The functional approach to natural language (FANL) emerged in the late 1960s. It focused on the use and the sub-use of language expressions, taking into account role of the language context and the extra-linguistic situation of a given statements. This approach referred, both conceptually and methodologically, to the tradition of British analytical philosophy of language on the one hand, and to the achievements of the Lvov-Warsaw School on the other. It seems that despite the passage of more than half a (...) century since its inception, this approach has lost nothing of its relevance and its cognitive value, and may even provide inspiration for the exploration new research areas concerning the formulation of language utterances. The aim of this article is to show the potential applications of the FANL as a specific semiotic concept in the field of the philosophy of social sciences. The paper points out how the functional conception can be successfully used in methodological analyses of the logical methodology of social sciences. The case studies presented in the article refer to the research practice of social sciences. Examples of the use and sub-uses of terms are discussed in the light of the polyparadigmatic structure of social sciences and the differences in research patterns accepted by given scientific collectives. (shrink)

This extended study presents a hybridization of particle swarm optimization with complex network construction and analysis. A partial population restart is performed in certain moments of the run of the algorithm based on the information obtained from a complex network analysis. The complex network structure represents the communication in the population. We present experimental results of the method alongside with statistical evaluation and discuss future possibilities of this approach. The main goal of the work is not to propose a new (...) highly competitive PSO variant but to present the possibility of using the unconventional tool as an alternative to conventional diversity measures. The main benefit of the network analysis is that it has same-time requirements regardless of the dimension of the problem. (shrink)

The primary aim of this original work is to provide a more in-depth insight into the relations between control parameters adjustments, learning techniques, inner swarm dynamics and possible hybridization strategies for popular swarm metaheuristic Firefly Algorithm. In this paper, a proven method, orthogonal learning, is fused with FA, specifically with its hybrid modification Firefly Particle Swarm Optimization. The parameters of the proposed Orthogonal Learning Firefly Algorithm are also initially thoroughly explored and tuned. The performance of the developed algorithm is examined (...) and compared with canonical FA and above-mentioned FFPSO. Comparisons have been conducted on well-known CEC 2017 benchmark functions, and the results have been evaluated for statistical significance using the Friedman rank test. (shrink)

This paper describes the process of reception of Catholic Modernism in Poland as well as the Polish contribution to this movement. It shows the Polish antimodernist perspective on modernistic thought. The neglect of Polish modernism was caused by the nationalistic character of the Polish theology and has resulted in absence of historical studies of Polish Catholic Modernism. Based on the results of archival and literature research the paper presents a variety of Polish Catholic Modernists and non-Catholic supporters of the modernist (...) thought. A unique place among Polish modernists belongs to Marian Zdziechowski (1861–1938) who was the only Polish participant of the international intellectual debate on the “modernisation” of Roman Catholicism. The paper analyses the development of Zdziechowski’s thought and shows that his main demand throughout the modernist debates was to create a new, more efficient apologetics, which would be grounded in the religious experience of the individual. (shrink)

This paper describes the process of reception of Catholic Modernism in Poland as well as the Polish contribution to this movement. It shows the Polish antimodernist perspective on modernistic thought. The neglect of Polish modernism was caused by the nationalistic character of the Polish theology and has resulted in absence of historical studies of Polish Catholic Modernism. Based on the results of archival and literature research the paper presents a variety of Polish Catholic Modernists and non-Catholic supporters of the modernist (...) thought. A unique place among Polish modernists belongs to Marian Zdziechowski (1861–1938) who was the only Polish participant of the international intellectual debate on the “modernisation” of Roman Catholicism. The paper analyses the development of Zdziechowski’s thought and shows that his main demand throughout the modernist debates was to create a new, more efficient apologetics, which would be grounded in the religious experience of the individual. (shrink)

