Nasza filozofia w świecie

Wybrane, najnowsze publikacje pracowników IF WFCh UKSW w czasopismach i monografiach wydanych za granicą

W. Płotka, "An Outline of a Phenomenology of Solidarity: Beyond the Bridge Problem", Filosofija. Sociologija. 2018; 29:3

Abstract:

The aim of the article is to present main elements, problems and preliminary solutions connected to a phenomenology of solidarity. The article is divided into three parts. In the first part, the author defines the bridge problem as an attempt to bind subjective and intersubjective levels of constitution, and he shows that neither Ingarden nor Tischner can solve the problem. In the second part, the author presents the act of solidarization as a complex act which binds cognitive, volitional and affective dimensions. Finally, the author sketches an alternative approach to a phenomenology of solidarity that leads beyond the bridge problem, namely, Husserl’s theory of constitution of groups in joint action.

doi.org/10.6001/fil-soc.v29i3.3773

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A. Cebula, "Electoral-law-induced distortions of the constitutional principle of substantive equality of elections. The case of Polish local elections", European Constitutional Law Review. 2018; 14:4

Abstract:

Principle of equality of elections in Polish Constitution pertains to all types of self-government elections – Direct consequence of the constitutional guarantee of equality of all citizens before the law – Provisions of the 2011 Polish Election Code on procedures for creating single-seat constituencies – Substantive equality does not apply in the case of elections to councils of small and middle-sized communes – Permissible departures from the demographic norm regulating the size of constituencies – Possible size discrepancies between individual single-seat constituencies (1:3) lead to serious disparities between residents of the same commune in their potential impact on local self-government institutions – Compatibility with standards concerning the substantive equality of elections formulated in the Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters by the Venice Commission.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-constitutional-law-review/article/electorallawinduced-distortions-of-the-constitutional-principle-of-substantive-equality-of-elections-the-case-of-polish-local-elections/45EC2F84664E2D413ADFE79F0D1F46E7

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K. Świętorzecka, M. Łyczak, "An even more Leibnizian version of Gödel's ontological argument", Journal of Applied Logics - IfCoLoG Journal of Logics and their Applications. 2018; 5:7

Abstract:

We propose a modification of Gödel’s ontological argument for God’s existence from his ‘Ontologischer Beweis’ manuscript (1970). We follow a Leibnizian onto-theology, especially two of Leibniz’s letters from 1676 and 1677, to which Gödel could relate. We consider two differences between Gödel and Leibniz. We argue for the superiority of Leibniz’s ideas, while preserving the main structure of the Gödelian argument. Our first aim is to bring Gödel’s concept ofpositiveness closer to the idea of a Leibnizian perfectio which should not be understood via negations. Our second goal is to analyze the concept of being necessary in terms of a Leibnizian demonstrability. To this end, we formulate an S4 version of Gödel’s argument without using negative predicate terms. We sketch a model for our theory that allows us to express a few specific properties of the Leibnizian God.

http://www.collegepublications.co.uk/downloads/ifcolog00027.pdf

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K. Świętorzecka, M. Porwolik, "Bolesław Sobociński on Universals. Leśniewski’s Nominalism and Sobociński’s Metaconceptualism", in: The Lvov-Warsaw School. Past and Present. Studies in Universal Logic. Birkhäuser, Cham. 2018; 615-632

Abstract:

The present paper proposes a comparative analysis of two standpoints on the existence and nature of universals hold by Stanisław Leśniewski and Bolesław Sobociński. We consider first the nominalistic argumentation of Leśniewski formalized by Sobocińki and described in the correspondence with J. M. Bocheński in 1956. Sobociński’s formalization revealed a fundamental pragmatic weakness of the reconstructed argumentation which was also mentioned by Sobociński. He himself was aware of the difficulties connected with an adequate interpretation of the crucial axiom, whose acceptance Leśniewski imputed to supporters of all theories of universals. Finally, the problem of the existence and nature of universals was elaborated by Sobociński also in a separate typescript “Uwagi w sprawie powszechników” (Remarks on universals). The view formulated by Sobociński comes from a combination of the methodology of deductive systems and the conceptualist standpoint. From the philosophical perspective Sobociński’s idea is both interesting and original, but it remained unknown to philosophers and logicians in general. For these reason we describe it and compare it with Leśniewski’s approach. We use in this description epistemological notions of R. Suszko. Our analysis enables to speak about universals in sense of Leśniewski, which are described by some universal in sense of Sobociński.

