This paper is devoted to clarifying Hannah Arendt’s concept of political freedom by the means of analysing its structure. My analysis proceeds in three steps. Firstly, I distinguish a pre-political concept of freedom as exercising spontaneity, which is at the root of Arendt’s understanding of political freedom. Secondly, I analyse her account of freedom as exercising action and indicate its relationship to the elementary freedom of spontaneity. Arendt endowed action with a distinguished importance, since she assumed that it is the (...) only activity within the vita activa, which has a special anthropological and axiological significance. According to Arendt, only action allows one to truly experience the fundamental aspect of the human condition, which is the fact of human plurality; it is also the only activity which allows one to exercise specifically public principles, such as solidarity, equality, or justice. Thirdly, I indicate how these two accounts of freedom translate into Arendt’s concept of political freedom. This analysis reveals that the Arendtian concept of political freedom is markedly original. She did not define it in a usual manner, i.e. through indicating bundles of legal and political rights which determine the accepted scope of participation in the public affairs. The inherent part of her concept of political freedom is a specific account of how it must be exercised. Political freedom understood as the participation in governance exercised through action is not merely an activity of instrumental, but also anthropological and axiological importance, which is due to the special anthropological and axiological meaning of action. In the final section, I discuss the practical dimension of Arendt’s theory. She doubted whether the traditional representative democracy is capable of accommodating her ‘rich’ ideal of political freedom, therefore she proposed an alternative account of political system based on councils. I formulate objections against this proposition and demonstrate that councils would presumably fail to accommodate Arendt’s exacting account of political freedom. (shrink)

This paper is devoted to clarifying Hannah Arendt’s concept of political freedom by the means of analysing its structure. My analysis proceeds in three steps. Firstly, I distinguish a pre-political concept of freedom as exercising spontaneity, which is at the root of Arendt’s understanding of political freedom. Secondly, I analyse her account of freedom as exercising action and indicate its relationship to the elementary freedom of spontaneity. Arendt endowed action with a distinguished importance, since she assumed that it is the (...) only activity within the vita activa, which has a special anthropological and axiological significance. According to Arendt, only action allows one to truly experience the fundamental aspect of the human condition, which is the fact of human plurality; it is also the only activity which allows one to exercise specifically public principles, such as solidarity, equality, or justice. Thirdly, I indicate how these two accounts of freedom translate into Arendt’s concept of political freedom. This analysis reveals that the Arendtian concept of political freedom is markedly original. She did not define it in a usual manner, i.e. through indicating bundles of legal and political rights which determine the accepted scope of participation in the public affairs. The inherent part of her concept of political freedom is a specific account of how it must be exercised. Political freedom understood as the participation in governance exercised through action is not merely an activity of instrumental, but also anthropological and axiological importance, which is due to the special anthropological and axiological meaning of action. In the final section, I discuss the practical dimension of Arendt’s theory. She doubted whether the traditional representative democracy is capable of accommodating her ‘rich’ ideal of political freedom, therefore she proposed an alternative account of political system based on councils. I formulate objections against this proposition and demonstrate that councils would presumably fail to accommodate Arendt’s exacting account of political freedom. (shrink)

Microbiota-gut-brain research is a fast-growing field of inquiry with important implications for how human brain function and behaviour are understood. Researchers manipulate gut microbes to reveal connections between intestinal microbiota and normal brain functions or pathological states. Many claims are made about causal relationships between gut microbiota and human behaviour. By uncovering these relationships, MGB research aims to offer new explanations of mental health and potential avenues of treatment. So far, limited evaluation has been made of MGB's methods and its (...) core experimental findings, many of which are extensively reiterated in copious reviews of the field. These factors, plus the self-help potential of MGB, have combined to encourage uncritical public uptake of MGB discoveries. Both social and professional media focus on the potential for dietary intervention in mental health, and causal relationships are assumed to be established. Our target article has two main aims. One is to examine critically the core practices and findings of experimental MGB research and to raise questions about them for brain and behavioural scientists who may not be familiar with the field. The other is to challenge the way in which MGB findings are presented. Our positive goal is to suggest how current problems and weaknesses may be addressed, in order for both scientific and public audiences to gain a clearer picture of MGB research and its strengths and limitations. (shrink)

(Extra)Ordinary? edited by Jade Alexander and Katarzyna Bronk engages in research on the ways and means in which celebrity status has been created, controlled, dispersed and received in the past as well as the present.

Cuban migrants are considered as and referred to as exiles. However, in the face of the economic transformations in Cuba, as well as the rapprochement between the U.S. and Cuba, it has become necessary to revise the epistemological and semiotic foundations of this phenomenon. The current migratory trends among the Cubans do not meet the definition of exiles. Thus, the title of this article reflects the research assumption and the principal aim that the current circumstances in Cuba, as well as (...) the migratory flows of Cubans mark the decline of the myth of the Cuban exile; a myth built by the media. (shrink)

This paper aims to discuss selected issues related to the effect exerted by the financial aspects of psychotherapy on a psychotherapeutic relationship. At the beginning, I consider the effect that remuneration received by the therapist directly from the customer can have on their therapeutic relationship. Then I discuss the issues related to the compensation for psychotherapy services and show the consequences which the criteria of compensating for specific therapeutic methods have for the quality of psychotherapeutic relationships, as well as the (...) influence which the requirement to study the effectiveness of psychotherapy in the natural science paradigm has on psychotherapeutic services. The arguments I put forward lead to the conclusion that the criteria of the compensation for psychotherapeutic services can change the psychotherapeutic relationship into a business relationship and, as a result, the therapist can start to treat the customer instrumentally. (shrink)

Objectives Study participants are 46 women with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome. Occurrence of the M-R-K-H syndrome is one in 4000-5000 female children. It was investigated whether coping styles mediate the effect of neuroticism on positive and negative affect, and whether this mediation is moderated by the level of N as well as whether this moderated mediation is moderated by length of awareness of illness. Methods: Neuroticism, coping style as well as positive and negative emotions were assessed using the Polish version of NOE-FFI, (...) CISS and Scale of Emotional State. Results: Emotion coping style fully or partly mediated the relationship between neuroticism and emotions and these mediations were moderated by the level of N. Additionally, direct effect of neuroticism on NA was moderated by the time for which a patient has been aware of the disease. Conclusions: The level of neuroticism and the length of illness are important factors for the psychological functioning of women with M-R-K-H Syndrome. In women with medium and high neuroticism, effect of N on NA was indirect and also direct - but only in those who have been aware of the diagnosis for 6 years or more. Relations with positive emotions were different: the indirect effect was observed only in women with a moderate and low neuroticism. (shrink)

