We study the structure of analytic ideals of subsets of the natural numbers. For example, we prove that for an analytic ideal I, either the ideal {X (Ω × Ω: En X ({0, 1,…,n} × Ω } is Rudin-Keisler below I, or I is very simply induced by a lower semicontinuous submeasure. Also, we show that the class of ideals induced in this manner by lsc submeasures coincides with Polishable ideals as well as analytic P-ideals. We study this class of (...) ideals and characterize, for example, when the ideals in it are Fσ or when they carry a locally compact group topology. We apply these results to Borel partial orders to rederive a theorem of Todorcevic and to Borel equivalence relations to answer a question of Kechris and Louveau. As another application we give a characterization of σ-ideals of μ-zero sets for Maharam submeasures μ on the Cantor set which is to a large extent analogous to a characterization of the meager ideal due to Kechris and the author. (shrink)

In this paper, we complement proximate or ‘how’ explanations for the origins of language, broadening our perspective to include fitness-consequences explanations, i.e. ultimate, or ‘why’ explanations. We identify theplatform of trustas a fundamental prerequisite for the development of a language-like system of symbolic communication. The platform of trust is a social niche in which cheap but honest communication with non-kin is possible, because messages tend to be trusted as a default. We briefly consider the place of the platform of trust (...) on the road map as laid out in the Mirror System Hypothesis. We then turn to recent research on turn-taking in primates, which has been proposed as a precursor of the cooperative structuring of conversation in humans. We suggest, instead, that human turn-taking, in its full richness that makes it an interesting explanatory target, may only appear in a communicative system that is already founded on a community-wide, cooperative platform of trust. (shrink)

§1. Introduction. Ideals and filters of subsets of natural numbers have been studied by set theorists and topologists for a long time. There is a vast literature concerning various kinds of ultrafilters. There is also a substantial interest in nicely definable ideals—these by old results of Sierpiński are very far from being maximal— and the structure of such ideals will concern us in this announcement. In addition to being interesting in their own right, Borel and analytic ideals occur naturally in (...) the investigations of compact subsets of the space of all Baire class 1 functions on a Polish space, see [12, 18]. Also, certain objects associated with such ideals are of considerable interest and were quite extensively studied by several authors. Let us list here three examples; in all three of them I stands for an analytic or Borel ideal.1. The partial order induced by I on P: X ≥I Y iff X \ Y ϵ I and the partial order.2. Boolean algebras of the form P/I and their automorphisms.3. The equivalence relation associated with I: XEI Y iff X Δ ϵ I.In Section 4, we will have an opportunity to state some consequences of our results for equivalence relations as in 3. (shrink)

The set of design features developed by Charles Hockett in the 1950s and 1960s remains probably the most influential means of juxtaposing animal communication with human language. However, the general theoretical perspective of Hockett is largely incompatible with that of modern language evolution research. Consequently, we argue that his classificatory system—while useful for some descriptive purposes—is of very limited use as a theoretical framework for evolutionary linguistics. We see this incompatibility as related to the ontology of language, i.e. deriving from (...) Hockett’s interest in language as a product rather than a suite of sensorimotor, cognitive and social abilities that enable the use but also acquisition of language by biological creatures. After a reconstruction of Hockett’s views on design features, we raise two criticisms: focus on the means at the expense of content and focus on the code itself rather than the cognitive abilities of its users. Finally, referring to empirical data, we illustrate some of the problems resulting from Hockett’s approach by addressing three specific points—namely arbitrariness and semanticity, cultural transmission, and displacement—and show how the change of perspective allows to overcome those difficulties. (shrink)

We study the variety generated by the three-element equivalential algebra with conjunction on the dense elements. We prove the representation theorem which let us construct the free algebras in this variety.

Words of gratitude and deep respect for Maria Dmitrivna Kultaeva from her colleague Sławomir Sztobryn.

We prove that for every family I of closed subsets of a Polish space each Σ 1 1 set can be covered by countably many members of I or else contains a nonempty Π 0 2 set which cannot be covered by countably many members of I. We prove an analogous result for κ-Souslin sets and show that if A ♯ exists for any $A \subset \omega^\omega$ , then the above result is true for Σ 1 2 sets. A theorem (...) of Martin is included stating that this result is also true for weakly homogeneously Souslin sets. As an application of our results we derive from them a general form of Hurewicz's theorem due to Kechris, Louveau, and Woodin and a theorem of Feng on the open covering axiom. Also some well-known theorems on finding "big" closed sets inside of "big" Σ 1 1 and Σ 1 2 sets are consequences of our results. (shrink)

We prove that every analytic set in ω ω × ω ω with σ-bounded sections has a not σ-bounded closed free set. We show that this result is sharp. There exists a closed set with bounded sections which has no dominating analytic free set, and there exists a closed set with non-dominating sections which does not have a not σ-bounded analytic free set. Under projective determinacy analytic can be replaced in the above results by projective.

