At first blush, the idea that fictions play a role in science seems to be off the mark. Realists and antirealists alike believe that science instructs us about how the world is. Fiction not only seems to play no role in such an endeavour; it seems to detract from it. The aims of science and fiction seem to be diametrically opposed and a view amalgamating the two rightly seems to be the cause of discomfort and concern.

The Polish philosopher Roman Ingarden is, with Heidegger, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty, one of the foremost representatives of the phenomenological movement founded by Edmund Husserl. The ideas of his most famous work, The Literary Work of Art, have made a powerful impact on contemporary aesthetics and literary theory. The present volume, a collection of essays all of which appear in English here for the first time, derives from the period towards the end of Ingarden's life when he turned from special (...) problems in aesthetics to the general theory of value and to the study of human nature. Six of the essays, including the longest piece, a masterly study of the problem of responsibility, were originally published in Polish as Little Book on Man. The remaining three essays: on the objectivity and relativity of values, on our knowledge of values and on the foundations of ethics, have been specially translated for this volume, which includes an introduction by the editor. The work is above all of interest to philosophers, who will find here an aspect of Ingarden's thought hitherto unknown to English readers. But the clear and forceful style of these pieces, which has been captured admirably by the translator, will also make the work of interest to the layman, to whom it offers an insight into the ways in which phenomenological philosophy may be put to work in solving problems which have a direct bearing upon his own life. Of interest to: Philosophers, anthropologists, aestheticians, students of these disciplines. (shrink)

This paper discusses the concept of information formulated by Michael (Michał) Heller. Heller—a philosopher, theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and theologian—provided a complex image of information and its role in nature, which is rarely found in studies of information. Heller posited that the laws of nature may be interpreted as information, or as providing information, presenting this as a complementary view to scientific structuralism (not discussed in this paper). According to Heller, the informational content of a structure in nature is inversely proportional (...) to that structure’s degree of freedom. The more constrained or complex a structure is, and the less likely it is to exist, the more information it contains. In Heller’s view, the concept of information in Shannon’s Theory of Communication (ToC) is inadequate for expressing the notion of information beyond a numerical measure of a signal structure. Information in Heller’s research closely aligns with the concepts of Jacquette’s and Perzanowski’s combinatorial ontology (concepts not discussed in this paper) and the general theory of information (GTI) of Mark Burgin, although Heller did not explicitly make these connections. (shrink)

The paper is devoted to the presentation of Chwistek’s philosophical ideas concerning logic and mathematics. The main feature of his philosophy was nominalism, which found full expression in his philosophy of mathematics. He claimed that the object of the deductive sciences, hence in particular of mathematics, is the expression being constructed in them according to accepted rules of construction. He treated geometry, arithmetic, mathematical analysis and other mathematical theories as experimental disciplines, and obtained in this way a nominalistic interpretation of (...) them. The fate of Chwistek’s philosophical conceptions was similar to the fate of his logical conceptions. The system of rational meta-mathematics was not developed by him in detail. He worked on his own ideas without any collaboration with other logicians, mathematicians or philosophers. His investigations were not in the mainstream of the development of logic and philosophy of mathematics. (shrink)

Roman Ingarden, one of Husserl's closest students and friends, ranks among the most eminent of the first generation of phenomenologists. His magisterial <I>Controversy over the Existence of the World, written during the years of World War II in occupied Poland, consists of a fundamental defense of realism in phenomenology. Volume I, which receives here its first complete and critical translation into English, initiates the grand project of refuting transcendental idealism, and begins by setting the foundations for an elaborate and (...) precise ontological system. This is Ingarden's greatest accomplishment, who is rather known as a theoretician of literature than an ontologist outside of Poland. The most important achievement of Ingarden's ontology is an analysis of the modes of being of various types of objects - things, processes, events, purely intentional objects and ideas. The three-volume <I>Controversy is perhaps the last great systematic work in the history of philosophy, and undoubtedly one of the most important works in 20th century philosophical literature. (shrink)

This volume is a serious attempt to open up the subject of European philosophy of science to real thought, and provide the structural basis for the interdisciplinary development of its specialist fields, but also to provoke reflection on the idea of ‘European philosophy of science’. This efforts should foster a contemporaneous reflection on what might be meant by philosophy of science in Europe and European philosophy of science, and how in fact awareness of it could assist philosophers interpret and (...) motivate their research through a stronger collective identity. The overarching aim is to set the background for a collaborative project organising, systematising, and ultimately forging an identity for, European philosophy of science by creating research structures and developing research networks across Europe to promote its development. (shrink)

In philosophy, it is always refreshing to introduce unconventional ideas. It requires a certain audacity from the author; he or she may face the wall of silence or be shunned by academia, both treatments being undesirable. However, these are more rewarding than gathering laurels for beating the dead philosophical cats like Humes, Leibnitzs, Wittgensteins, Whiteheads, and others, a practice that for many philosophers is their life's opus. Bartłomiej Skowron’s book _Part and Whole: Towards Topo-Ontology_, published by Oficyna Wydawnicza Politechniki Warszawskiej (...) in 2021, certainly does not fall into this category. Skowron undertakes a discovery trip into an unknown land in his book, exploring new philosophical territories. (shrink)

