Medical tourists, persons that travel across international borders with the intention to access non-emergency medical care, may not be adequately informed of safety and ethical concerns related to the practice of medical tourism. Researchers indicate that the sources of information frequently used by medical tourists during their decision-making process may be biased and/or lack comprehensive information regarding individual safety and treatment outcomes, as well as potential impacts of the medical tourism industry on third parties. This paper explores the feedback from (...) former Canadian medical tourists regarding the use of an information sheet to address this knowledge gap and raise awareness of the safety and ethical concerns related to medical tourism. (shrink)

BackgroundMedical tourism, the practice of persons intentionally travelling across international boundaries to access medical care, has drawn increasing attention from researchers, particularly in relation to potential ethical concerns of this practice. Researchers have expressed concern for potential negative impacts to individual safety, public health within both countries of origin for medical tourists and destination countries, and global health equity. However, these ethical concerns are not discussed within the sources of information commonly provided to medical tourists, and as such, medical tourists (...) may not be aware of these concerns when engaging in medical tourism. This paper describes the methodology utilized to develop an information sheet intended to be disseminated to Canadian medical tourists to encourage contemplation and further public discussion of the ethical concerns in medical tourism.MethodsThe methodology for developing the information sheet drew on an iterative process to consider stakeholder feedback on the content and use of the information sheet as it might inform prospective medical tourists’ decision making. This methodology includes a literature review as well as formative research with Canadian public health professionals and former medical tourists.ResultsThe final information sheet underwent numerous revisions throughout the formative research process according to feedback from medical tourism stakeholders. These revisions focused primarily on making the information sheet concise with points that encourage individuals considering travelling for medical tourism to do further research regarding their safety both within the destination country, while travelling, and once returning to Canada, and the potential impacts of their trip on third parties. This methodology may be replicated for the development of information sheets intending to communicate ethical concerns of other practices to providers or consumers of a certain service. (shrink)

Medical tourism, the practice of persons intentionally travelling across international boundaries to access medical care, has drawn increasing attention from researchers, particularly in relation to potential ethical concerns of this practice. Researchers have expressed concern for potential negative impacts to individual safety, public health within both countries of origin for medical tourists and destination countries, and global health equity. However, these ethical concerns are not discussed within the sources of information commonly provided to medical tourists, and as such, medical tourists (...) may not be aware of these concerns when engaging in medical tourism. This paper describes the methodology utilized to develop an information sheet intended to be disseminated to Canadian medical tourists to encourage contemplation and further public discussion of the ethical concerns in medical tourism. The methodology for developing the information sheet drew on an iterative process to consider stakeholder feedback on the content and use of the information sheet as it might inform prospective medical tourists’ decision making. This methodology includes a literature review as well as formative research with Canadian public health professionals and former medical tourists. The final information sheet underwent numerous revisions throughout the formative research process according to feedback from medical tourism stakeholders. These revisions focused primarily on making the information sheet concise with points that encourage individuals considering travelling for medical tourism to do further research regarding their safety both within the destination country, while travelling, and once returning to Canada, and the potential impacts of their trip on third parties. This methodology may be replicated for the development of information sheets intending to communicate ethical concerns of other practices to providers or consumers of a certain service. (shrink)

In this paper, we defend a representational approach to at least some kinds of non-human psychopathology. Mentally-ill non-human minds, in particular in delusions, obsessive-compulsive disorders and similar cognitive states, are traditionally understood in purely behavioral terms. In contrast, we argue that non-human mental psychopathology should be at least sometimes not only ascribed contentful mental representation but also understood as really having these states. To defend this view, we appeal to the interactivist account of mental representation, which is a kind of (...) a constructive approach to meaning. We follow Mark Bickhard in assuming that only an organism – either human or non-human – capable of detecting its own misrepresentations is representational. However, under his autonomy-based account of biological function these minds are incapable of misrepresentations because these minds are, ex hypothesi, unable to detect error in such representations. To solve this problem, we argue that adding a historical dimension – as in Millikan’s view on mental representations – to Bickhard’s account of function makes mental misrepresentation of mentally-ill minds possible. Using Bickhard’s dynamic account of function, it is possible to explain why delusions and other mental disorders can be seen as locally functional. However, an etiological dimension can further explain why misrepresentations seem to be globally dysfunctional. Even if representational or biosemiotic hypotheses about non-human psychopathology are difficult to confirm empirically, we defend the view that they can enrich our understanding of the causes and development of such pathologies, and may constitute a new progressive research programme. (shrink)