Women's Power To Be Loud: The Authority of the Discourse and Authority of the Text in Mary Dorcey's Irish Lesbian Poetic Manifesto "Come Quietly or the Neighbours Will Hear" The following article aims to examine Mary Dorcey's poem "Come Quietly or the Neighbours Will Hear," included in the 1991 volume Moving into the Space Cleared by Our Mothers. Apart from being a well-known and critically acclaimed Irish poet and fiction writer, the author of the poem has been, from its beginnings, (...) actively involved in lesbian rights movement. Dorcey's poem "Come Quietly or the Neighbours Will Hear" is to be construed from a perspective of lesbian and feminist discourse, as well as a cultural, sociological and political context in which it was created. While analyzing the poem, the emphasis is being paid to the intertwining of various ideological and subversive assumptions, their competing for importance and asserting authority over one another, in line with, and sometimes, against the grain of the textual framework. In other words, Dorcey's poem introduces a multilayered framework that draws heavily on various sources: the popular culture idiom, religious discourse, the text even employs, in some parts, crime and legal jargon, but, above all, it relies upon sensuous lesbian experience where desire and respect for the other woman opens the emancipating space allowing for redefining of one's personal and textual location. As a result of such a multifarious interaction, unrepresented and unacknowledged Irish women's standpoints may come to the surface and become articulated, disrupting their enforced muteness that the controlling heteronormative discourse has attempted to ensure. In Dorcey's poem, the operating metaphor of women's silence, conceived of, at first, as the need to conceal one's sexual identity in fear of social ostracism and contempt of the "neighbours," is further equated with the noiseless, solitary and violent death of the anonymous woman, the finding of whose body was reported on the news. In both cases, the unwanted Irish women's voices of either agony, during the unregistered by anybody misogynist bloodshed that took place inside the flat, or the forbidden sounds of lesbian sexual excitement, need to be censored and stifled, not to disrupt an idealized image of the well-established family and heteronormative patterns. In the light of the aforementioned parallel, empowered by the shared bodily and emotional closeness with her female lover, and already bitterly aware that silence in discourse is synonymous with textual, or even, actual death, the speaker in "Come Quietly or the Neighbours Will Hear" comes to claim her own agency and makes her voice heard by others and taken into account. (shrink)

The purpose of the text is to make some reconnaissance in the area of title "districts of metaphor" as well as reference to the unsolvable problems which are implied by a metaphorical mystery of metaphysical expressions. Thy are the order of the day in the main currents of philosophy. Starting from the rhetorical tradition of metaphor and of terms additional related with it, I gradually illustrate what involves its post-rhetorical tradition. I show that philosophical symbolism derives from Aristotle’s hermeneutics, which (...) becomes a gateway for understanding the mystery of metaphor. Like browsing in themselves mirrors, it grows also from simple phrases in complex sentences. In semantic sense, while the symbol has many meanings, the metaphor has a double meaning. It is not however limited by this matter, because in some sense, it has broader content than a symbol, as it introduces into language meanings that in the symbol are only internal. We also encounter reflective metaphors in our everyday speech and in the attempts of associative penetration into other people's expression. Conceptual decoding of metaphors is common for users of language. On the other hand, there are specific districts of metaphorical expressions, which are reserved for poetic metaphors. Noteworthy are also the very unobvious contexts of metaphor in which the authors do not talk about this linguistic phenomenon directly. Declarative answer to the question whether the metaphor is a simply ornament of discourse or rather a mirror of the soul, is not possible too. Perhaps the metaphor as such includes the both variants. One must consider that being an ornament of speech or writing does not rule out it is also something more than just decoration. It wonders, bothers, disquiet, returning us into our souls. It is also like the unifying soul of all people – in cognitive sense. (shrink)

Contemporary argument studies in Poland began with the research of the Lvov-Warsaw School and its successors in Artificial Intelligence and legal theory, as well as with the studies of Polish rhetoricians . The last decade has witnessed a major transformation in the Polish landscape, beginning with several landmark publications which have attracted an ever-growing number of young researchers and students. As a result, the research movement of the Polish School of Argumentation has begun to emerge .In 2008, the nationwide initiative (...) ArgDiaP was established in order to provide infrastructure facilitating the networking process and to foster res .. (shrink)

Some people live to work, others work to live, while still others prefer to live lives of leisure. Since the Puritans, American culture and literature have been dominated by individuals who have valued hard work. However, shortly after its founding, America managed to produce the leisurely Rip Van Winkle, who, over time, has been followed by kindred spirits such as, for instance, Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, Twain’s Huck Finn, Melville’s Bartleby, Jack Kerouac, Diane di Prima, the Hippies, and Christopher (...) McCandless. With the rise of the Indie Film movement of the 1990s, so came the rise of the slacker film. Films such as Slacker, Singles, Wayne’s World, Reality Bites, Clerks, Kicking and Screaming, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, The Big Lebowski, and Office Space filled theatres over the decade with characters who take an unorthodox view of work and stress the importance of leisure in life. This essay discusses two slacker films, Richard Linklater’s Slacker and Kevin Smith’s Clerks, which defined the slacker phenomenon in the 1990s and constituted two important landmarks in American independent film. While many of us may find the slacker pathetic and annoying, this essay argues that there is much value to be found in this healthy counterculture. By offering their perspectives on issues such as the Puritan work ethic, work-incited self-importance, leisure versus idleness and human relationships, Linklater and Smith join the preceding generations of slackers, providing a much needed balance to the American obsession with work and success. (shrink)