Roman Ingarden’s theory of the musical work is usually criticized for not being able to handle the problems of avant-garde music. The most important reason for this criticism is its dependence on the musical score and, generally, on the conventions of pre-twentieth century European classical music. In my article I offer a revision of Ingarden’s theory, which on the one hand leaves its substantial arguments intact and on the other allows the theory to tackle the problem of avant-garde music (...) successfully. I ultimately hope to demonstrate that this revised theory is suitable for dealing with the problem, and can yield fruit when applied. (shrink)

Summary Although ancient Idumea was certainly a marginal object of interest for classical writers, we do possess as many as thirteen extant classical non-Jewish authors who explicitly refer to Idumea or the Idumeans. For classical writers, Idumea was an inland territory between the coastal cities of Palestine, Egypt, and Arabia that straddled important trade routes. Idumea is also frequently associated in ancient literature with palm trees, which grew in Palestine and were exported throughout the Mediterranean. In the eyes of classical (...) authors, the Idumeans were a distinctive ethnos living in the melting pot of southern Palestine. Ancient writers emphasized the Idumeans’ ethnic and cultural connections with the Nabateans, the Phoenicians and Syrians, and, finally, the Judeans, and also indicated that a great deal of Hellenization occurred in western Idumea in an urban context. (shrink)

This text is a kind of sketch and presents some simple ideas. The aim of this article is to carry out a critical and reflexive analysis of Roman Ingarden's philosophy of responsibility. Being a member of the phenomenological current, Ingarden mainly studied the ontological bases or conditions of responsibility by identifying different situations of responsibility. In this paper situations of responsibility have been analysed in the semantic contexts in which the word "responsibility" appears. Legally, the prescriptive contexts of using (...) the word "responsibility" are particularly important since they are usually either ignored or inadequately separated from descriptive contexts. Roman Ingarden's views were supplemented by Alf Ross's aspects of responsibility. As a result, the elementary ways of understanding responsibility have been reconstructed; they are the basis for reflections on moral responsibility as well as legal responsibility. (shrink)

Apart from the Treaty of human nature, political philosophy of David Hume's not systematic. This fact is probably associated with Hume's skepticism, disbelief in the philosophical, abstract synthesis, which necessarily reduces the complexity of the world to just one aspect. Most distinct evidence of this belief are philosophical essays, often recognized for popularizing some of the ideas contained in the Treaty. Popularization of the former no doubt, but there were also more than that. Hume They analyzed human reason and morality (...) in a very broad historical context. Essays are full of details taken from the history of culture, politics and the economy in both England and the ancient peoples. Greeks and Romans had for special esteem for Hume, and ancient historians considered it his pattern, moreover, does not mean that he was against them uncritically. (shrink)

"The article presents a phenomenological investigation of body and music, with particular emphasis on electronic music. The investigation builds on theoretical framework developed in phenomenological investigations in art by Edmund Husserl, Mikel Dufrenne and Roman Ingarden. It is guided beyond these analyses by investigations of particular musical examples in avant-garde acoustic and electronic music. In the former case it tackles music from which body is being consciously erased. In the latter case, the erasure occurs instantly. This negative approach elucidates (...) the function of body in music. In case of electronic music, the article focuses on writings and music of pioneer of musique concrète, Pierre Schaeffer. Central argument is that electronic music always has been and still is defined by absence of body, here phenomenologically considered as Leib. As a consequence of the phenomenological elucidation, it is ultimately shown that erasure of body has been one of the avant-garde music’s crucial techniques, and that this avant-garde residue remains in electronic music as such, both experimental and mainstream. Keywords: Schaeffer, Husserl, phenomenology, music, body, aesthetics ". (shrink)

Author looks into the problem of Marian Zdziechowski’s cooperation with the journal „Nový život”, the newsletter for Czech Catholic modernists. The background for author’s considerations is a historical outline of The Modernist Crisis, its intellectual origins and historic consequences. From 1902 to 1905 five Zdziechowski’s essays were translated and published in „Nový život”. The ideas of the Polish philosopher significantly influenced the development of the Catholic modernism in Bohemia. Zdziechowski discussed such issues as: the crisis and the revival of religion (...) at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the significance of the Catholic Modernism for the renewal of Roman Catholic Church and the relation between religion and modern art. (shrink)