Pro-social basic human values and civic involvement. The moderating role of survival vs self-expression cultural context The present study investigated a hypothesis that the pro-social values differentiated by S. Schwartz's model of basic human values - universalism and benevolence - would positively predict civic involvement. Most importantly, authors expected that the type of pro-social value that would play a dominant motivational role would depend on moderating role of the level of self-expression and benevolence - cultural value dimension developed by R. (...) Inglehart. Based on discriminant function analyses performed on the data gathered in 17 European countries through the European Social Survey conducted in 2002, authors found that universalism predicts civic involvement only in self-expression countries, whereas the role of benevolence is rather neglectable and independent of the cultural context. The results are discussed with reference to cross-cultural differences in Europe. (shrink)

Celem artykułu jest ukazanie, jak, mimo ustalonych dawno temu postulatów, nakazujących „oczyszczenie” powieści kryminalnej z elementów fantastycznych i nadprzyrodzonych, motywy te funkcjonują we współczesnych utworach z tego gatunku. Jako kontekst należy wskazać zjawiska dające się zauważyć w najnowszej literaturze i kulturze popularnej. Jednym nich jest zmiana postrzegania typowych monstrów z horroru, które stają się zarówno „mniej groźne”, jak i „bardziej ludzkie”. Kolejnym – zakwestionowanie związku postaci (a także zespołu motywów) z fabułą. To na przykład, co było dotąd typowe dla horroru, (...) może pojawić się w powieści kryminalnej. Przeprowadzono analizę wybranych utworów dwojga współczesnych pisarzy: Katarzyny Puzyńskiej (Czarne narcyzy, Martwiec, Rodzanice i Utopce) oraz Wojciecha Chmielarza (Wampir, Zombie i Wilkołak) pod kątem występowania w nich motywów rodem z powieści grozy. We wszystkich omawianych tekstach to ludzie, a nie potwory są zabójcami. W utworach Chmielarza nazwy rodem z horroru to metafory ludzkiego zła lub szaleństwa (autor odwołuje się do zakorzenionych w kulturze znaczeń słów użytych jako tytuły). Katarzyna Puzyńska z kolei za miejsce zdarzeń wybiera małe, często prawie wyludnione miejscowości, gdzie wciąż żywa jest wiara w duchy, wampiry, nawiedzone domy (autorka odwołuje się między innymi do wierzeń słowiańskich). Ukazuje przy tym siłę ludzkich lęków (dotyczy to, w odpowiednich okolicznościach, nawet policjantów), jak również fakt, że istoty ludzkie potrafią być gorsze od potworów z fikcji literackiej. Motywy rodem z horroru funkcjonują w omawianych tekstach na kilka sposobów: 1) jako odwołania do doświadczenia odbiorcy, który odczytuje np. zaprezentowane w powieści nazwy w oparciu o własną wiedzę; 2) jako element lokalnej lub rodzinnej tradycji (żywy najczęściej w miejscach oddalonych od „centrów”); wreszcie 3) ucieleśnienie ukrytych w ludzkiej psychice obsesji i lęków, które niespodziewanie mogą się ujawnić. (shrink)

The concept of narrow content is still under discussion in the debate over mental representation. In the paper, one-factor dimensional accounts of representation are analyzed, particularly the case of Fodor's methodological solipsism. In methodological solipsism, semantic properties of content are arguably eliminated in favor of syntactic ones. If “narrow content” means content properties independent of external factors to a system (as in Segal's view), the concept of content becomes elusive. Moreover, important conceptual problems with one-factor dimensional account are pointed out (...) as a result of analysis arguments presented by J. Searle, S. Harnad and T. Burge. Furthermore, these problems are illustrated with psychological and ethological examples. Although understanding content as partially independent from contextual factors allows theorists to preserve content properties, it seems that understanding content in total abstraction from external factors of these properties is implausible. As a result, internalism is rejected in favor of externalism. (shrink)

In this paper, I analyze a type of externalist enactivism defended by Riccardo Manzotti. Such radical versions of enactivism are gaining more attention, especially in cognitive science and cognitive robotics. They are radical in that their notion of representation is purely referential, and content is conflated with reference. Manzotti follows in the footsteps of early causal theories of reference that had long been shown to be inadequate. It is commonly known that radical versions of externalism may lead to difficulties with (...) the notion of representation, especially if they cannot help themselves with the notion of syntax. I argue that a type of externalism present in Manzotti’s enactivism may well lead to anti-representationalism. (shrink)

The article presents the main types of conflict behaviour with the author’s proposal of their classification. The suggested classification is based on the way in which an individual deals with a partner’s adverse influence on his/her self-interest and welfare in a conflict situation. Four possible ways of coping i.e. attack, amicable settlement, defence, and yielding have been distinguished. On the basis of this behaviour classification, the Conflict Behaviour Questionnaire was compiled and its reliability and validity was assessed.