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-65430-0_42

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M. Piekarski, "Commentary: Brain, Mind, World: Predictive Coding, Neo-Kantianism, and Transcendental Idealism", Frontiers in Psychology. 2017; 8:2077

Abstract:

Recently, a number of neuroscientists and philosophers have taken the so-called predictive coding approach to support a form of radical neuro-representationalism, according to which the content of our conscious experiences is a neural construct, a brain-generated simulation. There is remarkable similarity between this account and ideas found in and developed by German neo-Kantians in the mid-nineteenth century. Some of the neo-Kantians eventually came to have doubts about the cogency and internal consistency of the representationalist framework they were operating within. In this paper, I will first argue that some of these concerns ought to be taken seriously by contemporary proponents of predictive coding. After having done so, I will turn to phenomenology. As we shall see, Husserl’s endorsement of transcendental idealism was partially motivated by his rejection of representationalism and phenomenalism and by his attempt to safeguard the objectivity of the world of experience. This confronts us with an intriguing question. Which position is best able to accommodate our natural inclination for realism: Contemporary neuro-representationalism or Husserl’s transcendental idealism?

doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02077

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W. Płotka, "Early phenomenology in Poland (1895-1945): origins, development, and breakdown", Studies in East European Thought. 2017; 69:1

Abstract:

This article presents the development of the phenomenological movement in Poland in the period 1895–1945. It focuses on the early reactions to phenomenology and the later consolidation of the group of phenomenologists in Lvov. The article also explores the context of Polish phenomenology, its main figures, and their texts. The author suggests that early phenomenology in Poland was a pluralistic discipline that developed in polemical discussions, including discussions with members of the Lvov–Warsaw school. Finally, the article summarizes the major contributions of phenomenologists to philosophy, psychology, and aesthetics in Poland.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11212-017-9274-0

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A. Świeżyński, "A Philosophical Critique of the Concept of Miracle as a “Supernatural Event” ", Croatian Journal of Philosophy. 2017; 17:1

Abstract:

The notion of the supernaturality of an event may be understood in various ways. Most frequently ‘supernatural’ means ‘separated from nature’, i.e. different from nature. Thus, what is meant here is the difference in ontological character. The definitions of miracle, present in literature, emphasize the fact that we may talk about a miracle only when the phenomenon takes place beyond the natural order or stands in opposition to it. The description of a miracle as a ‘supernatural event’ contains in itself the reference to that which is natural. The supernaturality of an event means that it surpasses (transcends) naturality. Additionally, this transcendence contains a kind of opposition to that which is natural. However, the miracle as a supernatural event takes place within the scope of that which is natural, although it takes place in a different way from natural events. It seems that this supernaturality may involve two things: (1) the course of the miraculous event; (2) the cause of the miraculous event. We should consider each of them separately and specify what we understand by the supernatural course of the event and by the supernatural cause of the event. If we could prove that we can talk about supernatural events at least in one of the two signaled aspects of supernaturality, then we would be able to defi ne the miraculous event as a supernatural one. The analyses proposed in the paper allow us to formulate the following statement concerning the miraculous event, which is, to a great extent, a critical correction of the traditional way of understanding it: the miracle may be correctly understood as a supernatural event, only when this supernaturality concerns the personal cause of the event and not its course.

https://hrcak.srce.hr/195003

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K. Świętorzecka, "Bolzano's Argument for the Existence of Substances. A Formalization with Two Types of Predication", Acta Analytica - International Periodical for Philosophy in the Analytical Tradition. 2017; 32:4

Abstract:

The topic of our analysis is the argument for the existence of substances given by Bernard Bolzano in Athanasia (1827), where he essentially employs two ontological categories: substance and adherence. Bolzano considers the real and conditioned Inbegriff of all adherences, which are wirklich and nicht selbst bestehen. He claims that the formed collection is dependent on something external and non-adherential, which therefore is a substance. Bolzano’s argumentation turns out to be structurally similar to his argument for the existence of God from Lehrbuch der Religionswissenschaft (1834), but in each of these reasonings, we find different plausible interpretations of the key concept “Inbegriff”. The latter argumentation refers to the mereological totality of existentially conditioned objects. We propose the explication of the Bolzanian Inbegriff of all adherences using two types of predication: we consider its extension as composed of certain intensional counterparts of adherences. In our approach, we use a fragment of the theory of abstract objects formulated by E. Zalta (1983), describing two different relations between individuals and properties: extensional exemplification and intensional encoding. We put our reconstruction in a wider context of Bolzano’s ontology, formulating the needed axioms with two primitive predicates of second order ... is an adherence, ... is conditioned by something real as well as the conditionally introduced first order predicate constant In for Inbegriff of all adherential ideas. Finally, we sketch a model for our theory.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12136-017-0317-4

