What’s the basis for considering an egg donor a genetic parent but not a mitochondrial donor? I will argue that a closer look at the biological facts will not give us an answer to this question because the process by which one becomes a genetic parent, i.e., the process of reproduction, is not a concept that can be settled by looking. It is, rather, a concept in need of philosophical attention. The details of my argument will rest on recent developments (...) in biological technology, but the persuasiveness of my argument will turn on the history of another biological concept, death. Given some important similarities between the two concepts, the way in which ‘death’ evolved in the recent past can provide guidance on how we should think about ‘reproduction.’. (shrink)

Comparative genomicists seem to be convinced that the unit of measurement employed in their studies is a gene that drives the function of cells and ultimately organisms. As a result, they have come to some substantive conclusions about how similar humans are to other organisms based on the percentage of genetic makeup they share. I argue that the actual unit of measurement employed in the studies corresponds to a structural rather than a functional gene concept, thus rendering many of the (...) implications drawn from comparative genomic studies largely unwarranted, if not completely mistaken. †To contact the author, please write to: Department of Philosophy, University of Utah, 215 South Central Campus Drive, Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building, 4th Floor, Salt Lake City, UT 84112; e‐mail: monika.piotrowska@utah.edu. (shrink)

Extrapolation from a well-understood base population to a less-understood target population can fail if the base and target populations are not sufficiently similar. Differences between laboratory mice and humans, for example, can hinder extrapolation in medical research. Mice that carry a partial or complete human physiological system, known as humanized mice, are supposed to make extrapolation more reliable by simulating a variety of human diseases. But what justifies our belief that these mice are similar enough to their human counterparts to (...) simulate human disease? I argue that, unless three requirements are met in the process of humanizing mice, very little does. My requirements are not meant to provide necessary and sufficient conditions that guarantee a particular outcome. Instead, they serve as a heuristic for guiding scientific judgments involving extrapolation. In developing each requirement, I engage with philosophical issues concerning the nature of model-based science and the mechanistic approach (and its limits) to making generalizations in the life sciences. (shrink)

This paper presents an argument for the realism about mechanisms, contents, and vehicles of mental representation at both the personal and subpersonal levels, and showcases its role in instrumental rationality and proper cognitive functioning. By demonstrating how misrepresentation is necessary for learning from mistakes and explaining certain failures of action, we argue that fallible rational agents must have mental representations with causally relevant vehicles of content. Our argument contributes to ongoing discussions in philosophy of mind and cognitive science by challenging (...) anti-realist views about the nature of mental representation, and by highlighting the importance of understanding how different agents can misrepresent in pursuit of their goals. While there are potential rebuttals to our claim, our opponents must explain how agents can be rational without having mental representations. This is because mental representation is grounded in rationality. (shrink)

Previous research examining the relationship between religion and attitudes about death have yielded mixed results due to over-simplified conceptualizations of constructs, lack of theory, and an over-reliance on Western samples. To overcome these issues, the present study examined the relationship between three types of religious orientation and two types of death attitudes among a sample of 532 college students in Poland. The results demonstrated unique relations between religion and death attitudes, as well emphasized the importance of considering religious engagement as (...) a moderating variable. Although the results were generally consistent with Terror Management Theory, other theoretical perspectives were considered as well. (shrink)

Pro-social basic human values and civic involvement. The moderating role of survival vs self-expression cultural context The present study investigated a hypothesis that the pro-social values differentiated by S. Schwartz's model of basic human values - universalism and benevolence - would positively predict civic involvement. Most importantly, authors expected that the type of pro-social value that would play a dominant motivational role would depend on moderating role of the level of self-expression and benevolence - cultural value dimension developed by R. (...) Inglehart. Based on discriminant function analyses performed on the data gathered in 17 European countries through the European Social Survey conducted in 2002, authors found that universalism predicts civic involvement only in self-expression countries, whereas the role of benevolence is rather neglectable and independent of the cultural context. The results are discussed with reference to cross-cultural differences in Europe. (shrink)

The man is shaped by nature and hence he is organically tied to it. He will develop properly both physically and psychically, when there is harmony and balance in nature. All the symptoms of destroying this balance lead to disturbances in our organisms’, resulting in pathological changes — diseases as well as harmful and irreversible changes in our environment. And this is why recently more attention has been paid to ecology — the knowledge of the natural economics, of the interdependences (...) between organisms as well as between organisms and the environment, so that the values suggested by ecologists could become basic assumptions in economy.The necessity of ecological research in the environment protection has been seen in various levels of the biosphere organisation, i.e. on the levels of organism, population, biocoenosis and ecosystem.The first sign of understanding these difficult and complicated arrangements in nature is the infiltration of the ecological thought into other branches of knowledge, like medicine man’s health in connection with its ecological conditionongs, agriculture (rational productivity of agrocoenoses), forestry (biological fight against pests) etc. (shrink)

