An essay, translated from the Polish by Marian Hillar and Claire S. Stelter, extolling a system of values which we develop through a rational and analytical approach to reality both natural and human.

After a brief look at Drafts on Polish philosophy of the twentieth century you could get the impression that this is a work dedicated to the most recent works of Polish philosophy. However after a moment of consideration, it seems hard to believe that a contemporary philosopher would write a history of twentieth century philosophy which could be considered neither as his history nor his philosophy. The distinction between history and philosophy in this case is not accidental since Wojciech Słomski (...) does not try to present a completely closed view of philosophical thought in the last century but aims at expressing that which he himself considers most valuable in contemporary Polish philosophy. It turns out that despite first impressions, we are not dealing with a systematic lecture, maintaining a cold and impartial approach to the subject but with a text written by an independent philosopher who cannot write differently about philosophy than Wojciech Słomski has done. For this reason too, the philosophy in Drafts is a living philosophy, made up of the most current propositions considered by W. Słomski as more important than the task of executing clear distinctions and pigeonholing of presented views into categories created by philosophers. (shrink)

The article reviews the book Adam Adamandy Kochański. Studium z dziejów filozofii i nauki w Polsce w XVII wieku, by Bogdan Lisiak.

The book by professor Stanisław Kowalczyk, renowned scholar in the field of social philosophy, is, without doubt, one of the most important studies on the idea of freedom. The concept of freedom is as old as mankind. It has many meanings and has been interpreted in many different ways. For instance, we also have the word „liberty," which means „freedom or right" and is synonymous with the word freedom, which means „the condition of being free." The author indicates that in (...) our times the notion of freedom is most frequently used; however, it is often misused or deceptive. Mass media and people of all walks of life talk of liberty; everyone talks of freedom and, for many, it is the highest value. Longing for freedom is rooted in the heart of every human being, for freedom is an existential correlate and the fulfilment of the rational human being. The semantic confusion about the notion of freedom leads to many misuses of the concept. Personalism, as a philosophical concept in which a person stands in the centre of all discussion, serves as a framework for the author's delineation on the concept of freedom. He further states that the appropriate understanding of this value is possible in the context of the personalistic interpretation of a human being. This is the focus of this informative and insightful book. (shrink)

The article reviews the book Philosophia Vitam Alere. Prace dedykowane Profesorowi Romanowi Darowskiemu SJ z okazji 70-lecia urodzin, edited by Stanisław Ziemiański S.J.

Sport plays today an eminent role in man's life and in societies. Various sciences have made it the subject-matter of their reflection, i.e. psychology, sociology, the natural and humanistic sciences, art, philosophy, and theology. The present work seeks to answer some fundamental questions connected with the phenomenon of sport: what is it for man? whether and when does it serve the social integration of a community? what are the premises and principles of the ethics of sportive activity? what is the (...) aesthetic dimension of sport? what are the relations between sport and religious faith? The philosophical profile is dominant in the book, taking into consideration various aspects of sport: anthropological, social, axiological, and theological. (shrink)

This is a reprint of chapters 4–5 of The Medieval Polish Doctrine of the Laws of Nations: Ius Gentium by Stanisław Wielgus (Lublin: Redakcja Wydawnictw Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego, 1998), 55–101. The original chapter and section numbering has been retained, but footnote numbers have been adapted. Reprinted with the Author’s permission. In attempting to summarize in a few sentences the achievements of the medieval scholars of the Polish school of ius gentium, we must emphasize that by employing the inherited legal and (...) philosophico-theological tradition and intellectual achievements of the University of Kraków, coupling it with their own genius, they manager to create a coherent and universal system of international law. It was a system so modern, wise, tolerant and universal that it was able to be applied not only in solving the painful problem stemming from the lengthy conflict between Poland and the Teutonic Knights but was also used in resolving global problems of the contemporary Christian’s world conflict with the non-Christian one. That legal system, based upon the eternal principles of Divine and natural law, taking account of the Gospel Law of Love and inseparably connecting law with morality and justice with truth, remains valid even today. (shrink)

Demokracja i erozja tradycji Oświecenia -- Mit, polityka, popkultura -- Przyjaźń i mizantropia : czego uczy nas liberalizm?