HERMENEUTIC INDICATORS OF PRESENTING THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY The aim of the article is to discuss Hans-Georg Gadamer’s and Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutic way of understanding the history of philosophy. I assume that hermeneutic reference to philosophical past appears as a unique dialogue with tradition, whereas their way of understanding the history of philosophy might be defined as “hermeneutic interpretation of tradition.” In order to show what its indicators are, I characterize the conception of hermeneutic experience (H.-G. Gadamer) as well as (...) the issue of the interpretation process (P. Ricoeur). Those thinkers are convinced that understanding of the history of philosophy involves the recognition of our own historicity. Keywords: HANS-GEORG GADAMER, PAUL RICOEUR, HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY, HERMENEUTICS. (shrink)

Polo‐like kinase 1 (PLK1) is a serine/threonine kinase that plays multiple and essential roles during the cell division cycle. Its inhibition in cultured cells leads to severe mitotic aberrancies and cell death. Whereas previous reports suggested that Plk1 depletion in mice leads to a non‐mitotic arrest in early embryos, we show here that the bi‐allelic Plk1 depletion in mice certainly results in embryonic lethality due to extensive mitotic aberrations at the morula stage, including multi‐ and mono‐polar spindles, impaired chromosome segregation (...) and cytokinesis failure. In addition, the conditional depletion of Plk1 during mid‐gestation leads also to severe mitotic aberrancies. Our data also confirms that Plk1 is completely dispensable for mitotic entry in vivo. On the other hand, Plk1 haploinsufficient mice are viable, and Plk1‐heterozygous fibroblasts do not harbor any cell cycle alterations. Plk1 is overexpressed in many human tumors, suggesting a therapeutic benefit of inhibiting Plk1, and specific small‐molecule inhibitors for this kinase are now being evaluated in clinical trials. Therefore, the different Plk1 mouse models here presented are a valuable tool to reexamine the relevance of the mitotic kinase Plk1 during mammalian development and animal physiology. (shrink)

The Republic of Poland is one of the European Union countries that have not yet implemented Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons reporting breaches of EU law (Journal of Laws EC L 305/17 of November 26, 2019). Even though signalling illegal acts is a more and more common occurrence and the social perception of such behaviours is also changing, the “whistleblowers” are not under any legal protection (...) in Poland. In the Sejm of the 9th Term of office, legislative work is underway to pass the act on the protection of persons reporting violations of the law. This will be a legal act containing comprehensive legal protection of whistleblowers. In hereby publication the author focuses on presenting the role of whistleblowers in preventing law violations by employers in the current legal state. In the next part, the above-mentioned draft act is analyzed in terms of provisions ensuring the protection of persons who disclose irregularities. Numerous tragic incidents which could have been avoided if people that were aware of irregularities could safely reveal the information are evidence of how needed an act on whistleblower protection is. The author cites examples of the sinking of the MF Herald of Free Enterprise ferry and the Deepwater Horizon platform as well as the methane explosion in the Halemba mine in Ruda Śląska. (shrink)