John Searle’s Chinese Room Argument purports to demonstrate that syntax is not sufficient for semantics, and, hence, because computation cannot yield understanding, the computational theory of mind, which equates the mind to an information processing system based on formal computations, fails. In this paper, we use the CRA, and the debate that emerged from it, to develop a philosophical critique of recent advances in robotics and neuroscience. We describe results from a body of work that contributes to blurring the divide (...) between biological and artificial systems; so-called animats, autonomous robots that are controlled by biological neural tissue and what may be described as remote-controlled rodents, living animals endowed with augmented abilities provided by external controllers. We argue that, even though at first sight, these chimeric systems may seem to escape the CRA, on closer analysis, they do not. We conclude by discussing the role of the body–brain dynamics in the processes that give rise to genuine understanding of the world, in line with recent proposals from enactive cognitive science. (shrink)

Corporate Social Responsibility is a label covering managerial checks and institutional balances introduced against the background of ethical values. Values are clearly formulated and organizational processes are designed with the inclusion of stakeholders and their voice in mind. In case of the post-communist societies designers of CRS cope with an additional level of complexity. Original sin of market reforms after the political fall of the communist regimes is the corrupt take-over of markets and democracies. Social institutions of capitalist markets and (...) democratic states have been subverted and invaded by the unpurged networks of the post-communist power elites. They privatized the wealth of state enterprises becoming new owners of economic resources and they drifted towards the top functions in state institutions becoming post-communist power brokers. Their long-term monopoly of the media left them in command of the mainstream PR communications long after their absolute political power was gone. Democratic institutions, and the right to free speech are daily challenged by influential image and market competition. They cannot be taken for granted. Some democratic institutions are undermined by subversive networks of the corrupt mafias often formed by ex-functionaries of the communist party and her secret services. Their tacit power is explicitly legitimized by media-clusters of cultural representatives of the communist ex-power elites exploiting leftist bias of media mainstreams. (shrink)

Nowadays, computers are in common use, both in experimental and theoretical research. It is worth considering if the implementation of a new, universal research tool has significantly changed the science of the end of 20th century. The crucial question which I will try to answer is if computers have revolutionized the scientific research. In order to find the answer, I will describe modern digitally aided science, taking into consideration the research conducted in the greatest elementary physics laboratory. Subsequently, I will (...) refer to the classic concept of scientific revolution proposed by Thomas S. Kuhn. Finally, I will answer the question related to digital revolution in science. (shrink)

Informatycy zajmujący się problematyką algorytmów ewolucyjnych twierdzą, że miał miejsce transfer idei z biologii do informatyki, tzn. że ustalenia biologii ewolucyjnej stały się inspiracją do powstania tych algorytmów i że działają one analogicznie do procesów ewolucyjnych zachodzących w świecie przyrody. Jeśli jest tak faktycznie, to warto odpowiedzieć na pytanie, w jakim zakresie następuje przeniesienie ustaleń z biologii ewolucyjnej do działu informatyki zajmującego się algorytmami ewolucyjnymi. Zadanie to stanie się możliwe po uprzednim zreferowaniu sposobu działania algorytmów ewolucyjnych.

The article is a comparative analysis of the philosophy of the Russian Religious Renaissance and the views of Marian Zdziechowski (1861–1938), a Polish religious thinker, historian of ideas, and historian of literature. Zdziechowski was also an expert on and promoter of Russian religious thought. As a thinker, he was influenced by it and attempted to cope with the same problems that were plaguing the Russians: the Bolshevik revolution, the decline of Christian religion and culture, and the imminent catastrophe of the (...) whole civilization. The paper describes the affinities between Zdziechowski and the Russian thinkers in detail, yet its main task is to grasp the differences between them, i.e., the distinctive features of Zdziechowski’s thought. The conclusion is that Zdziechowski, who—in contrast to the Russians—was not interested in the recent currents of Western philosophy, as a critic of historical Christianity and an eschatological thinker was less radical than the Russians, but as a philosopher of history he turns out to be a greater pessimist. An important part of the analysis is confrontation of literary styles typical for the Polish thinker and the Russians. A specific feature of Zdziechowski was his tendency to express his own views not in a straightforward manner, but rather by commenting and reconstructing other authors’ ideas. (shrink)

