Matteo Ricci is one of the most important Christian missionaries in China whose groundbreaking method of accommodation in the context of the Chinese culture was paradigmatic and influenced the history of relationship between China and the West. Ricci’s work had a profound impact on Chinese culture. He introduced new ideas in astronomy, mathematics, cartography, and other fields. He also helped to spread Christianity in China through the means of science and dialogue built on authentic friendship. In this article we offer (...) a discussion about his missionary work that left mark on the history of evangelization of China by considering his scientific contribution, his missionary spirituality and accommodation method resulting in his personal experience of intercultural encounter leading to his profound self-transformation. As the Catholic church already officially recognized his “heroic virtues” putting Matteo Ricci on the path to sainthood, it is important to reflect about contribution of this great Jesuit to the dialogue between China and the West. Abstrak Matteo Ricci adalah salah seorang misionaris Kristen terpenting di Tiongkok, karena membuat terobosan berupa metode akomodasi yang akan menjadi paradigma kultural yang memengaruhi sejarah relasi antara Tiongkok dan Barat. Pengaruh Ricci terhadap kebudayaan Tiongkok sangat dalam karena ia memperkenalkan astronomi, matematika, kartografi, dan bidang ilmu lainnya. Ia membantu penyebaran Kristianitas di Tiongkok lewat jalan ilmu pengetahuan serta lewat dialog berdasarkan persahabatan tulus. Artikel ini mendiskusikan karya Ricci yang menandai sejarah evangelisasi di Tiongkok dengan secara khusus menyoroti kontribusinya dalam bidang sains dan dengan menelisik metode akomodasi beserta spiritualitas penginjilannya yang berakar pada perjumpaan interkultural yang membuahkan transformasi mendalam dalam kehidupan pribadinya. Mengingat Gereja Katolik telah secara resmi mengakui keutamaan-keutamaan heroik Matteo Ricci serta telah memulai proses kanonisasinya, penting kiranya merefleksikan kontribusi misionaris Yesuit ini dalam hal dialog antara Tiongkok dan Barat. Kata-kata kunci: Matteo Ricci, Tiongkok, spiritualitas, akomodasi, misi, dialog. (shrink)

This project envisages a study of Eric Voegelin (1901-1985) and of the role played by metaxy in his vision of political philosophy. Metaxy already defined by Plato as the "in-between" matrix of the human condition is for Voegelin a powerful notion that symbolizes the intermediate state in which man experiences diverse and opposing tensions such as the ones between immanence and transcendence or mortality and immortality. The metaxy constitutes the realm of the divine-human mutual participation (methexis), and its locus resides (...) in human consciousness (nous), there where the divine reality manifests itself as the origin of being. Being the field of intermediation between opposing forces, man has to keep the balance of consciousness in order to differentiate the noetic and pneumatic dimensions and so attune his life to the divine ground of being. This project claims that for Voegelin metaxy shapes the possibility of the philosophical, historical, political and religious orientation in life. Indeed, Voegelin's approach deserves recognition as an option adequate for addressing the intellectual challenges engendered by modern and postmodern philosophies. (shrink)

In this paper we present learning algorithms for classes of categorial grammars restricted by negative constraints. We modify learning functions of Kanazawa [10] and apply them to these classes of grammars. We also prove the learnability of intersection of the class of minimal grammars with the class of k-valued grammars.

The subject of this abstract is the description of professional ethics of a damage adjuster in an insurance company. The work of a damage adjuster in a financial institution is more than looking after the profit of the company which goes to the company shareholders. The job is very often regarded as a position of public trust. When the aggrieved parties report a damage to an insurance company they not only entrust their personal data, which are protected by law, but (...) they also reveal confidential information like medical records, their income and important personal documentation. Reporting a damage, the aggrieved party has to be sure that the entrusted information will be only used for the purpose of the liquidation of damages. On the other hand, the damage adjuster is supposed to know that when contacting the aggrieved party, who is not an expert in insurance, should never use the professional knowledge to make decisions which are not in favour of the party. In this case the damage adjuster has two roles; not only is he a professional who is responsible for the liquidation of the damage but he is also a representative of a financial institution to the aggrieved party. Therefore there are also some marketing aspects involved in the process because quick and accurate handling of the liquidation process can convince the aggrieved party to choose the insurance company’s offer. In my paper I am going to focus on ethical issues of the profession of a damage adjuster both when interacting with clients and decision taking. I will try to show what ethical and moral standards a person working as a damage adjuster should follow. These being especially important for the profession of a personal damage adjuster. The role of a damage adjuster is not only the liquidation of the damage following procedures but also help and support for the aggrieved party by explaining the procedures, existing rights and claims. (shrink)

