Streets of Crocodiles is a walk on the wild side, an expedition down a melancholy boulevard of dreams.---J. Hoberman, film critic, Village Voice, author of The Red Atlantis: Communist Culture in the Absence of Communism --Book Jacket.

The paper is a contribution to discussions about prospects of reaffirmation of the ontological-political interpretation of Hobbes’s thought advised in the mid-twentieth century by Leo Strauss and C.B. Macpherson. The paper begins with an outline of the main avenues and lines of contention and division within contemporary Hobbes studies, constituted as examples of the “definitive rejection” of Strauss’s and Macpherson’s interpretations. In the second part, there are discussed some issues in detail that help us to define the meaning of the (...) political ontology in Hobbes’s thought as determined by the pair of oppositions “juridical (negative) power” — “ontological-generative (positive) power”. In the third and fourth parts there are considered two main aspects and implications of the Hobbesian theory of sovereignty, as well as the current debates around it (launched mainly as a result of inspiration by Carl Schmitt’s reading of the theory): firstly, the doctrine of an exception/state of emergency in relation to the idea of citizenship and human rights, and, secondly, metaphysical-political and theological-political, justifications of the “monistic” authority of the absolute power juxtaposed against a pluralist and democratic (republican), and at the same time a-secular and cross-religious-comparative considerations of sovereignty of the “people” (as a “multitude”). As a result of the proposed analyzes and reflections, the religious and theological foundations (considered through comparative studies on the doctrines and traditions of three monotheistic religions) are highlighted for questioning the “essentialist” approach to the “fetishism” of sovereignty in the most influential doctrines from Schmitt to Morgenthau and Hinsley. (shrink)

In the article, I try to emphasize that our way of using language affects moral decisions and attitudes. As we think as we speak and simultaneously, we act. By using chauvinistic language, first of all, we simplify our reality; secondly, we push those beings that we define in the language to the margins. I think that our language is homocentric and therefore leads us to speciesism.

The paper is an attempt to reconstruct difficult and problematic, but on the same time vital and crucial, links between liberalism and eurocentrism. That relationship is considered as a result of mutual self-seeking and profit-seeking with the process of colonization as historical and formational “epicenter” of European Modernity. Colonization, the “expansion of Europe” demanded an ideological background and backup which in reverse were fostered and strengthened by the opportunity of belonging to the extensive “colonial space-time”. “Rise of the west” together (...) with “technologies of colonization”, refined and perfectioned during the era of “the long sixteenth century”, would have been inconceivable without a presence of specific “ontology” – the possessive individualism conceptualized and analyzed by C.B. Macpherson in his works on liberal (liberal-democratic) political theory. (shrink)

Cultural, social and religious diversity is one of the most valued and most valuable aspects of our contemporary, globalized world. Sometimes it even tends to be described as a gift and invitation to dialogue instead of conflict and confrontation, as numerous authors – Samuel P. Huntington, Mary Habeck, Paul Berman, Bruce Bawer and many other – would have us to believe. Especially dialogue among religions – Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam – is an object of peculiar interest, expectations and hopes. (...) Within the paper recent dialogic tendencies in cultures and societies are presented as one of the most important manifestations of humanism (both religious and a-religious), which is reconstructed in reference to social change, modernization, enlightenment, toleration and pluralism as phenomena analyzed and deliberated by Fracis Bacon on one hand and contemporary Macedonian philosopher and Muslim theologian, Ismail Bardhi, on the other. Is enlightenment without secularization possible? Does religious passion and zeal always lead to suspension, “overcoming”, elimination of reason? In the conclusion of the paper the significance of works by young Polish artist, Joanna Rajkowska, is being highlighted as an example of humanism and dialogism which struggle with recent waves of islamophobia in Europe. (shrink)

The paper consists of three parts. In the first one, I consider the validity of the “civilizational paradigm” in contemporary social sciences and humanities, with special emphasis on philosophy and comparative historiographical studies. In the second one, I juxtapose selected Western approaches to civilization—those of Arnold Toynbee, Fernand Braudel and Corroll Quigley—with the perspective proposed by Ibn Khaldūn, the scholar and thinker widely recognized as the father of social sciences, especially those focused on or at least related to civilizational investigations. (...) In the third part of the article, I raise questions about the prospects of reforming and reviving civilizations which undergo a crisis or experience a twilight phase in their development. Finally, in the context of the idea of Islamization of thought and knowledge, as postulated by Abdulhamid Abusu-layma, I address the question of the relationship between civilization and religion. (shrink)

