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)

The article focuses on the issue of access to experimental therapy under the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and more specifically in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. To date, this issue has been the subject of three cases decided by the Court. In none of these cases the Court has recognized a right to experimental therapy. The article has two main research objectives. The first is to reconstruct the arguments for (...) the validity of the right to experimental therapy provided by the applicants in the cases considered by the Court. The second objective is to assess these arguments, as well as their criticism that might be found in Court’s decisions. (shrink)

This book reconstructs fundamental assumptions on weak thought, a crucial tendency in contemporary hermeneutics. Some motifs of weak thought serve to reinterpret the concept of mimesis and that of the textual subject as a trace. The book also describes tendencies in modern literature in which weak being is expressed by the motif of the trace.

The author emphasizes importance of the resolution of International Covenant of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights by the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization on 16th December 1966, that took place at the same day as the resolution of International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights. This consists in overcoming of the doctrine of the 19th century that the development of economic and social rights presents a menace to the realization of political rights which connects in an inseparable way (...) both categories of the above mentioned rights. (shrink)

The main goal of this paper is to prove the thesis that the attempts to transpose the cultural differentiation into the social and economical universalism and globalism must lead to repressive psychosocial totalitarianism on a large scale. Modern human sciences and politics tend to classify the individual in respect to his adaptive efficiency in interactive relation with programmed environment and to qualify him according to given imposed criteria of social functionalism. The correctly socialized individual is expected to be an exchangeable (...) functional unit assessed according to its usefulness in performing a set of particular tasks, despite his cultural background being considered as a second-rate factor, which may affect the social acceptance and correctness of his behavior. However, no community is an exact representation of society because it is held together not by functions but by the values aswell as the forms of their actualization and implementation into the common organization and their way of life. The community is not a contract upon which society is based. The identity of the individual must not be removed from the culture of the community in which he lives and from its constitutive values. It is also rooted in the past and history of striving for self-determination and cultural as well as personal subjectivity. Without these significant cultural and historical components the individual identity is nothing but an operational, programmable algorithm of functional living unit assigned to perform short-term utilitarian tasks. This approach stands in contradiction to the Aristotelian concept of wellbeing and happiness considered as striving for the common good of spiritual values by individuals as well as by human communities. Any extensive and effective civilization neglecting the higher values of moral, symbolic and religious sense of the individual, must face totalitarianism or extinction. (shrink)

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)

In our article (Zawadzki and Adamczyk 2021), we analyzed threats that novel memory modifying interventions may pose in the future. More specifically, we discussed how optogenetics’ potential for reversible erasure/deactivation of memory “may impact authenticity by producing changes at different levels of personality.” Our article has received many thoughtful open peer commentaries for which we would like to express our great appreciation. We have identified two main threads of objections. They are related to the potential applicability of optogenetics as (...) a therapeutic memory modification technology (MMT) in humans—applicability thread, and the normative value of authenticity, that is, the assumption that preserving authenticity is valuable (either in general or in the particular approach we adopted)—normative thread. Both of these threads concern fundamental issues: The former deals with the scientific credibility of the case vignette on which our discussion is based, and the latter deals with the normative weight of our considerations. We think that addressing both of them can be instructive in a broader context as they reflect a more general disagreement among neuroethicists about the very purpose and method of our discipline. (shrink)

In _Roman Ingarden’s Philosophy of Literature_ Wojciech Chojna makes Ingarden’s philosophy of literature more consistent with Husserl’s phenomenology and more immune to both absolutism and relativism. The latter is overcome not through falling back on essentialism but from within itself.

