The old-fashioned concept of state is shown to be inadequate and misleading. Replacing it by a concept of information and taking advantage of the invariance of the mechanical description under time reversal puts the problems of the interpretation of quantum mechanics in a new light. A more realistic interpretation appears to be possible. Moreover, a new explanation of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox is presented, too.

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.

Author: Sawicki Jerzy Title: THELEOGICAL PRINCIPLE IN KANT’S METHODOLOGY (Zasada teleologiczna w metodologii Kanta) Source: Filo-Sofija year: 2005, vol:.5, number: 2005/1, pages: 281-292 Keywords: KANT, THELEOGICAL PRINCIPLE, FINALISM, MECHANICISM Discipline: PHILOSOPHY Language: POLISH Document type: ARTICLE Publication order reference (Primary author’s office address): E-mail: www:The work contains a concise of I. Kant’s views on the problem of the laws of nature and the theleological principle presented in this context, which Kant proposes in the character of a regulative methodological postulate. (...) The analysis of fundamental philosophical notions (the law of nature, necessity, causality, purpose) carried out from the position of an extreme aprioristic rationalism leads Kant to the conclusion about the basic impossibility of educing the conception of purpose (in relation to nature) from aprioristic transcendental laws, ie. such laws which the theoretical reason imposes to the nature by necessity. However, the fact of a total functioning of an organism does not fit, according to Kant, into the frames of a mechanically understood causality. Kant tries to solve this problem choosing the way of conclusion by analogy and finally he suggests to introduce into the living nature a specific causal relation in which the purposes constitute a particular kind of causes and results at the same time. That conception oscillates between mechanicism and theological finalism, and the fitting of a science system into the frames of aprioristic categories does not permit a finally decide about the supremacy of one or the other way of seeing the world. However, nevertheless, the perceiving and stressing of the peculiarity of organic symptoms, the formulation of the postulate about their unreductability to the law of a mechanical type constitute unquestionable and great merit of the author of the Criticism of the Judgment Authority. The idea of the totality of organism, though involved in subjective idealistic non consequences of Kant’s conceptions has in the given historical period all features of a deep and progressive thought, outpacing and inspiring several later research ideas, both in philosophy and in natural science. (shrink)

The concepts of measurement and measurable quantity are discussed. A probabilistic interpretation independent of the arrow of time is recommended and a definition of quantizable physical systems is given. The space of states of information about the physical system is Schwarz space rather than Hilbert space.

It is shown explicitly that the linearized theory does not constitute any approximation to the exact solutions in the case of free fields. The only regular solution satisfying, as boundary condition, the requirement of a sufficiently rapid decrease at infinity is a flat space. The problem of conservation laws is discussed anew. The continuity equation satisfied by Einstein's pseudotensor does not guarantee the existence of global conservation laws. Solutions violating the energy conservation are interpretable as representing gravitational radiation absorbed or (...) emitted by sources at infinity. (shrink)

Preceded by a historical introduction the problem of a multi-dimensional extension of the geometrical framework of physical reality is discussed. Both metrical space-time and superspace are taken into account. Arguments in favour of a six-dimensional space-time D=6 are presented. A conviction that - according to „the spirit of Kaluza's theory” - all vector fields should be incorporated into the metric is a prejudice: some are ingredients of metric, but some other are genuine multivectors. The idea of supersymmetry is taken into (...) account only in so far that fundamental fields form a supermultiplet of highest extension N=8, but supersymmetry is only global whereas local interactions do not need to be fully supersymmetric but locally gauge invariant and generally relativistic (replacing partial by covariant derivatives). Even a global supersymmetry may soften convergence difficulties so that super-string may be dispensed with. The set of all fields including 3 families of quarks and leptons may be arranged into a table resembling Mendelejev's one. A generalized Higgs mechanism explains high value of masses, also that of top quark. (shrink)

