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)

Artykuł dotyczy formułowania hipotez w pracach doktorskich. Składa się z dwóch części. W pierwszej omówione jest znaczenie terminu hipoteza i jej miejsce w schemacie postępowania badawczego. W drugiej części przedstawiona jest typologia niedoskonałości związanych z formułowaniem hipotez. Wyróżnia się w niej trzy główne kategorie niedoskonałości. Omówienie tych kategorii opiera się na przykładach zaczerpniętych z prac doktorskich.

The purpose of the essay is to critically analyze the influence of J. Derrida’s deconstruction on David J. Gunkel’s book Deconstruction (MIT Press 2021). Gunkel’s handbook is aimed at making deconstruction a tool of critical thinking accessible to non-professionals. It turns out that accomplishing this task comes at the expense of precisely the critical potential of deconstruction itself. Gunkel is well aware that his arguments are sometimes superficial and overlook deeper problems that should be addressed. Such a failure takes the (...) form of a fetishistic denial, which in psychoanalysis is summarized by the formula “I know well, but all the same.” In turn, deconstruction itself, insofar as it is separated from Kant’s transcendental philosophy and Hegel’s dialectics, becomes an academic ideology. Restoring its proper subversive potential can only be done by returning to a philosophy of reflection, in which the thinker himself must ultimately consider his own position as an author and bring it under criticism. This is the path that Gunkel avoids, because he could then no longer be the author of a handbook on deconstruction, rather than someone who practices deconstruction. -------------------------- Received: 4/11/2022. Reviewed: 13/12/2022. Accepted: 20/12/2022. (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)

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)

We will be concerned with intentionally misleading someone or hindering their ability to properly discern a situation. Thus, we mean communicative acts that are both verbal and non-verbal in nature; they are undertaken both by individuals and on larger human collectives, but also by organizations or institutions; the entities to which these actions are directed may also vary. Most often we stigmatize them as wrong, although in many specific cases we are ready to recognize their rightness. Our goal is to (...) make visible the need to organize these acts from the perspective of a philosophically defined person-society relationship. We will also draw attention to the conditions that such depictions should meet. (shrink)

In the first part I focus on the issue of progress, in particular progress in philosophy. Philosophical progress has a special property that it shares with the process of becoming a better person. It is constantly finding yourself “on the way”. This path is not only anchored in the Absolutely Perfect but it conditions and stimulates the reflection towards the truth about the relationship between Him and us. We can assume that the core of this reflection is philosophy. The second (...) part is devoted to the paradoxical nature of the most generally understood memory. I assume that the condition of awareness of a certain content is its outdatedness, that is, its transfer to the sphere of memory. Memory is a constantly updated and constantly re-ordered picture of everything that the subject has ever relegated from being, so that it can be replaced by something else. The foundation of this order is a certain axiology. In the third part I show how the sketched concept of memory is used to describe the mechanism of the evolution of philosophical thought. The “on the way” philosophy would consist of two constantly repeated activities: on reconstructing what is to be denied, and thus on the recognition of the previous philosophical achievements in its totality, and on its negation. This denial would concern the whole of this achievement as an axiologically reconstructed unity. The new system is only realized as a series of consequences of the negation of the current state. The vast majority of philosophical reflection focuses on the constitution of this current state, its supposed unity. In the short part of the fourth, I draw up prospects for further deliberations. (shrink)

In the first part, the author discusses the methodological status of interdisciplinary research. Some general issues may be problematized within various disciplines; each of them only examines a certain aspect of the issue. Philosophical categories represent some ideas par excellence, while the terms used by the specific sciences represent models of some of their aspects. The second part recalls the most important problems signaled by engineers and programmers of machines, which are to operate in an external, changing environment, realizing autonomously (...) the objectives set for them. In parts three and four, the author attempts to specify the essential operations that the decision making machine performs. The nature of these operations should be adapted to the requirement that the machine should focus on what is important for the task it performs. (shrink)

The subject of the article is the conception of the Universe quantum origin. According to this conception, the Universe was formed as an effect of the quantum fluctuation of physical vacuum and can just be considered as such fluctuation. The first suggestion of such an origin of the Universe was made by M.G. Albrow. The views of A. Vilenkin, S.W. Hawking and J.B. Hartle, who combined this conception with the inflationary Universe theory, made the basis for the analysis of the (...) contemporary version of the conception of the Universe quantum origin. Consequently, a new version of this conception was elaborated, which assumed that the Universe was formed from nothing as an effect of quantum tunneling passage. Followers of the conception of the Universe quantum origin suggest that the solution of the problem of the origin of the Universe on the basis of this conception is of absolute character. However, the philosophical analysis of the problem discussed in the article, which includes cosmological consequences of the idea of inexhaustibility of matter, proved that the solution of the problem proposedin the conception of the Universe quantum origin is not and cannot be of absolute character. In fact, the solution is a cosmological hypothesis describing one of theoretical variants of the relative origin of the Universe. At the end of the article, it was remarked that the development of the 20th century cosmology results in the necessity of modification of philosophical terminology used so far for the purpose of the analysis of the problem of the origin of the Universe. (shrink)

