These three essays are from a collection of Mieczysław Wallis’s (1895--1975) papers on aesthetics Przeżycie i wartość (Experience and value; 1968). The first is a summary of Wallis’s views on the aesthetic experience, in which, on the one hand, he distinguishes aesthetic experience from other ways of experiencing an object (such as religious or practical) and, on the other hand, he analyzes the general features that aesthetic experience shares with other experiences and considers features characteristic of aesthetic experience (...) alone. The second essay is Wallis’s classification of aesthetic objects, which according to his theory are equivalent neither to beautiful objects nor to artworks. The last sets out his position on aesthetic values, and probably constitutes his most important and original contribution to aesthetics. (shrink)

The article presents the results of several years of analytical and reconstruction efforts carried out by the author who focused on archival writings by Mieczysław Wallis, a representative of the second generation of the Lvov-Warsaw School, which were to a large extent unknown to readers. Wallis’ intellectual profile has been associated so far mostly with his writings on art criticism, aesthetics, theory, and history of art. In the light of painstaking, multistage research of the large collection of his (...) unpublished archival works, it turned out that the current perception of his intellectual preferences and academic achievements is too narrow and simplified. What is especially little known and insufficiently edited are his notes on philosophical anthropology, discussing the question of human existence and human activity in the world. They contain a unique philosophical program based on the axiological concept called psychological relationism. Its main category is the “homo creativus” approach. Wallis’ intellectual program is a valuable contribution to the achievements of the Lvov-Warsaw School and, in general, to the Polish philosophy of the 20th century. (shrink)

When we start with the wrong question, no matter how good an answer we get, it won’t give us the results we want. Rather than joining the throngs who are asking, When will this economic crisis be over? Jim Wallis says the right question to ask is How will this crisis change us? The worst thing we can do now, Wallis tells us, is to go back to normal. Normal is what got us into this situation. We need (...) a new normal, and this economic crisis is an invitation to discover what that means. Some of the principles Wallis unpacks for our new normal are . . . • Spending money we don’t have for things we don’t need is a bad foundation for an economy or a family. • It’s time to stop keeping up with the Joneses and start making sure the Joneses are okay. • The values of commercials and billboards are not the things we want to teach our children. • Care for the poor is not just a moral duty but is critical for the common good. • A healthy society is a balanced society in which markets, the government, and our communities all play a role. • The operating principle of God’s economy says that there is enough if we share it. • And much, much more . . . In the pages of this book, Wallis provides us with a moral compass for this new economy—one that will guide us on Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street. Embracing a New Economy Getting back to "the way things were" is not an option. It is time we take our economic uncertainty and use it to find some moral clarity. Too often we have been ruled by the maxims that greed is good, it’s all about me, and I want it now. Those can be challenged only with some of our oldest and best values—enough is enough, we are in it together, and thinking not just for tomorrow but for future generations. Jim Wallis shows that the solution to our problems will be found only as individuals, families, friends, churches, mosques, synagogues, and entire communities wrestle with the question of values together. (shrink)

This article briefly presents and characterizes a relatively young (nineteen-nineties) trend in methodology, the theory of science – and philosophy, called “the new experimentalism”. The fundamental problem is determined by the question about the value of the new experimentalism and experimental grounds of scientific knowledge in empirical sciences. In the first part of the article, the previous (old) experimentalism is presented. First of all, the history of the experimental method is outlined and the definitions of experiment, object, phenomenon, and of (...) the carried out and analyzed observation are provided. It is shown why the main proposition of experimentalists – “determining a fact based on sensory experience” is fallacious. The second part describes the way in which the representatives of the new experimentalism try to identify and characterize those factors of an experiment that guarantee the objectivity of its result; demonstrate that results are not only determined by psychological, historical, sociological or economic factors but also that they exist in nature as real objects and events. A correct and reliable analysis of the experiment and its results may – according to the new experimentalists – contribute to this conclusion. Therefore, the important role and value of the experimental foundation of social activity in general, and in particular, for the natural sciences, is rightly noted. (shrink)

Sickle cell disease is an autosomal recessive hemoglobinopathy found mainly in populations of African and Mediterranean descent, including approximately 100,000 Americans. It is also very common in Spanish-speaking regions of Central America, South America, and parts of the Caribbean, in Saudi Arabia, and in India and Sri Lanka. The disorder is characterized most commonly by lifelong recurrent unpredictable vaso-occlusive pain that may be disabling, and by chronic tissue damage and organ dysfunction. There are several genotypes of the disease. Although SCD (...) pain frequency generally varies between genotypes, it also varies between subjects even within genotype. It may worsen from childhood to adulthood. It may vary by gender. Its location, timing, and severity may be unpredictable.Until recently, pain in SCD had been characterized as episodes that were acute, periodic, and relatively rare. Crises were viewed as usually associated with hospitalization. Many patients utilized hospital or emergency care for pain once per year or less, so painful episodes in SCD were called vaso-occlusive “crises.”. (shrink)

This article explores the ethical principles of prescribing in Sickle Cell Disease. The first two sections of the article provide detailed scientific justification for the last section of the manuscript, which explores and discusses the ethical principles.