Wiadomo, że Peter Singer chce być rzecznikiem tego, co racjonalne. Z jego punktu widzenia najistotniejsza jest wiedza przyrodnicza, a za wartościowe zostają uznane tylko te rzeczy, które da się udowodnić. Zgodnie z racjonalistami świat powinien składać się z trzech elementów: wiedzy, technologii i ekonomii. Zatem, jedyna korzyść z wiedzy jest taka, kiedy to daje gotowe osiągnięcia. W tym ujęciu prawda, obiektywna prawda staje się czymś zbędnym. Wiedza i nauka stają się funkcją utylitarnych celów, które człowiek może osiągnąć. Wszystkie wartości i (...) normy, które nie mogą być zredukowane do kryteriów użyteczności, do praktycznych rezultatów są bezwartościowe. Peter Singer twierdzi, że moralnie znacząca jest zdolność do odczuwania bólu i chęć jego unikania. Sprawą najważniejszą jest zdolność do cierpienia i naturalna chęć jego uniknięcia. Singer opowiada się za utylitaryzmem preferencji w etyce. Ogólnie rzecz ujmując, chodzi o to, że ludzie pragną maksymalizować szczęście i unikać takich stanów, jak cierpienie. (shrink)

The legacy of Ludwig Lachmann within the Austrian School of Economics is subject to several interpretations in the literature: though he clearly considered himself a member of the school and he influenced many Austrian economists, his particular methodological claims prompted Murray Rothbard to disavow him as a nihilist. In this article, we defend Lachmann by arguing that in order to defend his methodological stance he invoked extra-Austrian influences (Max Weber, G.L.S. Shackle). This way, he championed subjectivist institutionalism consistently both in (...) theory and in practice. His approach leaves a peculiar, unorthodox, yet positive legacy for contemporary Austrian economics, not so far from the orthodox Misesian stance as it is broadly understood. (shrink)

Artykuł stanowi próbę określenia najważniejszych współczesnych trendów dotyczących rozpoznania społecznych, politycznych i kulturowych aspektów myśli (tradycji) liberalnej. W tym celu przedstawione i poddane analizie są dwa podejścia. Pierwsze z nich to główna obecnie definicja liberalizmu przez pryzmat praw i uprawnień jednostki. Teoria liberalna w tym ujęciu związana jest w bardziej ogólnymi dyskursami społeczno-kulturowymi na temat pluralizmu, praw jednostek, rządów prawa, konstytucjonalizmu, swobód politycznych, wolnego rynku i praw człowieka. Z drugiej strony zbadane zostaje stanowisko I. Wallersteina, dla którego liberalizm jest wyrafinowanym (...) konstruktem, projektem nastawionym na stworzenie i rozwijanie "geokultury" współczesnego świata - ideologicznej bazy usprawiedliwiającej nierówną dystrybucję bogactw i władzy w skali globalnej, układu powiązań określanego mianem nowożytnego (kapitalistycznego) systemu-świata. Zdaniem Wallersteina - którego wykładnia zaakceptowana zostaje w niniejszym tekście - ewolucja struktur systemu-świata nie uległa jeszcze zakończeniu, a niedawno jeszcze głoszony triumf kapitalizmu i liberalizmu musi być postrzegany przez pryzmat wielu faz, stadiów rozwoju i przemian zamiast w ramach tezy o "końcu historii". (shrink)

The paper is an introduction to the collection of articles, published in the current issue of “Studia Philosophica Wratislaviensia”, on both the subject matter conceived (as broadly as possible) as Islamic metaphysics and on the very studies of this research area (the current state of knowledge, conjunctures, tendencies, prospects etc.). It attempts to provide presentation of discussion of topics and problems, which can be included in this area, but offers also first drafts of tentative and “work-in-progress definitions” of how Islamic (...) metaphysics can be understood with its orientation on the most recent contexts, inspirations and applications, internal structures and dynamics relating to its interpretations and evolutions, as well as its original, historical versions. One of the inspirations for the project of studying the Islamic metaphysics presented here is rooted in Jasser Auda’s ambitious works on Islamic law, not narrowed to a technical, specialized domain of research about foundations (fundamentals), sources, jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh) or specific legislation related to the Shari’a. The paper sketches a general orientation map introducing basic concepts and methodological strategies used by Auda with the prospects of their further application to the study (and potential rethinking) of Islamic metaphysics. (shrink)

