Od połowy XIX w. w miastach przemysłowych Zachodu pojawiają się liczne detale architektoniczne eksponujące postać i atrybuty Hermesa-Merkurego, greckiego boga: handlu, kupców i złodziei, opiekuna podróżnych, posłańca bogów i psychopomposa, władcy pisma i komunikacji, pieniądza i wszelkich miar. W synkretyzmie aleksandryjskim Hermes objawia się jako prorok Trismegistos, strażnik wiedzy tajemnej (czarodziej i lekarz z różdżką kaduceuszem), patronuje alchemicznym przemianom i wraz z innymi tajemnicami sztuki królewskiej oraz ezoteryczną wiedzą współtworzy tradycje masońskie. Hermes-Merkury stał się patronem przemysłu, starożytną ikoną nowoczesności i (...) kapitalizmu, bohaterem grafik zdobiących dyplomy wystaw światowych, świadectwa buchalteryjne, etykiety towarów. Alchemiczny Hermes (zwany Merkuriuszem) to odpowiednik płynnej rtęci, intrygująca personifikacja nowoczesności postrzeganej jako płynna i ulotna, niosąca ze sobą upadek wielkich narracji opartych o transcendencję, co ilustruje wyparcie z uniwersum zachodniej kultury symbolu przez alegorię. Ta formacja kulturowa projektuje dzisiaj także wizję ponowoczesności jako maszynerii przemieniającej zasoby planety w towar. Tymczasem sięgnięcie do znaczeń wydobytych z głębokiej refleksji nad hermesową alegorią i wyjście ku posthumanistycznej wizji miasta i świata, pozwala dostrzec w dziedzictwie znaczeniowym Hermesa uwolniony od metafizyki potencjał zrównoważonego rozwoju, którego najprostszym znakiem jest metonimia postaci boskiego posłańca i jego atrybut (w kluczu symbolicznym i alegorycznym) – kaduceusz. (shrink)

Statistics is the science of collection, summarizing, presentation and interpretation of data. Moreover, it yields methods used in the verification of research hypotheses. The presence of a statistician in a research group remarkably improves both the quality of design and research and the optimization of financial resources. Moreover, the involvement of a statistician in a research team helps the physician to effectively utilize the time and energy spent on diagnosing, which is an important aspect in view of limited healthcare resources. (...) Precise, properly designed and implemented Computerized Clinical Decision Support Systems certainly lead to the improvement of healthcare and the quality of medical services, which increases patient satisfaction and reduces financial burdens on healthcare systems. (shrink)

There has been a growing interest in research concerning memory modification technologies (MMTs) in recent years. Neuroscientists and psychologists are beginning to explore the prospect of controllable and intentional modification of human memory. One of the technologies with the greatest potential to this end is optogenetics—an invasive neuromodulation technique involving the use of light to control the activity of individual brain cells. It has recently shown the potential to modify specific long-term memories in animal models in ways not yet possible (...) with other MMTs. As the therapeutic potential of optogenetics has already prompted approval of the first human trials, it is especially important and timely to consider the opportunities and dangers this technology may entail. In this article, we focus on possible consequences of optogenetics as an MMT by analyzing fundamental threats potentially associated with memory modifications: the potential disruption of personality and authenticity. (shrink)

Although pantomimic scenarios recur in the most important historical as well as current accounts of language origins, a serious problem is the lack of a commonly accepted definition of “pantomime”. We scrutinise several areas of study, from theatre studies to semiotics to primatology, pointing to the differences in use that may give rise to misunderstandings, and working towards a set of definitional criteria of “pantomime” specifically useful for language evolution research. We arrive at a definition of pantomime as a communication (...) mode that is mimetic; non-conventional and motivated; multimodal ; improvised; using the whole body rather than exclusively manual; holistic; communicatively complex and self-sufficient; semantically complex; displaced, open-ended and universal. So conceived, “pantomime” is a near synonym of “bodily-mimetic communication” as envisaged by Donald and Zlatev. On a wider plane, our work may help organise some of the terminology and discussion in language evolution, e.g. by drawing a clear distinction between gestural and pantomimic scenarios or by specifying the relation between pantomimic and multimodal scenarios. (shrink)

