Dowód twierdzenia Bella sprowadza się do wyprowadzenia którejś z nierówności Bella. W ich standardowych wyprowadzeniach jednak kluczową rolę odgrywa warunek faktoryzowalności łącznego prawdopodobieństwa warunkowego, który można uzyskać jako konsekwencję dwóch innych warunków, znanych jako parameter independence i outcome independence. Pierwszy z nich jest dość oczywistym wyrazem warunku lokalności, natomiast drugi budzi wątpliwości. Ponieważ jednak jest on uszczegółowieniem warunku screening off zasady wspólnej przyczyny, jego podważenie wymagałoby zakwestionowania również tego warunku. Gdyby się to powiodło, efektywny dowód twierdzenia Bella wymagałby wyprowadzenia nierówności (...) Bella nie wykorzystującego żadnego uszczegółowienia warunku screening off. Przestawiona zostanie sugestia kierunku, w jakim powinny iść poszukiwania modelu naruszającego ten warunek. (shrink)

Putnam’s proof that time flow is incompatible with Relativity is underestimated, mostly due to Stein’s interpretation of the notion of reality in it as a two-term relation. This interpretation makes it vulnerable to easy criticism and makes various ways of escaping its conclusion possible. An alternative approach is proposed, resulting in a formalization which seems closer to Putnam’s intentions where reality is interpreted as a non-relational property. Although it makes the proof immune to all standard strategies of blocking the proof, (...) it reveals its real weak point which consists in assuming an overly strong interpretation of the principle of relativity. (shrink)

This paper is a reply to Jan Wolenski's polemics (Filozofia Nauki 1/2000) against the author's essay „On the Epistemic Impotence of Analytical Philosophy” (Filozofia Nauki 3-4/1998). The author expresses his conviction that it is in analytical philosophy that the most interesting - and at the same time well-established - cognitive results have been reached, but many of these results have been obtained, not thanks to the declared semantic method, but thanks to the phenomenological method, which have been used at least (...) unconsciously. Therefore the gap between phenomenology and analytical philosophy is not so huge as it might seem at first glance. (shrink)

Artykuł dotyczy zagadnienia charakteru przedmiotów matematyki. Autor stara się określić ich charakter w perspektywie definicji naoczności (którą przyjmuje od Kanta). Podstawową kwestią jest tu zagadnienie: w jaki sposób przedmioty te przedstawiają się ludzkiemu umysłowi.

The quantum-relativistic breakthrough in physics has radically changed the scientific worldview. Several basic intuitions, which underlie traditional philosophy of nature, has been abandoned. As a result of this fact, scientists started to pronounce themselves as the highest authority in the philosophy of nature, leaving for the philosophers only the role of commentators. However, it is not physical theories, but their certain interpretations, or disinterpretations, which contradict common intuitions. In the case of relativistic theory, there is an alternative interpretation which allows (...) us to reconcile its content with pre-relativistic intuitions. Therefore it suggest that we should be critical also to other alleged consequences of the „new physics”. (shrink)

This is a defence of some kind of reality of relativistic effects, against the thesis that they are mere kinematic appearances or deceptions.

The observation that the standard solution of the paradox of the Liar is not satisfactory as a pragmatic solution of a semantic problem restores its former status as a semantic antinomy. Since the antinomy originates from Tarski's T scheme, a conservative modification of the standard semantics is looked for, which would prevent applying the scheme T to anomalous statements. Two such modifications are considered. The first is simpler and implies Kleene's weak tables for three-valued logic. The second, more complex but (...) also more intuitive, agrees with Kleene's strong tables. This undermines the seemingly natural intuition that a sentence and the sentence attributing truth to it have the same truth conditions, which is compatible only with the weak tables. (shrink)

The author proposes a formalization of Hilary Putnam's proof of the thesis that time does not pass. This enables one to eliminate difficulties connected with the original formulation.

The paper is a reply to Jan Czerniawski's paper „On epistemic impotence of analytical philosophy” (Filozofia Nauki 3-4/1998). Czerniawski argues that the analytic method consists either in arbitrary stipulations or in the appeal to linguistic intuitions. He claims that the latter are subjective and moreover they cannot help deciding objective problems, while the former are an arbitrary creation of truth. Hence, the analytic method has to be assisted by an intuitive insight into objective situations. However, Czerniawski forgets (...) one quite elementary circumstance. For there is something else between linguistic intuitions and arbitrary terminological stipulations - namely precisation of intuitions. And this is what the analytic philosophers care for the most; those analytic philosophers who are logicians at the same time, in particular. According to the analytic philosophers philosophically relevant intuitive insight into objective situations is always achieved through language. Therefore, we do not need an epistemic viagra in the form of the extra-linguistic insight directly into the objective situation. (shrink)