This article presents an overview and critique of the two leading macroeconomic approaches from the last 70 years: reasoning using high-level aggregates detached from individuals and their choices, and modeling using so-called microfoundations. We judge the validity of both methods, showing their inherent limits and deficiencies as explanatory and predictive tools of economics. We also underline several vital improvements, which are required if the models are supposed to guide policy decisions – even if this means a more modest and less (...) conceited approach. (shrink)

Robots are becoming more visible parts of our life, a situation which prompts questions about their place in our society. One group of issues that is widely discussed is connected with robots’ moral and legal status as well as their potential rights. The question of granting robots rights is polarizing. Some positions accept the possibility of granting them human rights whereas others reject the notion that robots can be considered potential rights holders. In this paper, I claim that robots will (...) never have all human rights, even if we accept that they are morally equal to humans. I focus on the role of embodiment in the content of the law. I claim that even relatively small differences in the ontologies of entities could lead to the need to create new sets of rights. I use the example of Neanderthals to illustrate that entities similar to us might have required different legal statuses. Then, I discuss the potential legal status of human-like robots. (shrink)

The inferentialism due to Robert Brandom presents a compelling normative-deontic picture of language and discursive practices, and as such it is well positioned to address phenomena like lying. This short work outlines a simple account of how lying can be conceptualized within that framework. To that end, the basic Brandomian position is extended to include a novel type of status – namely, pseudo-commitments, which are unique in their being non-binding. The traditional definition of lying is then given a status-oriented form, (...) such that lying consists in presenting a pseudo-commitment with the intention for it to be attributed as a standard commitment. Importantly, this can be articulated in our scorekeeping practices, which is demonstrated with three example exchanges – one featuring an undetected lie, one featuring a detected lie, and one featuring a bald-faced lie. Though simple, the account works and invites extension to other similar phenomena, like sarcasm, acting, bullshit, etc. The notion of pseudo-commitment may also find application outside of the inferentialist context. (shrink)

Whether or not we call a love-like relationship with robots true love, some people may feel and claim that, for them, it is a sufficient substitute for love relationship. The love relationship between humans has a special place in our social life. On the grounds of both morality and law, our significant other can expect special treatment. It is understandable that, precisely because of this kind of relationship, we save our significant other instead of others or will not testify against (...) her/him. How as a society should we treat love-like relationships humans with robots? Based on the assumption that robots do not have an inner life and are not moral patients, I defend the thesis that this kind of relationship should be protected by criminal law. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the theory of artefacts presented by the 15th-century thinker Paul of Venice, paying special attention to the views of authors often referred to as ‘nominalists’ (e.g. O...

This paper is focused on one of the key questions constituting the medieval debate about the ontological status of artefacts, which has to do with the productivity of art. We ordinarily speak about artefacts, such as statues or chairs, as produced by their artificers, and Aristotle describes art in general as a productive habit. In the first part of the paper, I look at how the proponents of the realist view of artefacts argue that the productivity of art can only (...) be explained if we endorse their view, on which by producing an artefact an artificer brings about a new thing in the world, which is distinct from the natural things used in its production. I then turn to the reductionist account of artefacts and examine how its proponents want to show that the productivity of art can be preserved without positing that an artefact must be a new thing in the world, distinct from its natural components. In the final part of the paper, I look at one of the further corollaries of this debate, which has to do with the connection between the productivity of art and natural change. (shrink)

Uncontrolled access to information on the Internet has many advantages, but it also leads to the phenomenon of fake news. Fake news is dangerous in many spheres, including that of health. For example, we are facing an increase in the amount of vaccine hesitancy. This has been w considered by the World Health Organization in 2019 as one of the greatest threats to public health. This specific phenomenon is linked with the spread of information on the Internet around that issue. (...) In this paper, I discuss a proposition of new crime, which has the aim of fighting medical fake news by stopping its spread. This proposition should be considered only if other non-criminal measures are inefficient. The proposal is “Whoever publicly disseminates information evidently discrepant with medical knowledge is subject to a penalty.”. (shrink)

