The article is an attempt at collecting and systematising views on the role and place of computers in mathematics, in particular the views on the consequences of using computers in proving mathematical theorems. The following issues are considered in the article: the problem connected with the concept of mathematical proof and its features; the attempts at answering the question whether computer proofs are genuine mathematical proofs; the problems with methods of checking the correctness of classical and computer-assisted proofs; and finally (...) the problem of the reliability of proofs and a related problem of the validity of mathematical conjectures. The main issue under discussion is the problem of philosophical consequences of regarding computer-assisted proofs as rightful in mathematics and especially its possible influence on the opinion that mathematical knowledge is a priori. (shrink)

The paper is devoted to the discussion on ontological status of the computer programs. The most popular conceptions are presented and critically discussed: programs as concrete abstractions, as quasi-particular objects (similar to musical pieces), as mathematical objects (of different kinds), and finally – program as digital pattern. Advantages and disadvantages of those approaches are pointed out and some possible solutions are proposed.

Artykuł ten jest próbą odpowiedzi na pytanie o status informatyki jako dyscypliny wiedzy oraz o miejsce, jakie zajmuje ona pośród innych nauk.Wśród informatyków i filozofów dominują cztery poglądy dotyczące statusu informatyki jako nauki. Pierwszym z nich jest twierdzenie, że informatyka to gałąź matematyki. Jeżeli podstawową działalnością informatyków jest pisanie programów – działalność matematyczna – to informatyka jest po prostu działem matematyki, czyli nauką formalną. Nie wszyscy jednak badacze zgadzają się z tym poglądem, twierdząc, że pisanie programów to rodzaj eksperymentu, a (...) informatyka jest nauką przyrodniczą. Eksperymentowanie za pomocą komputerów jest czymś więcej niż tylko metodą pomocniczą w innych naukach, odgrywa bowiem istotną rolę również w obrębie samej informatyki. Wielu informatyków uważa jednak, że traktowanie uprawianej przez nich dyscypliny jako nauki formalnej lub przyrodniczej jest niewłaściwe, ponieważ zaniedbuje podstawowe stawiane przed nią zadanie – rozwiązywanie problemów z wykorzystaniem komputerów. Informatyka jest zatem gałęzią inżynierii. Innym dominującym obecnie poglądem jest traktowanie informatyki jako nowej dyscypliny wiedzy, która wykorzystuje zarówno osiągnięcia inżynierii, jak i metody formalne i eksperymentalne. Sama nie jest jednak ani gałęzią matematyki, ani nauką przyrodniczą, ani też dziedziną inżynierii. (shrink)

The article is an attempt to answer one of the most important question in the philosophy of computer science: is a computer science a new branch of mathematics or an engineering discipline? Mathematical methods in computer science (especially in the process of program designing and producing, software and hardware verification) are discussed. In the article are considered problems connected with acceptance of mathematical paradigm in computer science. The main issue is the problem of philosophical consequences of regarding computer science as (...) a branch of mathematics. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to analyze structuralism as an alternative view to platonism in the philosophy of mathematics. We also try to find out if ontological and epistemological problems of platonism can be avoided by admitting the principles of structuralism. Structuralism claims that mathematical objects are merely positions in structures and have no identity or in general any important features outside these structures. Such view allows to avoid problems of the nature of numbers and other mathematical objects. But (...) the chief motivation of structuralism is in fact epistemological. It offers a nice way of explaining how one can get the knowledge of mathematical objects by the process of abstraction. On the other hand, there are many problems connected with mathematical structuralism. Some of them are analyzed in the paper. We come to the conclusion that mathematical structuralism, up to now, can't express the whole truth about mathematics. (shrink)

The article is an attempt at collecting some views on ontology of virtual reality (VR). Two types of definitions of virtual reality are discussed and compared: technological (concentrated on technical features of VR) and psychological (concentrated on people’s experiences with VR). In the paper features of virtual reality such as: interaction, artificiality, simulation, full body immersion, networked communications, telepresence and immersion are presented as forming differentia specifica of virtual reality. The main studied issues are ontological problems connected with virtual reality (...) especially ontological status of virtual objects. The main views on this subject are presented: 1) virtual objects are simulations of real objects, 2) some virtual object are as real as their equivalents in the reality (conception of Philip Brey based on Searle's social ontology), 3) virtual worlds as constructions of human mind. Virtual reality shades new light on some classical philosophical problems. In the paper two of them are discussed: 1) distinction between reality and appearances and 2) relations of the real world to a virtual one. (shrink)

Review of book: Bondecka-Krzykowska I., Brzeziński K.M., Bulińska-Stangrecka H., et al., Przedmioty wirtualne, P. Stacewicz, B. Skowron, Oficyna Wydawnicza Politechniki Warszawskiej, Warszawa 2019, pp. 135.

