostrzeżenie przechodzą w siły normatywne. To, czego spodziewał się Marcuse, z jednej strony spełniło się, z drugiej zaś stworzyło szereg wątpliwości, jak i niedogodności praktycznych, których nie przewidział. (shrink)

This paper argues that the missing voice in clinical ethics is that of informal caregivers. Despite their substantial contribution to care provided to individuals with disabilities, chronic illness or dementia, informal caregivers are rarely thought of as members of the healthcare team and their narratives are rarely listened to and included in clinical and ethical decisions. Addressing this gap, this paper discusses the reasons for the systemic misrecognition of informal caregivers in healthcare systems and argues for their greater narrative inclusion (...) on the clinical, legal and social planes. (shrink)

The paper deals with the problem of translating selected insolvency terminology from Polish into English and from English into Polish. The re- search corpora encompassed the Insolvency Act 1986 as amended and Ustawa z dnia 28 lutego 2003. Prawo upadłościowe i naprawcze [the Act on Polish Insolvency and Rehabilitation Law of 28th February 2003 as amended]. The research methods included: the comparison of parallel texts, the method of axiomatisation of the legal linguistic reality, the termino- logical analysis of the corpus (...) material, the concept of adjusting the target text to the communicative needs and requirements of the community of recipients and the techniques of providing equivalents for non-equivalent terminology. The research hypothesis has been so formulated that the parametrisation of legal reality may assist in finding more adequate equivalents and determine differences in meaning of compared source and target language terms, which in turn facilitates the choice of a more adequate technique of providing equivalents for non-equivalent or partially equivalent legal terminology meeting the com- municative needs of translation recipients. The research results revealed that insolvency terminology is highly system-bound and available equivalents may often be misleading for the community of target text recipients. (shrink)

The automatic tendency to anthropomorphize our interaction partners and make use of experience acquired in earlier interaction scenarios leads to the suggestion that social interaction with humanoid robots is more pleasant and intuitive than that with industrial robots. An objective method applied to evaluate the quality of human–robot interaction is based on the phenomenon of motor interference (MI). It claims that a face-to-face observation of a different (incongruent) movement of another individual leads to a higher variance in one’s own movement (...) trajectory. In social interaction, MI is a consequence of the tendency to imitate the movement of other individuals and goes along with mutual rapport, sense of togetherness, and sympathy. Although MI occurs while observing a human agent, it disappears in case of an industrial robot moving with piecewise constant velocity. Using a robot with human-like appearance, a recent study revealed that its movements led to MI, only if they were based on human prerecording (biological velocity), but not on constant (artificial) velocity profile. However, it remained unclear, which aspects of the human prerecorded movement triggered MI: biological velocity profile or variability in movement trajectory. To investigate this issue, we applied a quasi-biological minimum-jerk velocity profile (excluding variability in the movement trajectory as an influencing factor of MI) to motion of a humanoid robot, which was observed by subjects performing congruent or incongruent arm movements. The increase in variability in subjects’ movements occurred both for the observation of a human agent and for the robot performing incongruent movements, suggesting that an artificial human-like movement velocity profile is sufficient to facilitate the perception of humanoid robots as interaction partners. (shrink)

In this empirical study, we investigate the variation in firms’ response to institutional pressure for gender-balanced boards, focusing specifically on the preservation of prevailing practices of director selection and its impact on the representation of women on the board of directors. Using 8 years of data from publicly listed Nordic corporations, we show societal pressure to be one of the determinants of female directorship. Moreover, in some corporations, the director selection process may work to maintain “a traditional type of board”. (...) In such boards, demographic diversity among male members appears to be associated with a lower share of female directors, although we cannot establish wether this reflects discrimination or a desire to maintain critical competencies. With this paper we add to the theoretical understanding of the factors underlying female board appointments by adopting an institutional theory lens to study female board representation. Viewing the demands for gender-balanced boards in terms of societal pressure for the de-institutionalization of the prevailing norms and practices, we highlight preferences for maintaining established practices as a potentially important barrier to institutional change. On these grounds, we conjecture on the relationship between the gender diversity of boards and other diversity dimensions. We suggest that a board room gender quota is supplemented by policies to ensure the transparency of board changes, in order to prevent the crowding out of other diversity dimensions. (shrink)