En las dos últimas décadas, se ha producido dentro de la filosofía analítica un aumento repentino de la investigación sobre la naturaleza y el papel que juea la intuición. Los filósofos empezaron a investigar qué es la intuición, cómo debería definirse, qué papel desempeña en la filosofía, cuál es su estatus epistémico, entre otras cosas. También hay un número creciente de filósofos que sostienen que todo el debate se basa en un error: la intuición en filosofía no desempeña papel alguno (...) y los filósofos no la utilizan como (fuente de) prueba para sus afirmaciones filosóficas. Esta estrategia se lleva a cabo a menudo diferenciando entre los dos sentidos en los que se supone que la intuición desempeña un papel evidencial en filosofía. Así, la intuición puede entenderse como un estado de intuir o como un contenido proposicional que se intuye. En el primer sentido, se argumenta, la intuición no puede ser tratada como evidencia, ya que presentaría el riesgo de psicologizar la evidencia en filosofía. Sin embargo, si tomamos la intuición como evidencia en el segundo sentido, no hay nada distintivo en ella: en última instancia, toda evidencia en filosofía es de naturaleza proposicional, independientemente de la intuitividad de una proposición dada. En mi artículo, sostengo que esta estrategia fracasa y propongo, en su lugar, una visión de la intuición que, en primer lugar, explica por qué la distinción mencionada no hace que la intuitividad del contenido sea irrelevante para su estatus epistémico; en segundo lugar, está de acuerdo con los hallazgos actuales en psicología; y, en tercer lugar, es lo suficientemente mínima como para permitir la incorporación de las diferentes perspectivas sobre las intuiciones. En particular, sostengo que un juicio intuitivo, caracterizado por su no inferencialidad y revocabilidad, sirve de prueba para determinadas afirmaciones filosóficas, mientras que su fuente es una intuición entendida como un estado de carácter no proposicional que puede examinarse empíricamente. (shrink)

We examine how social diversity and inclusiveness on corporate boards affect corporate performance and monitoring in Sri Lanka, a country subject to decades of polarization, civil war, and even genocide. Barely more than a decade after the civil war, we find that board social diversity on the basis of ethnicity, religion, language, gender, and nationality of the board members is positively related to corporate performance, both in terms of stock market performance and accounting returns, and to corporate financial stability. The (...) main positive effects of social diversity derive from ethno-linguistic inclusiveness. The results are confirmed by an instrumental variable approach that addresses endogeneity issues. We find no evidence that inter-personal and moral conflicts or communication problems among board members negatively affect firm performance. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to examine the theoretical architecture of semantic atomism and its consequences with respect to natural language. In particular, it looks to explore the notion of possible concepts using the fundamental distinction between simple and complex concepts and expressions in Jerry Fodor’s atomism. The distinction is exploited to produce an unusual type of concept referred to as a correlate, which effectively mirrors complex concepts while maintaining a distinct underlying structure. Though harmless in and of themselves, (...) their presence in the context of polymorphemic expressions suggests that atomism harbors a tacit and unintuitive form of polysemy that is problematic in its own right and that leads to other complications, some of which may be demonstrated on the example of communication. These issues are tied to the way atomism is structured, and although they seem to have gone largely unnoticed, they appear to bear negatively on the adequacy of atomism where natural language is concerned. (shrink)

The paper examines Walter Chatton’s rejection of final causality. At the core of Chatton’s theory lies the claim that there are four kinds of cause, but only three kinds of causality, because final causality should in a sense be reduced to efficient causality. The author begins by situating Chatton’s theory in the context of the fourteenth-century discussions concerning the problematic status of ends as causes. After that, the paper reconstructs Chatton’s rejection of the opinio communis of his time, according to (...) which both final causes and final causality must be posited. The author claims that Chatton’s objections employ three main arguments, based on ontological parsimony, possible non-existence of ends, and the efficient character of love and desire. Then, Chatton’s own theory is presented. The author’s exposition is focused on Chatton’s thesis that final causes are said to be causes only in a metaphorical sense. The final part of the article examines William of Ockham’s reaction to Chatton’s theory. Arguing against Chatton’s teleology, Ockham wants to prove that we have good reasons to retain both final causes and final causality. (shrink)