While seeking novel food sources to feed the increasing population of the globe, several alternatives have been discussed, including algae, fungi or in vitro meat. The increasingly propagated usage of farmed insects for human nutrition raises issues regarding food safety, consumer information and animal protection. In line with law, insects like any other animals must not be reared or manipulated in a way that inflicts unnecessary pain, distress or harm on them. Currently, there is a great need for research in (...) the area of insect welfare, especially regarding species-specific needs, health, farming systems and humane methods of killing. Recent results from neurophysiological, neuroanatomical and behavioral sciences prompt caution when denying consciousness and therefore the likelihood of presence of pain and suffering or something closely related to it to insects. From an animal protection point of view, these issues should be satisfyingly solved before propagating and establishing intensive husbandry systems for insects as a new type of mini-livestock factory farming. (shrink)

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by means of natural selection finds application far outside biology, for which it was originally invented. Its consequences for science proved far-going, influencing practically every field from thermodynamics to the humanities. While acting on biological systems, the Darwinian mechanism is a source of progress and the local-scale abandonment of the universe’s general tendency towards chaos. However, observations of changes taking place in selection-exposed organisms show that evolutionary success requires some essential limitations. The application of this (...) reasoning to social evolution may appear thought-provoking: stable evolution requires not only intense selection but also a conservative approach to ideas. (shrink)

It follows from the proved theorems that ifM π=〈Q, ϕ〉 (whereQ={0,q 1,q 2,...,q α}) is a machine of the classM F then there exist α machinesM πi such thatM πi(〈1,c〉)=M π(〈q i,c〉) andQ i={0, 1, 2, ..., α+1} (i=1, 2, ..., α).And thus, if the way in which to an initial function of content of memoryc∈C a machine assigns a final onec′∈C is regarded as the only essential property of the machine then we can deal with the machines of the (...) formM π=〈{0, 1, 2, ..., α}, ϕ〉 and processes π(t) (wheret=〈1,c〉,c∈C) only.Such approach can simplify the problem of defining particular machines of the classM F , composing and simplifying them. (shrink)

Bernhard and Young (Journal of Academic Ethics, 7, 175-191, 2009) allege that a myth of confidentiality plagues research in North America because of the absence of statute-based legal protections and the requirements of some REBs to limit confidentiality to the extent permitted by law. In this commentary we describe statute-based protections for research confidentiality available in the United States, clarify the legal situation regarding research confidentiality in Canada, and explain that REBs that require confidentiality to be limited by law are (...) imposing a doctrine that is not required by the TCPS and may violate researchers’ academic freedom. The paper laments how excessive REB risk aversion and inaction by the granting agency Presidents has created a situation where some REBs are encouraging researchers to download research risks to research participants and forcing researchers to choose between exposing themselves to the prospect of going to jail to protect confidentiality, watering down their research objectives, or conducting vanilla research rather than engaging in controversial and/or sensitive areas of study. The paper urges the granting agency Presidents to seek legislative change to protect research participants who provide information that could cause them harm if their identity were to be revealed. (shrink)

The so-called ‘type method’ widely employed in biological taxonomy is often seen as conforming to the causal-historical theory of reference. In this paper, I argue for an alternative account of reference for biological nomenclature in which taxon names are understood as descriptive names. A descriptive name, as the concept came to be known from the work of Gareth Evans, is a referring expression introduced by a definite description. There are three main differences between the DN and the causal account. First, (...) according to the DN account, rather than fixing a name to a referent, the assignment of a type specimen to serve as the name-bearer for a taxon should be seen as performatively establishing a synonymy between a name and a definite description of the form “the taxon whose type is t”. Each taxon name is therefore associated with a criterion of application, a semantic rule that establishes the connection between the name and the descriptive content. This is the second major difference from the causal account: taxon names do have some descriptive content associated with them. The final locus of dissent concerns the strength of the modality resulting from the usage of taxon names. In order to address this point, I use the DN account to focus on the debate between Matt Haber and Joeri Witteveen concerning misidentification of type specimens, misapplication of names, and the truth conditions of Joseph LaPorte’s de dicto necessary sentence “Necessarily, any species with a type specimen contains its type specimen”. Using a pragmatic variant of the distinction between attributive and referential uses of descriptions, I argue that a metalinguistic version of the de dicto sentence is in fact falsified, as previously argued by Haber. (shrink)