W artykule streszczam tzw. Debatę Dummett Lash, która miała miejsce na łamach czasopisma angielskich dominikanów New Blackfriars w latach 1987-1989. Rozróżniam trzy główne nurty debaty. W pierwszym głównym oponentem filozofa Michaela Dummetta, inicjatora debaty, był benedyktyn Bede Griffith, który proponował symboliczne rozumienie Biblii. Według Dummetta jednak rozumienie symboliczne opiera się na wcześniejszym rozumieniu dosłownym, które z tego powodu nie może być odrzucone. W drugim Dummett argumentował za potrzebą intersubiektywnego uzasadnienia naszej przynależności do konkretnego Kościoła, ponieważ w innym przypadku nie bylibyśmy (...) w stanie podać żadnych racji na rzecz zmiany poglądów przez tych, którzy nie wyznają chrześcijaństwa. Jego główna teza nie była atakowana, niektórzy uczestnicy debaty kwestionowali jednak niektóre szczegóły natury tego uzasadnienia i całego paradygmatu myślenia w kategoriach wyznaniowych. Trzeci i kluczowy nurt debaty miał swoje źródło w nacisku Dummetta na to, że współczesna katolicka biblistyka odeszła od tradycyjnego katolickiego nauczania i stąd konieczne jest ogłoszenie granic możliwej interpretacji katolickich artykułów wiary. Wielu teologów, którzy brali udział w debacie, postrzegało to żądanie Dummetta jako zagrożenie dla naukowej wolności, a najważniejszy z nich, Nicholas Lash, profesor University of Cambridge, wskazywał, że także postulowane przez Dummetta ogłoszenie będzie wymagało interpretacji, stąd wyznaczenie granic możliwej interpretacji jest po prostu niemożliwe. Na końcu artykułu dochodzę do wniosku, że możemy postrzegać Dummetta zarówno jako filozofa, który stara się traktować religię w sposób racjonalny, jak i prostego katolickiego świeckiego, chcącego mieć bezpośredni dostęp do Objawienia bez pośrednictwa ekspertów od biblistyki. (shrink)

This paper addresses theoretical challenges, still relevant today, that arose in the first decades of the twentieth century related to the concept of the organism. During this period, new insights into the plasticity and robustness of organisms as well as their complex interactions fueled calls, especially in the UK and in the German-speaking world, for grounding biological theory on the concept of the organism. This new organism-centered biology understood organisms as the most important explanatory and methodological unit in biological investigations. (...) At least three theoretical strands can be distinguished in this movement: Organicism, dialectical materialism, and holistic biology. This paper shows that a major challenge of OCB was to describe the individual organism as a causally autonomous and discrete unit with consistent boundaries and, at the same time, as inextricably interwoven with its environment. In other words, OCB had to conciliate individualistic with anti-individualistic perspectives. This challenge was addressed by developing a concept of life that included functionalist and metabolic elements, as well as biochemical and physical ones. It allowed for specifying organisms as life forms that actively delimit themselves from the environment. Finally, this paper shows that the recent return to the concept of the organism, especially in the so-called “Extended Evolutionary Synthesis,” is challenged by similar anti-individualistic tendencies. However, in contrast to its early-twentieth-century forerunner, today’s organism-centered approaches have not yet offered a solution to this problem. (shrink)

In recent years, biologists and philosophers of science have argued that evolutionary theory should incorporate more seriously the idea of ‘reciprocal causation.’ This notion refers to feedback loops whereby organisms change their experiences of the environment or alter the physical properties of their surroundings. In these loops, in particular niche constructing activities are central, since they may alter selection pressures acting on organisms, and thus affect their evolutionary trajectories. This paper discusses long-standing problems that emerge when studying such reciprocal causal (...) processes between organisms and environments. By comparing past approaches to reciprocal causation from the early twentieth century with contemporary ones in niche construction theory, we identify two central reoccurring problems: All of these approaches have not been able to provide a conceptual framework that allows maintaining meaningful boundaries between organisms and environments, instead of merging the two, and integrating experiential and physical kinds of reciprocal causation. By building on case studies of niche construction research, we provide a model that is able to solve these two problems. It allows distinguishing between mutually interacting organisms and environments in complex scenarios, as well as integrating various forms of experiential and physical niche construction. (shrink)

International institutions such as UNESCO are deliberating on a new standard setting instrument for neurotechnologies. This will likely lead to the adoption of a soft law document which will be the first global document specifically tailored to neurotechnologies, setting the tone for further international or domestic regulations. While some stakeholders have been consulted, these developments have so far evaded the broader attention of the neuroscience, neurotech, and neuroethics communities. To initiate a broader debate, this target article puts to discussion twenty-five (...) considerations and desiderata for recognition by a future instrument. They are formulated at different levels of abstraction, from the big picture to technical details, seek to widen the perspective of preparatory reports and transcend the narrow debate about “neurorights” which overshadows many richer and more relevant aspects. These desiderata are not an exhaustive enumeration but a starting point for discussions about what deserves and what requires protection by an international instrument. (shrink)