The paper concerns the origin and early stage of development of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Kraków. Center for Interdisciplinary Studies was founded by Michał Heller and Józef Życiński in the late 1970s. It was an informal institution which focused on conducting scientific activity in the area of philosophy of nature, relationship between mathematical & natural sciences and philosophy, history of science, as well as relationships between science and religion. In this paper I (...) would like to present how this institution developed, I will discuss various forms of its activity and discuss—very generally—what kind of philosophy was promoted by M. Heller, J. Życiński as well as their pupils and close associates. An important part of the paper will also concern the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies as a unique institution, which has developed—in difficult historical period in Poland—philosophical research in the spirit of freedom and respect for the new achievements of science, and also promoted interdisciplinary dialogue between scientists and philosophers. (shrink)

İslam tarihinde Müslüman topluluk içinde ilk fikrî ve fiilî anlaşmazlıklar Hz. Peygamberin (s.a.v.) vefatının ardından başlamış daha sonra Hz. Osman ve ardından Hz. Ali döneminde olayların büyümesiyle Hâricîlik mezhebi tarih sahnesine çıkmıştır. Sıffîn savaşını bitirmeyi ve Müslümanlar arasında barışı temin etmeyi hedefleyen Tahkîm olayı başka bir ayrılıkla neticelenmiş, Kur’ân’ı-Kerîm’in hükümlerine uyulmadığı gerekçesiyle Müslüman topluluktan büyük bir grup ayrılarak Nehrevan’a çekilmiştir. Çoğu taşradan gelmiş, eğitim seviyesi düşük askerlerinden oluşan ve daha sonra Hâricîler diye isimlendirilen bu grup, kendi içlerinde de anlaşamamış pek (...) çoğu aşırılık yanlısı bir tavırla Emevî ve Abbasî Devletleri döneminde isyan etmiş ve muhtelif şiddet olaylarına karışmıştır. Hicrî üçüncü asrın sonlarında İbâdiyye hariç, başta Ezârika olmak üzere aşırılığa meyleden veya şiddete başvuran Hâricî gruplar dağılıp yok olmuştur. Hâricî kitleler içerisinde ortaya çıkmış olan İbâdiyye kendi dönüşümünü sağlayarak ve hatta fikir ve yöntemlerindeki yumuşaklık sebebiyle halktan gerekli desteği alarak bir yandan Kuzey Afrika’da 132 yıl hüküm süren Rüstemîler Devletini kurarken diğer yandan da fikrî bünyesini inşa etmiştir. Günümüzde Kuzey Afrika, Umman ve Zanzibar’da yedi milyona yakın nüfusa sahip olan bu mezhep pek çok açıdan etüt edilmeyi hak eden bir topluluk ve bir fikir akımıdır. İbâdiyye, hicrî ikinci asra dayanan yazılı eserleri ve yüzyıllarca biriktirdiği deneyimi ile İslam dininin inanç, davranış ve siyaset esaslarının tedvini için sosyo-politik zeminin anlaşılmasında değerli verilere sahiptir. Öte yandan mezhebin her açıdan objektif olarak ele alındığını söylemek mümkün görünmemektedir. Hicrî üçüncü asrın sonlarından itibaren yazılan fırak ve makālât türü eserlerde çeşitli gerekçelerle Hâricîlik için kullanılan pek çok yerici ifade, aidiyeti iyice araştırılmadan İbâdiyye’yi teşmil edecek şekilde kullanılmıştır ve halen de kullanılmaya devam etmektedir. Burada asıl dikkat edilmesi gereken önemli bir husus, ehl-i biꜤdat yahut ehl-i küfre ait olduğu değerlendirilen pek çok şahıs, düşünce veya ekolün ilmi açıdan tevsiki yapılmadan İbâdiyye’ye nispet edilmiş olabileceğidir. Bu makalede İbâdiyye’nin tarihi derinliklerine inilerek hem inanç sahasına yeni birtakım fikir veya tespitleri kazandırmak hem de mezhebin doğru bir şekilde anlaşılmasına katkı sunmak için İbâdiyye’ye nispet edilen bazı fikir, şahıs yahut alt grupların durumu ele alınmıştır. Bu amaçla temel fırak ve makālât eserleri, İbâdiyye’nin muteber klasik ve çağdaş kaynaklarıyla mukayeseli olarak kullanılmış ve İbâdiyye’ye nispeti tartışmalı olan alt grupların mezhebe aidiyeti tespit edilmeye çalışılmıştır. (shrink)

This article deals with the key concepts - practice, narrative unity of a human life and tradition - in what might be described as a positive, constructive side of Alasdair MacIntyre's philosophical contribution.

