The book _Metaphysics in Contemporary Physics_ offers various perspectives on the relation and mutual influence between modern physical theories and analytic metaphysics.

It is part of the phenomenology of perceptual experiences that objects seem to be presented to us. The first guide to objects is their perceptual presence. Further reflection shows that we take the objects of our perceptual experiences to be among the causes of our experiences. However, not all causes of the experience are also objects of the experience. This raises the question indicated in the title of this paper. We argue that taking phenomenal presence as the guide to the (...) objects of perception, we can see that at least in two sensory modalities, smell and touch, there is no uniform answer to this question. The objects of olfactory and tactile experiences can move along the causal chain. Accordingly, the content of olfactory and tactile experience may vary. (shrink)

In order to understand how the environment influences business owner/managers’ attitudes towards tax morale, we build a theoretical model based on a neo-institutionalist framework. Our model combines three complementary perspectives on institutions—normative, cultural–cognitive and regulatory–instrumental. This enables a broader understanding of factors that influence business owner–managers’ attitudes towards tax evasion. We test the resulting hypotheses using regression analysis on survey data on business owner/managers in Latvia—a transition country, which has undergone massive institutional changes since it was part of the Soviet (...) Union over 25 years ago. We find that legitimacy of the tax authorities and the government, feeling of belonging to the nation and perceptions of the risk and severity of punishment are all associated with higher tax morale for business owners and managers. (shrink)

In this paper we investigate Boolean connexive logics in a language with modal operators: □, ◊. In such logics, negation, conjunction, and disjunction behave in a classical, Boolean way. Only implication is non-classical. We construct these logics by mixing relating semantics with possible worlds. This way, we obtain connexive counterparts of basic normal modal logics. However, most of their traditional axioms formulated in terms of modalities and implication do not hold anymore without additional constraints, since our implication is weaker than (...) the material one. In the final section, we present a tableau approach to the discussed modal logics. (shrink)

Standard deontic logic (SDL) is defined on the basis of possible world semantics and is a logic of alethic-deontic modalities rather than deontic modalities alone. The interpretation of the concepts of obligation and permission comes down exclusively to the logical value that a sentence adopts for the accessible deontic alternatives. Here, we set forth a different approach, this being a logic which additionally takes into consideration whether sentences stand in relation to the normative system or to the system of values (...) under which we predicate the deontic qualifications. By taking this aspect into account, we arrive at a logical system which preserves laws proper to a deontic logic but where the standard paradoxes of deontic logic do not arise. It is a logic of strictly-deontic modalities DR. (shrink)

Contemporary development of research methods and tools is often conducive to ambitious art studies, in which the research methodology and study protocol are the result of negotiations between creative and research strategies. The article discusses the key sources, possibilities, and threats of interdisciplinary projects often referred to as practice-as-research. The following comparison of the orders of the scientific methodology and the artistic convention allows one to show the similarities and potential points of contact between science and art, which are independent (...) of the different values and methods of evaluation in both of these areas. The research-based practice model by Pil Hansen and Bruce Barton is also presented as a solution that takes these issues into account. It is also used to present the project of Interdisciplinary Center for New Technologies of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and the Art & Science Research Foundation om—organisms and machines in culture (FUNom) the project "Neurophysiology of the Artist in Performance", which is a bold example of the transdisciplinary activities of scientists and researchers. Its content is analyzed through the reports of artists, researchers, and participants taking part in public presentations of the project. (shrink)

Artykuł dotyczy formułowania hipotez w pracach doktorskich. Składa się z dwóch części. W pierwszej omówione jest znaczenie terminu hipoteza i jej miejsce w schemacie postępowania badawczego. W drugiej części przedstawiona jest typologia niedoskonałości związanych z formułowaniem hipotez. Wyróżnia się w niej trzy główne kategorie niedoskonałości. Omówienie tych kategorii opiera się na przykładach zaczerpniętych z prac doktorskich.

According to constitutive reductionism of Derek Parfit, a subject/person is not a separate existing being but his existence consists in the existence of a brain and body, performance of actions, thinking and occurrence of other physical and mental events. The identity of the subject in time comes down only to “Relation R” - mental consistency and/or connectedness – elicited by appropriate reasons. In the following article, I will try, relying on Frank Johnson's Knowledge Argument, to argue in favour of the (...) following conclusions: a person/subject is a “fact”irreducible to body and physical relations with the environment and a subject is something/”fact” non-reducible to mental occurrences. (shrink)

Autor artykułu zastanawia się, czy istnieje jakaś narracja filozoficzna, która jest dopasowana do epoki antropocenu lub kapitalocenu. Stara się pokazać, że w kilku współczesnych nurtach filozoficznych widać zarysy takiej narracji, od teorii aktora-sieci po poststrukturalistyczny feminizm. Koncepcje postwzrostowe mogą być zaś mediatorem, który pomoże w spopularyzowaniu tych.