Tematem artykułu są nowe założenia w nauczaniu wiedzy okrajach niemieckiego obszaru językowego, zawarte w najnowszym curriculum dotyczącym tego przedmiotu. Cele, treści, metody, mierzenie postępu w nauce opierają się na czterech podstawowych zasadach: - integralności, która oznacza łączenie przekazywanych informacji z kompetencją językową i metodyczno-dydaktyczną; - łączenia i wzajemnego powiązania wiedzy z różnych dziedzin, np. realioznawstwo, kulturoznawstwo, historia itp.; - interkulturowości, tzn. rozwijania kompetencji, umiejętności, strategii w kontakcie z innymi kulturami; - ukierunkowania na działania, tzn. przekazywanie wiedzy nie w formie prezentacji (...) faktów, lecz na drodze indukcyjnej, także w formie projektów, wyjazdów studyjnych, kontaktów w kraju i za granicą. Nadrzędnym celem jest wykształcenie człowieka, który będzie dysponował nie tylko wiedzą z zakresu przedmiotu, ale także kompetencją fachowo-dydaktyczną, interkulturową i będzie w stanie samodzielnie interpretować zjawiska społeczne, polityczne i kulturowe w krajach niemieckiego obszaru językowego, a także we własnym zakresie uzupełniać swoją wiedzę. Ponieważ zjawiska te są w ciągłym rozwoju, nie należy zakładać, iż ogarnięty zostanie ich całokształt. Należy dążyć do naświetlenia różnorakich aspektów rzeczywistości społecznej z takich zakresów, jak np. jednostka i społeczeństwo, państwo i społeczeństwo, gospodarka, życie kulturalne itp. Przy ich omawianiu punktem wyjścia są doświadczenia i zainteresowania uczących się. Znajdują oni wspólnie takie tematy, które dają się rozbudowywać w różnych kierunkach w zależności od potrzeb i zainteresowań. Efektem takiego postępowania jest stworzenie nie listy obowiązujących tematów, lecz pewnej sieci wzajemnie z siebie wynikających problemów, którą ciągle można rozszerzać. Wdrożenie takiej drogi musi iść w parze z zastosowaniem różnorakich technik i metod. Powyższe curriculum uwzględnia także powstałą w ostatnich latach koncepcję nauczania wiedzy okrajach niemieckiego obszaru językowego nie w sposób sumaryczny, czyli omawiając kolejno te kraje i występujące w nich zjawiska, lecz w sposób zintegrowany i ukierunkowany na problem, tzn. odnosząc omawiane zjawiska do wszystkich krajów jednocześnie. (shrink)

In the article, composed of two parts with the titles Spektakl modernistyczny czy seans spirytystyczny? (A modernist spectacle or a spiritistic seance?) and Dlaczego Słowacki niszczy konterfekt księcia Józefa? (Why does Słowacki destroy the portrait of Prince Józef?), presents a contextual interpretation of Jan Lechoń’s poem Duch na seansie (A Ghost at a Seance). The author questions the opinion, which was widespread in literary criticism, that Lechoń together with other members of the Skamander group discredited Romantic poetry and national mythology (...) on the threshold of independence. The analysis of the poem made in the article leads to the conclusion that the poet fought stereotypes deeply rooted in public opinion, which in the eyes of the general public were also reinforced by Slowacki’s poetry. Thus, Słowacki appears at the seance to demystify a belief in the messianic, necrotic and patriotic tone of his poetry, in the bard-creator of the national Gospel, who is endowed with the power to discover absolute truths, and in the „master of the word” as well as the „creator of artistic beauty” as well as the only generally-accepted opinion. Optimistic signs of revival have dominated the symbols of suffering, the talkativeness has been replaced by silence, the word by the iconoclastic deed, the mystical heat by ironic distance. The symbols, images, references to literary texts and other signes of culture help to create a revalued portrait of Słowacki and mould a myth of gray heroism, which is a complete contrast to the myth of the „colourful uhlan”. The destruction of the portrait of Prince Józef Poniatowski and a reference to Piłsudski found in the last line of Karmazynowy poemat (The Crimson Poem) are the signs of the ideological declaration of the young poet, who referring to great Romantic tradition, discovers new and new meanings. (shrink)

Cet article confronte l’image de ľépisode révolutionnaire de 1905, retenue par Tuwim de son enlance á la réalite historique. La présentation de la manière de construire une image mythique, d ont le but est equivalent consiste le résultat de cette confrontation. Tuwim a tenté dans les souvenirs ainsi que dans Les Fleurs Polonaises de garder de l’oubli «l’unique légande patriotique de Łódź» et non pas de mémoriser la vérité historique.