Since Blood Simple, the first film they wrote and directed together, the Coen Brothers have been working their way up in the film world and, in spite of their outside-the-mainstream taste for the noir and the surreal, have earned a number of prestigious prizes. After Fargo, one of their most critically acclaimed films, expectations were high, and when the Brothers released their next bizarre venture, most critics rushed to measure it against Fargo’s success. Consequently, The Big Lebowski, the Coens’ 1998 (...) neo-noir detective comedy, was considered an incoherent, “unsatisfactory” medley of genres and styles and a box office bomb, and nothing hinted that this unorthodox story of mistaken identity, featuring a pot-smoking, unemployed character named the Dude as its “hee-ro,” would gain a following. Yet, since its 1998 DVD release, The Big Lebowski has been hailed as the first cult film of the Internet, continuously inspiring versatile cultural phenomena as nonconformist in their nature as the movie itself. This essay examines particular factors which initially might have been responsible for alienating the audience only to help The BigLebowski become a peculiar cultural event in later years. It looks at TheBig Lebowski’s characters, the historical time and place of the film’s action as well as at various external historical events, phenomena, places and people such as, for example, the Port Huron Statement, the Reagan-Bush era, Los Angeles and its immigration issues, racial minorities, civil rights activists, the Western genre and, last but not least, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Reflecting the film’s oddities, this bag of cultural idiosyncrasies appears to provide some plausible explanations for The Big Lebowski’s unexpected, against-all-odds rise from the marginal position of a critical and commercial failure to the status of a cult classic and cultural landmark. (shrink)

Although developmental dyslexia is frequently diagnosed in Poland, little knowledge of effective treatment for this disorder is available in Polish society. Remedial teachers for many years have applied traditional methods aimed at correction and compensation for affected cognitive functions and academic skills. Otherwise, although western therapies are regularly advertised in the media, their effectiveness has rarely been subject to scientific investigation. Since the assumptions underlying some approaches are not consistent with current understanding of cognitive function, they may attract negative expert (...) appraisal. Unfortunately, it seems that fashion in dyslexia therapy is resistant to rare expressions of criticism from the scientific community. The purpose of this article is to promote awareness about effective treatment for specific reading disorders. Teachers’ greater understanding in this area should help Polish dyslexic children and their parents, who may be confused by offers of misguided therapy and sharp business practise. It is hoped that this article will clarify the situation. In this review of modern English journal articles, focus is on remedial teaching of reading, and more specifically, support for dyslexic students experiencing difficulties in decoding. Here we are concerned only with therapy in alphabetic languages in which individual speech sounds correspond to letters. Analysis of articles from the last six years leads to the conclusion that the most effective therapy for the reading disorder is training in phonological awareness and consolidation of letter-sound knowledge. However, these skills should be practised in the context of reading. (shrink)

Early data from several countries regarding the gendered implications of COVID-19 suggest that men are more likely to die as an effect of infection. This has been explained by biological factors but also by behavioral and life-style issues characteristic mostly for men. What has not been widely discussed, however, is the analysis of the relationships between men’s responses to the crisis, their care activities, and certain models of masculinity that persist in many societies. In this paper, I use a three (...) dimensional model of care – a) self-care, b) care for others, and c) care for one’s society – in order to analyze how certain masculine behaviors, rooted in socially constructed gender performances, resonate with the COVID-19 pandemic. The data used in this paper are of secondary character and will serve to analyze the most common responses of men within the three dimensions of care mentioned above. The theoretical framework utilizes the notion of caring masculinity supported by an emerging theory of protective masculinity. (shrink)

According to the title, it is a profile of one of the most outstanding authors in King’s Stanisław August times. This article has been based only on information from letters. Other biographical data about Stanisław Trembecki has knowingly been omitted by the author. It is worth pointing out, that due to the artist’s own negligence, most of the incoming mail has been lost. Thanks to King’s Stanisław August meticulousness almost all letters written to the monarch, during 30 years period, have (...) been preserved. Trembecki was a controversial person, quite often arousing conflicting emotions in researchers and readers. One see in him a talented writer and a participant in Thursday’s dinners, others believe he had no rules and think he was a traitor of his homeland. That is why, this correspondence is a document one of a kind and it allows us to understand better Trembecki’s motives. These are private letters. They have not been written “just for show”, or future readers. Their author does not create his own view. On the contrary, his personal’ thoughts are marginal in the correspondence, his own conclusions and observations are mentioned in passing. The author of the article, spots that the leitmotif of the letters are the poet’s financial Problems. Begging is alternated with bursts of dignity and bitter remarks, as the King does not approve Trembecki’s career plans. The reader may also find comments about the poet’s matrimonial plans, his political activity, people he felt affinity with, as well as his literary activity, impressive library or favorite books. In the correspondence, we can also find a picture оf the royal court. Many well-known historic figures appear, like Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, Adam Naruszewicz or Michał Poniatowski. At the end of the article, the author pointed out linguistic virtues in Stanisław Trembecki’s letters. (shrink)

The subject of the article is the concept of a universal language and a reflection on its importance for law. The starting point is a presentation of the history of the concept of a common language for all mankind, a concept that has always accompanied man – it is present in the Bible, in the ancient writings of Near Eastern peoples, it was alive in the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance, and it experienced its particular heyday – among other (...) reasons because of the gradual abandonment of Latin as the language of science – in the seventeenth century, an age that was reformist by definition. Since its inception, the concept of a universal language has been inextricably linked with the idea of world peace and universal happiness for all people. It is significant that in most universal language designs, regardless of the era, there were, to a greater or lesser extent, references to the utility of such languages for law. The author, tracing the development of the concept of a universal language, focuses on its fullest contemporary development: Esperanto. Esperanto, like previous universal language designs, places particular emphasis on ideas linked to the concept of a universal language, especially the idea of peaceful coexistence and understanding between peoples. In this context, it is reasonable to ask what role Esperanto can play in the development of certain branches of law, especially international law. Given the position of English as the language of legal acts of international importance, the answer to this question is currently not clear. (shrink)

This paper presents the results of the semiotic analysis in which the story of Krystian Bala, a Polish author who was convicted of murder, is studied in detail. The presented case study focuses on the interactions between real and fictional worlds, in particular, on the possibility of amalgamation of a real author’s and a fictional storyteller’s roles. Furthermore, the double-dimensional analysis of reality and fiction is complemented and broadened by an in-depth examination of how this story has inspired other authors. (...) By discussing real events and texts of culture based on them, this paper aims at presenting the process in which the writer who had turned to be the murderer became the protagonist of artistic creations of others, and, in consequence, a part of a broader socio-cultural phenomenon. (shrink)