Author: Dalke Jarosław Title: PHILOSOPHICAL ARGUMENTS FOR THE IDEA OF UNIVERSAL SALVATION IN THOMAS TALBOTT’S APPROACH (Argumenty filozoficzne za koncepcją uniwersalizmu zbawienia w ujęciu Thomasa Talbotta) Source: Filo-Sofija year: 2010, vol:.10, number: 2010/1, pages: 107-122 Keywords: IDEA OF UNIVERSAL SALVATION, THOMAS TALBOTT, GOD Discipline: PHILOSOPHY Language: POLISH Document type: ARTICLE Publication order reference (Primary author’s office address): E-mail: www:This paper presents philosophical arguments for the idea of universal salvation proposed by Thomas Talbott. He argues that in the afterlife everyone (...) will be finally reconciled to God, because the existence of hell, understood as state of endless suffering, is logically inconsistent with God’s love and omnipotence. Nonetheless, the critical analysis of Talbott’s reasoning doesn’t show that his universalism is sufficiently justifiable position. Although the emptiness of hell is logically possible, Talbott’s argumentation requires accepting more assumptions and resolving additional difficulties. (shrink)

Journal of Philosophy of Education, EarlyView.

ABSTRACTThe purpose of my paper is to determine the consequences of including an education for forgiveness in the context of developing prudence. I aim to answer two questions: what is prudent forgiveness; what constitutes education for prudent forgiveness? I present my analyses in six parts. After introduction, I point to the advantages and doubts concerning forgiveness. Then, I present prudence as a basic virtue guiding human actions. I draw mainly on the approach proposed by Thomas Aquinas, who argued that prudence (...) refers to the perfection of the command. The fourth part addresses the question of the mechanisms of prudent forgiveness. I note that a decision to forgive cannot be made in haste; that it is a decision concerning some good that the victim wants to attain in the future; finally, that forgiveness is prudent in its achievement. In the last part, I transfer prior analyses to the pedagogical level. (shrink)

Tematem artykułu jest filozofia miłości rozwijana przez dwóch wybitnych fenomenologów wymienionych w tytule: Dietricha von Hildebranda i Karola Wojtyłę. Obydwaj korzystali w swoich badaniach z metody fenomenologicznej; celem artykułu jest pokazanie, że w obydwu wypadkach metoda ta prowadziła do podobnych rezultatów. Autor czyni to w trzech krokach. Po pierwsze, pokazuje, że miłość pojętą w sensie ogólnym obydwaj autorzy rozumieją jako odpowiedź na wartość osoby. W Lubelskiej Szkole Personalizmu zasada miłości została wyrażona w formule: persona est affirmanda propter seipsam, a treścią (...) afirmacji, która jest należna osobie, jest miłość. W kategoriach von Hildebranda zasada ta wyrażona jest w sposób następujący: dobro osoby afirmowane jest poprzez obiektywne dobra dla osoby, które stanowią właściwą treść miłości. Po drugie, obydwaj autorzy wiele uwagi poświęcają tej specyficznej formie miłości, jaką jest miłość małżeńska. Podczas gdy mińość w sensie ogólnym stanowi odpowiedź na wyjątkową wartość osoby w stosunku do świata pozaosobowego, to miłość małżeńska jest odpowiedzią na wyjątkową wartość jednej osoby pośród wszystkich innych osób doświadczaną przez osobę płci przeciwnej. W tym sensie miłość małżeńska jest również specyficzną odpowiedzią na wartość. Po trzecie, doświadczenie miłości małżeńskiej pokazuje, że nie istnieje sprzeczność między wolnością a wzajemną przynależnością, co von Hildebrand wyraził w pojciu intentio unionis. (shrink)

The direct reference point for these analyses is the process of making moral decisions, but a particular point of interest is the difficulty associated with making decisions when acting subjects are aware that their choice of moral good can lead to the breakdown of relationships with those close to them or to their exclusion from the group that have been most important to them so far in their lives, consequently causing them to experience loneliness. This difficulty is a challenge for (...) education, which in supporting the moral development of a maturing person should prepare her/him for choosing moral good even if this requires personal sacrifices. In these analyses, assuming that knowledge of moral good is not sufficient for morally good actions, I refer mainly to the virtues of character that facilitate making morally good decisions and I seek the answer to the question: what character traits should be shaped in maturing persons, so that as adults they can resist moral evil, even when this will clearly lead to the experience of loneliness? I propose these character traits as expressing moral virtues—especially the cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude. In this way, I join in the discussion relating to the teleology of education. I do not touch on the methodology of education, however. The argument is presented in two parts. In the first, I introduce the problem of decision-making implying consent to loneliness. In the second, I reflect on the characteristics of a person who is capable of making such a decision. (shrink)