Some simple algebraic properties, described by universally quantified disjunctions of special identities, are established. Such sentences seem to be useful for an investigation on finite algebras and its products. These considerations are exemplified by results concerning distributive lattices. By P the polynomial algebra of a finite type t is understood. P is the n-ary polynomial algebra . No notational distinction is made between an algebra and its underlying set. Similarly by the same symbol is denoted each polynomial and its realization (...) in a given algebra. (shrink)

Artykuł dotyczy ukształtowanej przez anglosaski romantyzm przemiany kulturowego obrazu doświadczenia religijnego — przemiany dostrzeżonej w literaturze przez amerykańskiego krytyka literackiego Geoffreya Hartmana. Najważniejsze aspekty tej przemiany to: zwycięstwo modelu poezji kreatywnej nad jej modelem mimetycznym, epitafijność oznaczająca uwrażliwienie na przemijalność świata, naturalizacja nadprzyrodzoności, a także rezygnacja z odpowiedzi na pytania ostateczne. Horyzont poszukiwań sensu tych przemian wyznaczany jest u Hartmana przez quasi-mesjanizm w ujęciu Adorna — przeświadczenie, że wyżej należy cenić różnorodność niepełnych i ułomnych odpowiedzi niż integralność prawd ostatecznych.

Celem artykułu jest odpowiedź na pytanie: jak można być konstruktywistą, a jednocześnie traktować naukę jako jedno z najważniejszych osiągnięć współczesnych społeczeństw? Jako że konstruktywizm jest bogatym nurtem, mającym wiele odmian, autor skupia się tylko na jego dwóch przedstawicielach – Richardzie Rortym i Bruno Latourze. Stara się dowieść, że z połączenia wybranych aspektów ich stanowisk można zbudować spójną odpowiedź na zadane pytanie. Choć Rorty i Latour odrzucają realistyczną wizję nauki, to jednocześnie przekonują, że nauka jest skutecznym sposobem na radzenie sobie ze (...) światem, czy też – by użyć terminu Latoura – z czynnikami pozaludzkimi. Tak więc to pragmatyczna kategoria „radzenia sobie” – a nie filozoficznie rozumiane pojęcia reprezentacji bądź korespondencji – staje się uzasadneniem renomy nauki. Obaj myśliciele podkreślają, że skuteczność we wchodzeniu w interakcje z czynnikami pozaludzkimi jest wynikiem swoistej kultury współpracy i wzajemnej kontroli, wpisanej w działalność naukową. (shrink)

The aim of this paper was to contribute to a broader understanding of the cognitive consequences of expressive suppression. Specifically, we examined whether the deteriorating effect of expressive suppression on cognitive functioning is caused by tense arousal enhanced by suppression. Two experiments were performed in order to test this prediction. In both studies we tested the effect of expressive suppression on working memory, as measured with a backwards digit-span task and anagram problem-solving task. In addition, in Study 2 we tested (...) whether expressive suppression degrades memory of the events that emerged during the period of expressive suppression. Both studies were conducted in a similar design: Participants watched a film clip which evoked negative emotions under the instruction to suppress those negative emotions or to simply watch the film. The results of these experiments lead to three conclusions. First, the results reveal that expressive suppression degrades memory of the events that emerged during the period of expressive suppression and leads to poorer performance on working memory tasks, as measured with a backwards digit-span task and anagram problem-solving task. Second, the results indicate that expressive suppression leads to a significant increase in subjective tense arousal. Third, the results support our prediction that expressive suppression decreases cognitive performance through its effects on subjective tense arousal. The results of the Study 1 show that tense arousal activated during expressive suppression of disgust fully mediates the negative effect of suppression on working memory as measured with a backwards digit-span task. The results of Study 2 reveal that subjective tense arousal elicited while suppressing sadness and anxiety mediates both the effect of suppression on working memory - as measured with the anagram task - and memory of the events that occurred during the period of suppression. (shrink)

The author presents the manner of understanding the notion of a ’nation’ in Polish intellectual space at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The specific, historical and political situation of Poland brought forth an untypical answer to the question, ”What does it mean to be Polish?”. Such an answer is exemplified by the political thought of Stanisław Staszic. The author subjects particular writings of Staszic to scrutiny, demonstrating both the evolution of his thinking and the foundations upon which (...) his interpretation of the concept of a ’nation’ was based. (shrink)