As there are more and more bilingual couples who ran vlogs to share their bilingual and intercultural lives on the internet, this paper seeks to delineate the sources of motivation for these couples to disclose their privacy through vlogging. Based on the sample of selected vlogs, a qualitative analysis has been conducted to obtain the sociolinguistic picture of the bilingual couples’ motivations to attract wider audiences via the internet. The analysis of vlogs, informed by a multimodal theoretical framework, focused on (...) the audiovisual and textual content of vlogs with regard to the subjective representations of films and texts resulting from these couples’ individual stories. The conducted study spotlights vlogging activities of bilingual couples who feel the need to share their intercultural and bilingual experiences on the internet. Our data suggest that bilingual couples vlog to express their hybrid identities by sharing how they cope with challenges and overcome linguistic barriers, as well as find ways to enjoy cross-cultural understanding. The paper explores the linguistic and cultural diversity from a new perspective of private vlogs created and maintained by bilingual couples. It unfolds an account of the less studied online context in which partners of different ethnic backgrounds make their private lives public, and illustrates how bilingual couples generate ideas to filming and sharing online. (shrink)

The beginning of the 21st century is the time of a new challenge for the Polish nation. Standing on the threshold of a new century, it has also stood on the ‘threshold’ of the united Europe. Culture is a binder thanks to which it is possible to discover and to maintain peoples’ identity and the bonds connecting individual members of the nation. The multitude of nations is a variety which makes Europe not a monolith in relation to culture; instead, it (...) constitutes a mosaic of different cultures and philosophies of life. The Church does not try to identify with any of the culture patterns, but it seeks its place among the diversity of their forms. However, one can talk about the development of a Christian culture model resulting from the faith and the presence of the evangelical message in the whole of the Christians’ life. In the survey concerning Poland’s accession to the European Union, Polish people have expressed their hopes and fears connected with the process of integration. As many as 11% of the people surveyed expressed their anxiety related to the adverse effect upon culture and customs. The Church in its social instruction continuously emphasizes the necessity of maintaining one’s own cultural identity by particular ethnic, national and regional groups. The united Europe is to become not exactly a federation of countries, but rather the home of homes. In the everyday life of the new united Europe the system of norms, values and patterns of religious and cultural behaviour are going to be verified. Both the sceptics and the enthusiasts of the integration process are looking for a place and a role for the Polish Christians in the secularized European society. (shrink)

Open access to information is now a universal phenomenon thanks to rapid technological developments across the globe. This open and universal access to information is a key value of democratic societies because, in principle, it supports well-informed decision-making on individual, local, and global matters. In practice, however, without appropriate readiness for navigation in a dynamic information landscape, such access to information can become a threat to public health, safety, and economy, as the COVID-19 pandemic has shown. In the past, this (...) readiness was often conceptualized in terms of adequate literacy levels, but the contemporarily observed highest-ever literacy levels have not immunized our societies against the risks of misinformation. Therefore, in this Perspective, we argue that democratization of access to information endows citizens with new responsibilities, and second, these responsibilities demand readiness that cannot be reduced to mere literacy levels. In fact, this readiness builds on individual adequate literacy skills, but also requires rational thinking and awareness of own information processing. We gather evidence from developmental, educational, and cognitive psychology to show how these aspects of readiness could be improved through education interventions, and how they may be related to healthy work-home balance and self-efficacy. All these components of education are critical to responsible global citizenship and will determine the future direction of our societies. (shrink)

Temperamental traits and life and job satisfaction The aim of this research project was to evaluate the impact of the temperamental traits and structure on the level of life satisfaction and job satisfaction. The participants of the study were employees having different jobs and from different workplaces. The results indicate that there exists a positive relationship between both types of satisfaction and activity and endurance as well as a negative relationship between the measures of satisfaction and emotional reactivity. Multiple linear (...) regression analysis revealed that activity and emotional reactivity are temperamental predictors of life satisfaction. The temperamental predictor of job satisfaction in the cognitive aspect is only activity, whereas in the case of job satisfaction in the emotional aspect - activity and endurance. The statistical analysis revealed that the temperament structure harmonising in the dimension of under-stimulation - over-stimulation has no correlation with any types of satisfaction. (shrink)

According to explanatory individualism, every action must be explained in terms of an agent's desire. According to explanatory nonindividualism, we sometimes act on our desires, but it is also possible for us to act on others' desires without acting on desires of our own. While explanatory nonindividualism has guided the thinking of many social scientists, it is considered to be incoherent by most philosophers of mind who insist that actions must be explained ultimately in terms of some desire of the (...) agent. In the first part of the paper, I show that some powerful arguments designed to demonstrate the incoherence of explanatory nonindividualism fail. In the second part of the paper, I offer a nonindividualist explanation of the apparent obviousness of belief-desire psychology. I argue that there are two levels of the intelligibility of our actions. On the more fundamental (explanatory) level, the question "Why did the agent do something?" admits a variety of folk-psychological categories. But there is another (formation-of-self) level, at which the same question admits only of answers that ultimately appeal only to the agent's own desires. Explanatory individualism results from the confusion of the two levels. (shrink)

Chronic low back pain affects 50-80% of the population, while its consequences may impair the functioning of patients suffering from it, in many spheres of life. Hope is a factor which may influence coping with pain as well as cognitive reflection of pain experience. The aim of the study has been to check: 1) whether dependencies exist between hope-trait and hope-state and the perception of pain; 2) whether experiencing pain at the time of filling questionnaires matters for the assessment of (...) the level of hope; 3) whether there is interaction between hope, the pain experienced at the moment of investigation, and memory of the intensity of previously experienced pain. 150 patients participated in the study, they all reported aggravation of the chronic low back pain syndrome. The study was a cross-sectional study, based on questionnaires. On the third day of treatment the subjects were given the following questionnaires: Trait Hope Scale, State Hope Scale, and Numerical Rating Scale of Pain to fill. Poor correlation was demonstrated to exist between hope-state and hope-pathways on the one hand, and the intensity of minimum pain level experienced during the first three days of treatment. It has been noted that the presence of pain at the time of filling questionnaires results in reducing the hope-state, but only in those persons, who had experienced severe pain previously. On the other hand, in case of patients who had experienced slight pain previously, the pain present when filling in the questionnaires is conducive to enhanced hope-state. The results of the study confirm the complex character of relations between hope and pain. (shrink)