Presented here is a review of the book by Michael Wooldridge The Road to Conscious Machines: The Story of AI. The book was published in 2021 by Pelican Publishing Company. The book presents a philosophical exploration of the AI-related quest to understand the essence of our minds, ethics, and consciousness. Nonetheless, the book is unconventional as it focuses on failures of past AI programs rather than on AI success stories. The author also indicates the possible pathways to develop new, more (...) efficient AI paradigms. The short technical section at the end of the book offers more in-depth information on topics like Prolog, Bayesian, and deep neural networks. (shrink)

Veritism, the position that truth is necessary for epistemic acceptability, seems to be in tension with the observation that much of our best science is not, strictly speaking, true when interpreted literally. This generates a paradox: truth is necessary for epistemic acceptability; the claims of science have to be taken literally; much of what science produces is not literally true and yet it is acceptable. We frame Elgin’s project in True Enough as being motivated by, and offering a particular resolution (...) to, this paradox. We discuss the paradox with a focus on scientific models and argue that there is another resolution available which is compatible with retaining veritism: rejecting the idea that scientific models should be interpreted literally. (shrink)

This article discusses the biography, works and philosophical views of Giuseppe Angiolini, an Italian Jesuit working at the Academy of Polotsk at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. The whole philosophy represented by Angiolini is in line with Italian Catholic philosophy, which in turn was influenced by the traditional Jesuit Collegium Romanum. The philosophy of Angiolini contains certain Suarezian ideas. In this respect it was influenced by the Jesuit tradition, especially as regards the mental difference between essence and (...) existence, and modalism. (shrink)

We present a theory of sequential information processing in persuasion. It extends assumptions of the heuristic-systematic model, in particular the idea that information encountered early in a persuasion situation may affect the processing of subsequent information. SIP also builds on the abstraction from content-related dichotomies in accord with the parametric unimodel of social judgment. SIP features one constitutional axiom and three main postulates: Persuasion is the sequential processing of information that is relevant to judgment formation. Inferences drawn from initial (...) information may bias the processing of subsequent information if they are either activated rules or valence expectations that are relevant to the subsequent information. Inferences drawn from initial information are resistant to change. Thus, the interpretation of subsequent information is assimilated to inferences drawn from the initial information. Or, if assimilation is impossible, contrast effects occur. The overall effect of a persuasion attempt corresponds to the recipient’s judgment at the moment the processing of information is terminated. We illustrate how our predictions for assimilation and contrast effects may be tested by presenting results from an experiment in which we presented exactly the same arguments but varied the processing sequence. We discuss theoretical and applied implications of sequence effects for persuasion phenomena, as well as challenges for further research developing and testing the theory. (shrink)

The goal of this paper is twofold. First, it examines the pragmatic ramifications of recent research in certain areas of cognitive science (embodied mind theory, extended mind theory). Second, it shows how the Chicago pragmatists (George H. Mead, John Dewey) not only envisioned these findings but also how, within certain strains of cognitive science, their work is explicitly appreciated for important preliminary insights which help us interpret the outcomes of current research. The argumentative line of the paper revolves around Mead’s (...) and Dewey’s treatment of the relation between perception and action. Cognition, in the view of the Chicago pragmatists, is not divisible into atomistic, ontologically disconnected units but rather should be seen as an organic circuit within which stimuli and responses are mutually interdependent phases of an ongoing goal-directed active involvement of the organism in the environmental structures. According to Mead and Dewey, as well as the presently burgeoning branch of cognitive science called the “extended mind theory,” cognition is not something that takes place exclusively in our heads but should be rather seen as an objective relation between organism and the environment. On the background of Mead’s theory of the act (with its four stages – impulse, perception, manipulation, and consummation) the author points to certain surprising similarities between the pragmatists’ treatment of the notion of cognition and ideas recently suggested by defenders of the extended mind theory. (shrink)

There are many ontologies of the world or of specific phenomena such as time, matter, space, and quantum mechanics1. However, ontologies of information are rather rare. One of the reasons behind this is that information is most frequently associated with communication and computing, and not with ‘the furniture of the world’. But what would be the nature of an ontology of information? For it to be of significant import it should be amenable to formalization in a logico-grammatical formalism. A candidate (...) ontology satisfying such a requirement can be found in some of the ideas of K. Turek, presented in this paper. Turek outlines the ontology of information conceived of as a part of nature, and provides the ‘missing link’ to the Z axiomatic set theory, offering a proposal for developing a formal ontology of information both in its philosophical and logicogrammatical representations. (shrink)

This volume is a serious attempt to open up the subject of European philosophy of science to real thought, and provide the structural basis for the interdisciplinary development of its specialist fields, but also to provoke reflection on the idea of ‘European philosophy of science’. This efforts should foster a contemporaneous reflection on what might be meant by philosophy of science in Europe and European philosophy of science, and how in fact awareness of it could assist philosophers interpret and (...) motivate their research through a stronger collective identity. The overarching aim is to set the background for a collaborative project organising, systematising, and ultimately forging an identity for, European philosophy of science by creating research structures and developing research networks across Europe to promote its development. (shrink)

