The Liver kinase B1 with its downstream target AMP activated protein kinase (LKB1‐AMPK), and the key nutrient sensor mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) form two signaling systems that coordinate metabolic and cellular activity with changes in the environment in order to preserve homeostasis. For example, nutritional fluctuations rapidly feed back on these signaling systems and thereby affect cell‐specific functions. Recent studies have started to reveal important roles of these strategic metabolic regulators in Schwann cells for the trophic support (...) and myelination of axons. Because aberrant intermediate metabolism along with mitochondrial dysfunction in Schwann cells is mechanistically linked to nerve abnormalities found in acquired and inherited peripheral neuropathies, manipulation of the LKB1‐AMPK, and mTORC1 signaling hubs may be a worthwhile therapeutic target to mitigate nerve damage in disease. Here, recent advances in our understanding of LKB1‐AMPK and mTORC1 functions in Schwann cells are covered, and future research areas for this key metabolic signaling network are proposed. (shrink)

The strict-tolerant approach to paradox promises to erect theories of naïve truth and tolerant vagueness on the firm bedrock of classical logic. We assess the extent to which this claim is founded. Building on some results by Girard we show that the usual proof-theoretic formulation of propositional ST in terms of the classical sequent calculus without primitive Cut is incomplete with respect to ST-valid metainferences, and exhibit a complete calculus for the same class of metainferences. We also argue that the (...) latter calculus, far from coinciding with classical logic, is a close kin of Priest’s LP. (shrink)

This paper discusses three research perspectives on political culture, civic culture and citizenship: the classic approach of Almond and Verba; contemporary analyses of citizenship referring to the book Civic Culture by Almond and Verba and oriented to the empirical description of social reality; and theoretical analyses of new relational sociology, oriented to the ontology and epistemology of social reality. The authors’ analysis leads to two conclusions. Firstly, it is necessary to combine these three approaches – relational social theory with empirical (...) analyses departing from methodological individualism. This requires conducting an empirical analysis, where the basic ‘analytical units’ – of collection, interpretation and generalization of data – are not separate but combined by relations and networks within which people act. Secondly, Edmund Wnuk-Lipiński’s statements are the best starting point for conducting such a new research programme. What is decisive is his systematic, theoretical interest in contemporary agency theories and relationality of citizenship, combined with innovative application of quantitative methods. (shrink)

An exploration of why and how the human competence for predication came to be.

The contributors to this volume examine recent controversies about the importance of common sense psychology for our understanding of the human mind. Common sense provides a familiar and friendly psychological scheme by which to talk about the mind. Its categories tend to portray the mind as quite different from the rest of nature, and thus irreducible to physical matters and its laws. In this volume a variety of positions on common sense psychology from critical to supportive, from exegetical to speculative, (...) are represented. Among the questions posed are: Is common sense psychology an empirical theory, a body of analytic knowledge, a practice or a strategy? If it is a legitimate enterprise can it be naturalized or not? If it is not legitimate can it be eliminated? Is its fate tied to our understanding of consciousness? Should we approach its concepts and generalizations from the standpoint of conceptual analysis or from the philosophy of science? (shrink)

The present study aims to provide a critical analysis of the account of modernity and modern thinkers done by the Austrian philosopher Eric Voegelin, arguably one of the most important political thinkers of the twentieth century. Eric Voegelin is a leading figure among those who considered it pertinent to speak about a crisis of modernity, primarily seen as a crisis of the spirit. The present study stresses Voegelin’s original analysis of “the ideological soul” of modern thinkers, his effort to go (...) beyond a merely descriptive approach, and to define ideological thinking as a spiritually diseased pattern of thought rooted in an existential attitude. At the same time, I critically discuss some problematic consequences of Voegelin’s position, the possible flaws in his treatment of modern philosophers, perhaps too harshly seen as “intellectual swindlers” whose main concern was the distortion of fundamental experiences. (shrink)

