Al centrar su atención en Dios y en el hombre, con frecuencia Agustín nos ofrece su relación recíproca al nivel axiológico. La teoría agustiniana de los valores comporta un razonamiento filosófico y teológico a la vez. En la intersección de estos dos elementos se encuentra el problema de la jerarquía de los bienes y en el fondo podemos descubrir el teocentrismo agustiniano. En el pensamiento del obispo de Hipona, podemos distinguir un triple teocentrismo teleológico, que se completan y explican recíprocamente.

Sport plays today an eminent role in man's life and in societies. Various sciences have made it the subject-matter of their reflection, i.e. psychology, sociology, the natural and humanistic sciences, art, philosophy, and theology. The present work seeks to answer some fundamental questions connected with the phenomenon of sport: what is it for man? whether and when does it serve the social integration of a community? what are the premises and principles of the ethics of sportive activity? what is the (...) aesthetic dimension of sport? what are the relations between sport and religious faith? The philosophical profile is dominant in the book, taking into consideration various aspects of sport: anthropological, social, axiological, and theological. (shrink)

Ex-ante deontology is an attempt to combine deontological constraints on doing or intending harm with the idea that one should act in everyone’s interest if possible. I argue that ex-ante deontology has serious problems in cases where multiple decisions are to be made over time. I then argue that these problems force us to choose between commonsense deontological morality and a more consequentialist morality. I suggest that we should choose the latter.

Memetics is a research approach which applies evolutionary ideas and terminology to cultural phenomena. The core idea of memetics is the existence of the units of cultural evolution which are attributed autonomous replicating goals. Of course, such a controversial concept has gained many devoted adherents as well as its determined opponents. The paper discusses the theoretical difficulties of memetics. The first part discusses the analogy of genes and memes. The theme of the second part is the ontology of a cultural (...) replicator. Finally, the third part presents the main issues related to manners of transmission and the adaptation of memes. In short, the aim of the paper is an evaluation of the explanatory potential of memetics. The explanatory potential of memetics will be evaluated in terms of its intrinsic consistency, the degree of its confirmation, the falsifiability of the theses which were elaborated on its basis and the heuristic value of this approach. (shrink)

This paper examines a recent argument in favour of strong precautionary action—possibly including working to hasten human extinction—on the basis of a decision-theoretic view that accommodates the risk-attitudes of all affected while giving more weight to the more risk-averse attitudes. First, we dispute the need to take into account other people’s attitudes towards risk at all. Second we argue that a version of the non-identity problem undermines the case for doing so in the context of future people. Lastly, we suggest (...) that we should not work to hasten human extinction, even if significant risk aversion is warranted. (shrink)

Personites are like continuant people but shorter-lived. Johnston argues that personites do not exist since otherwise personites would have the same moral status as persons, which is untenable. I argue that Johnston’s arguments fail. To do that I propose an alternative way to understand intrinsicness and I clarify the meaning of reductionism about persons. I also argue that a plausible ethical theory is possible even if personites have the same moral status as persons. My arguments draw on Johnston’s earlier debate (...) with Parfit about personal identity and the place of ordinary concerns in a naturalistic world. I also describe an important but metaphysics-free problem that arises from Johnston’s discussion. (shrink)

Fanaticism is the view that, for every finite good x and every positive probability p, there is a finite good y such that getting y with probability p is better than getting x for sure. I develop a neglected argument for a form of fanaticism limited to life saving scenarios. I explain how my argument is compatible with some forms of small-probability discounting, imprecise probabilism, risk-aversion and aggregation scepticism. I also try to respond to theoretical problems that fanatical arguments encounter (...) in cases that involve infinitely many possible people. I also suggest why, even if fanaticism is true, we might often be warranted in our intuitive reluctance to accept fanatical conclusions. (shrink)

Moral options are permissions to do less than best, impartially speaking. In this paper, we investigate the challenge of reconciling moral options with the ideal of justifiability to each individual. We examine ex-post and ex-ante views of moral options and show how they might conflict with this ideal in single-choice and sequential-choice cases, respectively. We consider some ways of avoiding this conflict in sequential-choice cases, showing that they face significant problems.