This article outlines a discursive framework for understanding public policy uses in different narrative contexts. The framework describes a definition of the term «discourse,» its historic and intuitionally related nature, and how descriptions of «state» and «policy» transforms into legal, political science, managerial, and «public/state policy» discursive practices. The author postu- lates that the discourse of public policy is a place of a «clash of rationalities» in the industry. Because of this, the SS concludes that the essence of public policy, (...) its perception, understanding, and reaction to it are determined by the dominance of certain institutional discourses and the dominance of their bearers: «political scientists», human rights defenders, lawyers, managers and their ideas about the nature of the state and its «politics». The dominant discourses have the na- ture of uncritical extrapolations, or transfers of certain rationality inherent in one area to another, qualitatively different from it. The consequence of such an expansion of rationality from one sphere to another is the «inadequacy» of the discourse. It then discusses a comparative explica- tion of fundamentals, which constitute the narrative practices of each discourse. Furthermore, it proposed an explanation of the subject specifics of «public policy» as an area centered around «problems,» «options,» «impacts,» and «interests / stakes,» and then traces the significant distor- tions and contortions of this topic in the semantic horizons of related discourses. The article focuses on the rising issues of public policy, depending on the specifics of the discourse — whether «political», «legal,» or «managerial». For example, «political science» discourse emphasizes the problems of the consequences of one of the dimensions of influence for the interests of different parts of society; «Legal» discourse focuses on one group of instruments of influence (norms); «Managerial» discourse draws attention to a separate stage of implementation of already estab- lished public policy. Finally, this paper indicates the dominance of such discourses and their dependency on the historical context of contemporary Ukraine. (shrink)

This special edition of Philosophical Problems in Science (Zagadnienia Filozoficzne w Nauce or ZFN) focuses on concepts of information and computing. On reading this issue, you may be surprised by the absence of traditional perspectives and themes that one would usually expect from such collections, but this apparent oversight is deliberate. The eight papers collected in this special edition of ZFN bring together perspectives that aim to inspire readers rather than confirm concepts that have already been researched. The main motivation (...) behind this collection is a desire to explore the philosophical dimensions of computing and information sciences. Thus, for anyone looking for new ideas related to the philosophy of computing and information and wondering what is on the horizon, this special edition of ZFN may be the place to start. (shrink)

The paper presents the life and work of Feliks Koneczny, the forgotten polish scientist of the 19th and the 20th centuries. The four main field of his activity areshortly presented, especially his historiosophic synthesis in form of very original theory of the plurality of civilizations, based on the axiological assumptions. His concept of social philosophy that emerged from his historical studies seems to be controversial but, in fact, has strongly influenced the work of many historians and philosophers. In his opinion, (...) any utilitarian political, economical, social and psychological functionality turned into the ideologically imposed life algorithms must be considered as very dangerous threat for the freedom and free will of individual as well as for the independence of so many different communities, societies and cultures. Consequently, Koneczny suggested to be very careful in attempts to implement, by international political means, the idea of total globalization considering it as harmful illusion. (shrink)

Among the most interesting ideas of New Left in the US is a search for authenticity in human personality, or investigation of the place and role of the contemporary man when he is found in the setting: man-group-society-state. Finding such authenticity non-existent on the American scene the ideologists of New Left trace back the causes of this situation, characterized by deformation of personality deprived of the ego, and depict an authentic man who accepts himself both with respect to his ego (...) and as a part of a social group in which he lives. Surreptitious emphasis of the value of the individual and of his unique personality points to the individuality of man as a central category of this line of thought. In the consequence of coexistence of various personalities, variety is the main feature of the new American society postulated by New Left. Individuality and variety imply freedom as a key concept of that thought. Variety of human individualities enjoying freedom will enable the quest for the authentic ego and abolish the manifestations of alienation which do not exist within the real interpersonal community. Community as a structural form of social coexistence is based on close, often intimate, interpersonal relations and allegedly enables unconstrained search for individuality, showing a new way from the present atomization of the American society. The key values of that thought are potentially conflicting: on the one hand there is a set of ideas: individuality, variety, freedom; on the other, there is the concept of community. The two counterparts may easily stand in conflict or mutually limit their application. In such cases it is postulated to detect the causes of conflict and eliminate them. (shrink)

The present collection takes stock of posthumanism and its theoretical development and impact in the field of Anglophone literary and cultural studies, with a particular focus on its role in education and the practice of teaching English. Posthumanism informs work in environmental or ecological criticism, climate change research, or human-animal studies - and poses an educational challenge since it also affects curricular and pedagogic theory and practice. Moreover, humanist idea(l)s of subject formation and individually acquired competences have a direct (...) bearing on conceptions of education. This is why the volume interrogates the potentials and pitfalls of posthumanist pedagogies and its connections with digitization, multiliteracies, non-European and non-anthropocentric thinking, and the role of literature pedagogy more generally, presenting case studies of teaching the posthuman from primary to tertiary levels. (shrink)