It, is shown that Birkhoff –von Neumann quantum logic (i.e., an orthomodular lattice or poset) possessing an ordering set of probability measures S can be isomorphically represented as a family of fuzzy subsets of S or, equivalently, as a family of propositional functions with arguments ranging over S and belonging to the domain of infinite-valued Łukasiewicz logic. This representation endows BvN quantum logic with a new pair of partially defined binary operations, different from the order-theoretic ones: Łukasiewicz intersection and union (...) of fuzzy sets in the first case and Łukasiewicz conjunction and disjunction in the second. Relations between old and new operations are studied and it is shown that although they coincide whenever new operations are defined, they are not identical in general. The hypothesis that quantum-logical conjunction and disjunction should be represented by Łukasiewicz operations, not by order-theoretic join and meet is formulated and some of its possible consequences are considered. (shrink)

Jubilees induce one to reflect, to look back. It is a good opportunity to make some summaries, one ponders over the achievements of the past. It is also a good moment to express one's appreciation and gratitude. Such an expression of appreciation and a form of gratitude is the book Philosophy Leaning Towards Man, dedicated to Rev. Stanisław Kowalczyk, a professor of philosophy on the occasion of forty years of his scientific work at the Catholic University of Lublin and the (...) fiftieth anniversary of his ordination. This joint publication, dedicated to Prof. Kowalczyk and edited by Edward Balawajder, Arkadiusz Jabłoński and Jan Szymczyk, comprises numerous studies by his associates, colleagues and students. The whole work is thematically organized into three parts. The first part contains texts that raise anthropological issues, the second - social issues, and the third - issues concentrated around the relation between God and religion. This organization perfectly reflects the spectrum of the interests of Prof. Kowalczyk. (shrink)

Thomas Hobbes bequeathed to us a comprehensive system, the interpretation of which remains a matter of disagreement even today. In his political theory, he pays most attention to the state community. He deliberates over the reasons for its origin, its decline and fall. Among the more detailed issues dealt within his reflections, the more important ones are the following: the concept of the state of nature, human motivation, the state of war and peace, as well as considerations concerning the social (...) contract. In order to be consistent in his argument, Hobbes also deals with the analysis of the structures of the state, the division of power and with the functions a state should perform. Due to these deliberations, he finally arrives at the secret of the state’s durability. Though it is certainly the case that, since his times, the socio-political situation and circumstances have changed, many of the solutions postulated by Hobbes have not lost their value. (shrink)

Thomas Hobbes bequeathed to us a comprehensive system, the interpretation of which remains a matter of disagreement even today. In his political theory, he pays most attention to the state community. He deliberates over the reasons for its origin, its decline and fall. Among the more detailed issues dealt within his reflections, the more important ones are the following: the concept of the state of nature, human motivation, the state of war and peace, as well as considerations concerning the social (...) contract. In order to be consistent in his argument, Hobbes also deals with the analysis of the structures of the state, the division of power and with the functions a state should perform. Due to these deliberations, he finally arrives at the secret of the state’s durability. Though it is certainly the case that, since his times, the socio-political situation and circumstances have changed, many of the solutions postulated by Hobbes have not lost their value. (shrink)

Rev. Professor Stanislaw Kowalczyk ist the head of the Social Philosophy Department at The Social Studies Faculty of the Catholic University of Lublin. He is a philosopher with a wide variety of interests and the author of many books. Philosophical Ideas of Postmodernism is his newest work. Kowalczyk does not present his own definition of postmodernism. He compares the most important philosophers of this trend and critically analyses their ideas from the point of view of classical philosophy.

