Organizations pride themselves on their creation of rational structures based primarily on a male perspective of interaction. Workers are expected to set aside interpersonal behaviours that do not directly contribute to task performance. As more women enter management, norms concerning appropriate interpersonal relationships at work are undergoing strain. In addition, the phenomenon of mutual sexual attractions between co-workers is demanding attention. This study systematically describes attitudes, attributions and anticipated consequences of mutual sexual attractions at work. Findings suggest that gender stereotypes (...) are significant factors in people's judgments of persons involved in sexual attractions at work. (shrink)

A substantial guide providing an overview of both physicalism and metaphysical naturalism, reviewing both questions of formulation and justification for both doctrines. Includes a diagnostic strategy for understanding talk of naturalism as a metaphysical thesis.

What is the political meaning of justice combined with aletheia, that is, the truth understood as revealing, disclosing, and unconcealment? On the basis of an immanent analysis of certain excerpts from Plato’s work we could find the answer. First of all, in Plato the question of justice is not a technical issue, a question of good or bad ruling over the polis, a good or bad law. It concerns matters of much greater significance: existential issues. That is why justice is (...) more important than wealth, both to a man and to a political community. Only through other people, in a political community, is man capable of acquiring an identity, a unity between what he is by nature and what he becomes through education, during the process of adapting to a community to which he belongs. If we succeed in creating such a structure of a political community in which people recognize their proper place and can identify with it, then they will be able to identify with the whole political community. Only a political community thus united can be true, that is, just. Internal unity, which is an expression of justice, is the source of a political community’s power, it is the basis for coexistence and cooperation. When there is no justice, bonds among people die out. Through injustice they become above all incapable of cooperating. (shrink)

Semantic externalism is one of the most popular and thoroughly discussed standpoints in the contemporary philosophy of language. Briefly speaking, it is a position which claimes that the meanings of linguistic expressions or contents of mental states depend on the nature of beings that exist in the real world and on the language practices of the community. In the paper I present briefly views of the most famous representatives of externalism: Saul Kripke, Hilary Putnam and Tyler Burge, and present typical (...) objections against semantic externalism. Opponents of this position pay attention not only to the limitation of Kripke's and Putnam's causal theory of reference, but also attempt to prove that the meanings of linguistic expressions or the contents of mental states depend on the biological and psychological characteristics of the individual. I point out the ontological and epistemological consequences of externalism resulting from the adoption of this standpoint, and also try to identify the main merits and difficulties of this position. (shrink)

In this paper, the concept of political culture is considered in reference to the notions of G.A. Almond, S. Verba and J. Rawls. It is defined as a specific educational project, which is linked to the idea of a fair, democratic and constitutional system. The author also points to potential contemporary obstacles to implementation of this project. Deepening inequalities arising from personal culture are the first threat to liberal civic education. The second threat is associated with the development of new (...) media and the related changes in the public sphere, including various forms of political and civic activity. (shrink)

What is the philosophy of politics in contemporary times and how can the need for its presence be justified? The philosophy of politics is no longer needed by politicians themselves, primarily because it cannot be applied to an electoral campaign and will thus not ensure them an electoral victory. Public opinion probably feels no such a need either, bearing in mind that what it expects is more along the lines of new episodes of a political serial rather than a holistic (...) philosophical interpretation of political reality. Public opinion might begin to feel such a need if it were to prove possible to restore, partly at least, its civic awareness, which is to say, the awareness that emerges on becoming conscious of the necessity for political freedom, for there is no politics without citizens; there is, at most, social policy and its clientele. Without a community of the free and equal, which may consist of citizens alone, there will be no philosophy itself, including that of politics. Philosophy should not treat politics as a certain, particular field or a distinct area of study, It has to learn to recognise in it the basis of this particular form of being, a community of ‘good life’ which is also its own fount. (shrink)

Celem artykułu jest krytyczna analiza wybranych badań empirycznych z zakresu neuroestetyki. Neuroestetyka to nowa interdyscyplinarna dziedzina naukowa zmierzająca do opisu funkcjonowania mózgowia w kontekście reakcji na dzieło sztuki. W artykule przedstawiam i analizuję wyniki badań na temat mózgowych korelatów preferencji estetycznej i percepcji piękna. Pomimo wątpliwości natury interpretacyjnej, wyniki te potwierdzają hipotezę o specyfice reakcji estetycznej w stosunku do innych typów reakcji kognitywnych człowieka.

I discuss the limits of Ingarden’s phenomenology of perception from a naturalistic perspective. Ingarden did not propose any proper method of the realization of the applied theory of perception (critics of perception). This situation enables to apply empirical data from cognitive neurosciences. The applied procedure shows that basic components of the phenomenology of perception are not valid.