The main idea of the article is that every belief is an answer to a question. Such question is called "calling the belief". It has a strictly assigned set of possible answers, such that they exclude one another. Understanding a belief means to know the question and all the alternative answers. Total ignorance of a question means that the curve that shows the level of affirmation of every possible answer is horizontal. Getting knowledge means folding the curve. Then some (...) possibilities become better affirmed then others. The possibility of folding the curve means that the question has empirical content. When one of the possibilities wins and becomes highly affirmed whereas others fall down to be rejected the subject obtains the truth. (shrink)

Author: Godlewski Roman Title: CRITICAL REMARKS TO TATARKIEWICZ’S “ON ABSOLUTENESS OF GOOD” (Uwagi do rozprawy Tatarkiewicza O bezwzględności dobra) Source: Filo-Sofija year: 2011, vol:.13/14, number: 2011/2-3, pages: 643-662 Keywords: GOOD, EVIL, VALUE, BEAUTIFUL, RIGHTNESS, EMOTIONS, RELATIVISM, SUBJECTIVISM, ABSOLUTENESS OF GOOD Discipline: PHILOSOPHY Language: POLISH Document type: ARTICLE Publication order reference (Primary author’s office address): E-mail: www:The article consists of explanatory and critical remarks to Tatarkiewicz’s „O bezwzględności dobra” (“On Absoluteness of Good”). Firstly the author considers the Tatarkiewicz’s concept of (...) good. Acceptance with no proof for theses of undefinability and unconcludability from facts is criticized. Tatarkiewicz’s concepts like “relativism” and “subjectivism” are analyzed. It is pointed out that the thesis on absoluteness of good is doubtful because Tatarkiewicz’s examples are highly connected with human beings. Moreover good is not separable from emotions, so its emotionlessness and unutilitarianity is questioned. Finally the author analyzes Tatarkiewicz’s thesis that establishing rules of rightful action in concrete cases does not belong to science. He claims that Tatarkiewicz did not considered the idea of rightful actions engineering that would not be giving solution for every particular case but the rules of Obtaining solutions in given conditions. (shrink)

The paper provides an overview of the early considerations regarding the phenomenon of plagiarism – from Greco-Roman antiquity to the time when a thorough study examining literary theft in its textual, legal, and moral manifestations was printed, i. e. “Philosophical Dissertation on Literary Plagiarism” by Jacob Thomasius. Although the issue of plagiarism was very vital in ancient times, all the oldest considerations concerning the appropriation of other people’s texts were essentially pragmatic moves or reactions rather than purposeful theoretical interpretations (...) of the subject. However, in addition to the situational grounds of the accusation, they can reveal certain principles that, according to estimations of the time, could prevent or refute allegations of plagiarism. It was enough if the author stated, albeit generally but clearly, that the fragments of other people’s texts, whether altered or not, were used. It was also acceptable if the reader believed that the author considered his borrowings recognizable to educated readers. Another reason for the elimination of possible accusations was the factor of competition – the author’s desire to adapt the achievements of another cultural environment in his own one, significantly improving them. The medieval and early modern materials generally testify to the relevance of ancient views and reveal some new problems. This is, in particular, the incompatibility of new more formalized ideas about authorship and traditional educational practices, which encouraged the uncontrolled use of others’ texts. Some authors also emphasized that plagiarism was an obstacle to the development of science. The paper ends with examples that show how European ideas about the rules of using others’ writings may help interpret the writing methods of the early modern Ukrainian authors, including philosophers. (shrink)

Williams’s famous argument against immortality rests on the idea that immortality cannot be desirable, at least for human beings, and his contention has spawned a cottage industry of responses. As I will intend to show, the arguments over his view rest on both a difference of temperament and a difference in the sense of desire being used. The former concerns a difference in whether one takes a forward-looking or a backward-looking perspective on personal identity; the latter a distinction between (...) our normal desire to continue living and the kind of desire implied in desiring immortality. Showing that there is some sense of identity and desire that support Williams’s conclusion goes some way toward providing support for his argument, if not a full-fledged defense of it. (shrink)

Let us ask: do the objects we think that exist, really exist? Davidson concludes, from rejection of dualism of content and conceptual scheme, that most of them really exist (coherentialism). Unfortunately, his reasoning is wrong, because though the rejection makes it impossible to doubt our knowledge as a whole, it is still possible to doubt all its elements one after another. The two main points of Davidson's theory are the following: (1) disquotationism (semantic terms are used only to speak about (...) speaking) and (2) ostensivism (words refer to what they refer to independently of what it could be; their meanings are established as the result of the process of learning). (1) and (2) are the real reasons for Davidson's coherentialism. Ostensivism apparently allows to avoid the problem of induction, though it only transforms the problem into the question of ostension. Moreover, consistent ostensivism makes analytic sentences impossible. Yet it is claimed, that ostensivism is wrong in general, because besides ostensives there are also categorials (expressions, meanings of which belong to certain ontological categories) and without the latter logic and mathematics would be impossible. Davison's coherentialism is wrong because it is not true that one cannot have any believes without having any language. Hence, no theory of language is crucial as far as existence is concerned. It is shown considering ascription of believes to mute persons and learning languages by children. Coherentialism lets Davidson bring down the idea of a demon that could make us see the world completely different than it is and not know if it is true. (shrink)