W artykule autor podejmuje próbę naszkicowania możliwych perspektyw teoretycznych prowadzenia badań nad lokalnością/regionalnością w ramach trzech współczesnych teorii społecznych, w których kluczową rolę przypisuje się pojęciu komunikacji: teorię społeczeństwa komunikacyjnego Manuela Castellsa, teorię aktora-sieci Bruno Latoura oraz teorię systemów społecznych Niklasa Luhmanna. Mimo wyraźnych różnic wskazane koncepcje mają przynajmniej trzy istotne cechy, które tworzą pewną wspólną teoretyczną płaszczyznę refleksji: każda z nich podkreśla procesualność społeczeństwa, rolę komunikacji oraz skupia swoją uwagę na wytwarzaniu sensów – znaczeń społecznych. Każda z wymienionych tu (...) cech pozwala ukonstytuować interesujące pole badawcze do podejmowania studiów nad lokalnością/regionalnością w ramach różnych dyscyplin humanistycznych i społecznych. Tekst stanowi jedynie przyczynek do sformułowania takiego projektu badawczego. Celem artykułu jest zwrócenie uwagi badaczy lokalności na możliwości i narzędzia teoretyczne, jakie oferują wskazane koncepcje. (shrink)

This paper presents the first purely algebraic characterization of classes of partial algebras definable by a set of strong equations. This result was posible due to new tools such as invariant congruences, i.e. a generalization of the notion of a fully invariant congruence, and extension of algebras, specific for strong equations.

Arguments, the story goes, have one or more premises and only one conclusion. A contentious generalisation allows arguments with several disjunctively connected conclusions. Contentious as this generalisation may be, I will argue nevertheless that it is justified. My main claim is that multiple conclusions are epiphenomena of the logical connectives: some connectives determine, in a certain sense, multiple-conclusion derivations. Therefore, such derivations are completely natural and can safely be used in proof-theoretic semantics.

Pretend play and pretense develop in distinct phases of childhood as ontogenetically adaptive responses to pressures specific to those phases, and may have evolved in different periods of human ancestry. These are pressures to assimilate cultural artifacts, norms, roles, and behavioral scripts. The playful and creative elements in both forms of pretending are dictated by the variable, open-ended, and evolving nature and function of the cultural tasks they handle. The resulting creativity of the adult intellect is likely to be a (...) distant and indirect by-product of temporary and specific ontogenetic responses to temporary and specific ontogenetic challenges, particularly cultural ones. (shrink)

Conventionalism in sport philosophy has been rejected as unable to provide a theory of normativity and as collapsing in ethical relativism, but this criticism is rather imprecise about its target, which invites doubt about the legitimacy of the concept of conventionalism described by its critics. Instead, a more charitable and legitimate account of conventionalism is proposed, one that draws inspiration from conventionalism in axiomatic geometry and is able to avoid the counterarguments directed against conventionalism. This new model allows for a (...) number of non-conventional elements of sport, namely the definition of sport and certain central moral norms, while at the same time arguing that normativity in sport is not exhausted by them, which leaves athletic communities with authority over a broad range of norms. (shrink)

Many philosophers and a few psychologists think that we understand our own minds before we understand those of others. Most developmental psychologists think that children understand their own minds at about the same time they understand other minds, by using the same cognitive abilities. I disagree with both views. I think that children understand other minds before they understand their own. Their self-understanding depends on some cognitive abilities that develop later than, and independently of, the abilities involved in understanding other (...) minds. This is the general theme of this chapter. (shrink)

In this original and provocative book, Bogdan proposes that the ability to interpret others' mental states should be viewed as an evolutionary adaptation.