Memory modification technologies (MMTs)—interventions within the memory affecting its functions and contents in specific ways—raise great therapeutic hopes but also great fears. Ethicists have expressed concerns that developing and using MMTs may endanger the very fabric of who we are—our personal identity. This threat has been mainly considered in relation to two interrelated concerns: truthfulness and narrative self‐constitution. In this article, we propose that although this perspective brings up important matters concerning the potential aftermaths of MMT utilization, it fails to (...) tell the whole story. We suggest that capturing more tangible potential consequences of MMT use, namely, its psychological ramifications is crucial both in ethical considerations and in making decisions regarding the permissibility of such interventions. To this end, we first examine what current MMTs are capable of and what are the prospects of emerging MMTs. Subsequently, we outline the relationship between memory and personal identity; specifically, we indicate that concepts of self‐defining memories and narrative identity are crucial to considering how MMTs may influence one's psychological functioning. On this basis, we analyze potential consequences of narrative disruption that may be the result of the use of MMTs; more precisely, we consider its potential effects on mental health, well‐being, and personal agency, and outline the ethical dilemmas that decision‐makers face in this context. We conclude by considering the broader cultural context that may have influence on policymaking regarding permissibility of memory modification interventions. (shrink)

This article focuses on justified responses to “immoral” behavior and crimes committed by patients undergoing neuromodulation therapies. Such patients could be held morally responsible in the basic desert sense—the one that serves as a justification of severe practices such as backward‐looking moral outrage, condemnation, and legal punishment—as long as they possess certain compatibilist capabilities that have traditionally served as the quintessence of free will, that is, reasons‐responsiveness; attributability; answerability; the abilities to act in accordance with moral reasons, second‐order volitions, or (...) Deep Self. Recently leading compatibilist neuroethicists added the condition of not feeling alienated from desires motivating a person's action. This article argues against such attempts to determine conditions under which patients undergoing neuromodulation should be subject to negative reactive attitudes and legal punishment. Compatibilism should not be used to justify basic desert moral responsibility and legal punishment. Instead, a new way of thinking about the function of moral responsibility attribution is proposed for patients with neuromodulation. Their compatibilist capabilities should serve as important indicators for determining appropriate, forward‐looking courses of action, such as quarantining and restorative treatment, to ensure the public safety and well‐being of the patients. (shrink)

Using randomly generated sequences of binary events we asked participants to make predictions about the next event. It turned out that while predicting uncertain events, people do not behave unsystematically. Our research identifies four types of relatively consistent strategies for predicting uncertain binary events: a strategy immune to short-run sequential dependencies consisting of the persistent prediction of long-run majority events, hereafter called the long-run momentum strategy ; a strategy immune to short-run sequential dependencies consisting of the persistent prediction of long-run (...) minority events, called the long-run contrarian strategy ; a strategy sensitive to short-run sequential dependencies consisting of the prediction of short-run majority events, called the short-run momentum strategy ; and a strategy sensitive to short-run sequential dependencies consisting of the prediction of short-run minority events, called the short-run contrarian strategy . When the character of events remains unknown, the most common strategy is the short-run momentum strategy. With the increase of a perceived randomness of the situation, people tend more often to use the short-run contrarian strategy. People differ in their general beliefs about the continuation or reversal of a trend in various natural and social processes. Trend believers, when facing sequences of binary events commonly perceived as random, tend to use momentum strategies, whereas those who believe in the trend's reversal tend to use contrarian strategies. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to scrutinise the relationship between the moral attitude of an entrepreneur and their possibility to gain a competitive advantage. This declaration leads to the following question: Whether the everyday practice confirms or denies the economic usefulness ofthe postulate of corporate social responsibility. On the one hand, moral desertion is obviously profitable (also in an economic sense). Partners of the deserter, in most cases, are not able to avoid (unexpected and expansive) the consequences of this (...) new attitude towards them. On the other hand, this strategy – in the long run – is unlikely to be profitable. The former victims adjust to their new circumstances and become ready to face the attack. Therefore corporate social responsibility, in the final calculation, should be taken as the only way to protect an active participant of the market against the temptation to neglect his obligation towards people, who can punish or reward him (as stakeholders or whistleblowers). (shrink)