In authoritarian states, the discourse on freedom of speech, conducted by those opposed to non-democratic governments, focuses on the core aspects of this freedom: on a right to criticize the government, a right to advocate theories arid ideologies contrary to government-imposed orthodoxy, a right to demand institutional reforms, changes in politics, resignation of the incompetent and the corrupt from positions of authority. The claims for freedom of speech focus on those exercises of freedom that are most fundamental and most beneficial (...) to citizens - and which are denied to them by the government. But in a by-and large democratic polity, where these fundamental benefits of freedom of speech are generally enjoyed by the citizens, the public and scholarly discourse on freedom of speech hovers about the peripheries of that freedom; the focus is on its outer boundaries rather than at the central territory of freedom of speech. Those borderline cases, in which people who are otherwise genuinely committed to the core aspects of freedom of speech may sincerely disagree, include pornography, racist hate speech and religious bigoted expressions, defamation of politicians and of private persons, contempt of court, incitement to violence, disclosure of military or commercial secrets, advertising of merchandise such as alcohol or cigarettes or of services and entertainment such as gambling and prostitution. (shrink)

Artykuł ten wykorzystuje okazję, jaką jest bezprecedensowe wydanie w Polsce Nowej Justyny – jednego z najbardziej niesławnych i skandalicznych dzieł Markiza de Sade (Kraków: Eperons, 2022, przeł. Krzysztof Matuszewski, tom 1-6) – aby zarysować szczególną historię towarzyszącą publikacji tego dzieła, a także by przypomnieć ewentualnym czytelnikom o jego znaczeniu literackim i filozoficznym w opozycji do popularnych aczkolwiek trywialnych twierdzeń, że twórczość Sade’a to nic więcej jak pornografia. Konsekwentny rozwój myśli sadycznej ukazuje filozoficzną odyseję ludzkiego poszukiwania suwerenności. Ma ona swój początek (...) w oświeceniowej negacji Boga, lecz nie zatrzymuje się na niej. W pełni zautonomizowany rozum wchodzi w sojusz z Naturą, lecz jego również musi zakwestionować, tak jak musi zanegować Innego oraz samo Ego, by ostatecznie osiągnąć stanowisko nihilistycznego immoralizmu przejawiającego się apatycznym ponawianiem zbrodni. (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 introduce a correction into the notion of self-directed adult learning by way of conjoining it with philosophically elaborated notions of autonomy, self-reflectiveness, and maturity. The basic premise of this intervention is that in andragogical theorizing, learners’ self-directedness ought not to be thought as obvious and thus beyond question. Since adult selves are not transparent but socially, culturally, and discoursively constructed, adult educators are encouraged to think of themselves as facilitators of adult learners’ self-awareness (...) and self-directedness in their learning processes. Adult learners need to be assisted in developing critical skills that can be used to eliminate distortions in their perception of social reality, in understanding their own personalities, their needs and decisions concerning continuing education. The problematization of the concept of human autonomy amid external influences, is first discussed in Immanuel Kant’s idea of maturity as an ability to use one’s understanding without guidance from another. I then turn to Habermas’s philosophy of communicative action and three knowledge-constitutive interests where the human interest in emancipation comes to the fore. Its significance for critical adult learning is further emphasized in line with Stephen Brookfield’s and Jack Mezirow’s association of self-directed learning with empowerment, understood as freeing consciousness from its dependence on hypostatized powers. Drawing on Foucault’s work, I argue that attaining the state of autonomy requires practice in “the care for oneself” which amounts to the lifelong endeavor to create and govern oneself and to learn how not to be governed. The agenda for adult education for citizenship opted for in this paper attributes essential significance to learnable skills of critical reasoning, deliberation, and self-reflectiveness which all operate within three proposed dimensions of adult education: experiential learning, literacy, and vocationalism. (shrink)