This paper discusses the relationship between philosophy and literature, their mutual entanglements, differences and similarities. The aim of the article is to reflect on the different concepts presenting the relationship between these two discourses. The first position claims that philosophy and literature are separate, while the second one blurs the boundaries between them. The latter view has two versions: one that claims to diminish the separateness of the discourses in the name of meaning or indication, and another that accentuates their (...) internal entanglement, which could be described in terms of two phenomena – the literary nature of philosophy and the philosophical nature of literature. Further issues discussed are existential philosophy as a special example of the coincidence of literature and philosophy, and the philosophy of literature as a discipline exposing, among other things, the philosophical nature of literature on top of the philosophical and methodological foundations of its studies. Classical works by Plato and other ancient Greek philosophers, the works of Roman Ingarden, John Austin, Tadeusz Komendant, Albert Camus, and Martin Heidegger are interpreted. The analysis of these works is confronted with the reading of such writers as Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Franz Kafka, Herman Hesse, Witold Gombrowicz and Tadeusz Różewicz. The article is a theoretical inquiry and fits into the discipline which is called the philosophy of literature. The author adopts a hermeneutical perspective, noting, however, that hermeneutics is not a method in the strict sense. The text posits that philosophical and literary discourse are mutually entangled, despite the fact that historically the separateness of the two orders has often been emphasized. (shrink)

The author discusses two cities as interpreted by St. Augustine, the Doctor of the Church. While the first one, which Augustine personally experienced on the example of the fall of the Roman Empire, is temporal, the second is located in the nether world. However, we can experience the blessings of the latter here and now provided that we live according to the word of God, i.e. in a Christian manner. The author uses the example of Rome and its earthly (...) glories and refers to the history of the Hebrew kingdoms described in the Bible to outline various contexts of this dichotomy. He presents a critique of Roman polytheism, classified by Augustine as a false religion, and shows the profound political, social and historical significance of his teaching about the two cities. He concludes that St. Augustine’s teaching remains up-to-date in the present-day world. (shrink)

This paper discusses the concept of information formulated by Michael (Michał) Heller. Heller—a philosopher, theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and theologian—provided a complex image of information and its role in nature, which is rarely found in studies of information. Heller posited that the laws of nature may be interpreted as information, or as providing information, presenting this as a complementary view to scientific structuralism (not discussed in this paper). According to Heller, the informational content of a structure in nature is inversely (...) proportional to that structure’s degree of freedom. The more constrained or complex a structure is, and the less likely it is to exist, the more information it contains. In Heller’s view, the concept of information in Shannon’s Theory of Communication (ToC) is inadequate for expressing the notion of information beyond a numerical measure of a signal structure. Information in Heller’s research closely aligns with the concepts of Jacquette’s and Perzanowski’s combinatorial ontology (concepts not discussed in this paper) and the general theory of information (GTI) of Mark Burgin, although Heller did not explicitly make these connections. (shrink)

Book review of: M. Heller, _Przestrzenie Wszechświata_. Od geometrii do kosmologii, Copernicus Center Press, Kraków 2017, ss. 284.

The first issue of Artificial Intelligence and Law journal was published in 1992. This paper provides commentaries on nine significant papers drawn from the Journal’s second decade. Four of the papers relate to reasoning with legal cases, introducing contextual considerations, predicting outcomes on the basis of natural language descriptions of the cases, comparing different ways of representing cases, and formalising precedential reasoning. One introduces a method of analysing arguments that was to become very widely used in AI and Law, namely (...) argumentation schemes. Two relate to ontologies for the representation of legal concepts and two take advantage of the increasing availability of legal corpora in this decade, to automate document summarisation and for the mining of arguments. (shrink)