There is concern that the use of neuroenhancements to alter character traits undermines consumer's authenticity. But the meaning, scope and value of authenticity remain vague. However, the majority of contemporary autonomy accounts ground individual autonomy on a notion of authenticity. So if neuroenhancements diminish an agent's authenticity, they may undermine his autonomy. This paper clarifies the relation between autonomy, authenticity and possible threats by neuroenhancements. We present six neuroenhancement scenarios and analyse how autonomy accounts evaluate them. Some cases are considered (...) differently by criminal courts; we demonstrate where academic autonomy theories and legal reasoning diverge and ascertain whether courts should reconsider their concept of autonomy. We argue that authenticity is not an appropriate condition for autonomy and that new enhancement technologies pose no unique threats to personal autonomy. (shrink)

Students of Thomas Aquinas have so far lacked a comprehensive study of his doctrine of the transcendentals. This volume fills this lacuna, showing the fundamental character of the notions of being, one, true and good for his thought. The book inquires into the beginnings of the doctrine in the thirteenth century and explains the relation of the transcendental way of thought to Aquinas's conception of metaphysics. It analyzes 'Being', 'One', 'True', 'Good' and 'Beautiful' individually and discusses their importance for the (...) philosophical knowledge of God. Medieval Philosophy and the Transcendentals: The Case of Thomas Aquinas is intended as a contribution to the question 'What is philosophy in the Middle Ages?' It argues that the doctrine of the transcendentals is essential for understanding medieval philosophy. (shrink)

The sensorimotor theory of perceptual consciousness offers a form of enactivism in that it stresses patterns of interaction instead of any alleged internal representations of the environment. But how does it relate to forms of enactivism stressing the continuity between life and mind? We shall distinguish sensorimotor enactivism, which stresses perceptual capacities themselves, from autopoietic enactivism, which claims an essential connection between experience and autopoietic processes or associated background capacities. We show how autopoiesis, autonomous agency, and affective dimensions of experience (...) may fit into sensorimotor enactivism, and we identify differences between this interpretation and autopoietic enactivism. By taking artificial consciousness as a case in point, we further sharpen the distinction between sensorimotor enactivism and autopoietic enactivism. We argue that sensorimotor enactivism forms a strong default position for an enactive account of perceptual consciousness. (shrink)

Jan-Olav Henriksen reconstructs and analyzes Christianity as a cluster of practices that manifest a distinct historically and contextually shaped mode of being in the world. Henriksen suggests that these practices imply a complicated relationship between the tradition in which they originate, the community that emerges from and is constituted by that tradition, and the individuals who appropriate the tradition that these communities mediate through their practices. Thus, to think of Christianity simply in terms of belief is misleading and represents an (...) underdetermination of its distinct character. Henriksen further argues this relationship needs to be described primarily as practices aimed at orientation and transformation. His analysis points to Christianity's similarity to other religions in regard to the functional or pragmatic dimensions it displays. Examining facets such as prayer, the use of scripture, preaching and doctrine, Henriksen emphasizes that the element that makes a practice distinctively Christian is how it relates to and is informed by the Jesus story. (shrink)

Epigenetics is currently one of the fastest-growing fields in the sciences. Epigenetic information not only controls DNA expression but links genetic factors with the environmental experiences that influence the traits and characteristics of an individual. What we eat, where we work, and how we live affects not only the activity of our genes but that of our offspring as well. This discovery has imposed a revolutionary theoretical shift on modern biology, especially on evolutionary theory. It has helped to uncover the (...) developmental processes leading to cancer, obesity, schizophrenia, alcoholism, and aging, and to facilitate associated medial applications such as stem cell therapy and cloning. Above the Gene, Beyond Biology explores how biologists in this booming field investigate and explain living systems. Jan Baedke offers the first comprehensive philosophical discussion of epigenetic concepts, explanations, and methodologies so that we can better understand this "epigenetic turn" in the life sciences from a philosophical perspective. (shrink)

This book provides for the first time a complete history of the doctrine of the transcendentals and shows its importance for the understanding of philosophy in the Middle Ages.