A prominent hypothesis holds that by speaking to infants in infant‐directed speech (IDS) as opposed to adult‐directed speech (ADS), parents help them learn phonetic categories. Specifically, two characteristics of IDS have been claimed to facilitate learning: hyperarticulation, which makes the categories more separable, and variability, which makes the generalization more robust. Here, we test the separability and robustness of vowel category learning on acoustic representations of speech uttered by Japanese adults in ADS, IDS (addressed to 18‐ to 24‐month olds), or (...) read speech (RS). Separability is determined by means of a distance measure computed between the five short vowel categories of Japanese, while robustness is assessed by testing the ability of six different machine learning algorithms trained to classify vowels to generalize on stimuli spoken by a novel speaker in ADS. Using two different speech representations, we find that hyperarticulated speech, in the case of RS, can yield better separability, and that increased between‐speaker variability in ADS can yield, for some algorithms, more robust categories. However, these conclusions do not apply to IDS, which turned out to yield neither more separable nor more robust categories compared to ADS inputs. We discuss the usefulness of machine learning algorithms run on real data to test hypotheses about the functional role of IDS. (shrink)

This argument explores the pivotal role of cinema in shaping and reflecting the sociopolitical landscape of communist regimes in Eastern Europe. Under Stalin, Soviet cinema evolved into a state-controlled instrument of socialist realism, influencing cultural production throughout the Eastern Bloc. While some countries with established cinematic traditions adapted to or resisted the Soviet model, others adopted it wholesale, leading to varying degrees of creative expression and control. Through interdisciplinary contribu­tions, the latest issue of HCE highlights the duality of cinema as (...) both a tool for ideological control and a medium for dissent and creative resistance, revealing the complex interplay between art and politics in communist societies. (shrink)

Collana «Nuovo Prisma», Sellerio editore, Palermo, 2002, 212 p.

Research has shown that cheating is perceived as immoral when it serves the cheater’s interests, though it can be seen as moral when it serves the interests of the perceiver. However, are such biased moral judgments real, or are they merely lip service? To answer the question of whether biased moral judgments actually inform behavior, the authors asked participants to observe a confederate who either cheated for money or did not cheat, which benefited either the confederate alone or both the (...) confederate and the participating observer. Then, participants evaluated the confederate and, finally, played a one shot trust game with her. Cheating influenced moral judgments and decreased behavioral trust, but this only occurred when self-interest was not involved. When self-interest was involved, participants showed no significant differences in trust levels, independent of whether the confederate had cheated or not. Implications for the dual process theory in moral psychology are discussed. (shrink)

What is it that one thinks or believes when one thinks or believes something? A mental formula? A sentence in some natural language? Its truth conditions? Or perhaps an abstract proposition? The current story of content is fairly ecumenical. It says that a number of aspects, some mental, other semantic, go into our understanding of content. Yet the current story is incomplete. It leaves out a very important aspect of content, one which I call incremental information. It is information in (...) a specific format, information as a limited or local increment, structured by a number of underlying parameters. It is in the form of such increments that information drives cognition and behavior. This is why, perhaps of all aspects of content, it is incremental information which matters most when we want to understand cognitive attitudes and performances. This in turn must have an impact on our philosophical notions of content, propositional attitudes, inference, justification and knowledge. (shrink)

Reflective equilibrium, as a methodology for the "formation of logics," fails on the *fringe*, where intricate details can make or break a logical theory. On the fringe, the process of theorification cannot be methodologically governed by anything like reflective equilibrium. When logical theorising gets tricky, there is nothing on the pre-theoretical side on which our theoretical claims can reflect of---at least not in any meaningful way. Indeed, the fringe is exclusively the domain of theoretical negotiations and the methodological power of (...) reflective equilibrium is merely nominal. (shrink)

In this paper I analyse the claim according to which law is objective. After clarifying the philosophically relevant meaning of this claim , I distinguish several aspects of the thesis, concerning, respectively legal truth , legal error , legal determinacy and the metaphysical status of legal entities . Then, I take into consideration the phenomenology of our legal practice and the apparent support it gives to claims of legal objectivity. Finally, I stress the connection between legal objectivity and normativity and (...) suggest that legal objectivity reduces to the conclusiveness of legal reasoning. (shrink)