To commemorate 40 years since the founding of the Journal of Business Ethics, the editors in chief of the journal have invited the editors to provide commentaries on the future of business ethics. This essay comprises a selection of commentaries aimed at creating dialogue around the theme Ethics at the centre of global and local challenges. For much of the history of the Journal of Business Ethics, ethics was seen within the academy as a peripheral aspect of business. However, in (...) recent years, the stakes have risen dramatically, with global and local worlds destabilized by financial crisis, climate change, internet technologies and artificial intelligence, and global health crises. The authors of these commentaries address these grand challenges by placing business ethics at their centre. What if all grand challenges were framed as grand ethical challenges? Tanusree Jain, Arno Kourula and Suhaib Riaz posit that an ethical lens allows for a humble response, in which those with greater capacity take greater responsibility but remain inclusive and cognizant of different voices and experiences. Focussing on business ethics in connection to the grand challenge of environmental emergencies, Steffen Böhm introduces the deceptively simple yet radical position that business is nature, and nature is business. His quick but profound side-step from arguments against human–nature dualism to an ontological undoing of the business–nature dichotomy should have all business ethics scholars rethinking their “business and society” assumptions. Also, singularly concerned with the climate emergency, Boudewijn de Bruin posits a scenario where, 40 years from now, our field will be evaluated by its ability to have helped humanity emerge from this emergency. He contends that Milieudefensie v. Royal Dutch Shell illustrates how human rights take centre stage in climate change litigation, and how business ethics enters the courtroom. From a consumer ethics perspective, Deirdre Shaw, Michal Carrington and Louise Hassan argue that ecologically sustainable and socially just marketplace systems demand cultural change, a reconsideration of future interpretations of “consumer society”, a challenge to the dominant “growth logic” and stimulation of alternative ways to address our consumption needs. Still concerned with global issues, but turning attention to social inequalities, Nelarine Cornelius links the capability approach to global and corporate governance, arguing that CA will continue to lie at the foundation of human development policy, and, increasingly, CSR and corporate governance. Continuing debate on the grand challenges associated with justice and equality, Laurence Romani identifies a significant shift in the centrality of business ethics in debates on managing differences, positing that dialogue between diversity management and international management can ground future debate in business ethics. Finally, the essay concludes with a commentary by Charlotte Karam and Michelle Greenwood on the possibilities of feminist-inspired theories, methods, and positionality for many spheres of business ethics, not least stakeholder theory, to broaden and deepen its capacity for nuance, responsiveness, and transformation. In the words of our commentators, grand challenges must be addressed urgently, and the Journal of Business Ethics should be at the forefront of tackling them. (shrink)

In this paper I will juxtapose the concept of the veil of ignorance – a fundamental premise of Rawlsian justice as fairness – and solidarity in the context of the organisation of a healthcare system. My hypothesis is that the veil of ignorance could be considered a rhetorical tool that supports compassion solidarity. In the concept of the veil of ignorance, I will find some crucial features of compassion solidarity within the Rawlsian concept of “reciprocity” – located between “impartiality” and (...) “mutual advantage”. I conclude that, even behind this “thick” veil, some essential, yet “particular” facts on health and wealth redistribution are available to decision makers. Lastly, I discover that by means of the assumption of self-interest in the original position the veil aims to convert egoism into empathy, thus invoking the solidarity of compassion that in turn could be translated into principles of the organisation of a healthcare system. (shrink)

In response to crises, people sometimes prioritize fewer specific identifiable victims over many unspecified statistical victims. How other factors can explain this bias remains unclear. So two experiments investigated how complying with public health recommendations during the COVID19 pandemic depended on victim portrayal, reflection, and philosophical beliefs (Total N = 998). Only one experiment found that messaging about individual victims increased compliance compared to messaging about statistical victims—i.e., "flatten the curve" graphs—an effect that was undetected after controlling for other factors. (...) However, messaging about flu (vs. COVID19) indirectly reduced compliance by reducing perceived threat of the pandemic. Nevertheless, moral beliefs predicted compliance better than messaging and reflection in both experiments. The second experiment’s additional measures revealed that religiosity, political preferences, and beliefs about science also predicted compliance. This suggests that flouting public health recommendations may be less about ineffective messaging or reasoning than philosophical differences. (shrink)

Volume 16, Issue 4, September 2019, Page 381-388.