Sidgwick's defence of esoteric morality has been heavily criticized, for example in Bernard Williams's condemnation of it as 'Government House utilitarianism.' It is also at odds with the idea of morality defended by Kant, Rawls, Bernard Gert, Brad Hooker, and T.M. Scanlon. Yet it does seem to be an implication of consequentialism that it is sometimes right to do in secret what it would not be right to do openly, or to advocate publicly. We defend Sidgwick on this issue, and (...) show that accepting the possibility of esoteric morality makes it possible to explain why we should accept consequentialism, even while we may feel disapproval towards some of its implications. (shrink)

The state is the means by which the most primeval human problems are solved. It is, an entirety, capable of confronting an opponent in a fierce fight for survival. It is an authoritative, total and sovereign entity, having at its disposal the power to set out measures, to encompass the whole of public life and to make final decisions; it is in such words that this institution was described by Carl Schmitt, who added: should any of these features be missing, (...) the state will cease to exist. Its existence depends on this power, which is necessary to identify the enemy adequately, to defeat it and to make peace. The state is also an answer to those human passions too destructive to be freely unleashed; conceit, envy and aggression. Machiavelli, Hobbes, de Maistre or Hegel, regarded as political thinkers par excellence, had no doubts whatsoever in this respect. Because of their anthropological pessimism, they were all followers of Plato. They knew that the realm of politics is a cave where one should not expect to meet wise men and saints. A hero of politics is enthralled by the play of shadows and echoes and devotes to it his all time and passion. Moved by an exuberant ambition and tempted by the hope of immortal glory, he pursues mirages.The liberals seem not to understand these nooks and crannies of the human psyche and not even to notice them. They reduce the mystery of our multifarious needs to one: lust. The entire wealth of feelings is reduced to the fear of poverty, greed and the want of luxury. They claim that all our choices are accompanied by economic motivation. The central character of liberal philosophy is Adam Smith’s homo oeconomicus. The Wealth of Nations is, to them, a priceless source of knowledge regarding everyone’s conduct. The economic way of thinking and the methods of eliminating tensions derived from the capitalist economy should, to them, provide a template for the solving of conflicts in other areas as well, including politics. What becomes important is the scope of power, which raises the highest distrust. It is the largest threat to the value which has been recognised as the most precious: human freedom. (shrink)

One, Mad Hornpipe: Dance as a Tool of Subversion in Brian Friel's Molly Sweeney The plot of Brian Friel's Molly Sweeney oscillates around the theme of perception, blindness and eye-sight recovery. Although visually impaired, the eponymous character is a self-reliant and independent person who is very active, both professionally and socially. What serves as the source of tragedy in the play is the male desire to compensate for Molly's physical disability perceived as a sign of deficiency and oddity that needs (...) to be normalized. Prompted by her husband, Molly decides to undergo a surgery which gives her a chance to regain sight and, thus, become a part of the world of the visually abled. Yet, subsequent to the operation, Molly cannot adapt herself to the new reality and develops a medical condition called blindsight, which leads to her final alienation and confusion.Focusing predominantly on the main character of the play, this paper examines the ways in which Molly Sweeney experiences the surrounding world and seeks satisfaction and self-fulfilment through physical activities, such as swimming or dancing, which she vividly describes in her monologues. It explores the double nature of Molly who, despite her self-sufficiency, capacity for rebellion and a sense of autonomy, seems prone to male manipulation exercised at first by her father, later by her husband Frank and doctor Rice. Her expression of independence becomes particularly conspicuous in the scene of a party organized the night before her surgery when she performs a wild and frantic hornpipe, which serves as a form of momentary upheaval and a visualization of the outburst of extreme emotions. Although the dance is not presented onstage, it has a crucial function in the play, for it serves as its powerful climax, after which Molly experiences gradual deterioration.Interpreted in the context of the history of Irish dance, the mad hornpipe appears replete with meanings and allusions. Traditionally associated with human sexuality and the female element, dance was often treated by the Irish clergy with a great deal of distrust as a source of evil and moral corruption. Consequently, like in the case of the frenzied reel in another famous Frielian play, Dancing at Lughnasa, the limitless and unrestricted performance in the climactic scene of Molly Sweeney may be seen as a tool of subversion and female opposition to the Irish patriarchal order. It is a unique moment in which the protagonist seizes male power and gains full, though very temporary, control over her life. (shrink)

The plot of Brian Friel's Molly Sweeney oscillates around the theme of perception, blindness and eye-sight recovery. Although visually impaired, the eponymous character is a self-reliant and independent person who is very active, both professionally and socially. What serves as the source of tragedy in the play is the male desire to compensate for Molly's physical disability perceived as a sign of deficiency and oddity that needs to be normalized. Prompted by her husband, Molly decides to undergo a surgery which (...) gives her a chance to regain sight and, thus, become a part of the world of the visually abled. Yet, subsequent to the operation, Molly cannot adapt herself to the new reality and develops a medical condition called blindsight, which leads to her final alienation and confusion. Focusing predominantly on the main character of the play, this paper examines the ways in which Molly Sweeney experiences the surrounding world and seeks satisfaction and self-fulfilment through physical activities, such as swimming or dancing, which she vividly describes in her monologues. It explores the double nature of Molly who, despite her self-sufficiency, capacity for rebellion and a sense of autonomy, seems prone to male manipulation exercised at first by her father, later by her husband Frank and doctor Rice. Her expression of independence becomes particularly conspicuous in the scene of a party organized the night before her surgery when she performs a wild and frantic hornpipe, which serves as a form of momentary upheaval and a visualization of the outburst of extreme emotions. Although the dance is not presented onstage, it has a crucial function in the play, for it serves as its powerful climax, after which Molly experiences gradual deterioration. Interpreted in the context of the history of Irish dance, the mad hornpipe appears replete with meanings and allusions. Traditionally associated with human sexuality and the female element, dance was often treated by the Irish clergy with a great deal of distrust as a source of evil and moral corruption. Consequently, like in the case of the frenzied reel in another famous Frielian play, Dancing at Lughnasa, the limitless and unrestricted performance in the climactic scene of Molly Sweeney may be seen as a tool of subversion and female opposition to the Irish patriarchal order. It is a unique moment in which the protagonist seizes male power and gains full, though very temporary, control over her life. (shrink)