This article presents a new interpretation of Spinoza’s account of religious intolerance. According to Rosenthal and Steinberg Spinoza explains the origins of religious intolerance in two ways. The first is in the Ethics, which is grounded on the affect of ambition; the second in the Theological-Political Treatise, which is based on the opposed affects of fear and hope. I agree with this interpretation, yet I considerably modify and supplement this account. The interpretation I propose rests on the observation that in (...) order to understand Spinoza's view we need to draw the subtle distinction between the explanation of the psychological causes of religious intolerance and the elucidation of why religious intolerance appears to appeal so much. First, I shall discuss Spinoza’s account of the origin of religious intolerance. Second, I shall consider the measures which, in his view, should be taken in order to curb religious intolerance effectively. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Byzantinische Zeitschrift Jahrgang: 107 Heft: 1 Seiten: 97-112.

The following essay attempts to shed some light on Michael Longley’s poems about birds, which form a fairly complicated network of mutual enhancements and cross-references. Some of them are purely descriptive lyrics. Such poems are likely to have the name of a given species or a specific individual representative of that species in the title. Others make references to birds or use them for their own agenda, which often transcends the parameters of pure description. Sometimes birds perform an evocative function, (...) prompt the poet to explore the murky mysteries of iniquity, judge human affairs from the avian vantage, or raise ecological problems. Most of the time, however, Longley is careful not to intrude upon their baffling otherness. Many of his bird poems are suffused with an aura of subtle yet suggestive eroticism, a conflation of the avian and the amorous. (shrink)

According to Peter Halligan, […] it is important to consider that the experience of our body is largely the product of a continuously updated „phantom” generated by the brain. (Halligan 2002, 266). Next, he adds: I will argue (not withstanding pathology to the physical body) that the prevalent common sense assumption of phantom experience as pathological is wrongheaded and largely based on a long-standing and pernicious folk assumption that the physical body is necessary for experience of a body. (Halligan 2002, (...) 252). These two remarks can serve as a backdrop for a discussion of the problem of bodily self-consciousness presented in the article. If experiencing a phantom of an amputated limb is indeed not pathological, and if normal bodily experience is de facto based on the body phantom constructed by the brain, then our conception of this very phantom should prove relevant when trying to explain bodily self-consciousness. (shrink)

The review concerns the book Kapitalizm sieci (Network Capitalism). After discussing the structure of the book, a deeper reflection is made on some of the themes of the publication. The question of ideology that emerge as a response to the course of the digital transformation is addressed. Then the issue of primary accumulation and how it plays out in the digital space is tackled. Finaly, the digital space is situated in the context of material infrastructure.

The object of my last year’s presentation were communication (ethical, integration, political) threats posed by a foundation seen as an extension to a company in its traditional sense. I came to the conclusion that an automatic transfer of social trust capital to the parent company (in certain, specified by me, contexts) causes the foundation to betray its mission. It is the company that becomes the main beneficiary of mutual aid activities. This year, the paper addresses the following three issues. Firstly, (...) I intend to show the symbolic pressure exerted on both consumers and producers, which is made possible by the ‘labeling’ of products of ‘socially sensitive’ companies. There would be no point questioning the fact of shaping social attitudes if it weren’t for an ambiguous position of the co-ordinator of the enterprise, who becomes vested with the rights of a certification authority. Another question under consideration is the transformation of a foundation into a quasi-company. A third-sector organization adds business activity to the goals specified in its by-laws. It results in taking on highly-skilled professionals who have nothing to do with charitable activity of a third sector organization. Finally, there is a danger of a foundation’s approximation to a second-sector organization. A foundation may be financed by a public administration body. This may lead to the division of the final product of a foundation between the beneficiaries and the body which sponsors its operation using a ‘lump sum’ payment. Whichever the problem, the key aspect seems societal control over mutual aid activities. Its lack results in an abuse of power and the diminished trust of the manipulated society in effective cooperation. (shrink)

Pytanie Molyneux brzmi następująco: „Wystawmy sobie, iż niewidomy od urodzenia, obecnie człowiek dorosły, nauczył się odróżniać dotykiem sześcian od kuli i że stojący opodal ów niewidomy przejrzał; zapytuję, czy za pomocą odzyskanego wzroku, zanim dotknie tych przedmiotów, będzie mógł je rozpoznać i powiedzieć, który z nich jest kulą, a który sześcianem?” W niniejszym artykule wskazuję, że odpowiedź twierdząca, udzielona na to pytanie przez brytyjskiego filozofa Garetha Evansa jest nieprzekonująca, przede wszystkim dlatego, iż Evans nieświadomie pomija ilościowy czynnik dostępności informacji zawartej (...) w doświadczeniu zmysłowym. (shrink)