Uszkodzenie mózgowia o różnej etiologii wiąże się często z następczą zmianą zdolności poznawczych, emocjonalnych i motorycznych. Dotyczy to także osób zajmujących się bardziej lub mniej profesjonalnie tworzeniem dzieł artystycznych. W związku z tym powstaje pytanie o charakter zmian w stylu artystycznym po epizodzie neurologicznym oraz neuronalne korelaty takich zmian. Neuropsychologia jest jedną z dyscyplin zajmujących się empiryczną analizą zmian artystycznych po epizodzie neurologicznym. Jak dotąd nie wypracowano spójnego modelu badań neuropsychologicznych w tym zakresie, dominują subiektywne analizy zmian artystycznych, zaś tematyka (...) badawcza jest znacznie rozproszona. Nie ma też zadowalających odpowiedzi na fundamentalne pytania dotyczące relacji pomiędzy uszkodzonym mózgiem i zachowaniami artystycznymi. W artykule przedstawiono najpierw krytyczną analizę „koncepcji medycznej”, zgodnie z którą samo dzieło artystyczne pozwala na diagnozowanie form patologii. Następnie podejęto próbę ustalenia względnie jednolitej i adekwatnej metodologii badań zmian artystycznych po epizodzie neurologicznym. Dodatkowo przedstawiono zarys aktualnych kluczowych tendencji badawczych i wyników neuropsychologii sztuki wizualnej. Ponadto krytycznej ocenie poddano modelowe badanie określające nasilenie i zakres zmian artystycznych po uszkodzeniu mózgowia. (shrink)

In line with the concept of politics developed by ancient Greeks, the political sphere is identified with transparency and overtness. However, it has always been hiding secret actions, conspiracies and collusions. The emergence of the modern model of the state, along with the rationalisation of its structures, enabled the secret equivalents of authority to transform into organisations, i.e. institutions alternative to official organisations, established by law and having specific powers. Rather than talking about actual organisations, the author discusses the process (...) whereby these secret, underground structures turn into organisations that influence the sphere of overt politics. She tries to show that this is a specific kind of game between what is explicit and public and what is concealed and secret. This game is constantly present in political activities, although we seldom realise it. (shrink)

Tekst stanowi próbę konfrontacji estetyki dekadenckiej z teologicznym myśleniem Jerzego Nowosielskiego. Pretekstem staje się ubiór, sakralizowany w ujęciu Baudelaire’a poprzez osobę dandysa i mający swoją sakralną symbolikę w szatach liturgicznych. Z pozoru osobliwe zestawienie dekadenckiej myśli Baudelaire’owskiej z analizą szat liturgicznych nie jest bezzasadne. Teologia szat zarysowana poprzez Nowosielskiego pozwala wprowadzić do analizy estetyki dekadenckiej myślenie religijne. Choć religijność w dekadencji rozumiana jest specyficznie, to zestawienie z myślą prawosławia pozwala wskazać możliwą drogę jej analizy. Dekadencja objawia transgresyjną aspirację wobec świata (...) profanicznego i analogiczne do religijnego pragnienie transcendencji. Przyjęcie takiego punktu widzenia pozwala na wydobycie wielu nieoczywistych wątków i odnalezienie sacrum w powierzchowności ubioru. (shrink)

Celem artykułu jest krytyczna analiza wybranych wyników neuroobrazowania procesów snu w kontekście specyfiki umysłu śniącego. Kombinacja danych hemodynamicznych i magnetycznych oraz danych fenomenologicznych i kognitywnych dopuszcza wyróżnienie czterech specyficznych typów umysłu podczas snu. Dzięki temu ogólna wizja mózgu/umysłu podczas snu, typowo sprowadzana do dystynkcji NREM/REM, jest bardziej adekwatna. Dodatkowo, kognitywna interpretacja danych neuroobrazowych pozwala na ustalenie możliwych funkcji adaptacyjnych umysłu podczas snu.

Artykuł zawiera prezentację i dyskusję wybranych zagadnień świadomości śniącej. Pierwsze z nich dotyczy znaczenia adaptacyjnego świadomości podczas snu. Drugie zagadnienie obejmuje charakterystykę kognitywnej świadomości śniącej. Efektem krytycznego przeglądu badań i koncepcji jest teza, że: (1) świadomość śniąca nie ma charakteru adaptacji biologicznej, (2) świadomość śniąca jest formą zdegradowanej reprezentacji kognitywnej w porównaniudo świadomości w stanie czuwania. W szczególności świadomość śniąca zawiera deficyty intencjonalności (uwagi) oraz wyższych form kognitywnych, w tym dysfunkcji wykonawczych.

We perceive smells as perduring complex entities within a distal array that might be conceived of as smellscapes. However, the philosophical orthodoxy of Odor Theories has been to deny that smells are perceived as having a distal location. Recent challenges have been mounted to Odor Theories’ veracity in handling the timescale of olfactory perception, how it individuates odors as a distal entities, and their claim that olfactory perception is not spatial. The paper does not aim to dispute these criticisms. Rather, (...) what will be shown is that Molecular Structure Theory, a refinement of Odor Theory, can be further developed to handle these challenges. The theory is further refined by focusing on distal perception that requires considering the perceptual object as mereologically complex persisting odor against a background scene conceived of as a smellscape. What will be offered is an expansion of Molecular Structure Theory to account for distal smell perception within natural environments. (shrink)