Le Musée National de Varsovie possède un chapiteau ionique monumental, provenant de la collection Radziwitt, qui avait décoré pendant plusieurs décennies le parc de Nieborow (Pologne centrale), où le château abrite les restes de la collection créée à la fin du XVIIIe s., en partie de dons et achats à la cour de Saint-Pétersbourg, où les marbres grecs étaient fournis par la flotte russe, qui explorait le bassin égéen. La matière, la forme et la décoration du chapiteau permettent de supposer (...) qu'il est d'origine insulaire (Délos?) et qu'il date de la fin VIe ou du début du Ve s. av. J.-C. (shrink)

One can often hear that intuitions are standardly “appealed to”, “relied on”, “accounted for”, or “used as evidence” in ethics. How should we interpret these claims? I argue that the typical understanding is what Bernard Molyneux calls “descriptive evidentialism”: the idea that intuition-states are treated as evidence of their propositional contents in the context of justification. I then argue that descriptive evidentialism is false- on any account of what intuitions are. That said, I admit that ethicists frequently rely on intuitions (...) to clarify, persuade, discover, or to support things other than the intuitions’ contents. The contents of intuitions are also commonly used as starting premises of philosophical arguments. However claims about these practices need to be sharply distinguished from the prevalent dogma. (shrink)

Here, we discuss historical, philosophical and technical problems associated with relating logic and relating semantics. To do so, we proceed in three steps. First, Section 1 is devoted to providing an introduction to both relating logic and relating semantics. Second, we address the history of relating semantics and some of the main research directions and their philosophical applications. Third, we discuss some technical problems related to relating semantics, particularly whether the direct incorporation of the relation into the language of relating (...) logic is needed. The starting point for our considerations presented here is the 1st Workshop On Relating Logic and the selected papers for this issue. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is to reconstruct and correct one argument in support of the symmetrization postulate in quantum mechanics. I identify the central premise of the argument as a thesis specifying a particular ontic property of quantum superpositions. The precise form of this thesis depends on some underlying assumptions of a metaphysical character. I compare the exchange degeneracy argument with alternative formal arguments for the symmetrization postulate, and I discuss the role and meaning of labels in the symmetric/antisymmetric (...) representations of the states of many particles. (shrink)

To analyze potential negative consequences of adopting generative AI solutions in the digital afterlife industry (DAI), in this paper we present three speculative design scenarios for AI-enabled simulation of the deceased. We highlight the perspectives of the data donor, data recipient, and service interactant – terms we employ to denote those whose data is used to create ‘deadbots,’ those in possession of the donor’s data after their death, and those who are meant to interact with the end product. We draw (...) on the scenarios to map out several key ethical concerns posed by ‘re-creation services’ and to put forward recommendations on the ethical development of AI systems in this specific area of application. The recommendations, targeted at providers of AI-enabled re-creation services, include suggestions for developing sensitive procedures for retiring deadbots, ensuring meaningful transparency, restricting access to such services to adult users only, and adhering to the principle of mutual consent of both data donors and service interactants. While we suggest practical solutions to the socio-ethical challenges posed by the emergence of re-creation services, we also emphasize the importance of ongoing interdisciplinary research at the intersection of the ethics of AI and the ethics of the DAI. (shrink)

Consider how we evaluate how normal an object is. On the dual-nature hypothesis, a normality evaluation depends on the object’s goodness and frequency. On the single-nature hypothesis, the evaluation depends solely on either frequency or goodness. To assess these hypotheses, I ran four experiments. Study 1 shows that normality evaluations vary with both the goodness and the frequency assessment of the object. Study 2 shows that manipulating the goodness and the frequency dimension changes the normality evaluation. Yet, neither experiment rules (...) out that some people evaluate normality solely based on frequency, and the rest evaluate normality solely based on goodness. Whence two more experiments. Study 3 reveals that when scenarios are contrasted—presented one after another—only frequency matters. But, as study 4 shows, when scenarios are evaluated alone, both frequency and goodness influence normality evaluations in a single person, although the more a person is sensitive to one dimension, the less she’s sensitive to the other. The dual-nature hypothesis seems thus true of uncontrasted applications of the concept of normality, whereas the single-nature hypothesis seems true of contrasted applications. (shrink)

The article discusses the issue of the departure from examining real behaviours in a real environment, a trend in social psychology which has been observed going back several years, and the impact of this phenomenon for social psychology as a scientific discipline. The article presents two studies on the well-known and explored “bystander effect”. This phenomenon is examined in two ways – once by way of a “traditional” field experiment conducted in natural conditions, and once through a survey. As it (...) turned out, the results generated by the two studies were diametrically opposite, and only in the field experiment were we able to achieve a pattern of results consistent with those in the original studies. (shrink)