The article is devoted to an evaluation of contemporary cognitive psychology which draws inspirations from current naturalistic epistemology. The author's conclusion is that the philosophical background of some modern psychological theories and conceptions is in midway position between naturalistic and non-naturalistic (anti-psychologistic) epistemology.

The article addresses the question whether cybernetic simulations of cognitive processes make the study of actual laws of human thinking possible. The article also draws a comparison between the area of social sciences and the area of formal and natural sciences. The Kaziemierz Twardowski's theory of intentionality and his theory of actions and products provide the conceptual framework of the undertaken analysis.

The author attempts to show that, despite the recent development of the methodology of scientific researches in psychology, the experimental approach does not enable us to discover the factual causal links among psychological phenomena. The real function of the category of causality is described and discussed.

The article is devoted to the evaluation of the ecological alternative in cognitive psychology. The theory of „extended minds” is discussed in this paper as a version of ecological psychology. The authors of the theory of extended mind advocate „active externalism”, based on the active role of the environment in driving cognitive processes. The environment, driving cognitive processes, comprises books, diagrams, language, and other culture products. Władysław Witwicki's psychology and his idea of real presence of persons in cultural products which (...) they create, provide a conceptual framework for the undertaken analysis and evaluation. (shrink)

The term “transcendental” means something which is a necessary and a priori condition of knowledge. In other words, “the transcendental” refers to all presuppositions of a knower who is ready for knowing. These presuppositions are sometimes called “epistemic assumptions”. The paper presents author’s interpretation of the knowledge necessary conditions. The theoretical background for this interpretation is Kazimierz Twardowski’s theory of actions and products, and John Searle’s theory of human action.

The present paper focuses on the mind-body problem. According to the author, the mind-body problem is, as a matter of fact, a bundle of several problems; they are of a different nature and may be solved in the area of interdisciplinary cooperation. The paper concentrates on two aspects of the mind-body problems: the apparent causal interactions of the consciousness and the body, and the unique nature and genesis self-consciousness.

The paper describes the theory of mirror neurons system and reminds selected empirical researches made in its context. Author evaluates the theory from the theo-retical and methodological point of view. The background of undertaken analysis and evaluation is Lakatos' and Kuhn's methodology and philosophy of science.

W poniższym artykule przypominam kilka kognitywistycznych założeń dotyczących umysłu, mózgu oraz problemu psychofizycznego. Artykuł porównuje też pojęcie procesów umysłowych, jakie wprowadziła kognitywistyka, z zaproponowanym kilka dekad wcześniej przez środkowoeuropejską teorię intencjonalności pojęciem czynności poznawczych.

Cognitive activity, which essentially consistsof the use of signs, does not only depend onthe internal (mental, or brain) processes. Thefirst part of the paper presents severalversions of the idea of the external andcultural organization of individual''s mentalprocesses. The second part of the paperconsiders a future development of cognitivescience as a science of the extended andsocially constructed mind. KazimierzTwardowski''s theory of intentionality and histheory of actions and products provide theconceptual framework of the undertaken analysis.

Głównym celem artykułu jest ponowne przemyślenie pojęcia Kartezjańskiego cogito, podjęte w kontekście teorii czynności i wytworów, oraz ogólnej teorii ludzkiej twórczości. Końcowy wniosek to stwierdzenie, że Kartezjańskie cogito nie jest podmiotem lecz aktem albo czynnością. Ten akt, albo ciąg aktów (działalność), łączy podmiot z przedmiotem. Taki wniosek jest jednocześnie mostem prowadzącym od kartezjańskiego metodologicznym sceptycyzmu do teorii aktów intencjonalnych zaproponowanej przez Franciszka Brentana i jego następców.

The problem of legal normativity is one the most controversial issues in the philosophy of law. It was already a subject of heated debate in the 19th century and, over the last 100 years, the study of normativity has taken many shapes and forms, from Kelsen's dualism, through the reductionism proposed by legal realists, to some nihilistic stances. In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the problems surrounding the concept of law's normativity, and this collection is seen (...) as a contribution to that debate. The book will be of interest to lawyers and philosophers, both at the graduate and professional levels. (shrink)

Jerzy Perzanowski s ideas were based on an original blend of logic and ontology in what he called onto/logic, where the slash is meant to suggest a quotient of ontology by logic. Perzanowski began as a logician, his early works being on modal logic, then gradually shifted his interest to logical philosophy, meaning not so much philosophy of logic as philosophy informed by logic. Perzanowski was a rare breed of analytical philosopher who thought that a philosophical theory of everything (...) was worthwhile. In this systematic spirit, he began with method. He presented his method of total analysis and synthesis quite simply: reduce the object of research to its simplest possible constituents, and then combine them in some way. Better still, combine them in every possible way, thereby producing a space of possibilities analogous to (and in certain cases identical with) the logical space. Thus, analysis and synthesis differ from a trivial disassembly and reassembly.". (shrink)

The Normative Mind addresses philosophical and scientific issues connected with rule-following and decision-making from the perspectives of philosophy and various sciences. The book examines the diverse relations with rule-following behavior of such phenomena as cognitive control, emotions, decision-making heuristics, and creativity. The contributions-by philosophers, psychologists, and neuroscientists-also concern the problem of normativity as it is present in logic, moral epistemology, and rational choice theory. Furthermore, the roles of evolution and of neural processes for the emergence of rule-following behavior are analyzed. (...) [Subject: Philosophy, Psychology, Cognitive Science]. (shrink)

Jerzy Franczak comprehensively presents Jacques Rancière's thought by emphasizing the relations between politics and literature. The detailed analysis considers the context of modern aesthetics and political philosophy, which is why the book introduces further protagonists, such as Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, or Jean-François Lyotard. Franczak first reconstructs Rancière's original philosophy of literature so as to then immediately apply it in readings of select world literature masterpieces by Gustav Flaubert, Max Jacob, Bertold Brecht, Vladimir Nabokov, and Philip Roth.

CONTENTS:--Reichenbach, H. Elementy logiki formalnej (fragmenty).--Wybrane studia z semiotyki logicznej.