Author: Zamiara Krystyna Title: JERZY KMITA’S CREATIVE JOURNEY AS A SEQUENCE OF PROBLEM-SHIFTS (Droga twórcza Jerzego Kmity jako sekwencja przesunięć problemowych) Source: Filo-Sofija year: 2011, vol:.12, number: 2011/1, pages: 109-127 Keywords: KMITA, SOCIO-REGULATORY THEORY OF CULTURE, HISTORICAL EPISTEMOLOGY, SCIENCE, CULTURE, MARXISM Discipline: PHILOSOPHY Language: POLISH Document type: ARTICLE Publication order reference (Primary author’s office address): E-mail: www:This paper presents meta-philosophical considerations concerning evolution of Jerzy Kmita’s intellectual standpoint. The author focuses on two crucial “problem-shifts” which lead Kmita to his (...) genuine philosophical and scientific perspective. First “shift” consists in transition from Popper’s logic of scientific discovery to philosophical project of “historical epistemology” based on original interpretation of Marxian historical materialism. In this way Kmita transfers strictly epistemological and logical reflection on science into the field of history of science and historicism. Second “shift” suggests a transformation of “historical epistemology” in terms of descriptive cultural studies. In this case the problem of scientific cognition is understood as a socio-cultural fact and consequently analyzed within the framework of Kmita’s socio-regulatory conception of culture. (shrink)

In this paper we propose a multi-criteria model based on the fuzzy preferences approach which can be implemented in the prenegotiation phase to evaluate the negotiations packages. The applicability of some multi-criteria ranking methods were discussed for building a scoring function for negotiation packages. The first one is Simple Additive Weighting technique which determines the sum of the partial satisfactions from each negotiation issue and aggregate them using the issue weights. The other one is Distance Based Methods, with its extension (...) based on the distances to ideal or anti-ideal package, i.e. the TOPSIS procedure. In our approach the negotiator's preferences over the issues are represented by fuzzy membership functions and next a selected multi-criteria decision making method is adopted to determine the global rating of each package. The membership functions are used here as the equivalents of utility functions spread over the negotiation issues, which let us compare different type of data. One of the key advantages of the approach proposed is its usefulness for building a general scoring function in the ill-structured negotiation problem, namely the situation in which the problem itself as well as the negotiators preferences cannot be precisely defined, the available information is uncertain, subjective and vague. Secondly, all proposed variants of scoring functions produce consistent rankings, even though the new packages are added and do not result in rank reversal. (shrink)

The contemporary changes in the countries of western culture include the refutation of the traditional principles of sexual relations; this is treated as a fundamental change which – as the author tries to show – has several entirely different consequences. The new moral situation stimulates.

Trying to avoid the dilemma of axiological subjectivism and objectivism “The World of Experience” is taken as the starting point of this article. Basic values are meant to represent notions which symbolize the meaning of human experience of the world. Simultaneously these notions symbolize the meanings of the basic relations between subject and object of experience. Utility, truth and beauty are in this conception the most general notions symbolizing the meanings of practical, cognitive and aesthetic experiences. Moral goodness is a (...) notion symbolizing the meaning of personal experiences of the subject. The practical, cognitive and aesthetic experiences occur within the frame of unilateral, matter of fact contacts of the subject with an object. The specific trait of the personal experience lies in the direct contact with the subjectivity of another human being. The experience of another man as of “one who also experiences” is the foundation of moral experiences. Recognition of the subjective autonomy of another man leads to the experience which presents him as a moral subject. The relations between moral subjects are moral relations. These relations obtain within communities whose members observe certain rules which are adopted in order to protect their autonomy and to strengthen the bonds between them, which are a warrant of the existence of their community. The effort made to preserve one’s subjective autonomy and to establish bonds with other people considered as other autonomous subjects is at the same time the essence. (shrink)

A consequence relation in the framework of preferential semantics based on the four-valued Belnap-Dunn logic is constructed which proves that the sorites paradoxes are unsound or invalid inferences .

Historically, universities not only played an educational and research role, but also created culture. It was also expressed by the academic ethos. At the same time, along with the advancement of the globalisation of economic processes, there is a tendency to apply the market approach in their case, which results in the economisation and financialisation of science. The clash of these two worlds, i.e. the academic ethos embedded in academic values ​​and the economic approach to the functions of universities, is (...) manifested, for example, in their McDonaldisation. As a consequence, universities focus on those aspects of their activities that are economically effective, including, for example, providing specialised educational services for student – clients. This process may result in universities losing their character, and thus becoming centres of creative inspiration and scientific discourse between scientists. Therefore, the aim of this study is to try to answer the following research questions: first, what are the consequences for universities of their economisation and financialisation, and, second, how their McDonaldisation affects the academic ethos. The study uses the dogmatic, legal and comparative methods. (shrink)

