The first part of the paper_ outlines the development of causality in Greek philosophy. Some remarks are made on how some medieval philosophers approached to the problem. The paper shows also how modern philosophy understood causation. The paper inquires into the characteristics of causal relation as it is accepted in the domain of modern and recent physics. In the second part of the paper one finds some remarks concerning the programme of construing a new system CI of logic of causal (...) propositions. This system is adequate to the manner in which causality is presented in physics. The system CI is being construed to characterize the connective of relativistic conditionals ‘$\rightsquigarrow$’ by means of the methods of recent logic. This connective should be read as follows: ‘if …, then for that reason …’. The arguments of the connective ‘$\rightsquigarrow$’ may be propositional formulas describing a particular event. The new system of non-classical logic is based on the classical propositional calculus, on the one of systems of temporal logic, and on a system ZI of logic of change. The findings concerning causation, as outlined in the first part of the paper, constitute descriptive semantics of the system CI presented in the second part of the paper. This system may play a positive role in the indirect justification of theorems in philosophy in a broad sense. (shrink)

In the initial part of the article texts of some authors are analyzed concerning material implication. In the further part of the article the proposition is justified that the operator of material implication differs in quality from other truth-functional operators. The final part of the article is devoted to considerations aiming at presenting what the thesis of the classical propositional calculus, in which the main operator is the operator of material implication, denote.

In der Einleitung zu diesem Artikel wurde betont, dass die in der Philosophie geäusserten Feststellungen zur Veränderung ein prinzipielles Schema abstecken, in dessen Rahmen detail- lierte naturwissenschaftliche Forschungen unternommen wurden. In den einzelnen Teilen der Arbeit werden die hauptsächlichen philosophischen Konzeptionen der Veränderung charakterisiert. Analysiert werden Aristoteles Ansichten zur Veränderung, der im Altertum den Gegensatz von Statismus und Variabilismus überwand. Nicht übergangen werden durfte die Konzeption der Veränderung des neuzeitlichen Philosophen G. W. F. Hegel, der ohne Berücksichtigung der Empirie das (...) Wesen des Seins ais völlig logisch und evolutionär ansah. Auch die Ansichten zur Veränderung des französischen Philosophen H. Bergson werden dargelegt, der zu einer Zeit, ais die szientistische Haltung dominierte, das Bedürfnis nach einem anderen, tieferen ais die mathematische Naturwissenschaft Typ des Wissens ausdrückte. Auch A. N. Whiteheads Ansichten zu der uns interessierenden Frage werden erwähnt. Auf dem Hintergrund dieser Ansichten wurde die Tatsache der Veränderung auf gez igt, von der die die zeitgenössische Naturwissenschaft krönende Physik spricht. Es wurde auch kurz versucht, die Frage der Veränderung im Zusammenhang mit dem für die Physik noch grundlegenderen Begriff der Zeit zu beleuchten. Die im vorliegenden Artikel unternommenen Analysen können ein Hauptelement der beschreibenden Semantik fiir die Systeme der Logik der Veränderung sein, welche zu konstruieren sind bzw. deren Erkenntniswert - bei schon konstruierten Systemen - einzuschätzen ist. (shrink)

Starting from the 1930s logicians tackled problems connected with applicability of logic in natural sciences and in many cases they tried to practically apply logic in these sciences. In the article entitled \'Logicians and logic on study of nature\' it is stressed that the broadly understood formal logic supplies natural sciences, and especially physics, with a paradigm for a method of ordering theses. It is also shown what application of logic laws to natural sciences consists in, and theses are formulated (...) concerning what the laws of classical prepositional calculus state. A lot of attention is devoted to the language of modern and contemporary physics. Modern and contemporary physics uses two languages, i.e. the mathematical language and the so-called notional language. The logic of the former language is classical logical calculus. In connection with the notional language logicians construed a lot of systems of non-classical logics in which laws are given that govern the correct use of non-extensional operators connected with such terms occurring in natural sciences as \"time\", \"cause\", \"change\" etc. The language of well construed systems of non- classical logics may serve saving, storing and precise communicating the results obtained on the ground of natural sciences. (shrink)

The first part of the paper shows two types of the systems of contemporary logic placed in one of J. Bocheński’s works. The second part of the paper contains Bocheński’s theses concerning contemporary logic. They have been shown against the backdrop of the views held by other authors who discussed some kin issues. In order to supplement Bocheński’s considerations a division of functors has been added. They are divided into extensional and non-extensional. Much attention has been devoted to the problems (...) of logical constants that is rarely discussed in learned literature. It has been stressed that at least one of Bocheński’s typologies should basically be changed, having taken into account the remarks in the paper that supplement Bocheński’s analyses. The above issues have been discussed against the backdrop of the question of relations that obtain between contemporary logic, mathematics, and philosophy. (shrink)

The paper appreciates six conditions which, according to G.E. Hughes and M.J. Cresswell, must be respected by those formal systems which aspire to be systems of modal logic. There are few such systems. The sense of modal functors \"it is necessary that,\" \"it is possible that,\" in this type of systems is in no way made precise. The paper undermines the validity of some conditions shown by Hughes and Cresswell. It outlines the way by which to construct a system of (...) modal logic in which the functor of logical necessity and logical possibility would be unambiguously characterised by methods of contemporary logic. (shrink)