This article compares two groundings of ethics: the ethical postulates of Immanuel Kant with the existential thinking of S. Kierkegaard. To achieve this goal, first, it proposes highlighting the fundamental ideas of Kantian ethics; then, secondly, highlighting Kierkegaard’s ethical stance; and finally, contrasting both approaches to identify differences and similarities. Conclusively, we can say that the pure Kantian ethical formality of duty for duty’s sake necessarily dispenses with existential and concrete content; it is an ethics that is grounded in itself, (...) that refers to itself, to the rational nature of the human being and its universality. In contrast, Kierkegaardian ethics is a Christian ethics, it is the ethics of love for one’s neighbour and, above all, for God; it is a relational and existential ethics of the single individual. (shrink)

Wittgenstein's conception of the general form of a truth function given in thesis 6 can be presented as a sort of a trade-off: the author of the Tractatus is unable to reconcile the simplicity of his original idea of a series of forms with the simplicity of his generalisation of Sheffer's stroke; therefore, he is forced to sacrifice one of them. As we argue in this paper, the choice he makes – to weaken the logical constraints put on the (...) concept of a series of forms, thus effectively metaphorising that concept for the sake of upholding the N-operation's role of generating the series – is unfortunate. An actual expansion of a series of truth functions as defined in 6 would require either making decisions at each step (Anscombe) or outwardly rejecting the concept of a series (Sundholm). However, neither is faithful to Wittgenstein's own fundamental intuitions regarding the nature of logic. For this reason, a different trade-off that prioritises upholding the basic features of a series of forms over the simplicity of the operation that generates that series seems to be much more reasonable. We offer such a trade-off by developing the schema already present in the Tractatus (5.101). The key element of our alternative solution is the construction of an operation that can perform the task of producing all consecutive truth functions of a given collection of atomic propositions as an invariant difference between any base and its successor throughout the series. We define it as a composition of three functions (in an algebraic sense): the first turns a symbol of a given truth function into a binary number, the second increments that number, the third turns the result back into a symbol of another truth function. We also show how the operation can be defined by means of a different notation without invoking binary arithmetic. (shrink)

The paper is devoted to the philosophical and theological as well as mathematical ideas of Nicholas of Cusa. He was a mathematician, but first of all a theologian. Connections between theology and philosophy on the one side and mathematics on the other were, for him, bilateral. In this paper we shall concentrate only on one side and try to show how some theological ideas were used by him to answer fundamental questions in the philosophy of mathematics.

The aim of this paper is to present and discuss main philosophical ideas concerning logic and mathematics of a significant but forgotten Polish philosopher Benedykt Bornstein. He received his doctoral degree with Kazimierz Twardowski but is not included into the Lvov–Warsaw School of Philosophy founded by the latter. His philosophical views were unique and quite different from the views of main representatives of Lvov–Warsaw School. We shall discuss Bornstein’s considerations on the philosophy of geometry, on the infinity, on the foundations (...) of set theory and his polemics with Stanisław Leśniewski as well as his conception of a geometrization of logic, of the categorial logic and of the mathematics of quality. (shrink)

James Lovelock, who is famous for the Gaia hypothesis, has written a new book called Novacene: The Coming Age of Hyperintelligence. It is an extended argument about an impending new epoch on Earth called Novacene in which biological life as we know it will evolve into lifeforms based on cyber technology built from non-biological materials. Novacene may be seen as a development of the ideas presented in Lovelock’s earlier book A Rough Guide to The Future. In Novacene, the Earth will (...) be populated by cyborgs, which are self-replicating and self-improving mechanical systems that will eventually dominate and rule the Earth. These cyborgs will possess intelligence and knowledge beyond our understanding. (shrink)

Se analiza el feminismo como una nueva concepción de la idea de hombre. El feminismo se presenta como un movimiento alternativo que pretende superar el sesgo antropocéntrico de la filosofía y la cultura Occidental. Para comprobar esta posición de partida, se analizada el feminismo desde dos variables, la idea de sujeto y las ideas de hombre de Max Scheler. Desde la primera perspectiva se aplica una matriz fenoménico-materialista para clasificar los distintos feminismos y analizar en qué casos podría (...) construir un sujeto universal. Desde la segunda se analiza y clasifica el feminismo como un proyecto posthumanista o transhumanista, incluido en la idea pesimista de hombre. (shrink)

Primary object of interest of mathematicians can be identified as a „mathematical matter”, the concept analogous to „physical matter” or „biological matter”. The „mathematical matter” is the soil upon which mathematics grows. One can distinguish three levels of it: some abstract but not necessarily clear conceptions, operational notions (like number) but not necessarily openly defined, theories not necessarily axiomatic. The „mathematical matter” originates in the abstract reflection upon events and forms in time and space. Its important elements are notions formed (...) mostly in the process of idealization and/or abstraction. Once formed, notions usually evolve being, e.g., simplified or complexified. Mathematics is a mirror of the world, most abstract and therefore fundamental. Although it is a free activity of human mind, mathematics reflects some deep ideas (beauty, simplicity etc.) while most interesting notions come up in tension fields between pairs of poles: the notion of a function can be seen as a bridge connecting variability and immutability, while that of a limit – connecting finiteness and infinity. A fusion of freedom and internal restrictions leads to mathematics which is simple, beautiful and effective. (shrink)