Artykuł omawia koncepcję poznania w ujęciu Błażeja Pascala na tle dyskusji epistemologicznych XVII i XVIII wieku. Wskazuje na integralność ludzkiej wiedzy postulowanej przez Pascala. Winna ona zespalać z jednej strony rozum, pojęty w sensie operacji dyskursywnej, z intuicją i instynktem, a z drugiej – poznanie naturalne z wiarą. Pascal wychodzi poza zestaw prawd dostępnych w poznaniu ugruntowanym na dyskursie. Szczególną rolę wyznaczał intuicji określanej w kategoriach sentir czy nawet instinct, operując takimi kategoriami jak esprit de finesse, utożsamiany z sens droit (...) czy esprit de justesse, istotnymi w odniesieniu do poznania principes. Równocześnie tak pojęte wyposażenie ludzkiego umysłu odpowiada aspektywnie wiedzy ugruntowanej na coeur, przeciwstawianej interpretowanemu racjonalistycznie raison, gdy na gruncie religii lumière naturelle jest komplementarne wobec inspiration czy révélation. Podejście to, opozycyjne wobec przejawów naturalistycznie pojętego racjonalizmu, wydaje się wpisywać w długi ciąg filozofii zdrowego rozsądku liczącej się z realiami ludzkiej natury. Sięga ona myśli Arystotelesa, mimo nowożytnej kontestacji jego nauki. Punktem odniesienia rozważań Pascala nade wszystko jest jednak epistemologia Kartezjusza podkreślającego znaczenie apriorycznych elementów poznania, traktowanych jako naturalne wyposażenie ludzkiego umysłu, do których odwołuje się intuicja czy instynkt. Konsekwencją integralności poznania jest akceptacja maksymalistycznie pojętej filozofii, nawet jeśli w nowożytności zmienił się paradygmat – z metafizycznego na epistemologiczny. Traktowanie ówczesnych ograniczeń w zakresie wykładu metafizyki jako przejawu minimalizmu, a nawet swoistego agnostycyzmu, nie wydaje się jednak uprawnione dlatego, że ze względu na zmianę nowożytnego paradygmatu to epistemologia była głównym terenem, na którym rozgrywały się podstawowe spory filozoficzne. Owocowały one określonymi rozstrzygnięciami światopoglądowymi, istotnymi w perspektywie ówczesnej dominacji kultury religijnej. Być może nawet, że to właśnie religijne milieu wymuszało podjęcie wątków metafizycznych, które stanowiłyby fundament światopoglądu religijnego. W tym kontekście wymóg ten aktualizowało ówczesne szkolnictwo, preferując u schyłku wieku oświecenia szkocką filozofię zdrowego rozsądku, broniącą integralności ludzkiej wiedzy wobec przejawów filozoficznego minimalizmu, a nawet swoistego sceptycyzmu, groźnego dla ładu kulturowego. (shrink)

The Cognitive Science of Religion represents a contemporary attempt at a naturalistic explanation of religion. There is debate as to whether its account of how religious beliefs arise is reconcilable with the religious account, which holds that religious beliefs are caused by God. In my paper, I argue that these two accounts cannot be reconciled when it comes to the specific question of how Christian religious beliefs arise if one accepts an important theological doctrine of the supernaturality of Christian belief. (...) This doctrine implies that there can be no natural explanation for how Christian beliefs arise because they are a gift of divine grace. This leads to a conundrum for Christian theists: they can either reject the CSR account of how their religious beliefs arise, or they can reject the supernaturality of Christian belief. I argue that the latter is preferable. I then draw on the work of the theologian Denis Edwards to illustrate how one can drop this doctrine without abandoning some other fundamental tenets of Christian theology. (shrink)

There have been many papers on the Jesuit relationship with the State and with the civil powers in the Western Countries. But there are no such elaborations concerning Poland. However, it was not a central aim, the Jesuits had to engage in the political situation of the country where they did His apostolic work though they did not commit themselves personally in the policy. The Jesuits had their own concept of the State and the state policy. And they showed great (...) caution in preparing the policy treaties in order to save impartiality. (shrink)

In his book Między ukryciem a jawnością [Between Hiddenness and Openness] (2023), Professor Jacek Wojtysiak argues that on the assumption of atheistic naturalism, no convincing explanation can be given for the ‘great fact of faith,’ that is, the phenomenon of the historical persistence and universality of the belief in the existence of God. The purpose of this paper is to challenge this thesis. Drawing on selected theories from the field of the Cognitive Science of Religion, I sketch a naturalistic explanation (...) of how religious belief arises. (shrink)