Badania dotyczące pojawiania się myśli oderwanych od zadania wykonywanego przez podmiot pokazują, że takich myśli jest tym mniej, im większe wymagania stawia ono systemowi poznawczemu, jeśli chodzi o zaangażowanie procesów zarządczych, złożoność, trudność bądź częstość wykonywanych operacji. Jednym z możliwych wyjaśnień tych zależności jest hipoteza biernej regulacji zasobowej: aktywność umysłowa oderwana od zadania rozwija się w takim zakresie, w jakim procesy realizujące zadanie pozostawiają wolne zasoby niezbędne do jej rozwoju. Analizy przedstawione w artykule motywowane są pytaniem o teoretyczną konkretyzację tej (...) idei. Jaka jest natura zasobowych ograniczeń, które mają uniemożliwiać równoczesne rozwijanie się aktywności umysłowej dotyczącej zadania i oderwanej od niego? Na jakim etapie rozwoju aktywności umysłowej prowadzącej do pojawienia się myśli oderwanej od zadania występuje w związku z tymi ograniczeniami zasobowa blokada? Pod tym kątem rozważane są cztery współczesne znaczące ujęcia „roboczej” części umysłu: modele pamięci roboczej Baddeleya i Cowana oraz architektury kognitywne ACT-R i CAPS. Chociaż w tych teoriach są uwzględnione ograniczenia dotyczące przetwarzania lub aktywnego przechowywania, z którymi może wiązać się bierna regulacja zasobowa, to ważne pytania dotyczące mechanizmów takiej regulacji pozostają bez odpowiedzi. Wyjaśnienie odwołujące się do idei biernej regulacji zasobowej stawia przed modelami funkcjonowania umysłu nowe wyzwania. (shrink)

This article addresses the issue of linguistic phenomena which, as a legacy of the centuries-old tradition of the Roman Empire, are rooted in Polish jurisdictional texts. The study focused on foreign-language expressions and short texts in Latin, used in judicial decisions. The aim of the study was to determine the function of Latinisms as foreign-language expressions in judicial decisions and how their use influences the communicativeness and persuasiveness of argumentation. During the analysis, it was noticed that Latinisms in jurisdictional texts (...) are used on four levels, including: legal maxims, terminology equivalence, linguistic ornaments and the description of taboo phenomena. On the basis of the identified categories, efforts were made to determine the extent to which Latin strengthens or weakens the power of persuasion of judicial decisions. (shrink)

This paper presents a new puzzle for limited aggregation. Unlike other recent puzzles, this one arises independently of the issue of rational aversion to risk. Some possible responses are laid out and explored.

This paper develops transfinite extensions of transitivity and acyclicity in the context of population ethics. They are used to argue that it is better to add good lives, worse to add bad lives, and equally good to add neutral lives, where a life's value is understood as personal value. These conclusions rule out a number of theories of population ethics, feed into an argument for the repugnant conclusion, and allow us to reduce different-number comparisons to same-number ones. Challenges to these (...) arguments are addressed, including the issue of comparing existence and non-existence in terms of personal value, the possibility of minimal quanta of time and life, and the meaningfulness of measuring closeness between outcomes with different population sizes. An asymmetry is uncovered between transfinite cycles of worseness and betterness, supporting a version of the weak procreative asymmetry. Transfinite transitivity principles are also favourably compared to the better-known principles of continuity. (shrink)

Liberalism and marxism are two forms of economism, which separate economic activity from ethics. The social teaching of the Church accepted continued by pope Benedict XVI recognizes the necessity of free market and limited intervention of the state in economy, but first of all postulates creativity of civil society in the field of economic life. The main arguments for observance of moral rules in the economic activity are following: 1. Every conscious and free men’s action is responsible for the effects (...) – economic activity cannot be any exception; 2. The same ethics ought to be applied in the individual-private life and in the public domain – also economy; 3. Ethos of economic activity is connected with three virtues – truth, love and justice (also social justice); 4. Christian-personalistic ethics is based on the principles auxialiarity (personalism) and common good (solidarity). Economic activity completely separated from ethics is inhuman. (shrink)