Drug abuse is a growing social problem in Poland and is a particularly serious problem in the Military. The conditions of military service may be a factor that stimulates drug addiction among soldiers, particularly those who are psychically and physically weak and not adapted to team work. The psychical stress that results from the abrupt breaking of existing bonds and social relationships (family, colleagues, partners) is intensified by spatial limits (military barracks), and the character of military units (personal freedom limitation). (...) Another important aspect is, natural in this situation, access to weapons and the nature of tasks performed by a modern army. Yet the army continues to recruit young people who are physically and mentally weaker and weaker. In face of this problem, the commanders, supervisors and teachers are required to possess not only psychological and pedagogical knowledge, but also ethical and moral awareness. The article is based on empirical results of the test conducted in 2007 among 100 conscription soldiers of the Lublin Garrison of the Polish Army. (shrink)

The most basic aim of the psychological and pedagogical advisory centre is providing the child and its family with support at every stage of the problems arising. The target of such centres is also undertaking preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, counselling and advisory actions. The profession of a diagnostic – therapeutic counsellor triggers ethical dilemma. Two parties meet and interact with each other in the relations occurring in such advisory centres – the counsellor and the person who needs advice and help. To (...) enable such a contact and make it effectively therapeutic instead of destructive, specialists employed in these centres have to be not only competent and highly qualified but also should possess a sufficient amount of knowledge about themselves, their system of values, opinions etc. (shrink)

American metaphysics of race In the 1990s, a debate about the race began in the United States, in which many philosophers are involved. In philosophy, this debate has become known as the metaphysics of race. The aim of this article is to outline positions that have formed in the area of the metaphysics of race as a separate, mainly American, current of philosophical thought - realism (naturalistic and constructivist) and anti-realism - and to indicate the most important arguments invoked by (...) their most outstanding proponents to justify their metaphysical positions, as well as the counter-arguments of their opponents. The article also discusses the normative aspect of this dispute, very important from the moral and social point of view, listing two main positions on this level: eliminativism and conservatism regarding the presence of racial terms and concepts in public discourses. In the final parts of the article, the relations between metaphysical positions and normative directives formulated by the participants of the debate are considered, and critical arguments concerning the philosophical value and social importance of this trend of thinking are presented. (shrink)

During the last thirty three years which elapsed from General Franco’s death there disappeared cleared divisions into two camps which saw relationships between Spain and Europe as well as Europe itself from disparate perspectives. For the sake of social peace and normalizing the political situation which ensued after the fascist coup on 18 July 1936 and which continued till the death of caudillo in 1975, or even a bit longer till funding the new constitution in 1978, the Spanish left behind (...) clear exposition of their political visions and their aggressive imposition on their adversaries. This common agreement resulted in, what is important, Spain’s access to the European Union in 1986. It can be seen as an unambiguous sign of its citizens’ agreement to subject their country to the processes of Europeanization (since such an opportunity appeared the Spanish saw EU accession as a solution to their homeland’s problems). Thus even the slogan from the 1960s aimed at tourists and saying: España es diferente (“Spain is different”, “eccentric”, different than other European countries) was forgotten. Undoubtedly, the modern Spain is in all the aspects of life a fully European country, and even, as it is often proudly emphasized by the Spanish authors, in many spheres of political, economic, cultural or social life it belongs to the European avant-garde. Of course, Spain has kept its national identity, its national culture (which, despite all this, has become cosmopolitan to a certain degree, as it is in the case of other European national cultures in the era of globalization) and its political, economic, social and other structures are the ones which characterize a modern, liberal, secular, democratic European state. (shrink)

Under the influence of today’s post-modern human sciences and their relativistic, skepticism-imbued theories the universalism idea, until recently the philosophical driving-force behind efforts to build a global human community based on universal principles of rationality, has lost much of its attractiveness to pluralism. However, despite the recognition that human rationality expresses itself in many different ways, strivings towards a universal human community have by no means ceased. Some take the form of political projects, others are more spontaneous and take place (...) beyond both politics and philosophy. The present reflections on these strivings’ success chances go out from ideas formulated by Eugeniusz Górski in his study Civil Society, Pluralism and Universalism. (shrink)

The article discusses knowledge and reality. In his most important book, “The Metaphysics,” Aristotle wrote that all men, by nature want to know. They want to know the world itself and know themselves. This knowledge is present in the whole of human history. Some thought about the world is present, some thought about man is present.

The article discusses knowledge and reality. In his most important book, “The Metaphysics,” Aristotle wrote that all men, by nature want to know. They want to know the world itself and know themselves. This knowledge is present in the whole of human history. Some thought about the world is present, some thought about man is present.

The development of science, proceeding at a higher and higher speed, leads to the creation of new concepts, theories, and ideas. They constitute a progressive component of science. However, scientific development does not mean that everything that was accepted earlier has to be given up. New elements may be acquired and exist together with the old ones. Such old elements constitute a conservative component of science. That is why modern science shows itself as a wholeness constituted by the above-mentioned components.

Relations between Australia and the United States have developed for long time notably during World War II. Over the following decades, cooperation has become more intense as Australians adopt many cultural patterns from the Americans. Australia declared and supported US presidents in military operations, which is why some have called Australia, America’s sheriff for working to stabilize this part of the world. One cannot overlook the personal arrangements between leaders that help shape the dynamic of deepening the mutual relations these (...) two nations. Donald Trump’s personal interactions’ with the Prime Ministers of Australia play a significant role in this regard. (shrink)