That we may rely on our knowledge seems like a platitude. Yet, the view that knowledge is sufficient for permissible reliance faces a major challenge: when much hangs on whether we know, relying on our knowledge seems to license irrational action. Unfortunately, extant proposals to meet this challenge (Hawthorne & Stanley, 2008; Williamson, 2005a; Schulz, 2017, 2021b) either fail to make the correct predictions about high-stakes cases or, as I will argue, face a substantial objection. In this paper, I will (...) offer two novel proposals for defending the sufficiency of knowledge for permissible reliance. My favoured proposal, which I call Flexible Fallibilism, is based on the idea that stakes can affect how we rely on our knowledge and how our knowledge determines what is rational for us to do. Besides making the correct predictions about high-stakes cases, I will argue that Flexible Fallibilism also provides us with a knowledge-based account of when to simplify our practical reasoning. Afterwards, I will present another proposal, which I call Dual Infallibilism, that combines two recent claims by Moss (2013, 2018) and Jackson (2019a) about credal knowledge and the metaphysics of doxastic states. While the offered proposals share various virtues, I will argue that we ultimately should prefer Flexible Fallibilism. (shrink)

Between the zone of certainty beyond all doubt and the zone of incomprehensible uncertainty, the sources of which are nothing but chance, we need to use solid results from a vast interdisciplinarity. We wish to give here a sense of the factors in play and the state of the debate and advance in the territory of how interdisciplinarity may help to solve problems which are common in many areas of knowledge. Chaos and complexity certainly put limits on what we can (...) know. High complexity, asymmetry and/or non-linearity are universal types of imprecision. Can hazard have purpose and direction?The idea is that the more effort we put into project design to cover as many details and possible consequences as possible we can grasp in our in-depth analysis aiming to create the project (in art or science or society), the greater the chances that the random occurrence of the unpredictable event will settle on the project's purpose and direction and not on contrary to them. There is no vicious circle here. This kind of method can explain many good results already obtained in such circumstances. Simplicity, beauty, rationalistic optimism, are features of unshakeable scientific results We may call this feature of scientific theory or art _uniqueness. _Uniqueness is strongly correlated with _essentialization. _Science is working in that sense: to simplify a phenomenon to its essence in order to study it easily without losing anything important in the analysis. That is _essentialization. _Why and how complex systems move to the edge of chaos? And what do they do to stay there? They are in constant struggle to create or keep order in complexity. That is the pattern of self-organization, the specific feature of human nature. That is why our action is meant to build resilience to deal better with unpredictable events and prevent the emergence of a critical threshold. Uncertainty, indeterminacy, randomness, and contradictions appear, not as non-essential substances of debate to be eliminated by explanation, but as everlasting ingredients of our conception of reality. There are compelling reasons to believe that it is impossible to make accurate, nontrivial predictions concerning human behavior. Logic and reason are and remain priority, but unpredictability forces us to imagination and creative thinking. Indeed we are confronted with a new human landscape. The anomalies become the new normal. (shrink)

Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, better known as Witkacy, was a most prolific writer in the philosophy of art, a novelist, playwright and painter. His philosophical ideas took shape in the second decade of this century, and was presented in New Forms in Painting and the Ensuing Confusion. A comprehensive exposition of his philosophy however was not published until 16 years later, i.e. when the book Conceptions and Theorems Implied by the Notion of Existence came out; it contained his systematic teaching of (...) the theory of being. (shrink)

Muchos de los dilemas morales perderían su intensidad, piensa Iris Murdoch, si abandonáramos la idea de una voluntad soberana que elige autónomamente sus cursos de acción. Prestar atención a la constitución de la realidad posibilita una suerte de ascesis experiencial que conduce más allá del los devaneos de un yo ensimismado. El ejercicio de apreciación de los detalles, de las conexiones, de la complejidad, modifica la decisión misma: no se trata de elegir, sino de “ver” lo moral –la exigencia (...) de la cosa–, igual que un artista cabal no pinta lo que “le gusta” sino “lo que está ahí”. (shrink)

The paper is devoted to phenomenological ideas in conceptions of modern philosophy of mathematics. Views of Husserl, Weyl, Becker andGödel will be discussed and analysed. The aim of the paper is to show the influence of phenomenological ideas on the philosophical conceptions concerning mathematics. We shall start by indicating the attachment of Edmund Husserl to mathematics and by presenting the main points of his philosophy of mathematics. Next, works of two philosophers who attempted to apply Husserl’s phenomenological ideas to the (...) philosophy of mathematics, namely Hermann Weyl and Oskar Becker, will be briefly discussed. Lastly, the connections between Husserl’s ideas and the philosophy of mathematics of Kurt Gödel will be studied. (shrink)