Inside What Would Plato Do?, you'll find the basics of philosophy, written in an easy, digestible way we can all understand, along with questions to help you apply these important theories to your own life. So, after you've learned about a philosophical concept, you'll then be challenged to test yourself and see how the results can impact your daily life. For instance, after learning about Kant's theory of morality and the importance of intention you're challenged with questions like: Can good (...) people do bad things? Was there a time when you intended to do something helpful that ended up being hurtful? Does that make you a good person (because you intended to do good) or a bad person (because the results were bad)? What Would Plato Do? will not only help you better understand some of the greatest thinkers ever but will also help you think of the world around you in a whole new way! (shrink)

We are immersed within an odorous sea of chemical currents that we parse into individual odors with complex structures. Odors have been posited as determined by the structural relation between the molecules that compose the chemical compounds and their interactions with the receptor site. But, naturally occurring smells are parsed from gaseous odor plumes. To give a comprehensive account of the nature of odors the chemosciences must account for these large distributed entities as well. We offer a focused review of (...) what is known about the perception of odor plumes for olfactory navigation and tracking, which we then connect to what is known about the role odorants play as properties of the plume in determining odor identity with respect to odor quality. We end by motivating our central claim that more research needs to be conducted on the role that odorants play within the odor plume in determining odor identity. (shrink)

Reflection Principles are commonly thought to produce only strong axioms of infinity consistent with V = L. It would be desirable to have some notion of strong reflection to remedy this, and we have proposed Global Reflection Principles based on a somewhat Cantorian view of the universe. Such principles justify the kind of cardinals needed for, inter alia , Woodin’s Ω-Logic.

When it originated in the late 19th century, psychometrics was a field with both a scientific and a social mission: psychometrics provided new methods for research into individual differences, and at the same time, these psychometric instruments were considered a means to create a new social order. In contrast, contemporary psychometrics - due to its highly technical nature and its limited involvement in substantive psychological research - has created the impression of being a value-free discipline. In this article, we develop (...) a contrasting characterization of contemporary psychometrics as a value-laden discipline. We expose four such values: that individual differences are quantitative (rather than qualitative), that measurement should be objective in a specific sense, that test items should be fair, and that utility of a model is more important than its truth. Our goal is not to criticize psychometrics for employing these values, but rather to bring them into the open and to show that these values are not inevitable and are in need of systematic evaluation. (shrink)

This is a book grounded in the real ethical challenges of modern business practice, with a world-religious perspective so necessary in an era of globalization.

First collected in Italy in 1985, _Art's Claim to Truth_ is considered by many philosophers to be one of Gianni Vattimo's most important works. Newly revised for English readers, the book begins with a challenge to Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Hegel, who viewed art as a metaphysical aspect of reality rather than a futuristic anticipation of it. Following Martin Heidegger's interpretation of the history of philosophy, Vattimo outlines the existential ontological conditions of aesthetics, paying particular attention to the works of (...) Kandinsky, which reaffirm the ontological implications of art. Vattimo then builds on Hans-Georg Gadamer's theory of aesthetics and provides an alternative to a rationalistic-positivistic criticism of art. This is the heart of Vattimo's argument, and with it he demonstrates how hermeneutical philosophy reaffirms art's ontological status and makes clear the importance of hermeneutics for aesthetic studies. In the book's final section, Vattimo articulates the consequences of reclaiming the ontological status of aesthetics without its metaphysical implications, holding Aristotle's concept of beauty responsible for the dissolution of metaphysics itself. In its direct engagement with the works of Gadamer, Heidegger, and Luigi Pareyson, _Art's Claim to Truth_ offers a better understanding of the work of Vattimo and a deeper knowledge of ontology, hermeneutics, and the philosophical examination of truth. (shrink)

In Nicomachean Ethics X.7–8, Aristotle defends a striking view about the good for human beings. According to Aristotle, the single happiest way of life is organized around philosophical contemplation. According to the narrowness worry, however, Aristotle's contemplative ideal is unduly Procrustean, restrictive, inflexible, and oblivious of human diversity. In this paper, I argue that Aristotle has resources for responding to the narrowness worry, and that his contemplative ideal can take due account of human diversity.

Figner, Mackinlay, Wilkening, and Weber (2009) developed the Columbia Card Task (CCT) to measure risk-taking attitudes. This tool consists of two versions: in the COLD version the decision maker needs to state in advance how many cards (out of 32) they want to turn over (so called static risk taking), in the HOT version they have the possibility of turning over all 32 cards one-by-one until they decide to finish (dynamic risk taking). We argue that the HOT version confounds an (...) individual’s willingness to accept risk with their beliefs in trend continuation vs. trend reversal in a prognostic task. In two experimental studies we show that people believing in trend continuation (momentum subjects) turn over more cards than those believing in trend reversal (contrarians) in the HOT version of the task. However, this is not the case in the COLD version. Thus, we provide evidence that, when considered as a dynamic risk propensity measure, the number of turned over cards in the HOT version of the CCT is a contaminated measure and reflects two phenomena: (1) risk preference and (2) the decision-maker’s belief in trend continuation. We speculate that other dynamic risk taking measures can also be biased by a momentum strategy. (shrink)