Contents: Preface. - Introduction. - Science as a caricature of reality. - Three methodological revolutions. - The method of idealization. - Explanations and applications. - Truth and idealization. - A generalization of idealization. - References.

O objetivo deste artigo é analisar como uma certa prática da divisão é utilizada por Platão nas Leis. Em várias passagens da obra, o filósofo recorre à realização de distinções entre termos, no intuito de estabelecer esclarecimentos lexicais e mesmo conceituais, evidenciando a possibilidade da existência de um certo uso da diaíresis nesse importante texto do Corpus. É o que parecem sugerir determinadas ocorrências do verbo diairéo em alguns momentos do diálogo (I, 647c, II, 672e, III, 700a-b, VII, 815e e (...) IX, 874e). Nossa intenção é ver como tal procedimento é aplicado em relação àquele que é um dos problemas mais fundamentais com que o diálogo se confronta, a saber: o problema concernente à unidade e à multiplicidade das virtudes. (shrink)

O objetivo principal deste artigo é mostrar a concepção política radicalmente normativa elaborada por Aristóteles no livro I da Política, concepção que determina a vida na cidade como uma condição fundamental para a realização da excelência ou virtude humana (ἀρετή). Trata-se, assim, de investigar como o filósofo pensa a polis como uma forma de comunidade (κοινωνία) que tem por meta não apenas assegurar as condições materiais e econômicas necessárias ao viver humano elementar (ζῆν), mas também propiciar ao homem um locus (...) superior no qual ele possa efetivar o bem viver (εὖ ζῆν), ou seja, a vida boa entendida como a realização da virtude e da racionalidade que lhe são próprias, o que desemboca na vigorosa subordinação da política às exigências da moralidade. (shrink)

Chap. V: Generalizations of the Rule of Correspondence ... 71 1. Generalizations and Extensions 71 2. A Certain Generalization of the Concepts of ...

Despite advances in the treatment of heart failure, the physical symptoms and stress of the disease continue to negatively impact patients’ health outcomes. Technology now offers promising ways to integrate personalized support from health care professionals via a variety of platforms. Digital health technology solutions using mobile devices or those that allow remote patient monitoring are potentially more cost effective and may replace in-person interaction. Notably, digital health methods may not only improve clinical outcomes but may also improve the psycho-social (...) status of HF patients. Using digital health to address biopsychosocial variables, including elements of the person and their context is valuable when considering chronic illness and HF in particular, given the multiple, cross-level factors affecting chronic illness clinical management needed for HF self-care. (shrink)

Adam Wiegner's work belongs to Polish analytical philosophy, but it falls outside of its main current, the Lvov-Warsaw School, which was influenced by Hume's ideas. Wiegner, influenced by neo-Kantianism, developed a non-Humean conception of "holistic empiricism," which anticipates some of the ideas of K. R. Popper and W. V. O. Quine. Some of his ideas remain original to this day. His main research interests included epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science especially philosophy of psychology, analytical history of philosophy, and (...) interpretation of traditional logic in terms of mathematical logic. (shrink)

My article will take issue with some of the scholarship on current and prospective configurations of the Caribbean and, in more general terms, postcolonial literary criticism. It will give an account of the turn-of-the century debates about literary value and critical practice and analyze how contemporary fiction by Caribbean female writers responds to the socioeconomic reality that came into being with the rise of globalization and neo-liberalism. I will use David Scott’s thought provoking study-Refashioning Futures: Criticism after Postcoloniality -to outline (...) the history of the Caribbean literary discourse and to try to rethink the strategic goals of postcolonial criticism. (shrink)

The article is an attempt to examine the literary treatment of the biblical material in three novels by Loys Masson, a Mauritian writer who lived in France the two thirds of his life: The Tortoises (1956), Advocate of the Isle (1961), The Nuptials of the Vanilla (1962). We first formulate a definition of literary myth, distinguished with biblical myth, then apply it to the symbolic narratives of this poet and novelist, who was a Catholic and a communist, and whom his (...) friend Claude Roy presented as an « Adam attempting to place the responsability for his sin onto God ». (shrink)