Democracy - hope or illusion? Blooming, failing or declining? Our doubts and hesitation make part of unbending efforts to endorse and explain democracy. Who is right - the custodians of promise or the prophets of decline? The book concentrates on doubts. The author tries to explore «the other side of the moon», emphasizing the role of critical thinking, opposing a main-current optimism. Defending democracy we want to generate hope, but hoping may be a dangerous craft. Protecting our hope we are (...) prone to believe that democracy - even if it is not a full success story - is justified in its nature and out of question. How much do we have to forget to sanction this view? This is, in fact, the main question the book raises. It gives voice to those who never, in their writing on democracy, used a flattering tone. Starting with Greek giants - Plato and Aristotle - up to modern and most recent times, going through a broad field of revealing criticism, leaving us with an unsettling feeling that democracy is rather something to be explained than something to be celebrated. Living in democracy, lamenting its underperformances, we must not overlook a fundamental question - in what part do our disappointments reflect the «art of forgetting», allowing us to cast into oblivion all serious doubts originating in a critical discourse on modernity and democracy? (shrink)

The book by professor Stanisław Kowalczyk, renowned scholar in the field of social philosophy, is, without doubt, one of the most important studies on the idea of freedom. The concept of freedom is as old as mankind. It has many meanings and has been interpreted in many different ways. For instance, we also have the word „liberty," which means „freedom or right" and is synonymous with the word freedom, which means „the condition of being free." The author indicates that in (...) our times the notion of freedom is most frequently used; however, it is often misused or deceptive. Mass media and people of all walks of life talk of liberty; everyone talks of freedom and, for many, it is the highest value. Longing for freedom is rooted in the heart of every human being, for freedom is an existential correlate and the fulfilment of the rational human being. The semantic confusion about the notion of freedom leads to many misuses of the concept. Personalism, as a philosophical concept in which a person stands in the centre of all discussion, serves as a framework for the author's delineation on the concept of freedom. He further states that the appropriate understanding of this value is possible in the context of the personalistic interpretation of a human being. This is the focus of this informative and insightful book. (shrink)

In the first part I focus on the issue of progress, in particular progress in philosophy. Philosophical progress has a special property that it shares with the process of becoming a better person. It is constantly finding yourself “on the way”. This path is not only anchored in the Absolutely Perfect but it conditions and stimulates the reflection towards the truth about the relationship between Him and us. We can assume that the core of this reflection is philosophy. The second (...) part is devoted to the paradoxical nature of the most generally understood memory. I assume that the condition of awareness of a certain content is its outdatedness, that is, its transfer to the sphere of memory. Memory is a constantly updated and constantly re-ordered picture of everything that the subject has ever relegated from being, so that it can be replaced by something else. The foundation of this order is a certain axiology. In the third part I show how the sketched concept of memory is used to describe the mechanism of the evolution of philosophical thought. The “on the way” philosophy would consist of two constantly repeated activities: on reconstructing what is to be denied, and thus on the recognition of the previous philosophical achievements in its totality, and on its negation. This denial would concern the whole of this achievement as an axiologically reconstructed unity. The new system is only realized as a series of consequences of the negation of the current state. The vast majority of philosophical reflection focuses on the constitution of this current state, its supposed unity. In the short part of the fourth, I draw up prospects for further deliberations. (shrink)

Stosunek polskiej filozofii katolickiej do Augusta Cieszkowskiego był ambiwalentny. Z jednej strony, uważano go za wybitnego filozofa polskiego, żarliwie religijnego i inspirowanego tradycją chrześcijańską, z drugiej strony, jego myśl budziła liczne zastrzeżenia doktrynalne (ewolucyjna perspektywa religii, możliwość realizacji Królestwa Bożego na ziemi, wątki panteizujące, ograniczanie wolnej woli, uzurpowanie sobie prawa do absolutyzmu poznawczego, jeśli chodzi o "Boże plany", uznanie Boga przed stworzeniem świata za nierozwiniętą jeszcze Możność, "elitarna" koncepcja nieśmiertelności jednostkowej za zasługi). Z dzisiejszej perspektywy filozofia Cieszkowskiego budzi opór ze (...) względu na próbę "totalizacji" rzeczywistości i eksponowanie utopijnego modelu ustroju teokratycznego. (shrink)

Polish conservative thinker Władysław Leopold Jaworski developed an interest for the theories of Austrian philosopher Othmar Spann. Both accepted universalism, both also believed that universalism was inspired by romantic tradition, although Spann sought its roots much further back in history, even as far as Aristotle. Both authors staunchly criticized modern-day individualism and liberalism, which they considered fatal. In their opinion individualism and liberalism upset the primacy of totality in social thought, which led to multiple pathologies. Despite their accentuation of totality, (...) both philosophers displayed very decided anti-totalitarian convictions typical for many conservatives. (shrink)

The purpose of the essay is to critically analyze the influence of J. Derrida’s deconstruction on David J. Gunkel’s book Deconstruction (MIT Press 2021). Gunkel’s handbook is aimed at making deconstruction a tool of critical thinking accessible to non-professionals. It turns out that accomplishing this task comes at the expense of precisely the critical potential of deconstruction itself. Gunkel is well aware that his arguments are sometimes superficial and overlook deeper problems that should be addressed. Such a failure takes the (...) form of a fetishistic denial, which in psychoanalysis is summarized by the formula “I know well, but all the same.” In turn, deconstruction itself, insofar as it is separated from Kant’s transcendental philosophy and Hegel’s dialectics, becomes an academic ideology. Restoring its proper subversive potential can only be done by returning to a philosophy of reflection, in which the thinker himself must ultimately consider his own position as an author and bring it under criticism. This is the path that Gunkel avoids, because he could then no longer be the author of a handbook on deconstruction, rather than someone who practices deconstruction. -------------------------- Received: 4/11/2022. Reviewed: 13/12/2022. Accepted: 20/12/2022. (shrink)