In The Sound and the Fury William Faulkner writes: “Time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops, does time come to life.” The following words relate to the role of memory frames in human life. They also begin the analysis of the ideas of twentieth and twenty-first century philosophers such as Henri Bergson, Martin Heidegger, Paul Ricoeur and David Farrell Krell. Even though there is a strict reference to the (...) Modernist thinkers, the author goes slightly deeper, reminding earlier concepts of Plato, Socrates, Aristotle and Protagoras. The second part of the article has been devoted to the notions connected with time frames and memory such as experiencing of the passage of time, reminding, forgetting, forgiving as well as postmemory. (shrink)

In The Sound and the Fury William Faulkner writes: “Time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops, does time come to life.” The following words relate to the role of memory frames in human life. They also begin the analysis of the ideas of twentieth and twenty-first century philosophers such as Henri Bergson, Martin Heidegger, Paul Ricoeur and David Farrell Krell. Even though there is a strict reference to the (...) Modernist thinkers, the author goes slightly deeper, reminding earlier concepts of Plato, Socrates, Aristotle and Protagoras. The second part of the article has been devoted to the notions connected with time frames and memory such as experiencing of the passage of time, reminding, forgetting, forgiving as well as postmemory. (shrink)

Increasing market competitiveness has brought about changes in enterprise management. There was a demand for an increase in the quality and quantity of information needed for operational and strategic management procedures. With the increasing demand for the desired cross-section of information necessary for an accounting system, in addition to the financial accounting responsible for generating financial information, management accounting was established. The purpose of this article is to seek answers to the question about how the professional ethics of management accountants (...) are related to the nature and specifics of carrying out their professional duties. (shrink)

The penetration process of structures traditionally assigned to civil law into administrative law, especially administrative law aiming environmental protection, has been more noticeable through recent years. This process resulted in deepening the absence of a clear separation of private law norms from public law norms. It led to the existence of so-called quasi civil solutions, which can be found for example in the Act on prevention from damages in environment and its repair. Their specificity consists in the fact that they (...) cannot be regarded as civil law structures due to the differences between them and the civil law structures. This legal status sets new challenges for legal theorists as well as practition- ers. They concentrate on interpretation of administrative law provisions which were penetrated by civil law structures, taking into account differences between interpretation of administrative and civil law provisions. We should not reject specific character of the civil law provisions’ interpretation and interpret these provisions only by taking into account specificity of administrative law inter- pretation. Civil law institutions are characterized by a larger field for action, which is left for parties or performers, in comparison to the institutions of ad- ministrative law. This specificity of civil law structures should be considered as its advantage that should not be removed in the activities of public authorities. (shrink)

It is widely believed that mathematics carries a substantial part of the explanatory burden in science. However, mathematics can also play important heuristic roles of a different kind, being a source of new ideas and approaches, allowing us to build toy models, enhancing expressive power and providing fruitful conceptualizations. In this paper, we focus on the application of dynamical systems theory (DST) within the extended cognition (EC) field of cognitive science, considering this case study to be a good illustration of (...) a general phenomenon. In the paper, we justify both a negative and a positive claim. The negative claim is that dynamical systems theory hardly plays any explanatory role in EC research. We justify our claim by analyzing several accounts of the explanatory role of mathematics and stressing the way mathematical arguments are used in explanations. Our positive claim is that even though, for now, DST has no explanatory power in many of the EC approaches, it still plays an important heuristic role there. In particular, using mathematical notions improves the expressive power of the language and gives a sense of understanding of the phenomena under investigation. The case study of EC allows us to identify and analyze this important role of mathematics, which seems to be neglected in contemporary discussions. (shrink)

Denise Meyerson has recently argued that the adaptational account of false consciousness must appeal to a psychological element, contrary to explicit declarations of its proponents. In order to explain why the rulers genuinely hold ideological beliefs, one must take them to desire to think well of themselves. She concludes that the desire to think well of oneself causes the ideological beliefs. The article defends the adaptational account from Meyerson's attempt to ground it in the psychology of the rulers. Meyerson is (...) wrong both in thinking that the desire in question is explanatorily necessary and in thinking that its explanatory role would consist in its causing ideological beliefs. (shrink)

The article is an attempt at examining the possibilities for the development of social capital by means of active cultural engagement, as exemplified by participatory theatre. Narrowing the analysis to this particular area of artistic practice is not a coincidence. Theatre constitutes one of the most exclusive social spaces within the cultural field, requiring a high degree of cultural competency, and taking the inequality of position between artists and spectators for granted. On the other hand, it is defined by their (...) immediate, face-to-face encounter, which, as compared to other areas of art, provides theatre with an exceptional social potential. The so-called participatory turn in contemporary art has moved theatre into a new domain of social functionality, which cannot be adequately described and researched without the sociological “toolbox”. Hence, the article is also an attempt at taking an interdisciplinary stance and connecting the study of art and society, as well as outlining a proposal for a practical application of sociological knowledge, used not only for the sake of understanding, but also organising of the artistic practice. In this respect, it addresses the growing interest in applied social research, as shown by political, cultural, and scientific institutions. (shrink)

ABSTRACT It is more than probable that the Commonwealth Games in 2014 will be used by the Scottish government as a tool in the battle for independence. For the Scottish National Party, sport events constitute another opportunity to underline Scottish autonomy. During the last Olympic Games, SNP ministers refused to use the name “Team GB” in their message to the Scottish athletes. Nurturing Scottish pride during the Games has already begun, with the official mascot-the Clyde Thistle, which is Scotland’s national (...) flower and emblem. The mascot of the Commonwealth Games has never waved the patriotic flag as it does now. (shrink)