W niniejszej analizie poddane badaniu zostały szczególne działania państwa, które przeciwdziałają szkodzeniu dobru wspólnoty, a mianowicie śmiercionośne działania funkcjonariuszy policyjnych. W tym celu pokazano najpierw, czym odróżniają się one od innych typów państwowego zabijania, a mianowicie zabijania wskutek wyroku sądowego oraz zabijania w ramach konfliktu zbrojnego. Następnie, rozważone zostały dwa główne typy śmiercionośnych działań policyjnych: (1) działania niosące ryzyko pozbawienia kogoś życia oraz (2) działania zmierzające bezpośrednio do śmierci jednostki. Wskazano szczegółowo, kiedy policjanci mają uprawnienie do podjęcia się takich działań. (...) Zagadnienie śmiercionośnych działań policyjnych zostało przeanalizowane z perspektywy tomistycznej. Poza odwoływaniem się do pism Akwinaty, poddane krytycznej analizie zostały stanowiska współczesnych badaczy, czerpiących z tradycji tomistycznej – Johna Finnisa, Edwarda Fesera, Gregory’ego Reichberga, Wendy Hicks oraz Benjamina Wisniewskiego. (shrink)

Polnische und sowjetische Zwangsarbeiter, die in der nationalsozialistischen Ideologie als „Untermenschen“ galten, waren die am stärksten diskriminierten Nationalitäten unter den ausländischen Beschäftigten in der Kriegswirtschaft des „Dritten Reiches“. Ihre gesamten Lebens- und Arbeitsbedingungen waren der Rassenideologie untergeordnet. Diese Ideologie vertrug sich in hervorragender Weise mit der systematischen Ausbeutung ihrer Arbeitskraft. Das Ergebnis des Zwangsarbeitersystems war ein völlig repressives, sogar unmenschliches System mit miserablen Lebensbedingungen und minderwertiger medizinischer Versorgung. Sowohl die Lebensbedingungen als auch die medizinische Behandlung zeigen wie in einem Brennglas (...) die Hauptziele des NS-Staates und seinen rassistischen und entmenschlichten Charakter. Die im Nordosten Westfalens gelegene Stadt und der Landkreis Bielefeld sind aufgrund ihres gemischt industriellen und landwirtschaftlichen Charakters ein repräsentatives Beispiel für das brutale und repressive System der Zwangsarbeitsindustrie und spiegelt so das gesamte Spektrum der mit der Zwangsarbeit verbundenen Probleme wider. Die Analyse der medizinischen Versorgung im Raum Bielefeld ermöglicht die Unterscheidung zweier Gruppen polnischer Zwangsarbeiter. Die erste Gruppe besteht aus Personen, die in der Industrie beschäftigt sind, während die andere Gruppe eine gemischte Kategorie ist, die Arbeitnehmer aus den Bereichen Landwirtschaft, Dienstleistungssektor und Haushaltshilfe in Privathaushalten umfasst. In der ersten Gruppe war der Status der Arbeitnehmer in der Regel standardisiert. Die meisten von ihnen wurden in den Lagern untergebracht und einer brutalen und systematischen Ausbeutung unterzogen, die darauf ausgerichtet war, die Produktionseffekte zu maximieren und gleichzeitig Personen infolge widriger Arbeits- und Unterbringungsbedingungen und minimaler medizinischer Versorgung zu vernichten. Diese unmenschliche Behandlung war ein Derivat der rassistischen Ideologie. Status, Beschäftigungsbedingungen und medizinische Versorgung in der zweiten Gruppe waren viel uneinheitlicher und stärker von ganz unterschiedlichen Bedingungen abhängig. Wir haben es hier mit einer breiten Palette von Problemen zu tun, oft verbunden mit extrem unterschiedlichen Erfahrungen von Zwangsarbeitern mit dem medizinischen Personal und unterschiedlichen Einstellungen der Arbeitgeber zu den Zwangsarbeitern. Begrenzt wird die Aussagekraft unserer Darstellung durch die oft beschränkte Quellenlage. Insbesondere betrifft das den begrenzten Fundus an schriftlich festgehaltenen Erinnerungen der Zwangsarbeiter. Heute ist es praktisch unmöglich, das Quellenreservoir zu erweitern, da die Zeugen dieser Ereignisse nicht mehr zur Verfügung stehen. (shrink)