Tekst ten stanowi próbę ogólnego zdefiniowania doradztwa filozoficznego, a także porównania go do profesjonalnej pomocy psychologicznej, psychoterapii i coachingu. Na początku opisana została pomoc psychologiczna z jej rodzajami i porównana do możliwych obszarów pokrewnych doradztwu filozoficznemu. Następnie opisano psychoterapię i jej poszczególne szkoły, porównując je do oddziaływań doradcy filozoficznego. Na końcu opisano coaching, nakreślając wspólne elementy z doradztwem udzielanym przez filozofa. Ogólne wnioski płynące z porównania tych różnych form pracy z ludźmi można określić następująco: Doradztwo filozoficzne jest dziedziną młodą w (...) polskiej rzeczywistości. Koniecznym jest dookreślenie jego ram poprzez odróżnienie od pracy psychologa, psychoterapeuty i coacha. Ważną kwestią jest nacisk na wizję doradztwa filozoficznego jako metody pracy z osobami zdrowymi psychicznie. Doradztwo takie nie może być procesem zastępującym psychoterapię indywidualną lub grupową. Jest to ciekawa forma pracy, która ma duży potencjał i szansę odnalezienia się jako dziedzina rozwoju osobistego dla osób zdrowych psychicznie. (shrink)

Artykuł stawia tezę, że według Jean-Yves Lacoste’a zapomnienie bycia prowadzi do zagrożenia bycia. Problem zapomnienia bycia pojawia się we wczesnych dziełach Lacoste’a, jednak dopiero w książce Présence et parousie filozof po raz pierwszy przedstawia go szeroko w kontekście możliwości więcej niż egzystencji. Zwracając uwagę na fenomeny stanowiące aberrację w stosunku do bycia-w-świecie, takie jak: radość, nadzieja i liturgia, pokazuje, że bycie wykazuje nadmiar. Na tej podstawie autor niniejszego artykułu dochodzi do wniosku, że nadmiar bycia w stosunku do świata pokazuje, że (...) nie ma w świecie nic, co przeczyłoby możliwości bycia-wobec-Boga. W książce Être en danger Jean-Yves Lacoste rozwija koncepcję zapomnienia bycia jako bycia-w-zagrożeniu. Na jej podstawie autor artykułu stawia tezę, że zapomnienie nie tyle zagraża byciu, co pokazuje, że bycie jest raczej niedostępne niż dostępne. Nadmiar niedostępnego w stosunku do dostępnego w byciu pokazuje, że nie ma w nim nic, co przeczyłoby możliwości pełni bycia. Na koniec autor stawia tezę, że pamięć o byciu otwiera możliwość ostatecznego, czyli eschatologicznego rozumienia bycia. Bycie jest wolą bycia, a nie tylko bycia po części. Dlatego możliwość pełni bycia jest wpisana w bycie i z konieczności się spełnia, prowadząc bycie do rozumienia siebie w kategoriach definitywnych, czyli eschatologicznych, a nie jedynie prowizorycznych. Pełnia bycia natomiast to Bóg. Dlatego bycie jest wolą bycia-wobec-Boga o wiele bardziej niż bycia-w-świecie. (shrink)

The paper begins with a characterization of thought experiments, followed by a general outline of contemporary debates in the field. The discussion reveals that the most significant controversy involved is the dispute over the epistemic status of thought experiments between empiricists, Platonists, and the proponents of mental models. After a critical analysis of these approaches, a new theoretical framework proposed by Paul Bartha is introduced. It is suggested that Bartha’s approach, which appeals to a theory of analogy, offers new insights (...) into the structure of thought experiments. The paper concludes with general remarks on the state of the art in the field. (shrink)

One of the most common questions in today’s cognitive studies is the one regarding embodied cognition. The answer to this question draws our attention to many factors, including bodily actions, which also work to embody cognition. With this in mind, enactivism is included in discussions of embodiment.