In the recent literature on proof-theoretic semantics, there is mention of a generality condition on defining rules. According to this condition, the schematic formulation of the defining rules must be maximally general, in the sense that no restrictions should be placed on the contexts of these rules. In particular, context variables must always be present in the schematic rules and they should range over arbitrary collections of formulae. I argue against imposing such a condition, by showing that it has undesirable (...) results and that it is ill-supported by the arguments brought in its favour. (shrink)

A Selection of Papers Contributed to Sections IV, VI, and XI of the Fourth International Congress for Logic, Methodology, and Philosophy of Science, Bucharest, September 1971.

Celem artykułu jest dyskusja pewnych ogólnych, epistemologicznych i semantycznych podstaw badań logicznych. Osią rozważań są pytania o 1) istotę i źródła rozwoju tzw. logiki czystej i 2) związek logiki czystej z logiką stosowaną. Autor stara się przy tym uzasadnić dlaczego taki właśnie dobór kwestii posiada zasadniczą teoretyczną i metodologiczną wartość, by po tym udzielić odpowiedzi na postawione pytania.

The problem of semantic closedness of natural, or colloquial, languages presupposes the investigation of the entire class of their essential semantic properties rather than that of individual instances. To be more concrete, the properties involved are those of universality, antinomisity, and the lack of strict distinction between language and metalanguage. There are reasons to believe that those properties in their totality constitute what underlies the structural unity and functional completeness of natural languages as exceptionally complex informational-communicative systems.

The article examines the way in which, after a short period of liberal­isation and opening to the West, the Romanian Cinema during the Ceaușescu regime follows a path of increasing ideological themes and political control. The process began shortly after the consolidation of the power by the new Secretary General and unfolded gradually, culminating in 1971 with the “July Theses”. Like the rest of the cultural activities, the effects of this retraction into the ideological shell of national-communism, marked by strong (...) xenophobic and isolationist accents, can be seen in the film industry as well. The article relies on the files in the fonds of the Central Committee of Romanian Communist Party to cover the specificities of the cultural policies in Ceaușescu’s Romania. The way these policies were received by the cinema industry is reflected in the issues of Cinema magazine from the second half of the ‘60s to the mid-70s. Finally, the specific Romanian case is analysed in the broader context of the other communist regimes of Eastern Europe during the years of Cold War detente. (shrink)

The author reviews some archival documents and materials of Pavlo P. Skoropadskyi, Hetman of the Ukrainian state, his personal memoirs and executive decisions on foreign policy issues over a period of April-December 1918. Pavlo Skoropadskyi's stand as to building the state and his commitment to the pro-Russian vector are demonstrated. Some examples of practical steps taken by Pavlo Skoropadskyi's government to gain understanding with the Entente countries after Germany and Austria-Hungary lost the war are given. Based on its organizational structure, (...) the type of the Hetman state is defined. An example of rapport with new temporary state formations on the Don and Kuban Rivers is given. The paper describes radical and prompt actions of the Hetman government, taken to draw the Crimea under the dominion of Ukraine. The fallacy of the pro-Russian line of policy of Hetman P. Skoropadskyi in the context of the German and Austro-Hungarian occupation is pointed out. The ambiguous course of Ukraine is exemplified by the formation of its Armed Forces, Cabinet of Ministers and delaying in the implementation of the agrarian reform. The attitude of Pavlo Skoropadskyi to the Ukrainians and the Galicians is demonstrated through specific references to his statements. The paper shows some practical steps in opening embassy missions and consular agencies in European countries, which point to the efforts of the Cabinet of Ministers to win international recognition and authority for the Ukrainian state. A situational geopolitical change of the diplomatic relations is demonstrated by the example of Romania. The main causes of the anti-Hetman uprising are defined as the lack of a negotiation process with representatives of socialist and democratic forces of Ukraine, incapability to enlist the support of rural masses and inferior moods in respect of Russia. (shrink)