Inclusion of children in medical decision making, to the extent of their ability and interest in doing so, should be the default position, ensuring that children are routinely given a voice. However, optimizing the involvement of children in their health care decisions remains challenging for clinicians. Missing from the literature is a stepwise approach to assessing when and how a child should be included in medical decision making. We propose a systematic approach for doing so, and we apply this approach (...) in a discussion of two challenging clinical cases. The approach is informed by a literature review, and is anchored by case studies of teenagers' refusal of clinical care, regulatory requirements for research assent, and the accepted approach to involving cognitively impaired adults in medical decisions. (shrink)

The present study analyzes metaphors of life, self, emotional states, and relationships in forty life stories that differ in their communicative situations and narrative goals. Twenty interviews were conducted with people who were seeking psychological help. Another twenty interviews were conducted with Russian celebrities for publication in popular psychology magazines. Metaphors in happy stories were more numerous and diverse than in unhappy stories. Some conceptual metaphors (e.g., “LIFE IS A CONTAINER,” “LIFE IS A JOURNEY,” and “EMOTION IS A PHYSICAL IMPACT”) (...) were found in both happy and unhappy narratives. More specific metaphors demonstrated significant differences between the two types of narratives. The metaphors of life as a “purposeful journey,” self as “alive and flexible object,” and emotional states as “internal and controlled forces” were used more often in happy narratives. This may reflect higher levels of activity, responsibility, and awareness of the authors of happy narratives. Specific for unhappy stories were metaphors “LIFE IS DEATH” and “SELF IS A DEAD OBJECT,” which may indicate a low level of personal well-being and serve as specific markers of personal unhappiness. The results of our study suggest that metaphors may help to construct the subjective reality of happy and unhappy life. By telling their life stories people are able to redefine their past experiences and future perspectives. Specific metaphors play an important part in defining subjective happiness or unhappiness. (shrink)

The article reviews the book Śmierć, nieśmiertelność, sens życia. Egzystencjalny wymiar filozofii Ludwiga Wittgensteina [Death, Immortality, the Meaning of Life: The Existential Dimension of Ludwig Wittgenstein's Philosophy], by Ireneusz Ziemiński.

The aim of the study was to answer the question whether the words “zaskoczenie” [phon. zaskɔˈʧ̑ɛ̃ɲɛ]- “surprise” and “zdziwienie” [phon. ʑʥ̑iˈvjɛ̇̃ɲɛ]- “astonishment”, which are treated in the Polish language as synonyms, possess a fixed pattern of application, and whether the colloquial context of using these words differs in terms of its emotional valence. The theoretical background for this investigation was the triadic approach to language cognition that includes perception, conceptualization and symbolization, and corresponding to this approach concept of mental representation (...) of emotions. The obtained results have shown that people tend to use the word “zaskoczenie” to describe emotions that occur in positive situations, whereas the word “zdziwienie” is more frequently applied in negative situations. The observed emotive connotation of the investigated words has been explained by the rules of phonetic symbolism and implicative meaning of the words preserved in the popular/colloquial understanding. (shrink)

Giacomo Leopardi is one of those authors whose texts oscillate on the border between literature and philosophy. It is true that Leopardi does not use traditional forms of philosophical expression, but the fact is that most of the considerations of the Italian thinker are expressed by the simultaneous conduct of two discourses: literary and philosophical. Leopardi experimented almost every form of literary expression, but he went down in history mainly as a poet, who contained a significant part of his highest (...) beliefs in poetry. The practice of philosophizing through poetry is nothing new in literature, and the various connections between literature and philosophy are almost ancient, but the ongoing discussions in the world of Italian critics about the relationship between Leopardi and philosophy suggest that the reflective lyrics of the famous poet from Recanati are an noteworthy case. This article is a reflection on the use of figures of speech in the process of explaining the worldview by Leopardi, with particular emphasis on metaphor, and on the overall impact of the poetic medium on the presentation and shaping of adopted ideology. (shrink)