The article explores the religious and philosophical origins of Volodymyr Vynnychenko’s ideas of “honesty with oneself,” “omnilateral liberation,” and “concordism.” Two treatises, Vidrodzhennia natsii (Rebirth of a Nation, 1919–1920) and Konkordyzm. Systema buduvannia shchastia (Concordism. A System of Building Happiness, 1938–1945), illustrate the development of Vynnychenko’s worldview. In the first work, social revolution was considered as the answer to human problems, while, in the second, such a solution was found in becoming one with the universe. Despite his negative attitude towards (...) religion, Volodymyr Vynnychenko actively used religious images and patterns in his writings. For instance, criticizing Christianity for its dogmatism, he nevertheless created his codex of thirteen rules of concordism, which had to harmonize the unbalanced forces of mankind with the universe. In this context, particular attention is paid to the significant influence of pagan concepts on Vynnychenko’s thinking. (shrink)

Social robotics are autonomous robots or Artificial Moral Agents (AMA), that will interact respect and embody human ethical values. However, the conceptual and practical problems of building such systems have not yet been resolved, playing a role of significant challenge for computational modeling. It seems that the lack of success in constructing robots, ceteris paribus, is due to the conceptual and algorithmic limitations of the current design of ethical robots. This paper proposes a new approach for developing ethical capacities in (...) robotic systems, one based on the concept of Aristotelian phronesis. Phronesis in principle reflexes closer human ethics than the ethical paradigms we employ today in ethical robotics. This paper describes the essential features of phronesis and proposes a high-level architecture for implementing phronetic principles in autonomous robots. Phronetic robotics is in its early stages of conceptualization, so many of the presented ideas are speculative and require further research.2. (shrink)

The paper deals predominantly with the theory of moral reconstruction in George H. Mead’s thinking. It also points out certain underdeveloped aspects of Mead’s social-psychological theory of the self and his moral philosophy, and attempts to develop them. Since Mead’s ideas concerning ethics and moral philosophy are anchored in his social psychology, the paper begins with a description of his theory and underlines some problematic areas and tries to solve them. The most important of these, as the author argues, is (...) the hypothesis that social conflicts should be seen as the root of reflective, discursive thinking. Unlike some of his contemporaries (such as Vygotsky), Mead failed to appreciate this aspect of the genesis of the dynamics of the self. (shrink)

[...] This paper aims, first of all, to recall the main features of hyle in Ideas I, both in its relation to the noema and as critical correction of the concept of sensation. It deals, secondly, with some conflicts arising from Husserl’s parallel characterizations of temporal datum, sensation fields, and hyletic background. In third place, it outlines two central directions in genetic analysis, which allow the hyle to expand to a more complex notion involving temporal- material syntheses whose flow is (...) governed by kinaesthesis (Genesis I), all of which shows a sedimented history due to the institution of habitualities (Genesis II). Finally, the conclusions advance some topics that should be considered in this connection from the standpoint of genetic phenomenology. (shrink)

The objection raised by Davidson against Kuhn in article "On the Very Idea of Conceptual Scheme" that the argument presented in "The Structure of Scientific Revolution" was inconsistent is incorrect. Kuhn's conception belongs to psychology and sociology and his work could be titled "An Outline of Psychology and Sociology of Scientific Research". Consequently he is interested only and only in psychologi-cal reasons that affect scientists' theoretical decisions. E.g. his considerations concerning neutral observational language are polemous against thesis that language (...) like that could be somehow useful for interpretation of what scientists do and also against thesis that it could be useful for scientists themselves. The difficulty of un-derstanding above paradigmata does not consist on conceptual schemata meant logically as Davidson reads it but on different cognitive attitude and different manual sets of concepts. To explain the controversy logical and psychological concepts of meaning are distinguished. Davidson means the proper, Kuhn does the latter. Psy-chological meaning concists on what associations and feelings are evocated by utterances in the recever's mind. When Kuhn says that after a revolution scientists live in another world he means only that the language with witch they describe the reality has different psychological meaning. And this is that kind of meaning that cannot be translated and is lost when you discuss above paradigmata. From Kuhn's point of view it is possible to translate logical meaning of scientific utterances from before a revolution, and he does it. The psychological meaning can be only described but not translated. (shrink)

ON THE PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH OF EDITH STEIN (translated by Inna Savynska)The main Polish philosopher Roman Ingarden in his lecture presents a cross-section of Edith Stein writings and demonstrates the shot timeliness of her ideas. Roman Ingarden was a Stein’s friend from the time of her studies in Göttingen;he knew her ideas and conceptions. He wrote that hers was a search for ananswer to the main question: «What is the structure of man?» That is why she proposed a phenomenological (...) analysis by «Empathy». Stein’s theses «On the Problem of Empathy» is the central object in this lecture. In that work, Stein first focuses on such phenomena as the human body, soul, spirit, experience, consciousness. While discussing Stein’s concepts, Ingarden presents also the evolution of her ideas from realistic phenomenology to mystical theology of Saint John of the Cross’ and Saint Theresa of Avila’s. Roman Ingarden did not enter as firmly as Stein into the mystical range, but he opened a path into the transcendence by creating an idea of metaphysical qualities. In her dissertation, Stein first focuses on the phenomenon of the human body and soul. Ingarden considers pairs of phenomenological notions «Leib- Körper», «Seele-Geist». Their relationships form an ontology of a Person. The anthropological questions, which Edith Stein raised in her academic research, bring about a constitutive element of man – Geist. Empathy is an instrument that help to recognize Geist and Personal experience – truth about man. (shrink)