This paper investigates confabulations in Korsakoff’s syndrome (KS) from the perspective of error-based teleosemantics, a framework that emphasizes the role of error detection in mental representation. I introduce a distributed and communicative model of memory, framing it as a network of information transfer encompassing both internal cognitive processes and external social interactions. This model, grounded in teleosemantics, allows for an understanding of how confabulations arise not solely from internal memory deficits, but also from disruptions in the feedback loops between individuals (...) and their social environments. By analyzing cases of provoked and spontaneous confabulations in KS patients, I demonstrate how this framework illuminates the crucial role of external consumers (e.g., caregivers) in either reinforcing or correcting erroneous memory reports. This approach, emphasizing error detection mechanisms, offers a new lens for examining the interplay between individual cognitive processes and social scaffolding in shaping memory and its pathologies. (shrink)

Human–nonhuman chimeras have been the focus of ethical controversies for more than a decade, yet some related issues remain unaddressed. For example, little has been said about the relationship between the origin of transferred cells and the morally relevant capacities to which they may give rise. Consider, for example, a developing mouse fetus that receives a brain stem cell transplant from a human and another that receives a brain stem cell transplant from a dolphin. If both chimeras acquire morally relevant (...) capacities as a result of transplantation, and if those capacities are indistinguishable, should the difference in cell origin matter to how we classify these creatures? I argue that if morally relevant capacities are easy to detect, cell origin is irrelevant to how the chimera ought to be treated. However, if such capacities are hard to detect, cell origin should play a role in considerations about how to treat the chimera. (shrink)

The Republic of Poland is one of the European Union countries that have not yet implemented Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons reporting breaches of EU law (Journal of Laws EC L 305/17 of November 26, 2019). Even though signalling illegal acts is a more and more common occurrence and the social perception of such behaviours is also changing, the “whistleblowers” are not under any legal protection (...) in Poland. In the Sejm of the 9th Term of office, legislative work is underway to pass the act on the protection of persons reporting violations of the law. This will be a legal act containing comprehensive legal protection of whistleblowers. In hereby publication the author focuses on presenting the role of whistleblowers in preventing law violations by employers in the current legal state. In the next part, the above-mentioned draft act is analyzed in terms of provisions ensuring the protection of persons who disclose irregularities. Numerous tragic incidents which could have been avoided if people that were aware of irregularities could safely reveal the information are evidence of how needed an act on whistleblower protection is. The author cites examples of the sinking of the MF Herald of Free Enterprise ferry and the Deepwater Horizon platform as well as the methane explosion in the Halemba mine in Ruda Śląska. (shrink)

Celem artykułu jest ukazanie, jak, mimo ustalonych dawno temu postulatów, nakazujących „oczyszczenie” powieści kryminalnej z elementów fantastycznych i nadprzyrodzonych, motywy te funkcjonują we współczesnych utworach z tego gatunku. Jako kontekst należy wskazać zjawiska dające się zauważyć w najnowszej literaturze i kulturze popularnej. Jednym nich jest zmiana postrzegania typowych monstrów z horroru, które stają się zarówno „mniej groźne”, jak i „bardziej ludzkie”. Kolejnym – zakwestionowanie związku postaci (a także zespołu motywów) z fabułą. To na przykład, co było dotąd typowe dla horroru, (...) może pojawić się w powieści kryminalnej. Przeprowadzono analizę wybranych utworów dwojga współczesnych pisarzy: Katarzyny Puzyńskiej (Czarne narcyzy, Martwiec, Rodzanice i Utopce) oraz Wojciecha Chmielarza (Wampir, Zombie i Wilkołak) pod kątem występowania w nich motywów rodem z powieści grozy. We wszystkich omawianych tekstach to ludzie, a nie potwory są zabójcami. W utworach Chmielarza nazwy rodem z horroru to metafory ludzkiego zła lub szaleństwa (autor odwołuje się do zakorzenionych w kulturze znaczeń słów użytych jako tytuły). Katarzyna Puzyńska z kolei za miejsce zdarzeń wybiera małe, często prawie wyludnione miejscowości, gdzie wciąż żywa jest wiara w duchy, wampiry, nawiedzone domy (autorka odwołuje się między innymi do wierzeń słowiańskich). Ukazuje przy tym siłę ludzkich lęków (dotyczy to, w odpowiednich okolicznościach, nawet policjantów), jak również fakt, że istoty ludzkie potrafią być gorsze od potworów z fikcji literackiej. Motywy rodem z horroru funkcjonują w omawianych tekstach na kilka sposobów: 1) jako odwołania do doświadczenia odbiorcy, który odczytuje np. zaprezentowane w powieści nazwy w oparciu o własną wiedzę; 2) jako element lokalnej lub rodzinnej tradycji (żywy najczęściej w miejscach oddalonych od „centrów”); wreszcie 3) ucieleśnienie ukrytych w ludzkiej psychice obsesji i lęków, które niespodziewanie mogą się ujawnić. (shrink)