There has been a long, surprisingly persistent tradition in labeling Santayana either as a unique and old fashioned figure of early twentieth century American philosophy, devoted to reviving metaphysics in a scholastic guise, or as a somewhat latent, closet pragmatist. This commonly held view was often additionally sealed in a dismissive way with the unpopular label of a quietist. In either case, the status of philosophical outcast was given to Santayana, echoing Charles William Eliot’s doubts as to the possible “usefulness” (...) of this “withdrawn man” for Harvard’s philosophy department. Recent scholarship, in its effort to rid Santayana’s name from the taint of this opinion, has proposed a number of interpretations.. (shrink)

The paper has two goals. First, I reconstruct Nowak's model of provincialism. Second, I argue that there is no room in this model for an intellectual superpower. An intellectual superpower is not simply a paradigm that is buttressed by economic, political, and social resources. Rather it is a network of paradigms that recognize one another as such. In so doing, they create a new quality on the scientific arena that surpasses all single paradigms.

The debate between the causalists and the teleologists has reached something of a standstill. In the 1950s, it was widely believed that the proper way of thinking about action (reason) explanations is in exclusively teleological terms and that the very idea of causality is misplaced in a systematic thinking about the relation between actions and reasons (e.g.: Anscombe 1963; Melden 1961; Peters 1958; Ch. Taylor 1964; R. Taylor 1966). This atmosphere was disrupted by Donald Davidson’s famous paper “Actions, Reasons and (...) Causes” (1963). He argued that without the invocation of the idea that reasons are causes, one cannot account for the idea of reasons’ efficacy, which is manifested in the distinction between acting for reasons and acting while merely having reasons. The teleologists have answered that teleological explanations do too support the distinction (e.g. Collins 1987; von Wright 1971; Wilson 1989). But other challenges ensued. For example, Frederick Stoutland (1976; 1989) objected to G.H. von Wright’s version of the teleological theory that a teleological explanation leaves it mysterious why a behavior occurs when the agent intends it to occur. More recently, William Child (1994) argued that reason explanations must be capable of explaining why an action occurs just when it occurs and only a causal explanation can do so. Such challenges are usually met either by demonstrating that teleological explanations are capable of meeting them or that they are not really general features of ordinary reasons explanations (see, for example, Hursthouse 2000). (shrink)

Expressivists distinguish between two languages: the descriptive and the normative. The moral sentences belonging to the latter do not state facts, therefore have no truth conditions and only express moral approval or disapproval towards the evaluated object. This proposition faced the charge that it is possible to find unasserted semantic contexts in which moral sentences appear to be true (Frege-Geach objection). The paper shows how Blackburn (1988) dealt with this problem. We go on to argue that in order to accept (...) Blackburn's solution one needs to have a clear concept of what it is 'to express'. We show which conditions this relation has to fulfill so as to make the theory of expressivism coherent. Using as examples two popular notions of expression relation - expression as a symptom (Husserl, Ajdukiewicz, Ossow­ska) and expression as a causal relation (Ayer) - we demonstrate that neither of these notions is adequate for the expressivists' purposes, which leads to the conclusion that expression relation remains mysterious and there is a serious gap in the theory. (shrink)

In this paper, we present two experimental studies on reference of complex demonstratives. The results of our experiments challenge the dominant view in philosophy of language, according to which demonstrative reference is determined by the speaker's intentions. The first experiment shows that in a context where there are two candidates for the referent—one determined by the speaker’s intention, the other by some “external” factors—people prefer to identify the referent of a demonstrative with the latter object. The external factors for which (...) this prediction has been confirmed include the speaker’s demonstration and the descriptive content of a demonstrative. The second experiment shows that while this preference can be explained in terms of the speakers’ having different sorts of referential intentions, the relevant kind of intentions are fully opaque to the subjects. At the end of our paper, we point to some alternative accounts of demonstrative reference, including a pluralistic and hybrid approach, which can accommodate our experimental results. (shrink)

Searching for a rational method of moral reasoning, Henry Sidgwick concludes that practical reason is inconsistent and sometimes directs us to actions that are contradictory. Our ultimate duty is in fact to achieve both our own, particular happiness and the happiness at all. We have duties both of a selfish and of a utilitarian nature. In a situation of conflict, when for the public good we must sacrifice our own interests, reason is not able to indicate to us what course (...) of action should be followed. Finally, we must admit that we cannot entirely rationalize our moral choices. The so-called problem of the dualism of practical reason has been and is discussed by many eminent philosophers, including Roger Crisp, John Skorupskiego and Derek Parfit. This paper is an attempt to highlight the considerations of Sidgwick's dualism of practical reason, the sources of dualism and the contemporary reception of this extremely serious problem for ethics. (shrink)

Attachment style, relationship status, gender and relational competences among young adults The seeking of a lifetime partner/spouse, establishing and maintaining close relationships are central developmental tasks in young adulthood. In successful achievement of these tasks relational competences may play a crucial role, thus making it reasonable to study their conditions. This article provides a theoretical and empirical analysis of the relationship between relational competences and attachment style, relationship status, and gender. It presents a study of a normal sample of 423 (...) young adults, aged 20-35, who completed The Questionnaire of Relational Competences in Intimate Relationships, Revised Adult Attachment Scale, and Demographic Questionnaire. The analysis of the data revealed that in the description of various relational competences all three factors play an important role. It has also turned out that the association between relational competences and attachment style is influenced by the circumstances pertaining to relationship status. (shrink)

Explainable artificial intelligence has become a vitally important research field aiming, among other tasks, to justify predictions made by intelligent classifiers automatically learned from data. Importantly, efficiency of automated explanations may be undermined if the end user does not have sufficient domain knowledge or lacks information about the data used for training. To address the issue of effective explanation communication, we propose a novel information-seeking explanatory dialogue game following the most recent requirements to automatically generated explanations. Further, we generalise our (...) dialogue model in form of an explanatory dialogue grammar which makes it applicable to interpretable rule-based classifiers that are enhanced with the capability to provide textual explanations. Finally, we carry out an exploratory user study to validate the corresponding dialogue protocol and analyse the experimental results using insights from process mining and argument analytics. A high number of requests for alternative explanations testifies the need for ensuring diversity in the context of automated explanations. (shrink)