Jubilees induce one to reflect, to look back. It is a good opportunity to make some summaries, one ponders over the achievements of the past. It is also a good moment to express one's appreciation and gratitude. Such an expression of appreciation and a form of gratitude is the book Philosophy Leaning Towards Man, dedicated to Rev. Stanisław Kowalczyk, a professor of philosophy on the occasion of forty years of his scientific work at the Catholic University of Lublin and the (...) fiftieth anniversary of his ordination. This joint publication, dedicated to Prof. Kowalczyk and edited by Edward Balawajder, Arkadiusz Jabłoński and Jan Szymczyk, comprises numerous studies by his associates, colleagues and students. The whole work is thematically organized into three parts. The first part contains texts that raise anthropological issues, the second - social issues, and the third - issues concentrated around the relation between God and religion. This organization perfectly reflects the spectrum of the interests of Prof. Kowalczyk. (shrink)

Rev. Professor Stanislaw Kowalczyk ist the head of the Social Philosophy Department at The Social Studies Faculty of the Catholic University of Lublin. He is a philosopher with a wide variety of interests and the author of many books. Philosophical Ideas of Postmodernism is his newest work. Kowalczyk does not present his own definition of postmodernism. He compares the most important philosophers of this trend and critically analyses their ideas from the point of view of classical philosophy.

W artykule przedstawiam i wyjaśniam graficzną metodę przeprowadzania logicznych dowodów - prawdokrzew. Swoją prezentację ograniczyłem do klasycznego rachunku zdań. Artykuł jest również propozycją polskiego tłumaczenia pojęć występujących w tej metodzie. Tak dobrałem polską terminologię, aby przez wywoływanie emocjonalnych obrazów omawiana metoda stała się bardziej zrozumiała i łatwiejsza do zapamiętania.

The article reviews the book Granice pojęciowe metafizyki [The Conceptual Boundaries of Metaphysics], by Sebastian Tomasz Kołodziejczyk.

Many attempts to define privacy have been made over the last century. Early definitions and theories of privacy had little to do with the concept of information and, when they did, only in an informal sense. With the advent of information technology, the question of a precise and universally acceptable definition of privacy in this new domain became an urgent issue as legal and business problems regarding privacy started to accrue. In this paper, I propose a definition of informational privacy (...) that is simple, yet strongly tied with the concepts of information and property. Privacy thus defined is similar to intellectual property and should receive commensurate legal protection. (shrink)

In the paper it is shown that every physically sound Birkhoff - von Neumann quantum logic, i.e., an orthomodular partially ordered set with an ordering set of probability measures can be treated as partial infini te-valued Lukasiewicz logic, which unifies two competing approaches: the many-valued, and the two-valued but non-distributive, which have co-existed in the quantum logic theory since its very beginning.

In the paper it is shown that every physically sound Birkhoff – von Neumann quantum logic, i.e., an orthomodular partially ordered set with an ordering set of probability measures can be treated as partial infinite-valued Łukasiewicz logic, which unifies two competing approaches: the many-valued, and the two-valued but non-distributive, which have co-existed in the quantum logic theory since its very beginning.

Sztuczna inteligencja pojawiła się jako dziedzina badawcza ponad 60 lat temu. Po spektakularnych sukcesach na początku jej istnienia oczekiwano pojawienia się maszyn myślących w ciągu kilku lat. Prognoza ta zupełnie się nie sprawdziła. Nie dość, że maszyny myślącej dotąd nie zbudowano, to nie ma zgodności wśród naukowców czym taka maszyna miałaby się charakteryzować ani nawet czy warto ją w ogóle budować. W artykule tym postaramy się prześledzić dyskusję metodologiczną towarzyszącą sztucznej inteligencji od początku jej istnienia i określić relację między sztuczną (...) inteligencją a kognitywistyką. (shrink)

The uniqueness of Poland’s experience with the 2020 coronavirus lays in the interplay of two factors: the decisive governmental response to the pandemic, and the overlap of the pandemic with the country’s presidential election scheduled on May 10, 2020. The government’s fast reaction, combined with the citizens’ discipline, resulted in the suppression of the virus’s spread. The ratings of the current President Duda skyrocketed well above 50% needed for re-election in the first round. However, the expectation was that they would (...) be going down with the pandemic and lockdown fatigue. For almost two months, the government tried to organize the elections under the normal schedule while the opposition tried to block them. Finally, the opposition won, and the elections were rescheduled on June 28, with the President Duda’s ratings substantially lower. Nevertheless, in the runoff on July 11, Duda won. Our conclusion goes against the common opinion that electoral engineering is always one-sided. The reconstruction of the pre-electoral political maneuvers shows that many independent players were simultaneously involved in complex engineering, and that the final outcome was hard to predict until almost the very end. (shrink)