Artykuł dotyczy doświadczenia moralnego podmiotu pozostającego poza siecią bliskich relacji. Analizuję dwie reguły niezależności moralnej, które mogłyby świadczyć o uprzywilejowaniu podmiotu w tego rodzaju sytuacjach. Zgodnie z pierwszą podmiot pozostający poza siecią relacji unika zagrożeń związanych z utożsamieniem z rolą społeczną. Zgodnie z drugą działania podejmowane przez podmiot charakteryzują się wyższym stopniem bezinteresowności, a co za tym idzie – większą wartością moralną. Argumentuję, że reguły te mogą mieć jedynie charakter prima facie i są ograniczone wieloma czynnikami. Wskazuję również, że uprzywilejowanie (...) podmiotu moralnego w sytuacji cudzoziemca jest równoważone przez trudności w działaniu moralnym w obszarze obietnic, praktyki obwiniania oraz współodpowiedzialności i troski. (shrink)

The most‐critical point of reproductive development in all sexually reproducing species is the transition from mitotic to meiotic cell cycle. Studies in unicellular fungi have indicated that the decision to enter meiosis must be made before the beginning of the premeiotic S phase. Recent data from the mouse1 suggest that this timing of meiosis initiation is a universal feature shared also by multicellular eukaryotes. In contrast, the signaling cascade that leads to meiosis initiation shows great diversity among species. BioEssays 29:511–514, (...) 2007. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Władysław Witwicki’s suppositional conception of religious faith was presented extensively in his book La foi des éclairés [Faith of the Enlightened] (1939). The aim of this work was to investigate how so‑called enlightened people (i.e. those with at least a secondary education) reconcile secular knowledge with religious faith. The empirical research presented by Witwicki was based on a number of concepts, such as judgment, supposition, psychological principle of contradiction, sincere belief and insincere belief. Witwicki concluded that the faith of enlightened (...) people consists of suppositions which are held against secular beliefs. However, this conclusion was not sufficiently justified and can only be applied to a certain group of believers. (shrink)

he article focuses on the problem of egology in the thought of Roman Ingarden, a conception that offers a creative and critical response to Husserl’s egology and converges with the historical conception of the ego in Descartes. It analyses the problem in two stages based on two important texts by Ingarden: Controversy over the Existence of the World and Man and Time. Starting with reflections on the status of pure consciousness, Ingarden recognises the pure ego as something solely abstract compared (...) with the worldly and irreducible real ego. From there his reflections on the ego move on to the problem of its substantiality, specific temporality as well as the role and experience of the body to finally produce a philosophy of existence with ethical and personalistic overtones. In this way Ingarden recreates the egological journey in Descartes, who, searching for the foundation of knowledge, identified subjectivity as the union of body and soul and saw its fulfilment in the ethical experience of generosity. (shrink)

Name der Zeitschrift: Byzantinische Zeitschrift Jahrgang: 109 Heft: 2 Seiten: 919-942.

This article is a speculative review of psychology’s approach to the cultural and civilizational determinants of the development of human identity. It discusses the relation between human freedom and necessity as it is determined by culture and its alternative suggestions concerning normative human existence. As his point of departure the author adopted Feliks Koneczny’s quincunx philosophy of history together with its five basic categories of existence. One can try to transpose these categories into the factors which constitute human intra-psychic space (...) and also into measures of description of the mechanics of human behavior. Attention is drawn to the fact that, in this context, the axiological shortcomings of psychology are exposed, especially the deliberate refusal to evaluate behavior in terms of good and evil or the exclusion of ethics, moral obligations, conscience and responsibility from psychological discourse. (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 paper presents a novel argument against intentionalism about demonstrative reference. The term ‘intentionalism’ is used to denote the view saying that the referent of a demonstrative expression is determined by the speaker’s intention. My argument focuses on ‘mismatch cases’, roughly, the cases in which the speaker’s intention determines a different object from the one which appears to be the referent in the light of contextual factors. The opponents of intentionalism claim that intentionalism yields simply incorrect reference predictions in these (...) cases. Many intentionalism defenders claim to the contrary, i.e. that the relevant kind of intention fixes the referent in line with the contextual factors and thus the theory provides correct predictions. I will argue that this strategy is objectionable as the concept of the relevant referential intention is genuinely parasitic on non-intentional accounts of demonstrative reference. (shrink)