Many countries employ systemic methods of protecting consumers from unfair business practices. One such practice is the use of abusive clauses in business-to-consumer (B2C) contracts, which unfairly impose additional obligations on the consumer or deprive them of their due rights. This article presents an information system that utilizes artificial intelligence methods to automate contract analysis and to detect abusive clauses. The goal of the system is to support the entire administrative process, from contract acquisition, through text extraction and the recommendation (...) of potentially abusive clauses, to the generation of official administrative documents that can be sent to court or to the owners of firms. This article focuses on the components that use machine learning methods. The first is an intelligent crawler that is responsible for automatically detecting contract templates on websites and retrieving them into the system. The second is a document analysis module that implements a clause recommendation algorithm. The algorithm employs transformer-based language models and information retrieval methods to identify abusive passages in text. Our solution achieved first place in a competition on the automatic analysis of B2C contracts organized by the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK), and has since been implemented as an official tool to support the contract analysis process in Poland. (shrink)

Deceased in January this year, the Polish-British sociologist Zygmunt Bauman has left an extremely rich scholarly legacy. In one of his last academic interviews, he refers to the key issues which had been the subject of his in-depth analysis for many years. Bauman starts with reflections on the gap between political authority and power. Next, given his long-standing research into ‘liquid modernity’, he focuses on the vitality of capitalism, which has now adopted a lighter, consumer form. Another thread of the (...) interview is Bauman’s own research attitude, which he refers to as ‘sociological hermeneutics’. It is characterized by his reluctance to use any ‘-isms’ and a profound mistrust of all particular schools of research (including postmodernism) which could limit creative freedom. In the final part of the interview, Bauman highlights the problem of the social entanglement of intellectuals. (shrink)

Wśród prekursorów nowoczesnej nauki o religii David Hume zajmuje szczególne miejsce. Znany jest bowiem nie tylko jako dociekliwy badacz racjonalności religii, należącej do kluczowych problemów filozofii religii, ale także badacz naturalnych podstaw religii, zaprezentowanych zwłaszcza w „Naturalnej historii religii”. Jednym z najważniejszych dokonań Hume’a jest wyraźne oddzielenie, a zarazem komplementarność, dwóch sposobów badania religii, z których jeden koncentruje się na racjach wierzeń religijnych, zaś drugi na przyczynach występowania określonych wierzeń i praktyk. W wystąpieniu swoim argumentuję, że Hume’owski sposób myślenia o (...) religii nie tylko stanowił ważny etap na drodze do nowoczesnej nauki o religii, ale również wykazuję, że ta ostatnia w znacznym stopniu inspirowała się i nadal inspiruje Hume’owską krytyką religii. (shrink)

There is proposed the analysis of conceptual foundations in researching of Poles’ national character on materials of Julian Leopold Ochorowicz (1850-1917) scientific heritage connected with philosophical and pedagogical implications of his ideas. Ochorowicz’s contribution to interdisciplinary approach on Poles’ national character is emphasizing. The heuristically potential of this approach is explicated using reconstruction and systemizing of his views, which had played a significant role in determining intentionality in discussions on the matter «What philosophy do Poles need?” for the successful self-statement (...) in their national being. Critically evaluating of this experience there is combined with verifying of his theoretical assumptions that should be actual also in Ukrainian social and cultural contexts. Ochorowicz belongs to the group of outstanding Polish scholars with wide scientific interests and original achievements. This article presents his research on history perceived as a collective psychological process. In Poland, Ochorowicz should be regarded as a precursor of psychohistory. An important role in his conception is played by the theory of the so-called residual symptoms, on the basis of which he developed the concept of Poles’ national character with its educational implications. The question about the rudiments of our national character sharpens in border situations, in which those traits, previously presented in a declarative form, are verified. The strength of a nation is encoded in the irreal sphere, i.e. in the sphere of values around which people group themselves. (shrink)

We construct free algebras in the variety generated by the equivalential algebra with conjunction on dense elements and compute the formula for the free spectrum of this variety. Moreover, we describe the decomposition of free algebras into directly indecomposable factors.

We show that each non-compact Polish group admits a continuous action on a Polish space with non-smooth orbit equivalence relation. We actually construct a free such action. Thus for a Polish group compactness is equivalent to all continuous free actions of this group being smooth. This answers a question of Kechris. We also establish results relating local compactness of the group with its inability to induce orbit equivalence relations not reducible to countable Borel equivalence relations. Generalizing a result of Hjorth, (...) we prove that each non-locally compact, that is, infinite dimensional, separable Banach space has a continuous action on a Polish space with non-Borel orbit equivalence relation, thus showing that this property characterizes non-local compactness among Banach spaces. (shrink)

We applaud Heintz & Scott-Phillips's guiding metaphor of “unleashing leashed expression,” and we value the unified explanation for the emergence of not only language, but also other forms of unleashed expression, such as multimodal communication. We are more critical of the authors' discussion of the selection pressures acting towards unleashed expression, which are proposed to hinge on partner choice ecology.

