This article sets out to propose some characteristic features of the intellectual and ethical attitudes which, in the popular belief and scholarly communities alike, stand for ideals worthy of promoting as ones which could underpin a modern society where both believers and unbelievers can feel at home. The “ethos” is construed to be about the sort of behaviour logically stemming from a tolerant outlook on the one hand, and an intellectual commitment to a noble cause worthy of one’s efforts, on (...) the other. (shrink)

The paper concerns a form of experiencing time which is specific for haiku poetry. Haiku is an expression of the momentary glimpse of time. Haiku poetry treats the moment uninstrumentally, neither as a result of the past nor as a transition to future deeds. Seen this way, the moment arises on the stream of time as a unique, existential experience. It is my attempt to explain the phenomenon of this experience of “now” as I explore the metaphors of “background”, “figure” (...) and “composition”. (shrink)

We take I.Q. tests but not Compassion Aptitude tests. Yet mind and emotions need to be seen as two different parts of the same spectrum if the battered human psyche is to be mended. Skolimowski sees the opportunity for a new order to be brought about if the Western mind can return to, then reintegrate, the spiritual.

This article deals with basic changes in Polish society over past 20 years. On the basis of sociological surveys, the author attempts to answer the following questions: to what extent has systemic change brought about significant changes in social stratification? In which dimensions did it take place? What are the consequences of these changes for individuals and the social system? How does Polish society differ from others? As for social stratification, the only clear and unambiguous tendencies were growing inequality and (...) more marked effects of educational credentials on incomes. Contrary to expectations, barriers to mobility have not become more rigid, nor is there any clear evidence of social origins mattering more for educational achievement. Transformations in social structure have been accompanied by rising discontent with material conditions, the government, and the system as a whole. Interestingly, this wave runs counter to positive evaluations in the private sphere, displayed in relatively high self-esteem and satisfaction with friendships and family life. These optimistic attitudes contrasted with disapproval of the political class, and with the workings of democracy. The degree of legitimization of the political system in Poland appears to be the lowest among 21 European societies. When compared with the capitalist West, this constitutes one of the obstacles to modernization along Western lines. (shrink)

The ArgumentFranz Borkenau's book,The Transition from Feudal to Modern Thought(Der Übergang vom feudalen zum bürgerlichen Weltbild[literally:The Transition from the Feudal to the Bourgeois World-Picture]), serves as background for Grossmann's study. The objective of this book was to trace the sociological origins of the mechanistic categories of modern thought as developed in the philosophy of Descartes and his successors. In the beginning of the seventeenth century, according to Borkenau, mechanistic thinking triumphed over medieval philosophy which emphasized qualitative, not quantitative considerations. This (...) transition from medieval and feudal methods of thought to modern principles is the general theme of Borkenau's book, and is traced to the social changes of this time. According to this work, the essential economic change that marked the transition from medieval to modern times was the destruction of the handicraft system and the organization of labor under one roof and under one management. The roots of the change in thought are to be sought here. With the dismemberment of the handicraft system and the division of labor into relatively unskilled, uniform, and therefore comparable activities, the conception of abstract homogeneous social labor arises. The division of the labor process into simple repeated movements permits a comparison of hours of labor. Calculation with such abstract social unities, according to Borkenau, was the source from which modern mechanistic thinking in general derived its origin.Grossmann, although he considers Borkenau's work a valuable and important contribution, does not believe that the author has achieved his purpose. First of all, he contends that the period that Borkenau describes as the period of the triumph of modern thought over medieval should not be placed at the beginning of the seventeenth century, but in the Renaissance, and that not Descartes and Hobbes but Leonardo da Vinci was the initiator of modern thought. Leonardo's theories, evolved from a study of machines, were the source of the mechanistic categories that culminated in modern thought.If Borkenau's conception as to the historical origin of these categories is incorrect in regard to time, Grossmann claims it follows that it is incorrect also in regard to the social sources to which it is ascribed. In the beginning, the factory system did not involve a division of labor into comparable homogeneous processes, but in general only united skilled handicraftsmen under one roof. The development of machinery, not the calculation with abstract hours of labor, is the immediate source of modern scientific mechanics. This goes back to the Renaissance and has relatively little to do with the original factory system that was finally superseded by the Industrial Revolution.While Borkenau, in tracing the social background of the thought of the period, relies chiefly on the conflicts and strife of political parties, Grossmann regards this as one element only in the formation of the general social situation, which in its entirety and in the interaction of its elements explains the development of modern thought. (shrink)

The volume collects classics of Marxist historiography of science, including a new translation of Boris Hessen's “The Social and Economic Roots of Newton's ...