The dramatic transformation of the Arabian Gulf since the discovery of petroleum resources has called for a new perspective on the situation of women in the region. Qatar is an example of fast-paced industrialization, modernization and profound socio-cultural changes. As the environment transforms literally from day to day, new identities are being forged and social roles renegotiated. The leadership’s vision for the country speaks of gender equality and opportunity for all. This article asks how young Qatari women’s personal stories fit (...) into the national narrative of change and what they see as the best path to agency and empowerment. (shrink)

We consider modal epistemic and doxastic logics as intuitively inadequate logics of information, and we outline a modal system of the operator being informed that which avoids inconsistency with our intuitive concept of information. The system has modal structure of the normal modal logic K4, and is sound and complete on the class of all transitive frames. We compare this logic with Floridi’s KTB information logic, and we consider a possibility of extending our system to a dynamic logic.

Medical tourism is the practice of traveling across international borders with the intention of accessing medical care, paid for out-of-pocket. This practice has implications for preferential access to medical care for Canadians both through inbound and outbound medical tourism. In this paper, we identify four patterns of medical tourism with implications for preferential access to care by Canadians: Inbound medical tourism to Canada’s public hospitals; Inbound medical tourism to a First Nations reserve; Canadian patients opting to go abroad for medical (...) tourism; and Canadian patients traveling abroad with a Canadian surgeon. These patterns of medical tourism affect preferential access to health care by Canadians by circumventing domestic regulation of care, creating jurisdictional tensions over the provision of health care, and undermining solidarity with the Canadian health system. (shrink)

SummaryInfand mortality for the period 1950—70 has been analysied in a North-Swedish isolate, a population characterized by a high incidence of schizopherenic psychoses and other neuorpsychiatric disorders. Infand mortality is higher than in Sweden generally. As many as 45·9% of the deceased infands in the population sccumbed during the first week of their life, compard to 28·1% in the general Swedish population.

THE SUBLIME IN THE 17TH-CENTURY FRENCH REFLECTION ON ART—N. BOILEAU-DESPREAUX’S RECEPTION OF LONGINUS’ PERI HYPSOUS There are three basic texts on the sublime: Longinus’ Peri hypsous, Edmund Burke’s Philosophical Enquiry into the Origins of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful and Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Judgment. The work of the ancient author is the most essential on this subject; it elaborates the theoretical rules of rhetoric. Because of qualitative similarity of the beautiful and the sublime, the latter was for (...) a very long time considered a sort of beauty. Both modern texts discuss the beautiful and the sublime as opposite categories; that is new and announces romanticism with some changes in the aesthetic paradigm. The work of the seventeenth-century art theoretician, Nicolas Boileau-Despreaux, was a turning point in understanding the old category of the sublime. His French translation of the ancient treatise and his study of the seventeenth-century sublime are landmarks in modern recognition of the importance of this aesthetic idea. Boileau worked on a general theory that could be applied to various arts. That indicates a special concern for the sublime as a category that can cope with the challenge of modern art without losing the value of ancient art. Keywords: NICOLAS BOILEAU-DESPREAUX, LONGINUS, PERI HYPSOUS, THE SUBLIME. (shrink)

The concept of inconsistency has become recently the subject of many studies focused on the principle ex contradictione sequitur quodlibet which is a hallmark of the classical inconsistency. Stanisław Jaśkowski was the first who took a non-classical standpoint toward this principle building a system of propositional logic which rejects this classical principle. Rejecting it implies important consequences for the concept of classical negation, and poses the question in which properties the op-eration of negation should be endowed. The intention of this (...) article is to define the concept of inconsistency as well as the concept of negation in a way satisfying the main intuitions natural language users connect with the two notions occurring in propositions containing vague concepts. The vagueness of natural language dis-course leads to the phenomenon of the seeming contradiction characteristic of natural language. A non-standard consequence relation for such a language has been defined in terms of preferential semantics making use of the concept of most classical model. This non-standard consequence relation is applied to the ethical discourse. The concepts introduced in this article have been used to an interpretation of the contradictories of Plato's Parmenides, as well as to the rejection of dialetheism. (shrink)