In recent years part of the literature on probabilistic causality concerned notions stemming from Reichenbach’s idea of explaining correlations between not directly causally related events by referring to their common causes. A few related notions have been introduced, e.g. that of a “common cause system” (Hofer-Szabó and Rédei in Int J Theor Phys 43(7/8):1819–1826, 2004) and “causal (N-)closedness” of probability spaces (Gyenis and Rédei in Found Phys 34(9):1284–1303, 2004; Hofer-Szabó and Rédei in Found Phys 36(5):745–756, 2006). In this paper we (...) introduce a new and natural notion similar to causal closedness and prove a number of theorems which can be seen as extensions of earlier results from the literature. Most notably we prove that a finite probability space is causally closed in our sense iff its measure is uniform. We also present a generalisation of this result to a class of non-classical probability spaces. (shrink)

The following article is an addendum to Reinhardt Brandt’s article included above, written for the needs of Polish readers. Brandt discusses the famous Longinus’ treatise while including its entire historic context. The substantial threads including the specifics Longinus’ piece as a treatise on the field of aesthetics that were contained in Brandt’s work have been, on the other hand, reminded in this article.

The article is an attempt not only to refer again, but also interpret some pivotal elements of the concept of sublimity presented in Kant’s Critique of Judgment. Kant presented a source interpretation of the category referring to sublime phenomena of nature or simple works of art, but such delineating of the field of interest was caused by the epistemological aims of the third Critique. In this presentation I would like to widen Kant’s interpretation of the conception and add some references (...) of the sense of freedom to the content of psychological character. This problems are a subject of intensive research among Torun aestheticians. (shrink)

Given a group , G⊆Mm, definable in a first-order structure equation image equipped with a dimension function and a topology satisfying certain natural conditions, we find a large open definable subset V⊆G and define a new topology τ on G with which becomes a topological group. Moreover, τ restricted to V coincides with the topology of V inherited from Mm. Likewise we topologize transitive group actions and fields definable in equation image. These results require a series of preparatory facts concerning (...) dimension functions, some of which might be of independent interest. (shrink)

Let (M, ≤,...) denote a Boolean ordered o-minimal structure. We prove that a Boolean subalgebra of M determined by an algebraically closed subset contains no dense atoms. We show that Boolean algebras with finitely many atoms do not admit proper expansions with o-minimal theory. The proof involves decomposition of any definable set into finitely many pairwise disjoint cells, i.e., definable sets of an especially simple nature. This leads to the conclusion that Boolean ordered structures with o-minimal theories are essentially bidefinable (...) with Boolean algebras with finitely many atoms, expanded by naming constants. We also discuss the problem of existence of proper o-minimal expansions of Boolean algebras. (shrink)

This paper addresses the black-box problem in artificial intelligence (AI), and the related problem of explainability of AI in the legal context. We argue, first, that the black box problem is, in fact, a superficial one as it results from an overlap of four different – albeit interconnected – issues: the opacity problem, the strangeness problem, the unpredictability problem, and the justification problem. Thus, we propose a framework for discussing both the black box problem and the explainability of AI. We (...) argue further that contrary to often defended claims the opacity issue is not a genuine problem. We also dismiss the justification problem. Further, we describe the tensions involved in the strangeness and unpredictability problems and suggest some ways to alleviate them. (shrink)

The article offers an analysis of Józef Bocheński's studies of the concept of nation. Bocheński acknowledges that there are difficulties in defining a nation. After that he claims that he will attempt to propose a definition of the Polish nation. Nation is a social group centered around some cultural ideal. The analysis shows that Bocheński did not avoid serious logical problems. First of all, he constantly falls into a circular reasoning. Furthermore, it is called into question if it makes sense (...) to refer to a cultural ideal or ideology while defining a nation. Is not such an attempt essentially bound to become circular? A doubt is also raised whether nowadays, in the face of constant migration of people and cultural ideals, one can continue to reasonably talk about nations. (shrink)