Freedom of thought is a fundamental human right, enshrined in many human rights treaties. It might very well be the only human right without any practical application. The paper reconstructs scope and meaning of this forgotten right and proposes four principles for its interpretation. In the age of neuroscientific insights and interventions into mind and brain that afford to alter thoughts, the time for the law to define freedom of thought in a way that lives up to its theoretical significance (...) has come. (shrink)

In recent years, postgenomic research, and the fields of epigenetics and microbiome science in particular, have described novel ways in which social processes of racialization can become embodied and result in physiological and health-related racial difference. This new conception of biosocial race has important implications for philosophical debates on the ontology of race. We argue that postgenomic research on race exhibits two key biases in the way that racial schemas are deployed. Firstly, although the ‘new biosocial race’ has been characterized (...) as social race entering into biological processes, it is only particular aspects of social race that are taken to cross the biosocial boundary, resulting in a distorted view of the social component of biosocial race. Secondly, racial categories are assumed to be stable across time and space. This assumption is epistemically limiting, as well as indicating a reliance on a fixed racial ontology. However, the causal pathways for the embodiment of social race, and the different possible modes of embodiment, that postgenomic science is uncovering themselves present a challenge for fixed or static racial ontologies. Given these tensions, we argue that the emerging picture of a shifting landscape of entanglement between the social and the biological requires us to increase the complexity of our ontologies of race, or even embrace a deflationary metaphysics of race. (shrink)

Research on the relation between sound and meaning in language has reported substantial evidence for implicit associations between articulatory–acoustic characteristics of phonemes and emotions. In the present study, we specifically tested the relation between the acoustic properties of a text and its emotional tone as perceived by readers. To this end, we asked participants to assess the emotional tone of single stanzas extracted from a large variety of poems. The selected stanzas had either an extremely high, a neutral, or an (...) extremely low average formant dispersion. To assess the average formant dispersion per stanza, all words were phonetically transcribed and the distance between the first and second formant per vowel was calculated. Building on a long tradition of research on associations between sound frequency on the one hand and non‐acoustic concepts such as size, strength, or happiness on the other hand, we hypothesized that stanzas with an extremely high average formant dispersion would be rated lower on items referring to Potency (dominance) and higher on items referring to Activity (arousal) and Evaluation (emotional valence). The results confirmed our hypotheses for the dimensions of Potency and Evaluation, but not for the dimension of Activity. We conclude that, at least in poetic language, extreme values of acoustic features of vowels are a significant predictor for the emotional tone of a text. (shrink)

The paper aims at describing the discussion about the model-theorethic argument of Hilary Putnam in the past thirty years. First of all it presents the view of Timothy Bays, who through scrupulous examination of the formal side of the argument demonstrates that in fact it has very little in common with the model-theory. It is rather a simple and purely philosophical argument, which isn't more reliable and conclusive than any other argument in philosophy. Putnam tries to block the answer of (...) followers of the causal theory of reference by insisting that it is "just more theory", which could be erased by argument like any other language structure. In response meta-physical realists, like David Lewis and James Van Cleve, claim that "it is not causal language that fixes reference; it is causation itself". David Leech Anderson agrees with metaphysical realists that in principle causal theory could fix the reference, but in his opinion we do not have reliable and substantive theory of that kind, and it doesn't even seem probable that we will have such a theory in future. In conclusion, I agree with Putnam that the metaphysical realist says that "we-know-not-what fixes the reference relation we-know-not-how", and he doesn't have any chance of avoiding the demolition by the model-theorethic argument, because he still tries to separate sharply the realms of language and reality. (shrink)

Można wyróżnić dwa rodzaje powiązań między antyrealizmem semantycznym a teizmem. Pierwsze z nich ma swoje źródło w antyrealistycznym twierdzeniu, że język rozumiemy dzięki naszej znajomości uzasadnień sądów lub zdań. W konsekwencji tego staje się czymś niemożliwym przekazanie wiedzy Boga wierzącemu, jeśli ten ostatni osobiście nie zna uzasadnienia odpowiedniego zdania. Ze szczególnie mocnym przedstawieniem tej doktryny mamy do czynienia na ostatnich stronach Logicznej podstawy metafizyki Michaela Dummetta. Można to rozumieć jako całkowite odrzucenie każdego rodzaju iluminacjonizmu, a także pewnych w jakiś sposób (...) pokrewnych mu stanowisk, takich jak idealizm transcendentalny. Drugie powiązanie ma charakter bardziej pozytywny dla teizmu. Antyrealizm musi przyjąć, że każdy sąd może być poznany, co wydaje się sprzeczne ze zdrowym rozsądkiem. Istnieje jednak prosty sposób na uczynienie tej sugestii czymś prawdziwym, a mianowicie przyjęcie istnienia wszechwiedzącego Boga, który zna każdy sąd. Ten sposób myślenia po raz pierwszy został wyeksponowany trzydzieści lat temu przez Alvina Plantingę i stał się przedmiotem szczegółowych dyskusji różnych filozofów. Należy podkreślić, że po szczegółowym zbadaniu te dwa rodzaje powiązań nie są równie mocno uzasadnione, ponieważ tylko pierwsze z nich jest silnie zakorzenione w antyrealistycznej semantyce, podczas gdy drugie jest jedynie pewną spekulatywną sugestią. (shrink)