The road into Poland was not easy for the Society of Jesus. Although there were some Polish bishops, such as Stanisław Hozjusz [Stanislaus Hosius] and the successor to his See of Varmia, Marcin Kromer [Martinus Cromerus], who took steps to induce the authorities at Rome to allow the Jesuits to come and establish themselves in Poland-Lithuania, seeing the Order as an effective auxiliary agency for the practical implementation of the reforms passed at the Council of Trent, their efforts were isolated (...) attempts which failed to find sympathy with even the rest of the bishops of Poland, not to speak of other social groups. (shrink)

Do czasu sformułowania teorii kwantów istniało przekonanie, że rzeczywistość jest otwarta dla naszego poznania i ze poznanie polega tylko na biernym przyjmowaniu obrazów przedmiotów. Sądzono, że uogólniające działanie umysłu nie wnosi niczego nowego do treści przyjmowanej i że inny jest tylko sposób istnienia tej treści w umyśle. Niektóre jednak fakty z mikroświata wydają się domagać zmodyfikowania owego poglądu. Istnieje pewna naturalna granica naszego poznania indywidualnych przedmiotów, której w żaden sposób przekroczyć nie możemy. Stwierdzenie tego ograniczenia przybrało postać zasady nieoznaczoności. Wiąże (...) się ją z nazwiskiem Heisenberga, który sformułował ją w 1927 r. Słuszności samej zasady nieoznaczoności nikt nie kwestionuje, trudności pojawiają się w jej zrozumieniu. John Polkinghorn pisze: „Największym paradoksem teorii kwantów jest to, że po ponad 50 latach pomyślnego wykorzystywania jej technik, jej wyjaśnienie jest ciągle przedmiotem dyskusji. Wszyscy się zgadzamy co do tego, jak przeprowadzać rachunki, a nasze odpowiedzi pasują do doświadczeń jak rękawiczka, a jednak nie możemy się zgodzić wszyscy co do tego, o co właściwie tu chodzi". Istnieją więc przynajmniej dwie interpretacje TK: ontologiczna i teoriopoznawcza. (shrink)

The year 2001 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Jan Karol Dorda, a Jesuit who devoted a substantial part of his life in the priesthood to literary work, and scientific, especially philosophical enquiry - alongside his pastoral and administrative duties in the Society of Jesus. Father Dorda held a degree in mathematics and physics, but had a special interest in philosophy. In this paper I shall be concerned with his philosophical opinions, only some of which have been published, (...) while the majority of his unpublished manuscripts are preserved in the archives of the Southern Polish Province of the Society of Jesus in Cracow. The reason why his work has never been published is not because of low quality, but due to the difficult conditions prevalent in the post-war Communist period in Poland, and also because of the cautious attitude adopted by the censors and reviewers to whom Dorda submitted his work for assessment. (shrink)

The problem of change has been solved in the philosophical systems threefold: in the radical statism, in the radical variabilism and in the moderate systems. Statism follows the rationalistic theory of knowing, variabilism - the empiricistic one. The systems combining both, rationalism and empiricism try to reconcile statism and variabilism in diferent ways. E.g. Aristotle solved the problem within his theory of potency and act. In his opinion the arts and species are stable, the individuals are variable. Stagirite has construed (...) a complete theory of change. Unfortunately, his theory laboured under a misconception because of including the local movement among the changes. That was a reason why i n the system of Aristotle there appeared many antinomies. Specifically: While all the changes tend to a limit, the local movement has no limit. This fact is peculiarly evident i n the „most perfect" form of movement, the circular. While the limit of change is more perfect than its beginning, no place is more perfect than the other place occupied by a moving thing. Changes occur between the contraries, the places are not contrary. (shrink)

This paper introduces the special issue on the Concept of God of the Journal of Applied Logics (College Publications). The issue contains the following articles: Logic and the Concept of God, by Stanisław Krajewski and Ricardo Silvestre; Mathematical Models in Theology. A Buber-inspired Model of God and its Application to “Shema Israel”, by Stanisław Krajewski; Gödel’s God-like Essence, by Talia Leven; A Logical Solution to the Paradox of the Stone, by Héctor Hernández Ortiz and Victor Cantero; No New Solutions to (...) the Logical Problem of the Trinity, by Beau Branson; What Means ‘Tri-’ in ‘Trinity’ ? An Eastern Patristic Approach to the ‘Quasi-Ordinals’, by Basil Lourié; The Éminence Grise of Christology: Porphyry’s Logical Teaching as a Cornerstone of Argumentation in Christological Debates of the Fifth and Sixth Centruies, by Anna Zhyrkova; The Problem of Universals in Late Patristic Theology, by Dirk Krasmüller; Intuitionist Reasoning in the Tri-unitrian Theology of Nicolas of Cues, by Antonino Drago. (shrink)