The main aim of the present article is an outline of an intuitively adequate system of logic of the operator "being informed". Such a system should be different from the familiar systems of epistemic and doxastic logic. The principle of veracity occurring in epistemic logics does not describe adequately the information operator, since the information may be true as well as false. On the other hand, the principle of consistency of beliefs, occurring in doxastic logics, cannot be applied to information, (...) because the information can be inconsistent. Our logic of information, although it is based on Kripke's semantics, includes principles not occurring in the systems of epistemic and doxastic logics, such as the principle of incompleteness of information and the Brouwerian Axiom. We prove that this system is incomplete. We also suggest that it can be generalized to a dynamic logic in the sense of van Benthem. (shrink)

All empirical concepts belonging to natural language are vague. The vagueness of empirical discourse is a source of many semantical problems which have been known since ancient times. One of those problems concerns the so called sorites paradoxes. This article is an attempt to show that the paradoxes are either invalid or unsound inferences. Since classical logic is useless for semantical analysis of such inferences, the article makes use of the Belnap four-valued logic based on the bilattice FOUR. Belnap's logic (...) is the base logic for defining a nonmonotonic consequence relation which prefers models with classical valuations among all valuations of the four-valued logic whenever it is possible. The approach outlined in this article is intuitive, and has more advantages than the supervaluational approach. (shrink)

La grande littérature française, de Marcel Proust à Michel Houellebecq, avec les chefs d'oeuvre d'André Gide, Samuel Beckett, Nathalie Sarraute, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean Giraudoux, Eugène Ionesco, Marguerite Yourcenar, Bernard-Marie Koltès, ou Enzo Cormann, reflète la condition humaine dans le monde des valeurs stables et celui de la modernité liquide décrite par Bauman. Ses interrogations concernent l'homme, confronté à l'Histoire, en proie au doute sur le Moi aussi bien que sur les religions.

The author agrees with James Moor that computer technology, because it is ‘logically malleable’, is bringing about a genuine social revolution. Moor compares the computer revolution to the ‘industrial revolution’ of the late 18th and the 19th centuries; but it is argued here that a better comparison is with the ‘printing press revolution’ that occurred two centuries before that. Just as the major ethical theories of Bentham and Kant were developed in response to the printing press revolution, so a new (...) ethical theory is likely to emerge from computer ethics in response to the computer revolution. The newly emerging field of information ethics, therefore, is much more important than even its founders and advocates believe. (shrink)

The author agrees with James Moor that computer technology, because it is ‘logically malleable’, is bringing about a genuine social revolution. Moor compares the computer revolution to the ‘industrial revolution’ of the late 18th and the 19th centuries; but it is argued here that a better comparison is with the ‘printing press revolution’ that occurred two centuries before that. Just as the major ethical theories of Bentham and Kant were developed in response to the printing press revolution, so a new (...) ethical theory is likely to emerge from computer ethics in response to the computer revolution. The newly emerging field of information ethics, therefore, is much more important than even its founders and advocates believe. (shrink)

This article is concerned with the relationship between adult attachment styles and generalized negativistic social beliefs. Two general dimensions of attachment styles, avoidance and anxiety, are considered to be manifestations of an individual’s image of other people and of the self, respectively. We suggest that both dimensions may be a substantial basis for formulating negative beliefs about the social world. Firstly, we believe that a high level of negativistic social beliefs can be positively predicted by the growth of avoidance and (...) anxiety. Secondly, we formulate an expected interaction effect. Although the nature of such an interaction is ambiguous, it may be argued as having a synergistic as well as antagonistic pattern. These hypotheses were tested and supported on a representative sample of adult Poles. (shrink)

In Béziau a logic \ was defined with the help of the modal logic \. In it, the negation operator is understood as meaning ‘it is not necessary that’. The strong soundness–completeness result for \ with respect to a version of Kripke semantics was also given there. Following the formulation of \ we can talk about \-like logics or Beziau-style logics if we consider other modal logics instead of \—such a possibility has been mentioned in [1]. The correspondence result between (...) modal logics and respective Beziau-style logics has been generalised for the case of normal logics naturally leading to soundness–completeness results [see Marcos :279–300, 2005) and Mruczek-Nasieniewska and Nasieniewski :229–248, 2005)]. In Mruczek-Nasieniewska and Nasieniewski :185–196, 2008), :189–203, 2009) some partial results for non-normal cases are given. In the present paper we try to give similar but more general correspondence results for the non-normal-worlds case. To achieve this aim we have to enrich original Beziau’s language with an additional negation operator understood as ‘it is necessary that not’. (shrink)