The recent developments in applications of artificial intelligence bring back discussion about risks posed by AI. Among immediate risks that need to be tackled here and now, there is also a possible problem of existential threats related to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). There is a discussion on how to mitigate those risks by appropriate regulations. It seems that one commonly accepted assumption is that the problem is global, and thus, it needs to be tackled first of all on an international (...) level. In this paper, I argue that national criminal laws should also be considered one of the possible regulatory tools for mitigating threats posed by AGI. I propose to enact AGI crimes that complement the varieties of legal responses to existential risks that might motivate and speed up further regulatory changes. (shrink)

This short work presents a popular fringe theory as a source of case studies for use in teaching informal logic in an introductory course. It puts forward ancient astronaut theory as the candidate source, together with a characterization of why it fits the bill. The televised material associated with that theory is well suited to being used as case studies given that they are easy to follow, contain a surprising number of arguments and fallacies, and keep students reliably engaged. The (...) paper includes an overview of the forms of argumentation and fallacies that these cases may be used to teach, along with a sketch of how to best implement them in the classroom. (shrink)

The phenomenal body is an intriguing concept, and Merleau-Ponty’s notion of habit, coupled with motor intentionality, provides a novel perspective on its inner workings. I contend that his portrayal of habit tacitly bears two faces – motoric habit and instrumental habit respectively. The former is an attunement to some bodily possibilities that are already at our disposal while the latter is an explicit relation to external objects and a process of incorporating those objects into our own bodies. These two notions (...) play into each other, creating a mechanism that offers an intuitive illustration and simple productive definition for a dynamic picture of bodyhood. Furthermore, it carries an internal delimitation that marks the boundaries of its application. The result is a view that provides something new to current interpretations of Merleau-Ponty, as well as potential applications in areas that derived from his appeals to motor intentionality. (shrink)

This work sets out to present how the notion of delusion may be understood (and extended) within the semantic framework of Robert Brandom's inferentialism. The mechanisms of reliability and community‐oriented proprieties, among others, provide inferentialists with effective tools for understanding commitments (and so beliefs) in communities. These tools may be used to describe and assess both commitments that we might consider sound and commitments that we might consider delusional, both in terms of how they arise and in terms of how (...) they may be reinforced. Delusions are accordingly rendered in perspectival and normative terms, which is elaborated through a number of examples. The picture of how a delusional commitment may be understood, how it may be reinforced, and its character as community internal or external provide some interesting perspectives on delusions in shared social contexts, as well as how they may originate intractable conflicts and disconnects between sub‐groups within a broader linguistic community. (shrink)

In recent years a lot of metaphilosophical attention has been paid to the role of thought experiments in philosophical inquiry. According to the popular picture, thought experiments are among the most prominent methods for conceptual analysis. However, it is also often claimed that thought experiments in ethics differ from those that are used in other fields of philosophy as being of a different nature—they are not about the concepts, but rather about the things in the world (what those things exactly (...) are depends on the particular metaethical theory one subscribes to). In the paper I argue that this claim is wrong. Conceptual analysis is of a huge value to ethics for it substantially helps to clarify the concepts one uses while making a moral judgment. It is very often the case that the apparent moral disagreement between two subjects turns out to be superficial since it is rooted in the misunderstanding on the conceptual level, for example when one uses some concept equivocally. Moreover, through thought experiments conceptual analysis can help to bring out the tacit assumptions that relate to the concepts involved. (shrink)

The debate on alternative punishments appears to be stagnating. The impasse may be overcome if we consider humans from a different philosophical perspective. If we answer differently the question of who we are punishing, we open new possibilities regarding the question of how we punish. In particular, by applying the extended mind thesis we can arrive at interesting outcomes and reopen the debate on alternative punishments. According to this theory, external artifacts—such as smartphones—can be considered part of our minds. In (...) this article, I defend the thesis that restricting access to personal technologies that are a part of one's self should be considered a form of punishment. Thus, a human who is considered from an extended perspective can be punished in a new way. (shrink)