ObjectivesA growing number of studies indicate that coping with the experience of a crisis event, which causes a breach in the individual’s fundamental beliefs regarding the world and his/her place in it, can result in posttraumatic growth. Positive emotions can have an undoing effect on negative emotional arousal and broaden an individual’s scope of action, and they can foster posttraumatic growth. This study aimed to examine relations between prioritizing positivity, styles of rumination, coping strategies, and posttraumatic growth.MethodsOne hundred and sixty-four (...) Polish adults took part in the study, filling out questionnaires to measure prioritizing positivity, hope, and self-efficacy. Twelve to fifteen months later, 104 of them accepted the invitation to the second part of the study. The participants reported the intensity of rumination associated with the most critical event in their lives, which took place between the first and second stages of the study and the coping strategies they used. Posttraumatic growth and life satisfaction were also measured.ResultsResults from hierarchical regressions found that higher levels of prioritizing positivity, deliberate ruminations, and religious coping and lower level of intrusive ruminations were associated with posttraumatic growth. The results also indicate that self-esteem was a significant predictor of life satisfaction.ConclusionsThe results of the prospective study confirm that individual differences in prioritizing positivity can relate to a process of posttraumatic growth. Prioritizing positivity was associated with the use of an active coping strategy and deliberate but not intrusive ruminations. Previous studies on the role of prioritizing positivity have focused on the impact on the level of wellbeing of seeking positive emotions in everyday life. Our results show the importance of prioritizing positivity in coping with stress and trauma. These results can be used to design effective psychological intervention techniques to support people experiencing trauma and psychological crises. The results also indicate that life satisfaction has different predictors from posttraumatic growth. (shrink)

In the first two volumes of On What Matters, Derek Parfit argues that three major normative theories – Kantianism, Contractualism and Rule Consequentialism – are, in their most defensible forms, compatible, and can be reconciled in what he calls ‘Triple Theory’. This has led many to assume that Parfit does not believe that Act Consequentialism is a defensible form of Consequentialism. We draw on correspondence with Parfit to show that this assumption is incorrect. We then consider Parfit's efforts, in the (...) third volume of On What Matters, to narrow the differences between Act Consequentialism and the triple theory, in part by treating impartial rationality as an external rival to morality, in much the same way that egoism is an external rival to morality. We argue that Parfit's attempts to bridge the gap between Act Consequentialism and Triple Theory meet with only limited success. (shrink)

Since Opuz v. Turkey (2009), the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) delivered over a dozen judgments in which it examined domestic violence through the prism of gender-based discrimination. Apart from the individual circumstances of the cases, the Court considered the general approach to domestic violence in the defendant states, searching for a large-scale structural gender bias. Hence, although the Court has not directly referred to the notion of “structural discrimination” in relation to domestic violence, it engaged in unveiling this (...) problem within the state parties. Building on the case law of the Court, the article presents and systemizes information that may prove structural gender discrimination in domestic violence cases. It navigates potential applicants through the Court’s interpretation and indicates arguments and sources that may support their claims. In particular, it discusses what kind of data and information may demonstrate the general, discriminatory attitude of the authorities towards domestic violence and what sources the applicants may use while seeking the evidence. (shrink)

Science communication in online media is a discursive domain where science-related content is often expressed through styles characteristic of popular journalism. This article aims to characterize some dominant stylistic patterns in magazine articles devoted to environmental issues by identifying the devices used to enhance newsworthiness, given the fact that for some readers environmental topics may no longer seem engaging. The analytic perspective is an adaptation of the newsworthiness framework that has been applied in news discourse studies. The material is a (...) sample of the 38 most-read environment-oriented articles in the online version of the international science magazine New Scientist collected between late 2013 and late 2014. The articles are analysed qualitatively to show the instantiations of such newsworthiness criteria as novelty and superlativeness, timeliness and impact, negativity and positivity as well as other strategies aimed at engaging the readers: rationalization and speculation, direct address and conversational style. The analysis reveals how, in this case study, science communication is turned into infotainment and considers the implications of this discursive shift for the public understanding of environmental science. (shrink)

The aim of the article is to discuss the Norwegian Model of hydrocarbon management and its impact on building a just and equal society. Since 1972, the model has been based on the separation of policy, commercial, and regulatory functions. Within each area there is state-controlled institution with its own distinct role. This model of separation of duties is however combined with other unique features which cannot be easily copied by other counties. These include a long tradition and high level (...) of democratic co-operation, intergovernmental checks and balances, socio-democratic traditions of strong public involvement, mature institutional capacity and highly developed model of co-operation between government, business and research institutions. (shrink)

This examines the six drivers and twelve detailed practices of sustainable human resource development (S-HRD) before and during the COVID-19 pandemic across different organizations in Poland. The empirical strategy is based on explorative research conducted using surveys in Poland between 2020 and 2021. The results confirm that the surveyed organizations implemented S-HRD practices driven mainly by the expectations of external stakeholders. They neglected the areas of caring for employees’ well-being and developing environmental awareness before the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, (...) most companies maintained their approach to S-HRD. This research is unique because it adds to the body of literature advocating the significance of S-HRD for organizational resilience before, during, and after extreme events. Generalizing the results is challenging because the snowball sample has significant restrictions. However, future research may overcome these shortcomings by using larger samples based on probability or random sampling techniques. (shrink)

Expertise, authority, and testimony refer to aspects of one of the most important elements of communication and cognition. Argumentation theory recognises various forms of what we call the argumentum ad alia pattern, in which speakers appeal to what others have said, including Position to Know scheme, Witness Testimony scheme, Expert Opinion scheme and the classical ad verecundiam. In this paper we show that ad alia involves more than merely an inferential step from what others (a person in position to know, (...) a witness, an expert) have said, and that studying this type of argumentation requires going beyond the argument structure of propositional contents to account for different speech activities. We also demonstrate that using the words of others, attacking what has been said, and reasoning from how others reason constitute a rich repertoire of communication strategies which we need to model in order to be able to analyse them manually and to process them computationally. (shrink)