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M. Płotka, "Privare aliquem iure suo est contra ius naturale. On Paul Vladimiri's Natural Rights Theory", Ethical Perspectives. 2017; 24:1

Abstract:

The present contribution attempts to provide a more precise response to the discussion surrounding the concept of permissive natural law according to Paul Vladimiri. This goal will be realized in three steps. First, I will offer a brief history of permissive laws of nature in the medieval tradition and I will outline the historical context in which Paul Vladimiri developed his theory of natural law. Second, I will analyse excerpts from the writings of Vladimiri, in which he uses phrases indicating the presence of permissive law. Third, I will present the examples of natural human rights that Vladimiri develops in the context of the Polish-Teutonic Order conflict in 1415-1416.

http://www.ethical-perspectives.be/page.php?FILE=ep_detail&ID=247&TID=2245

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A. Świeżyński, "Where/when/how did life begin? A philosophical key for systematizing theories on the origin of life", International Journal of Astrobiology. 2016; 15:4

Abstract:

The question of the origin of life interested people for centuries. All existing views on this subject can be classified into different areas of human knowledge about the world: natural sciences, philosophy, and theology (religion). It is interesting to look at them closer and to classify all the typical groups of the theories about the origins of life. We can then see links existing between them and relationships that indicate their own nature. Nowadays, driving forces of prebiological chemical evolution and the mode of explanation of the transition ‘non-life into life’ give a great variety of solutions. The differences between the theories, however, as well as the current controversies in the scientific community (what ‘in the beginning’ was?; where and when the prebiotic evolution may took place? etc.) will be shown as of secondary importance for the theories’ systematization in comparison with several much more profound philosophical assumptions underlying the origin-of-life-studies. My proposal to organize and classify different types of the theories of genesis of life allows for extracting conceptions of different kind: metaphysical and scientific, and also for comparing them with each other. Some of them answer the question of the emergence of life in general and others on the question of the origin of life on the Earth only. In the perspective of contemporary scientific research on the origin of life it seems interesting that two main ideas concerning the problem of the origin of life, spontaneous generation and panspermia, are still present as presuppositions of certain theories but have been modified. Thus a ‘philosophical key’ seems to be the most appropriate to systematize all kinds of theories on the origin of life. This paper is an attempt to justify the position adopted. Most important conclusion is that the philosophical basis or implications, which are irreducibly present and possible to be found within the scientific theories of the origin of life, indicates that this problem is not just the strictly scientific one; it is the philosophical problem, too; thus it cannot be fully solved merely through referring to the empirical aspect of biogenesis.

https://doi.org/10.1017/S1473550416000100

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M. Piekarski, "The Problem of the Question About Animal Ethics: Discussion with Mark Coeckelbergh and David Gunkel", Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics. 2016; 29:4

Abstract:

In this article I discuss the thesis put forward by David Gunkel and Mark Coeckelbergh in their essay Facing Animals: A Relational, Other-Oriented Approach to Moral Standing. The authors believe that the question about the status of animals needs to be reconsidered. In their opinion, traditional attempts to justify the practice of ascribing rights to animals have been based on the search for what is common to animals and people. This popular conviction rests on the intuition according to which we tend to treat better those beings that are closer to us and resemble man in one way or the other. The attempts to ascribe a special status to animals are therefore based on the question “What properties does the animal have?”. However, the question is not well formulated because it leads to a number of ontological and epistemological problems. The question should rather be “What are the conditions under which an entity becomes a moral subject?”. Whilst fully subscribing to the suggestion, I cannot agree to the way the question is understood by both authors. I will demonstrate that the question opens up a transcendental dimension of reflections and may provide a clear justification of the need to engage in animal ethics. To do so, I will separate the easy and hard problems of animal ethics and use a different approach from the one suggested by Gunkel and Coeckelbergh to demonstrate how the need to pursue animal ethics may be justified.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10806-016-9626-7

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A. Świeżyński, "The Loneliness of "Adam". An Attempt at Symbolic Interpretation", Laval théologique et philosophique. 2016; 72:2