Wobec postępującego od lat procesu dyferencjacji nauk warto zadać pytanie o ich możliwą integrację. Problem ten przedstawiony zostanie na przykładzie kosmologii antropicznej. W pierwszej części artykułu opisane zostaną dwa podstawowe ujęcia kosmologii antropicznej, to znaczy mocna i słaba kosmologia antropiczna (kosmologia inflacyjna oraz kosmologia kwantowa). Następnie zostanie ona ukazana jako przykład projektu integracji nauk ewolucyjnych. W ostatniej części artykułu podjęta zostanie próba wykazania, że kosmologia antropiczna (w znaczeniu szerszym niż wcześniej opisana słaba i mocna kosmologia antropiczna) może stanowić paradygmatyczny przykład (...) nauki ewolucyjnej o najszerszym zakresie badawczym i spójnej metodzie badawczej, wspólnej dla wszystkich nauk ewolucyjnych. Będzie to zatem opis projektu badawczego, który jednoczy wszystkie nauki ewolucyjne. ------------------------- Zgłoszono: 18/04/2023. Zrecenzowano: 20/09/2023. Zaakceptowano do publikacji: 15/11/2023. (shrink)

In the 1980s, computer-aided experimental research became standard in the majority of leading research laboratories. Unfortunately, this shift was not adequately reflected in the professional literature related to the philosophy and methodology of science. A new experimentalism did emerge, aimed at adequately describing experimental practice (to be discussed in the first part of this article); however, in its initial phase, it failed to consider the role of computers in experimental research (discussed in the second part). This oversight by the philosophers (...) of science, the proponents of the new experimentalism, is significant and calls for supplementation (addressed in the fourth part). By the turn of the 20 th and 21 st centuries, there were numerous philosophical analyses related to computer experiments, such as computer simulations. However, this article focuses only on classic experiments facilitated by various computer systems (e.g., LHC at CERN). In the final part of this article, I will present examples of aspects of experimental work that have not yet been analyzed and could potentially enhance new experimentalism with insights from computer-aided experiments. (shrink)

This paper explores the integration of machine learning into economics and social sciences, assessing its potential impact and limitations. It introduces fundamental machine learning concepts and principles, highlighting the differences between the two disciplines, particularly the focus on causal inference in economics and prediction in machine learning. The paper discusses diverse applications of machine learning, from extracting insights from unstructured data to creating novel indicators and improving predictive accuracy, while also addressing challenges related to data quality, computational efficiency, and data (...) ownership. It emphasizes the importance of standardization, transparency, and ethical considerations in prediction tasks, recognizing that machine learning is a powerful tool but cannot replace economic theory. Ultimately, researchers remain optimistic about the transformative potential of machine learning in re-shaping research methodologies and generating new insights in economics and social sciences. (shrink)

A new approach to semantics, based on ordered Banach spaces, is proposed. The Banach spaces semantics arises as a generalization of the four particular cases: the Giles' approach to belief structures, its generalization to the non-Boolean case, and fuzzy extensions of Boolean as well as of non-Boolean semantics.

The paper describes in detail the procedure of identification of the inner language and an inner logico of a physical theory. The procedure is a generalization of the original ideas of J. von Neuman and G. Birkhoff about quantum logic.

Dialectics as the philosophical core of Zygmunt Bauman’s thought. The case of freedomThe aim of this paper is to analyse the philosophical roots of Zygmunt Bauman’s thought, epitomized by dialectics, especially in the context of the issue of freedom. In the first part of the article the author analyses the problem of the dialectics of nature and society by means of the concepts borrowed from Henri Lefebvre. The second part discusses Bauman’s philosophical predecessors, especially the members of the Frankfurt School, (...) i.e. Theodor W. Adorno, Max Horkheimer and Erich Fromm. The final part is focused on tripartite condition of freedom, unfreedom and determination, as diagnosed by Bauman. (shrink)

In this paper we attempt to show that rhetoric plays an important role in economics as a science and in economy as a social system. Our task is rather demonstrative, but it aims at stripping away the illusion that economics has acquired a status equal to the natural sciences, in which there is no place for subjectivism and ambiguity. Economics belongs, after all, to the realm of the social sciences and as such it is subject to the limitations of human (...) cognition and understanding. We show that economics as a science is not free from employing sophisticated methods of persuasion and rhetoric. Next, we also try to demonstrate that rhetoric can be a useful tool in creating economic reality. It does not have influence on economic processes per se, but it is helpful in constructing an institutional architecture of the economy by influencing public opinion and decision makers. (shrink)