Using Giddens’s structuration theory and empirical data from a study with social enterprise stakeholders, the article explores how social entrepreneurs and the structure co-create one another. We show that the development of the contemporary significance of social entrepreneurialism lies in a combination of complex context-specific structural forces and the activities of agents who initiate, demand, and impose change. Social entrepreneurs intentionally tackle social challenges, but their actions bring unintentional results, such as the transfer of state responsibilities onto communities. Direct outputs (...) of their activities introduce indirect outcomes, bringing wider changes in culture and policy. The evolving nature of entrepreneurship and a number of factors that interplay in time and space, and enable and constrain social entrepreneurs, confirm the applicability of Giddens’s theory in the field of social entrepreneurship. The originality of this article derives from revealing mechanisms that enable social entrepreneurs to emerge and reasons for structural change. We also build a “co-creation model of structure and agency” that can be used to “engineer” the process of social entrepreneurship. (shrink)

The subject of the article is the performative-affective turn in literary writing about the city. The semiotics and hermeneutics of the city (viewed as an organized and meaningful space) have been replaced by participation in the city-as-event or – as Ewa Rewers put it – the “city-as-site of events.” This shift is evident in subjective documents and autotheories, such as Wielowarstwie. Donosy (z) ciała miasta by Magdalena Skrzypczak (2022) and ŁDZ. Osobliwy alfabet miasta by Krystian Darmach (2023), which I propose (...) to call textual drifts, drawing on the theory of the situationists. (shrink)

Relative to their peers, learning difficulties are more often observable among children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – something which may often cause a discrepancy between the “estimated” intelligence of the child and the results that they achieve at school. There are reasons to think that ADHD may be co-occurring with other learning disorders, including specific difficulties with reading and writing typical of developmental dyslexia: this would be the case for 15 to 30 percent of people with ADHD. The aim (...) of this article is to describe the relationship between the typical symptoms of ADHD and of developmental dyslexia in the areas of visual and auditory perception, as well as of motor disorders. Due to the frequent comorbidity of both disorders, they can be defined as combined disorders, which require complex diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. (shrink)

We examine the spiral structure of the thinking and the work of Marshall McLuhan, which we believe will provide a new way of viewing McLuhan’s work. In particular, we believe that the way he reversed figure and ground, reversed content and medium, reversed cause and effect, and the relationship he established between the content of a new medium and the older media it obsolesced all contain a spiral structure going back and forth in time. Finally, the time structure of his (...) Laws of Media in which a new medium obsolesced an older medium, while retrieving an even older medium and then when pushed far enough flipped into a still newer medium has the feeling of a spiral. We will also examine the spiral structure of the thinking and work of those thinkers and artists that most influenced McLuhan such as Vico, Hegel, Marx, Freud, Joyce, TS Eliot, Wyndham Lewis and the Vorticism movement. (shrink)

A maternidade é uma das mais complexas conquistas da vida de uma mulher, entretanto, esta conquista nem sempre se dá de forma tranquila. Imprevistos podem acontecer no decorrer deste processo. Com o intuito de aprofundar o estudo acerca dos possíveis efeitos da prematuridade na relação mãe e filho,..

Introduction. Bert HAMMINGA and Neil DE MARCHI: Préface. Bert HAMMINGA and Neil DE MARCHI: Idealization and the Defence of Economics: Notes Toward a History. Part I: General Observations on Idealization in Economics. Kevin D. HOOVER: Six Queries about Idealization in an Empirical Context. Bernard WALLISER: Three Generalization Processes for Economic Models. Steven COOK and David HENDRY: The Theory of Reduction in Econometrics. Maarten C.W. JANSSEN: Economic Models and Their Applications. Adolfo GARCÍA DE LA SIENRA: Idealization and Empirical Adequacy in Economic (...) Theory. Izabella NOWAKOWA and Leszek NOWAK: On Correspondence between Economic Theories. Uskali MÄKI: Isolation, Idealization and Truth in Economics. Part II: Case Studies of Idealization in Economics. Nancy CARTWRIGHT: Mill and Menger: Ideal Elements and Stable Tendencies. Wolfgang BALZER: Exchange Versus Influence: A Case of Idealization. Kees COOLS, Bert HAMMINGA, Theo A.F. KUIPERS: Truth Approximation by Concretization in Capital Structure Theory. Daniel M. HAUSMAN: Paul Samuelson as Dr. Frankenstein: When an Idealization Runs Amuck. Hugo A. KEUZENKAMP: What if an Idealization is Problematic? The Case of the Homogeneity Condition in Consumer Demand. Werner DIEDERICH: Nowak on Explanation and Idealization in Marx's 'Capital'. Gérard JORLAND: Idealization and Transformation. Jack BIRNER: Idealizations and Theory Development in Economics. Some History and Logic of the Logic Discovery. Discussions. Leszek NOWAK: The Idealizational Methodology and Economics. Replies to Diederich, Hoover, Janssen, Jorland and Mäki. (shrink)