The research interest of this article is focused on determining the level of influence of Adventist ideas on the formation of the religious identity of the founder of the Bible Students (later Jehovah's Witnesses) and the Watch Tower Society, Charles Taze Russell. As a result of the analysis of the works of Russell and his associates, an attempt was made to explore the attitude of Russell and his supporters to Adventism as a whole. Also, in the opposite direction, the influence (...) of Adventism on the formation of Russell's doctrinal system is determined. Selected aspects of the religious identity of Russell and the Bible Students are identified in the context of searching for answers to the question “Why did Russell deny any influence of Adventism on the formation of his personality?” In the context of scientific research, it has been established that in Russell's time, society treated with contempt the scattered descendants of the Millerites, who suffered a public failure on October 22, 1844. Accordingly, when Russell was asked why certain aspects of his beliefs were similar to Adventist ideas? He replied that his teaching had nothing in common with Adventism. However, in his autobiography, Russell acknowledged the fact that the influence of Adventists on his personal development occurred during his spiritual quest in his youth. Consequently, there are a number of Adventist positions with which Russell strongly disagrees. Namely, the events at the Second Coming of Christ, the method of the Savior’s return to earth, and the method of saving the faithful and the unfaithful. There are also a number of provisions with which he agreed. For example, a look at the unconscious state of the dead, the expectation of the imminent return of Christ to earth, and an emphasis on the study of biblical prophecies of the books of Daniel according to two criteria. First is the emphasis on the second coming of Christ. Secondly, the fulfillment of biblical prophecies in the context of prophetic periods. At the same time, in his approving comments about these two aspects of Adventist teaching, he repeatedly emphasized that Adventists had stopped in their research. That is why we summarize that the religious identity of Russell and his supporters contains Adventist ideas (not to be identified with the modern Seventh-day Adventist Church), which Charles Taze Russell and the Bible Students have constantly denied. (shrink)

The pinnacle of the Novak’s reflections on possible perspectives for the future of the world and the development of international relations is his vision of “Caritapolis” (“Civilization of love”), which is presented especially in the book The universal hunger for liberty – Why the clash of civilizations is not inevitable (2004a). Novak builds the concept on the religious assumptions and on the minimum level of general belief in basic principles (cultural humility, regulative idea of truth, the dignity of the (...) individual person, solidarity), which he considers to be the key to the world security, prosperity and the democratic future of the globalized world. This “vision for the 21st century” is to contribute to the consideration of a universal civilization that would respect all its internal variations and create a certain unity despite its rich diversity of value and religious ideas. The aim of this paper is to present Novak’s concept of Caritapolis and to evaluate it in terms of context of the social doctrine of the Church, Catholic social thought debates, relevance in the context of debates in the social sciences, especially the theories of international relations. (shrink)

Nicholas of Cusa was first of all a theologian but he was interested also in mathematic and natural sciences. In fact philosophico-theological and mathematical ideas were intertwined by him, theological and philosophical ideas influenced his mathematical considerations, in particular when he considered philosophical problems connected with mathematics and vice versa, mathematical ideas and examples were used by him to explain some ideas from theology. In this paper we attempt to indicate this mutual influence. We shall concentrate on the following problems: (...) the role and place of mathematics and mathematical knowledge in knowledge in general and in particular in theological knowledge, ontology of mathematical objects and their origin, in particular their relations to God and their meaning for the description of the world and physical reality, infinity in mathematics versus infinity in theology and their mutual relations and connections. It will be shown that—according to Nicholas—mathematics and mathematical thinking are tools of rationalization of theology and liberating it in a certain sense from the trap of apophatic theology. (shrink)

By the end of his life Plato had rearranged the theory of ideas into his teaching about ideal numbers, but no written records have been left. The Ideal mathematics of Plato is present in all his dialogues. It can be clearly grasped in relation to the effective use of mathematical modelling. Many problems of mathematical modelling were laid in the foundation of the method by cutting the three-level idealism of Plato to the single-level “ideism” of Aristotle. For a long time, (...) the real, ideal numbers of Plato’s Ideal mathematics eliminates many mathematical problems, extends the capabilities of modelling, and improves mathematics. (shrink)

This article discusses the biography, works and philosophical views of Giuseppe Angiolini, an Italian Jesuit working at the Academy of Polotsk at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. The whole philosophy represented by Angiolini is in line with Italian Catholic philosophy, which in turn was influenced by the traditional Jesuit Collegium Romanum. The philosophy of Angiolini contains certain Suarezian ideas. In this respect it was influenced by the Jesuit tradition, especially as regards the mental difference between essence and (...) existence, and modalism. (shrink)