We give some information about new proofs of the incompleteness theorems, found in 1990s. Some of them do not require the diagonal lemma as a method of construction of an independent statement.

Historically, Ehrenfest’s theorem is the first one which shows that classical physics can emerge from quantum physics as a kind of approximation. We recall the theorem in its original form, and we highlight its generalizations to the relativistic Dirac particle and to a particle with spin and izospin. We argue that apparent classicality of the macroscopic world can probably be explained within the framework of standard quantum mechanics.

Artykuł charakteryzuje zmianę francuskiej pluralistycznej demokracji zmierzająca do bipolaryzacji systemu partyjnego i podziału ideologiczno - programowego na prawicę i lewicę społeczną. Dwubiegunowo ść bvła pochodną prezydenckiego ustroju V Republiki przy odpowiedzialności premiera przed parlamentem. Ważne były także przemiany w strukturze społeczeństwa na dwie podstawowe klasy i siły społeczne, tj. pracodawców i pracowników najemnych. W kryterium stosunku do własności i zakresu ingerencji państwa w gospodarkę, orientacja prawicowa obejmuje gaullistowski Ruch na Rzecz Republiki i liberalną Unię Demokracji Francuskiej, natomiast do orientacji lewicowej (...) zalicza się nurt socjalizmu reformistycznego i ruch komunistyczny. Omówione zostaną także organizacje skrajne. (shrink)

One of Albert the Great’s dearest concerns throughout his career was the question of the good; the good which humans naturally desire and which culminates in ultimate happiness. In his earliest work, tellingly entitled De natura boni, Albert’s interest principally concerns epistemological and practical questions: How can we know wherein the good consists? How can we acquire it? Under what circumstances may we lose it and what is necessary to reacquire it? In this initial context, Albert relies on the Augustinian (...) conception that the desired good lies in the “Good of all goods” and that its attainment in this contingent world takes place almost exclusively through moral conduct. With the inception of appropriating Aristotle’s complete Nicomachean Ethics, however, Albert’s conception of the good undergoes a fundamental shift. Based on an intellectualist anthropology according to which the human being is “solely intellect”, Albert advances the intellectual virtues as necessary condition for a... (shrink)

Autor artykułu polemizuje z szeroko rozpowszechnionym poglądem, jakoby Platon wykluczył poetów z państwa. Czołowym przedstawicielem tegoż poglądu w polskim piśmiennictwie filozoficznym jest Alfred Gawroński, który sprowadza spór miedzy Platonem a greckimi poetami do konfliktu miedzy dialogiem a monologiem. Przy wnikliwszym spojrzeniu na ten problem okazuje się jednak, ze Platon wcale nie był aż tak bardzo krytycznie nastawiony do twórczości poetów, a nawet, ze w swym przyszłym idealnym państwie nadal chciał odwoływać się do poezji, tyle ze odpowiednio dobranej i uporządkowanej ze (...) względu na większy pożytek obywateli. Autor, solidaryzując się z opiniami Wernera Jaegera, znakomitego znawcy greckiej kultury antycznej, uważa, ze Platon niejednokrotnie sięgał po środki wyrazu właściwe sztuce poetyckiej, by osiągnąć cele wychowawcze wysuwane przez jego dialektyczna filozofie. Tak wiec dialogi Platona są zarazem poetycki- mi monologami, a teoretyczne kontrowersje miedzy filozofia a poezja ustępują miejsca praktycznemu zadaniu polegającemu na wzajemnym współdziałaniu w jednym wielkim dziele wychowania Greków, jakim jest paideia. (shrink)