Gestural and pantomimic accounts of language origins propose that language did not develop directly from ape vocalisations, but rather that its emergence was preceded by an intervening stage of bodily-visual communication, during which our ancestors communicated with their hands, arms, and the entire body. Gestural and pantomimic scenarios are again becoming popular in language evolution research, but this line of thought has a long and interesting history that gained special prominence in the Enlightenment, often considered the golden age of glottogony. (...) We highlight several themes key to this line of reflection, such as the idea of innate communication that consists of visual bodily signs and non-linguistic vocalisations; the division of labour between these two semiotic resources ; or the developmental trajectory of this bi-modal system of communication determined by its transmission through generations of users and the intervention of social factors. We confront these ideas with problems discussed in current language evolution research, focusing on polysemioticity, sign function, conventionality and modality transition. (shrink)

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is an invasive therapeutic method involving the implantation of electrodes and the electrical stimulation of specific areas of the brain to modulate their activity. DBS brings therapeutic benefits, but can also have adverse side effects. Recently, neuroethicists have recognized that DBS poses a threat to the very fabric of human existence, namely, to the selves of patients. This article provides a review of the neuroethical literature examining this issue, and identifies the crucial dimensions related to the (...) self which DBS may endanger—personal identity, authenticity, and autonomy. The most influential theories accounting for these dimensions are analyzed herein, and it is argued that most of these theories require further refinement. This paper also demonstrates the interrelation between personal identity, authenticity, and autonomy, and concludes that one can only fully understand the impact of DBS on the self when all of these factors are taken into account. (shrink)

Przedmiotem niniejszej pracy jest analiza rozprawki An Essay Concerning the Use of Reason in Propositions, The Evidence whereof depends upon Human Testimony (Londyn 1707, II wyd. 1709) brytyjskiego filozofa Anthony’ego Collinsa (1676-1729). Analiza ta prowadzi do odkrycia trudności bronionego w niej stanowiska, polegających na niejasności użytej terminologii, niejednoznaczności tezy głównej, zgodnie z którą warunkiem koniecznym uznania twierdzenia jest jego zgodność z rozumem, oraz niewystarczalności jej podanego w Eseju uzasadnienia. Zarysowano również kontekst filozoficzny i historyczny tego rzadko analizowanego dzieła.

Schönau et al. (2021) identified four dimensions of agency (authenticity, privacy, self–trust, and responsibility) that may be influenced by the use of neurotechnologies, such as deep brain stimulation (DBS) or brain–computer–interfaces (BCI). The Agency Map they proposed depicts the role of each dimension, and indicates how they may interact. The authors emphasize that a strength of their approach is that it allows to capture the agency dimensions that were previously seen as disconnected and independent as intricately interwoven parts of the (...) person’s experience. This intended unification may help to understand personal agency more fully in various contexts important in neuroethical considerations. However, what is missing in Schönau et al.’s analysis is the mechanism—the very link— by which these various dimensions can come together. As Zawadzki (2020) points out discussing his account of the self (PTS–moral aspects)—which also includes the agency dimensions indicated by Schönau et al. (both authenticity, and responsibility, but also autonomy)—what is crucial in order to unify these various dimensions is narrative. (shrink)

The aims of this paper are to: (1) identify the best framework for comprehending multidimensional impact of deep brain stimulation on the self; (2) identify weaknesses of this framework; (3) propose refinements to it; (4) in pursuing (3), show why and how this framework should be extended with additional moral aspects and demonstrate their interrelations; (5) define how moral aspects relate to the framework; (6) show the potential consequences of including moral aspects on evaluating DBS’s impact on patients’ selves. Regarding (...) (1), I argue that the pattern theory of self can be regarded as such a framework. In realizing (2) and (3), I indicate that most relevant issues concerning PTS that require resolutions are ontological issues, including the persistence question, the “specificity problem”, and finding lacking relevant aspects of the self. In realizing (4), I identify aspects of the self not included in PTS which are desperately needed to investigate the full range of potentially relevant DBS-induced changes—authenticity, autonomy, and responsibility, and conclude that how we define authenticity will have implications for our concept of autonomy, which in turn will determine how we think about responsibility. Concerning (5), I discuss a complex relation between moral aspects and PTS—on one hand, they serve as the lens through which a particular self-pattern can be evaluated; on the other, they are, themselves, products of dynamical interactions of various self-aspects. Finally, I discuss (6), demonstrating novel way of understanding the effects of DBS on patients’ selves. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to set out the following: firstly, the most important facts from Leibniz’s biography; secondly, the position of Leibniz’s philosophy within the philosophical thought of the 17th century; thirdly, the diverse ways to explicate Leibniz’s philosophical thought that are still in use in literature today; fourthly, basic features which define the general spirit as well as the methods ofLeibniz’s philosophizing.