The subject matter of the paper is the John Paul II teachings on the fields of a state’s activity in economic life. The first part of article talks about general elements of economic order: private property, liberal market, a just salary for labour and the participation of workers in the control of a business. The second part of the paper confirms that the state ought to create a solid infrastructure of economy and to find a good balance between different sectors (...) of economic life. The last part of the paper shows that the state ought to interfere sometimes in the economic field, for example, to combat unemployment and poverty, or to protect the family. (shrink)

Entre los historiadores de la filosofía, desde hace tiempo se viene discutiendo acerca de la postura de san Agustín frente a los argumentos de la existencia de Dios, tomados del mundo material. Mientras unos, como M. Schmaus, E. Gilson, se pronuncian por una respuesta negativa, otros, como Ch. Boyer, J. Geyser, F. Cayré, responden afirmativamente. A nuestro modo de ver, la opinion de los últimos está más cerca de la verdad, ya que la lectura de las obras del obispo de (...) Hipona nos permite descubrir dos argumentos formulados en sus grandes líneas: el argumento de la causalidad eficiente o argumento cosmológico, y el argumento de la finadidad o argumento teleológico. Vamos a examinar ahora la doctrina agustiniana sobre estos dos argumentos. (shrink)

This article addresses the issue of linguistic phenomena which, as a legacy of the centuries-old tradition of the Roman Empire, are rooted in Polish jurisdictional texts. The study focused on foreign-language expressions and short texts in Latin, used in judicial decisions. The aim of the study was to determine the function of Latinisms as foreign-language expressions in judicial decisions and how their use influences the communicativeness and persuasiveness of argumentation. During the analysis, it was noticed that Latinisms in jurisdictional texts (...) are used on four levels, including: legal maxims, terminology equivalence, linguistic ornaments and the description of taboo phenomena. On the basis of the identified categories, efforts were made to determine the extent to which Latin strengthens or weakens the power of persuasion of judicial decisions. (shrink)

Marxism accepted the notion of social justice, but realized it through liquidation of private property and violence of the totalitarian state. Liberalism and neoliberalism, in the name of maximal economic liberalism, reject the idea of social justice and postulate a minimal state. Republicanism and communitarianism accept ideas of common good and social justice. The social teaching of the Church proposes a subsidiary state which is not a protective one. Contemporary popes – Pius XI (Quadragesimo anno), John XXIII (Mater et Magistra), (...) Paul VI (Populorum progressio), John Paul II (Sollicitudo rei socialis, Centesimus annus) – postulate participation of the state in social justice. The main of its obligations are: protection and financial aid for key sectors of economic life (including agriculture), profamily policy, fighting against unemployment and providing fair salary, limited economic intervention (while respecting the rules of the free market economy at the same time), medical and social care. (shrink)

The aim of this study is to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Dispositional Flow Scale-2 and Flow State Scale-2, for use with Polish adults and young adults. Currently, there are no tools that would allow us to study flow among Polish speakers. At the same time, due to the great interest in flow and its potential importance for effectiveness, cooperation, and learning, it is worth ensuring that reliable validated measurement questionnaires are available for people studying (...) the Polish population. Study participants completed 856 questionnaires, of which 496 individuals participated in the DFS-2 study and 360 individuals participated in the FSS-2 study. The maximum likelihood estimator was selected for the CFA analysis. Model fit was assessed using: χ2, comparative fit index, Tucker-Lewis index, and standardized root mean square of residuals, and root mean square of approximation error. For both questionnaires, formative first-level models with nine factors and second-level models with nine factors loaded on a higher-order flow factor were compared using the Satorra-Bentler Scaled difference χ2 test. The ω coefficient was used to estimate the reliability of the FFS-2 and DFS-2 models tested in the CFA method. Confirmatory factor analysis of both DFS-2 structural models showed satisfactory model fit. Most of the fit indices for the hierarchical 2nd order FSS-2 model presented satisfactory values, except for SRMR. Both DFS-2 and FSS-2 factors tested in the analysis showed good reliability. Our findings confirmed the reliability and validity of the Polish versions of DFS-2 and FSS-2 scales. The scales are reliable when applied to Polish adults and young adults. (shrink)