Research on intergroup emotions has largely focused on the experience of emotions and surprisingly little attention has been given to the expression of emotions. Drawing on the social-functional approach to emotions, we argue that in the context of intergroup conflicts, outgroup members’ expression of disappointment with one’s ingroup induces the complementary emotion of collective guilt and correspondingly a collective action protesting ingroup actions against the outgroup. In Study 1 conducted immediately after the 2014 Gaza war, Jewish-Israeli participants received information about (...) outgroup’s expression of emotions. As predicted, outgroup’s expression of disappointment increased collective guilt and willingness to participate in collective action, but only among those who saw the intergroup situation as illegitimate. Moreover, collective guilt mediated the relationship between disappointment expression and collective action, moderated, again, by legitimacy perception. In Study 2, we replicated these results in the context of racial tension between Black and White Americans in the US. We discuss the theoretical and applied implications of the findings. (shrink)

In order to be exercised meaningfully, political freedom requires the capacity to actually identify available policy options. To ensure this, society ought to engage in deliberation as a discussion oriented towards mutual learning. In order to highlight this issue, I define deliberation in terms of the participants’ openness to preference change, i.e. the deliberative stance. In the context of the systemic approach to deliberative theory, I find several factors causing the atrophy of such a deliberative stance. I note that this (...) state can occur not only when debaters are representatives or are in the presence of an audience, but also when they face the prospect of a binding decision. It is the latter effect that is a serious challenge to the micro-deliberative strategy, one that strives towards decisional powers being granted to deliberative minipublics. Presenting my findings, I propose—as an alternative to the power-oriented ‘ladder of participation’—a distinction between traditional co-decision and deliberative consultation, the latter one being an environment that is more conducive to deliberative stance. This new typology highlights factors that lead to preference petrification and allows for the appreciation of the non-decisional character of micro-deliberation. All of it leads to the conclusion that, in order to preserve their deliberative character in the systemic context, deliberative minipublics should not always be required to have decision-making powers. (shrink)

In recent decades, societal perceptions about sexuality have undergone immense changes, which in turn led to substantial reform of states’ criminal regulation of sexual misconduct. Traditional Angl...

Considering world’s social and ethical problems, it is unavoidable to omit the area of medical issues in which biological and therapeutic revolution took place. Pope John Paul II points out indirectly that doctor–patient relationship should be held with the respect for ethical and legal requirements because of human dignity, which is the principle, cause, goal and sense of all reality. In order to arrange the interrelation between the doctor and the patient in an appropriate way, it is necessary to build (...) bonds between them. Those bonds create patient’s and doctor’s participation in the process of medical treatment. The aim of this article is to present some aspects of Personalism by John Paul II (social doctrine of the Church) in patient–doctor relationship. The main reference point for considering aspects of patient–doctor relationship is the communitarian dimension of human being as a person in Karol Wojtyła’s philosophy. (shrink)

«Ethnical renaissanse» has demonstrated ethnicity is one of the most important attributes of the individuum. However, unclear position of ethnical identity in individuum life and active usage of this concept contributes to every ethnical conflict leads to political conflict. It makes the basis for research which role identity plays in human`s life. The author explores beginnings of concepts of nation and ethnicity and considers comunitarians` and liberals` attitude towards them. Paradoxes of nation and ethnicity concepts and need of self-identity lead (...) to the concept of «cultural identity». The author concludes that both liberals either comunitarians have to settle for thesis of fundamental value of cultural identity for a human. (shrink)

We predicted that short-term training of executive control would improve both cognitive control itself and general fluid intelligence. We randomly assigned 120 high school students to the experimental and control groups. The former underwent a 14-day training of four executive functions: interference resolution, response inhibition, task switching, and goal monitoring. The latter did not train anything. The training significantly improved cognitive control and IQ. The control group also improved their IQ scores but gained less than the experimental one. However, the (...) amount of IQ scores enhancement did not correlate with the majority of indices of the training effectiveness, thus justifying the supposition that such enhancement resulted from the general effect of participation in the training rather than from the improvement of executive functions underlying Gf. (shrink)