This article examines the pedagogic vision of audiovisual archives in Ici et ailleurs ( Here and Elsewhere, 1974/1978) (shot by Sonimage and drawn from the abandoned project Jusqu’à la Victoire [1970]) in terms of the stratification of images and sounds. Drawing on Gilles Deleuze and Michel Foucault, Tom Conley writes that a diagram that depends upon the division between the visible and the enunciable may be comprehended in terms of a map and as a line of forces. Such strata can (...) act as signposts for diverse and multilateral readings of film, as viewers “read” cinematic landscapes and time-images. In Ici et ailleurs, stratigraphic shots juxtapose the Western, static home life of a family in France with the nomadic life of Fedayeen troops in Jordan and Palestine. This article argues that Sonimage’s narrative specificity relies upon an “in-between” method that defines an inter-space between semantic orders. (shrink)

This paper analyzes selected issues related to the philosophy of the Krakow physicist Andrzej Fuliński. Since the 1970s, Fuliński has been strongly associated with the interdisciplinary milieu gathered around Heller and Życiński. His activity can therefore be considered within the context of the broader phenomenon known as the Krakow School of Philosophy in Science, which was founded by Heller and Życiński. This paper proposes the thesis that Fuliński’s style of philosophy is connected with the concept of philosophy in science and (...) tries to justify the thesis that Fuliński, due to his cooperation with the interdisciplinary milieu in Krakow and the specificity of his philosophical works, deserves to be regarded as a representative of the Krakow School of Philosophy in Science. (shrink)

In the late Middle Ages, there was an intense debate about the metaphysical status of artefacts, in particular about whether an artefact is a new thing over and above the natural things that make it up. Realists about artefacts argued for a positive reply. In this paper, I will examine the following objection against artefact realism raised by artefact nominalists: The making of artefacts involves nothing more than local motion of already existing natural things or their parts, and local motion (...) by itself does not lead to the production of any new thing; therefore, the making of artefacts does not involve the production of any new thing. I will look at various attempts by realists to respond to this argument and offer one possible complication for the nominalist view. (shrink)

Profesor Ryszard Panasiuk przez ostatnich kilka dekad należał do grona wiodących polskich filozofów. Jego książki na temat Hegla, ruchu młodoheglowskiego czy Marksa należą do kanonu historiografii idei. Publikowany tutaj obszerny wywiad z Profesorem może stanowić wartościowe i oryginalne źródło do historii inteligencji i humanistyki w tzw. Polsce Ludowej. Profesor Panasiuk opowiada w nim o swojej karierze naukowej, jednocześnie kreśląc obraz przemian akademickiego środowiska filozoficznego w powojennej Polsce. Wiele uwagi poświęca również swojej relacji z Bronisławem Baczką i innymi wybitnym reprezentantami Warszawskiej (...) Szkoły Historii Idei. Ponadto Profesor analizuje proces narastania prądów dysydenckich wśród zwolenników marksizmu po Październiku ’56 i wyjaśnia ostateczny rozkład post-stalinowskiej ortodoksji w polskim życiu intelektualnym tego okresu. Jak również dowodzi, że choć Marks stanowi ważny i wciąż warty badania rozdział w historii filozofii europejskiej, to marksizm, z uwagi na zawarty w nim koncept „radykalnej wspólnoty”, jest ideologią z gruntu utopijną. (shrink)

Using robots in the military contexts is problematic at many levels. There are social, legal, and ethical issues that should be discussed first before their wider deployment. In this paper, we focus on an additional problem: their human likeness. We claim that military robots should not look like humans. That design choice may bring additional risks that endanger human lives and by that contradicts the very justification for deploying robots at war, which is decreasing human deaths and injuries. We discuss (...) two threats—epistemological and patient. Epistemological one is connected with the risk of mistaking robots for humans due to the limited ways of getting information about the external world, which may be amplified by the rush and need to fight with robots in distance. The patient threat is related to the developing attachment to robots, that in military contexts may cause additional deaths by the hesitance to sacrifice robots in order to save humans in peril or risking human life to save robots. (shrink)