Many attempts to define privacy have been made since the publication of the seminal paper by Warren and Brandeis (Warren & Brandeis, 1890). Early definitions and theories of privacy had little to do with the concept of information and, when they did, only in an informal sense. With the advent of information technology, the question of a precise and universally acceptable definition of privacy became an urgent issue as legal and business problems regarding privacy started to accrue. In this paper, (...) we propose a definition of privacy that is simple, yet strongly tied with the concepts of information and property. We show that privacy thus defined is not only useful in the context of the infosphere, but can also be successfully applied in its more traditional role as the ‘right to be let alone’. (shrink)

Author: Boruszewski Jarosław Title: MACHINES AND SYMBOLS (I) – SEMANTIC ASPECTS OF CYBERNETICS AND AUTOMATION (Maszyny i symbole (I) – semantyczne aspekty cybernetyki i automatyzacji) Source: Filo-Sofija year: 2011, vol:.12, number: 2011/1, pages: 397-425 Keywords: MACHINES, SYMBOLS, SEMANTIC, CYBERNETICS, AUTOMATION Discipline: PHILOSOPHY Language: POLISH Document type: ARTICLE Publication order reference (Primary author’s office address): E-mail: www:This article is the first part of the cycle titled “Machines and symbols”. The main issue of this cycle may be formulated as a question: (...) can machines and technical devices operate with symbols? A very important problem raised in this essay is the difference between symbols and signals. The concept of signal is also broadly discussed in the paper, because there are many different definitions of this concept. The present text contains semantic and philosophical considerations concerning cybernetics, mathematical theory of communication, industrial semiotics and semio-technics. In these theories, terms “symbol” and “signal” are often used interchangeably which leads to misconceptions. One of the most frequent misconceptions is confusing discrete signals with symbols. The author focused on communication systems where machines are senders and humans are receivers, because descriptions of these systems tend towards anthropomorphization of a machine-sender. This tendency makes signals sent out by machines treated as symbols comprehensible by a human-receiver. Another interesting aspect of machine-human communication systems is the treatment of a human-receiver as some kind of machine. Such an idea is called “mechanomorphism”. (shrink)

The field of Artificial Intelligence has been around for over 60 years now. Soon after its inception, the founding fathers predicted that within a few years an intelligent machine would be built. That prediction failed miserably. Not only hasn’t an intelligent machine been built, but we are not much closer to building one than we were some 50 years ago. Many reasons have been given for this failure, but one theme has been dominant since its advent in 1969: The Frame (...) Problem. What looked initially like an innocuous problem in logic, turned out to be a much broader and harder problem of holism and relevance in commonsense reasoning. Despite an enormous literature on the topic, there is still disagreement not only on whether the problem has been solved, but even what exactly the problem is. In this paper we provide a formal description of the initial problem, the early attempts at a solution, and its ramification both in AI as well as philosophy. (shrink)

There are two fundamental classes of terms traditionally distinguished within moral vocabulary: the deontic and the aretaic. The terms from the first set serve in the prescriptive function of a moral code. The second class contains terms used for a moral evaluation of an action. The problem of the relationship between the aretaic and the deontic has not been discussed often by philosophers. It is, however, a very important and interesting issue: any normative ethical theory which takes as basic one (...) set of these concepts should justify such choice and establish, at least implicitly, the logical relation with the other set. This paper is organized around the criticism of Stocker’s ‘sameness thesis’ (Stocker 1973 ): the claim that ‘good’ or ‘right’ mean the same thing. It is first presented in Stocker’s own formulation and criticized as implausible in that form. Some friendly modifications to his idea are suggested and then further discussed with the skeptical conclusion: no matter how close we bring deontic and aretaic notions, the gap between them will remain and any attempt to define or even explain one set of terms in another will leave something behind. (shrink)

This paper is an attempt to reject the classical interpretation of Stoic ethics as virtue ethics. The typical assumptions of this interpretation, that virtue is the supreme good and that happiness can be reduced to virtue, are questioned. We first lay out the conceptual framework of Stoic philosophy and present an outline of their reduction of happiness to virtue. The main part of the paper provides an argument for reinterpretation of virtue as rationality. In the last part of the paper (...) – more speculative – we argue against the possibility of reduction of happiness to virtue. The main point of the argument is the conceptual incompatibility of the two notions. (shrink)

'Zugang' ist der bislang übersehene Grundbegriff von Martin Heideggers Denken bis zum Hauptwerk 'Sein und Zeit' (1927). Menschsein bedeutet demnach: Zugänge erschliessen zu dem, was ist. Ermöglicht wird diese Form der Existenz durch unser gebrochenes Selbstverhältnis: die Fraktur der Subjektivität"--Page 4 of cover.