In this article I introduce a hybrid view of persistence whereby simple objects persist by enduring while composite objects persist by being stage-related. I first show how, by sharing certain features and not others with the standard views of persistence, this hybrid view navigates two metaphysical problems that have been raised against such standard views. I then consider some implications of the view by addressing a couple of worries that may be raised against it. I conclude that this hybrid view (...) provides an attractive theory, one that deserves further investigation in the debate on persistence. (shrink)

The first two sections of the paper draw attention to some incompletely interpreted issues within two Romantic dramas: the unclear status of the protagonist in Dziady, Part IV (on the one hand, representing the indefinability of man and, on the other, constituting the illustration of how lightly one may lose consistency and identity), and the ambiguous relationship between Goplana and Grabiec in Balladyna (which can be perceived in terms of the complex relations between ‘the angelic soul and the bluff head’ (...) (dusza anielska i czerep rubaszny). The third section of notes is an encouragement to discuss two topics: ‘From Zygmunt Krasiński’s Leonard to Jerzy Andrzejewski’s Diego de Manente’; ‘From Pierścień Wielkiej-Damy, czyli: Ex-machina-Durejko by Cyprian Norwid to Tango by Sławomir Mrożek’. (shrink)

Recently I defended a hybrid view of persistence whereby simple objects endure while composite objects are stage related. I argued that it deserves further investigation given the explanatory work it does with regard to two problems raised in the literature on the metaphysics of the persistence of objects. In this paper I look at two further problems that have been raised—one from natural explanation, the other from time travel. I show how the hybrid view is able to deal with these (...) problems. In doing so I further build the case that the hybrid view is a serious contender in the persistence debate based on the explanatory work it can do. (shrink)

My reading of the following poems Wieczór autorski [An Author Reading], from the volume Sól [Salt], 1962; and Trema [Stage Fright], from the volume Ludzie na moście [People on the Bridge], 1986, is an attempt to define, at least in outline, the essence of the transformation which has occurred in the works by the author of Koniec i początek [The End and the Beginning] over the last several dozen years. The essence of the transformation is gradualy opening of Wisława Szymborska’s (...) poems to the sphere of metaphysics or - as she herself put it in one of the interviews - a quest for ‘the less obvious which does exist in us, in our consciousness’. (shrink)

The first two sections of the paper draw attention to some incompletely interpreted issues within two Romantic dramas: the unclear status of the protagonist in "Dziady, Part IV", and the ambiguous relationship between Goplana and Grabiec in "Balladyna". The third section of notes is an encouragement to discuss two topics: ‘From Zygmunt Krasiński’s Leonard to Jerzy Andrzejewski’s Diego de Manente’; ‘From "Pierścień Wielkiej-Damy, czyli: Ex-machina-Durejko" by Cyprian Norwid to "Tango" by Sławomir Mrożek’.