The paper reviews for the first time criminal case No.1339 inrespect of Stanislav S. Frize, Professor, Doctor of Engineering and the Head of the General Electrical Engineering Department of the Lviv Polytechnic. From January to August 1945 the researcher was kept in special camp No. 0310 of the People's State Security Commissariat in the town of Krasnodon of the Voroshilovgrad Region. He was put there without any trial and relevant proofs of his guilt towards Soviet law. Frise was accused of (...) teaching electrical engineering and physics at courses for electricians in 1942-1944 under constraint of the German occupation authorities. People's State Security Commissariat bodies regarded the fact as cooperation with the Germans and betrayal of the Motherland, which fell under definitions of Article 54-1a of the Criminal Code of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. They disregarded complete political apathy of the Professor, his straightforwardness and outspokenness in expressing his views of the events. Having refused to sign an appeal to Stalin, Frize laid himself open to suspicions of anti-Soviet agitation. His lack of knowledge of the Ukrainian and Russian languages and teaching in Polish was considered as sabotage of Soviet power efforts aimed at restoration of education at higher schools. Only testimonies of the Department staff in July 1945 and vigorous activity of his wife Anna Y. Krypiakevych convinced the Soviet punitive system of Stanislav Frize's innocence. (shrink)

Стаття присвячена незалежній Республіці Туркменистан, досвіду будівництва національної системи безпеки, чинного законодавства з питань військової політики, особливостям набуття постійного нейтралітету, готовності до подолання сучасних військових загроз, ролі представницького, законодавчого, виконавчих органів влади та Президента в державному забезпеченні захисту національних інтересів у пострадянський період історії.

У статті розглянуто процес розподілу Чорноморського флоту СРСР у період 1991-1997 рр. між незалежною Україною та Російською Федерацією на тлі проблеми приєднання Криму та Севастополя до УРСР 1954 р. Акцентовано увагу на неврегулюванні цього питання на міждержавному рівні. Наголошено на незмінності імперської позиції Росії щодо перегляду питання повернення Криму та Севастополя як стратегічно важливих об'єктів її зовнішньої політики в Чорноморсько-Середземноморському регіоні. Підкреслено негативне ставлення сучасних російських політиків до партійно-урядових рішень СРСР та РФРСР 1954 р. про передачу Кримської області до складу (...) Української РСР. Наведено спільні російсько-українські законодавчі акти, у яких російська сторона гарантувала й зобов'язувалась поважати територіальну цілісність і недоторканість незалежної України. (shrink)

This study demonstrates how and with what aim philosophy is received into the missionary activities of the apostles Paul and Luke as regards the Areopagitica in Acts 17. By an ingenious utilization of Greco-Roman learning and paideia, generally, and philosophy, particularly, Lukan Paul offers a context oriented cross-cultural model of preaching the kerygmatic word as of evangelization. A model for the inculturation of the power and meanings of the Gospel message is offered. In this a significant function is allocated to (...) disciplined mindful reasoning, viz. philosophy. The author demonstrates the special ways in which contact-points are made, and common ground established, between the apostle Paul and Athenian philosophers. This allows him to observe that philosophy is endorsed by the primordial Church: both (a) as a dialectical (critical analytical) and rhetorical (per­suasive oratorical) science-skill of addressing significant intellectual others and (b) as a faith-friendly mode of the Christian’s practice of philosophy. The author infers a number of conclusions regarding the substantial role that philosophy acquires within the early Church. Moreover, the Christian endorsement of philosophy as a missionary tool has its grounding in the apostolic Church and, consequentially, it has its grounding in the New Testament. In this way philosophy, utilized and re-functionalized by the apostles Paul and Luke themselves, in its special way, participates in the “authoritative establishment of tradition by means of apostolic origin”. The missionary model laid-out in Acts 17:16-34 has lasting value and needs to be continuously re-actualized: the same follows suit for a faith-conducive practice of philosophy. (shrink)