The aim of the paper is to present and analyze the interpretation of the Enlightenment which has recently been proposed by Jonathan Israel, with the focus on its philosophical aspect as opposed to the historical one. The paper consists of two parts. The task of the first part is reconstructive: it attempts to explore Israel’s most characteristic statements concerning the Enlightenment. The second and more extensive part has a polemical character: it endeavours to furnish the reader with an answer to (...) the question of the degree to which the understanding of the Enlightenment proposed by Israel can be considered a satisfying interpretation of this period. The paper suggests that the main problem which may undermine Israel’s account of the Enlightenment is associated with the unduly selective interpretation of Spinoza’s philosophy and its position in the intellectual society of that time. (shrink)

Górny Śląsk kilkakrotnie stawał na „na rozdrożu” swoich dziejów. Stanął także niewątpliwie po Wielkiej Wojnie. Okres powstań śląskich i plebiscytu na Górnym Śląsku doczekał się bardzo bogatej literatury przedmiotu. Konsekwencją tamtego czasu był podział regionu między Polskę a Niemcy. Prace nad wytyczaniem linii granicznej nie były dotąd przedmiotem wnikliwych studiów historyków. Najczęściej poruszano ten problem przy okazji omawiania okresu powstańczo-plebiscytowego. Artykuł jest próbą wyjścia naprzeciw takiemu stanowi rzeczy. Jego celem jest usystematyzowanie wiedzy oraz ukazanie przebiegu sporu o granicę na Górnym (...) Śląsku między Polską a Niemcami w latach 1921–1922 na podstawie literatury przedmiotu i źródeł archiwalnych przechowywanych w zasobie Archiwum Państwowym w Opolu. Nie aspiruje on bynajmniej do rangi całościowej i wyczerpującej syntezy na ten temat. W wytyczanie granicy zaangażowana była każda ze stron w sporze o Górny Śląsk między Warszawą a Berlinem. Propozycje podziału padały tuż po głosowaniu plebiscytowym (20 marca 1921 r.) i formułowano je do czasu przejęcia sprawy przez Ligę Narodów. Projekt granicy przyjęto 20 października 1921 r., po czym ruszyły prace nad jej wytyczeniem w terenie. Zajęła się tym specjalnie do tego celu powołana Komisja Graniczna, w której zasiadali również przedstawiciele Polski i Niemiec. Spór o przebieg linii granicznej między Polską a Niemcami, często w sposób kuriozalny wytyczoną, toczył się przede wszystkim o okręg przemysłowy – region najbardziej pożądany dla obu stron. Ostateczna granica została potwierdzona i przyjęta przez obydwa kraje w konwencji o Górnym Śląsku z 15 maja 1922 r. Specyfika tytułowego zagadnienia powoduje, że świetnym jego uzupełnieniem jest prezentacja mapy, ukazującej dokładny przebieg wytyczonej linii granicznej. Uzupełnia ona w ten sposób słowo pisane, dając jeszcze lepsze wyobrażenie o przebiegu tej granicy. Mapa ta przechowywana jest w zespole Rejencja Opolska w zasobie opolskiego archiwum. (shrink)

While in the majority of English-speaking territories the dominant legal tradition is common law, in Louisiana and Quebec the native language is English and the legal system stems from continental civil law. Both the Louisiana Civil Code and the Civil Code of Quebec take root in the European codification movement, following Code Napoleon. Bearing in mind the link between law and language, these jurisdictions provide a unique source of English civil law terminology with well-founded conceptual background. The civil codes of (...) Louisiana and Quebec seem to be potentially useful for the translation of Polish private law into English. Yet there are some reservations which should be considered. By comparing two different translations of Article 292 of the Polish Civil Code, this paper is intended to contribute to the debate on the use of Quebec and Louisiana terminology in Polish-English legal translation. (shrink)