W artykule przedstawiono wybrane teksty literackie wydane w ciągu ostatniego dziesięciolecia, starając się odpowiedzieć na pytanie o punkty styczne między fantastyką a kryminałem oraz o to, czy można już mówić o nowym podgatunku: „słowiańskim kryminale”. Punktem wyjścia w analizach i interpretacjach utworów było założenie, iż tendencja do eksperymentowania w literaturze przybrała na sile po 2000 roku w ramach postmodernistycznych gier i zabaw tekstem na osi autor – czytelnik. W wyniku kolejnych przekształceń dokonujących się w ciągu ostatnich dziesięcioleci zarówno fantastyka, jak (...) i kryminał zmierzały coraz bardziej w stronę synkretyzmu gatunkowego, stosując wzajemne intertekstualne nawiązania, przenikania swoich motywów, tematów i wątków. W artykule posiłkowano się ustaleniami z zakresu komparatystyki i intertekstualności. (shrink)

This article is an overview of opinions and recommendations adopted in the European Union vis-à-vis urban policy. The author analyses the Pact of Amsterdam and future perspectives of the implementation of EU Urban Agenda.

Though a common language of science allows for easier communication of the results among researchers, the use of lingua franca also comes with the cost of losing some of the diverse ideas and results arising from the plurality of languages. Following Quine’s famous thesis about the indeterminacy of translation, we elaborate on the inherent loss of diverse ideas when only one language of science is used. Non-native speakers sometimes experience epistemic injustice due to their language proficiency and consequently, their scientific (...) insights get marginalized. Thus, it is important epistemically to include the results of all researchers independent of their native language. As a solution, we promote epistemic equity and inclusion both on the individual level and on the level of the scientific community. Epistemic equity means that researchers who suffer disadvantages because of their language skills get support from the rest of the scientific community that will compensate for their disadvantage and at the same time facilitate their epistemic inclusion. This can be achieved through the introduction of mitigating agents – the individuals and organizations that ought to serve as a communication bridge between individual researchers and the scientific community. (shrink)

Celem artykułu jest przybliżenie sylwetki łódzkiego pisarza, Witolda Jabłońskiego, współczesnego prozaika i tłumacza, znanego zarówno miłośnikom fantastyki historycznej, jak i popularnego w ostatnich latach gatunku fantastyki słowiańskiej. Część interpretacyjną poprzedza biogram pisarza, przez całe życie związanego z Łodzią, mieszkającego tutaj i tworzącego. W drugiej części artykułu przyglądamy się pogańskim motywom w powieściach z cyklu _Saga Słowiańsk_a, tj. _Dary Bogów, Popiel_ oraz _Wanda_, starając się prześledzić bogate tropy intertekstualne w retellingowych narracjach będących znakiem rozpoznawczym tego autora. Jabłoński wymieniany jest dzisiaj po (...) Andrzeju Sapkowskim i Andrzeju Pilipiuku jako jeden z najpoczytniejszych autorów fantastyki. O jego popularności świadczyć może fakt, iż _Dary Bogów_ przygotowano jako słuchowisko w serwisie Audioteka.pl, a bohaterom głosu użyczyli popularni aktorzy. Analiza ma na celu wskazanie, do jakich mitów słowiańskich i polskich legend państwowych sięga autor i za pomocą jakich narzędzi je przetwarza. Podczas interpretacji sięgamy do różnych metod pracy z tekstem: intertekstualnych, kulturoznawczych, ale odwołujemy się również do religioznawstwa, antropologii i komparatystyki religijnej. (shrink)