Optogenetics is an invasive neuromodulation technology involving the use of light to control the activity of individual neurons. Even though optogenetics is a relatively new neuromodulation tool whose various implications have not yet been scrutinized, it has already been approved for its first clinical trials in humans. As optogenetics is being intensively investigated in animal models with the aim of developing novel brain stimulation treatments for various neurological and psychiatric disorders, it appears crucial to consider both the opportunities and dangers (...) such therapies may offer. In this review, we focus on the memory-modifying potential of optogenetics, investigating what it is capable of and how it differs from other memory modification technologies. We then outline the safety challenges that need to be addressed before optogenetics can be used in humans. Finally, we re-examine crucial neuroethical concerns expressed in regard to other MMTs in the light of optogenetics and address those that appear to be unique to the memory-modifying potential of optogenetic technology. (shrink)

Author: Torzewski Wojciech Title: HERMENEUTICS AND THE QUESTION OF REASON (Hermeneutyka a kwestia rozumu) Source: Filo-Sofija year: 2010, vol:.11, number: 2010/2, pages: 29-40 Keywords: HERMENEUTICS, RATIONALITY, INTERPRETATION Discipline: PHILOSOPHY Language: POLISH Document type: ARTICLE Publication order reference (Primary author’s office address): E-mail: www:This article is an expression and an attempt to justify the belief that hermeneutic philosophy is an interpretation of the rationality’s concept. Although hermeneutics itself is a critique of a certain form of rationalism, and therefore falls under (...) charges “irrationality”, the concept of reason is an essential component of its identity as a philosophy. (shrink)

For nearly two decades, ethicists have expressed concerns that the further development and use of memory modification technologies (MMTs)—techniques allowing to intentionally and selectively alter memories—may threaten the very foundations of who we are, our personal identity, and thus pose a threat to our well-being, or even undermine our “humaneness.” This paper examines the potential ramifications of memory-modifying interventions such as changing the valence of targeted memories and selective deactivation of a particular memory as these interventions appear to be at (...) the same time potentially both most promising clinically as well as menacing to identity. However, unlike previous works discussing the potential consequences of MMTs, this article analyzes them in the context of the narrative relational approach to personal identity and potential issues related to autonomy. I argue that such a perspective brings to light the ethical aspects and moral issues arising from the use of MMTs that have been hidden from previously adopted approaches. In particular, this perspective demonstrates how important the social context in which an individual lives is for the ethical evaluation of a given memory-modifying intervention. I conclude by suggesting that undertaking memory modifications without taking into account the social dimension of a person’s life creates the risk that she will not be able to meet one of the basic human needs—the autonomous construction and maintenance of personal identity. Based on this conclusion, I offer some reflections on the permissibility and advisability of MMTs and what these considerations suggest for the future. (shrink)

The Limits of Cognition and the Shape of Being Based on the Thought of Karl Jaspers The article points out the elements of Karl Jaspers’ epistemological conception that cross out the possibility of a comprehensive account of being. The key issue here is the limits of cognition, which take the form of object cognition. The theme of limits points to the inadequacies of human thinking in the context of quantifiable and absolutist representations of reality. The impossibility of adequately grasping the (...) totality of reality will be illustrated here by means of the criticism Jaspers levelled at absolutising metaphysics. In connection with the description of the structure of cognition proposed by Jaspers, the article points out the conceptual proximity of the issue of worldview and metaphysics in the light of the thought of the cited author. (shrink)