Abstract:

The experience of loneliness is usually seen as a negative aspect of human existence and something to overcome. However, it is worth trying to break free, if only on a trial basis, from the established traditional perception of loneliness, and strive to reduce it immediately from being one of the main sources of human affliction and to rethink its importance in human life. In order to do this, we must first consider the question of the essence of loneliness (ontology of loneliness), and then examine the question of its axiological status, i.e. its value (axiology of loneliness). The ontological dimension and the axiological dimension of the issue should include the opportunity to construct the concept of human loneliness, by taking into account its internal (phenomenological) and external (essential) aspect. The purpose of this paper is to propose an outline concept of loneliness, which, on the basis of findings on its essence, seeks to determine its axiological nature. The designated point of departure is the biblical image of human loneliness presented in Genesis (Gen. 2:4b-24).

https://doi.org/10.7202/1039299ar

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A. Świeżyński, "Science and/or Miracle? The System Approach to Miracle Events", Open Theology. 2015; 1:1

Abstract:

The system approach to the miracle is based on the conviction that the complex issues, requiring the interdisciplinary approach, should be captured in a system way. Thus, the problem of miracle, because of its interdisciplinary character, should be captured in a systemic way, because such approach enables the more adequate and comprehensive presentation of these issues. The system approach towards the epistemology of miracle is the attempt of the more adequate presentation of the relationship between the scientific-natural research and theological stage of recognizing the miracle. Because of using systemic categories, it is possible to present the common foundations (environment) of the system of scientific-natural knowledge and the system of theological interpretation, which can be described as the rationality of knowledge. The result of adopting the systemic epistemology of miracle is noticing the relations between the scientific-natural research and theological interpretation in their system complexity. Determining these relations leads to the more general conclusion that the natural sciences and theology as separate and autonomous systems of gaining the knowledge of reality do not have to be treated as the competing but rather as the complementary ones, with their methodological diversity and limitations in mind.

https://doi.org/10.1515/opth-2015-0022

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D. Piętka, P. Stacewicz, "A Decision Logic Approach to Mill’s Eliminative Induction", Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric. 2015; 42:1

Abstract:

The subject of the paper is a contemporary interpretation of J.S. Mill’s elimination method using selected concepts of Zdzisław Pawlak’s decision logic. The aim of the interpretation is to reformulate the original rules (canons) of Mill’s induction so that they correspond more precisely to his concept of cause as a complex sufficient condition. In the first part of the paper, we turn to Mill’s writings and justify the thesis that in his understanding the cause is an aggregation of circumstances, and not a single circumstance; next, we point out that Mill’s original canons (for example the canon of agreement and the canon of difference) do not allow causes-aggregations to be singled out from empirical data. In the second part of this paper, we present such aspects of Z. Pawlak’s decision logic that serve as the basis for the formalisation of the method of eliminative induction. We describe exhaustively the schema of induction that involves a gradual - divided into three stages - simplification of a set of implications corresponding to the observed dependencies [system of potential causes, effect]. The simplification is deductive because it maintains consistency within the set of implications. We show that such schema is ideal for isolating complex causes (aggregations of circumstances), ultimately described using complex conditional formulas of decision logic.

https://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/slgr/42/1/article-p113.xml

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M. Porwolik , "Józef Maria Bocheński’s logical analyses of Question I of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae", Studies in East European Thought. 2013; 65:1-2

Abstract:

Bocheński claims that it would be very useful to apply logical tools to philosophical and theological investigations. His viewpoint can be ascribed to the fact that during Bocheński’s youth logic and reflections on the foundations of mathematics flourished. His seminal work on these issues is the book Gottes Dasein und Wesen. Logische Studien zur Summa Theologiae I, qq. 2–11 (2003). Due to the fact that it was necessary to introduce numerous corrections to it, the book was published over a decade after submitting the manuscript to the publishing house in 1989 (according to certain sources, in 1991). There exist two manuscripts: one German (1989b) and one Polish (1993b). The latter contains also Bocheński’s unpublished works, including the analyses of Question 1 from St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae. In this Question, Aquinas focuses on the ways of understanding the term sacra doctrina. Bocheński’s text, which is a logical analysis of that Question, seems to be almost completed. With reference to the topic and the method of analysis, the text constitutes a whole together with the analyses of Questions 2–11, published in Bocheński (2003).

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11212-013-9182-x