HERMENEUTIC INDICATORS OF PRESENTING THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY The aim of the article is to discuss Hans-Georg Gadamer’s and Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutic way of understanding the history of philosophy. I assume that hermeneutic reference to philosophical past appears as a unique dialogue with tradition, whereas their way of understanding the history of philosophy might be defined as “hermeneutic interpretation of tradition.” In order to show what its indicators are, I characterize the conception of hermeneutic experience (H.-G. Gadamer) as well as (...) the issue of the interpretation process (P. Ricoeur). Those thinkers are convinced that understanding of the history of philosophy involves the recognition of our own historicity. Keywords: HANS-GEORG GADAMER, PAUL RICOEUR, HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY, HERMENEUTICS. (shrink)

In 1905 was publshed a biographical nowel written by Adolf Nowaczyński entitled Portrait of Mikołaj Rej from Nagłowice. While the novel was being written, there were not enough comprehensive and reliable materials about Rej’s life. The purpose of this work is to show pieces of work which were used by Nowaczyński in his novel. Only thanks to searching analysis of those hypothetical available materials the author could manage to establish sources of the hero’s creation. We are sure to say that (...) while writing a novel about Rej, Nowaczyński took some pieces information from Andrzej Trzecieski’s biograhy from the XVI century and Zbigniew n‘aziohtcki’s biography from the XIX century. We can suppose that the author of the Crcation knew the results of Beicikowski’s research. (shrink)

Tematem artykułu są nowe założenia w nauczaniu wiedzy okrajach niemieckiego obszaru językowego, zawarte w najnowszym curriculum dotyczącym tego przedmiotu. Cele, treści, metody, mierzenie postępu w nauce opierają się na czterech podstawowych zasadach: - integralności, która oznacza łączenie przekazywanych informacji z kompetencją językową i metodyczno-dydaktyczną; - łączenia i wzajemnego powiązania wiedzy z różnych dziedzin, np. realioznawstwo, kulturoznawstwo, historia itp.; - interkulturowości, tzn. rozwijania kompetencji, umiejętności, strategii w kontakcie z innymi kulturami; - ukierunkowania na działania, tzn. przekazywanie wiedzy nie w formie prezentacji (...) faktów, lecz na drodze indukcyjnej, także w formie projektów, wyjazdów studyjnych, kontaktów w kraju i za granicą. Nadrzędnym celem jest wykształcenie człowieka, który będzie dysponował nie tylko wiedzą z zakresu przedmiotu, ale także kompetencją fachowo-dydaktyczną, interkulturową i będzie w stanie samodzielnie interpretować zjawiska społeczne, polityczne i kulturowe w krajach niemieckiego obszaru językowego, a także we własnym zakresie uzupełniać swoją wiedzę. Ponieważ zjawiska te są w ciągłym rozwoju, nie należy zakładać, iż ogarnięty zostanie ich całokształt. Należy dążyć do naświetlenia różnorakich aspektów rzeczywistości społecznej z takich zakresów, jak np. jednostka i społeczeństwo, państwo i społeczeństwo, gospodarka, życie kulturalne itp. Przy ich omawianiu punktem wyjścia są doświadczenia i zainteresowania uczących się. Znajdują oni wspólnie takie tematy, które dają się rozbudowywać w różnych kierunkach w zależności od potrzeb i zainteresowań. Efektem takiego postępowania jest stworzenie nie listy obowiązujących tematów, lecz pewnej sieci wzajemnie z siebie wynikających problemów, którą ciągle można rozszerzać. Wdrożenie takiej drogi musi iść w parze z zastosowaniem różnorakich technik i metod. Powyższe curriculum uwzględnia także powstałą w ostatnich latach koncepcję nauczania wiedzy okrajach niemieckiego obszaru językowego nie w sposób sumaryczny, czyli omawiając kolejno te kraje i występujące w nich zjawiska, lecz w sposób zintegrowany i ukierunkowany na problem, tzn. odnosząc omawiane zjawiska do wszystkich krajów jednocześnie. (shrink)