Resumen El artículo busca presentar los fundamentos de una teoría de la desigualdad en Husserl a partir de una ampliación del concepto, proveniente de la ética husserliana, de destino. En las dos primeras secciones, presento las principales conclusiones de la ética de Husserl, incluyendo lo que hasta ahora la literatura ha entendido como el concepto de destino (que caracterizo como «destino natural»). Posteriormente, basándome en textos póstumos de Husserl, sugiero la necesidad de ampliar el ámbito del destino a su dimensión (...) social (lo que he denominado «destino social»), lo que hará posible apreciar que la desigualdad es un problema central para las preocupaciones prácticas de Husserl. Finalizo mostrando un sentido en que el destino social tiene cierta preeminencia sobre el destino natural. (shrink)

This article offers a state of the art of research on Husserl's political philosophy. I begin my work outlining historical and systematical reasons about why this area is not only underdeveloped but also that its discoveries are not systematized. Then, I indicate that there have been two major tendencies on how to understand Husserlian political philosophy, on the one hand, as an ontology of the political world and, on the other, as a branch of social ethics. I detail the main (...) contributions that have been offered in both tendencies and I argue why only the second of them can be considered in a strict sense the political philosophy of Husserl. (shrink)

Las jako zespół przyrody o określonych właściwościach pełni szereg wielorakich funkcji gospodar­czych, pośrednio gospodarczych i pozagospodar­czych. Jako przyrodnicza całość jest mało stabilny i ulega wielu czynnikom biotycznym, abiotycznym i antropogenicznym. Z praktyki ochrony lasu w granicach admini­stracyjnych Regionalnej Dyrekcji Lasów Państwo­wych w Olsztynie wynika, że szczególnie niebez­pieczne bywają owady - z grupy szkodników pier­wotnych - żerujące na drzewach żywych i pozornie zdrowych, a osłabionych działaniem jednego lub kil­ku czynników, zwykle abiotycznych. Pojawy nie­których zmuszają do podejmowania zabiegów ratow­niczych. Sposoby sprowadzania liczebności (...) trzech moty­li, tzn. brudnicy mniszki, strzygoni choinówki i zwójki zieloneczki, do poziomu przed laty nazywanego „żelaznym zapasem” przedstawia niniejsze opracowanie. (shrink)

The goal of this paper is to show how culture – shared norms and values – is challenged and used to facilitate cooperative behavior within the context of farmer field schools (FFS) in central Luzon, Philippines. The success of the FFS is primarily associated with cultural norms that encourage experiential and collective learning and eventually lead to the adoption of integrated pest management (IPM) methods among the farmers. The study was conducted in central Luzon, the rice granary region of the (...) Philippines, from 1992 to 1995 and again in 1999. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed. Results indicate that a keen understanding of Filipino culture and values is essential if FFS is to be successful and if farmers are to successfully learn and practice IPM. (shrink)

W latach 1931-1934 Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz sformułował dwie wersje teorii znaczenia. Tarski wykazał, że druga wersja teorii dopuszcza moż- liwość istnienia równoznacznych nazw o różnej denotacji. Cecha ta zo- stała uznana przez Tarskiego i Ajdukiewicza za dyskwalifikującą teorię. W artykule dokonuję porównania obu wersji teorii, przede wszystkim ze względu na podstawową definicję wzajemnej wymienialności wyrażeń. Pokazuję, że wbrew rozpowszechnionej opinii zarzut Tarskiego dotyczy także pierwszej wersji teorii. Siła argumentu Tarskiego opiera się na założeniu, że żadna adekwatna teoria znaczenia nie może dopuszczać (...) istnienia równoznacznych nazw o różnej denotacji. Podejmuję dyskusję z tym stanowiskiem. (shrink)