Decision-making is a complex action requiring efficient information processing. Specifically, in movement in which performance efficiency depends on reaction time, e.g., open-loop controlled movements, these processes may play a crucial role. Information processing includes three distinct stages, stimulus identification, response selection, and response programming. Mainly, response selection may play a substantial contribution to the reaction time and appropriate decision making. The duration of this stage depends on the number of possible choices an individual has to “screen” to make a proper (...) decision. Given that reaction time is crucial in many sports, the possibilities of reducing it through practice are very tempting. The information processing and its relationship to the manner an individual is practicing are discussed. Especially the variability of practice issues will be explored. In variable practice conditions, an individual has to react to one or more stimuli and has to produce one of the many variations of the same movement or different movements they learned. One has to identify a stimulus appropriately and has to select a response optimally, i.e., choosing from as few choices as possible to reduce the reaction time. On the other hand, in constant practice conditions, an individual can be exposed to one or many stimuli. Still, there is only one variation of the movement that can be executed in the presence of a learned stimulus. Based on the information processing theory and the results of the research focusing on variability of practice, I discuss how the practice conditions may affect reaction time and, as a result, the decision-making process. I conceptually frame the possible implications of practice conditions on decision making related to information processing. In this review, a possible mechanism and relationship between practice conditions and decision-making are presented. Future research directions are presented. (shrink)

It is widely assumed among contemporary philosophers that Descartes’ version of ontological proof, among other weaknesses, makes an impossible and unjustified move from the mental world of concepts to the real world of things. Contrary to this opinion I will try to show that Descartes’ famous principle of clear and distinct perception suffices to find an adequate inferential connection between the contents of the human mind and extra-mental reality. In a clear and distinct way we cognitively grasp the concept of (...) supremely perfect being as the concept that we do not construct by an arbitrary definition of the word ”God’. (shrink)

What is the meaning of the “Europe” and the idea of unity? For when did a “united” Europe exist? Back when German emperors ineffectively tried to enforce their rule on a territory which was none too large anyway? Or when they were entangled in a dispute with the papacy? Or during the crusades against the Catharists? Or maybe during the Reformation or during the French Revolution when new coalitions of opponents arose? During the Napoleonic Wars which in themselves pay testimony (...) to ruptures and conflicts? The 20th century alone brought two wars. The first already signified, as Jan Patocka once declared, the suicide of Europe. Perhaps, then, Europe does not exist at all anymore? Maybe the politicians’ visions are less than credible? There is no doubt that the idea of a united Europe is a project which affirms the great, creative power of the imagination. Modernity has given birth to very strong temptations which glorify the imagination. (shrink)

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

On trouve reunies dans ce volume les communications faites au Colloque international de Nancy, les 15-16 octobre 2010, portant sur La philosophie de l'histoire des XIXe et XXe siecles. Le colloque organise par le Centre de Recherche sur les Cultures Litteraires Europeennes (CERCLE) a eu vocation a rapprocher les historiosophies polonaises et russes dans le contexte de la pensee philosophique europeenne en commencant par le slavophilisme et l'occidentalisme, en passant par les theories de progres et les conceptions eschatologiques, et en (...) finissant par les courants dissidents du XXe siecle opposes a l'ideologie communiste dominante. Il s'agissait d'une part d'etudier les ressemblances et les differences entre la reflexion metahistorique des deux peuples qui ont evolue dans les circonstances historiques parfois tres differentes, mais dont les histoires sont etroitement liees. D'autre part, tout en essayant de cerner les relations entre les philosophies de l'histoire et la realite politique, sociale et culturelle de l'epoque, on cherchait a elucider la facon dont les Polonais et les Russes se definissent a la fois les uns par rapport aux autres, par rapport a l'Occident et au monde. Une attention particuliere a cette derniere question peut nous permettre de repenser la pertinence des historiosophies polonaise et russe dans le monde contemporain, ainsi que leur apport a la pensee universelle. (shrink)

We show that for every enumeration degree $a there exists an e-degree c such that $a \leq c , and all degrees b, with $c \leq b , are properly Σ 0 2.

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.

Stosunek polskiej filozofii katolickiej do Augusta Cieszkowskiego był ambiwalentny. Z jednej strony, uważano go za wybitnego filozofa polskiego, żarliwie religijnego i inspirowanego tradycją chrześcijańską, z drugiej strony, jego myśl budziła liczne zastrzeżenia doktrynalne (ewolucyjna perspektywa religii, możliwość realizacji Królestwa Bożego na ziemi, wątki panteizujące, ograniczanie wolnej woli, uzurpowanie sobie prawa do absolutyzmu poznawczego, jeśli chodzi o "Boże plany", uznanie Boga przed stworzeniem świata za nierozwiniętą jeszcze Możność, "elitarna" koncepcja nieśmiertelności jednostkowej za zasługi). Z dzisiejszej perspektywy filozofia Cieszkowskiego budzi opór ze (...) względu na próbę "totalizacji" rzeczywistości i eksponowanie utopijnego modelu ustroju teokratycznego. (shrink)

Polish conservative thinker Władysław Leopold Jaworski developed an interest for the theories of Austrian philosopher Othmar Spann. Both accepted universalism, both also believed that universalism was inspired by romantic tradition, although Spann sought its roots much further back in history, even as far as Aristotle. Both authors staunchly criticized modern-day individualism and liberalism, which they considered fatal. In their opinion individualism and liberalism upset the primacy of totality in social thought, which led to multiple pathologies. Despite their accentuation of totality, (...) both philosophers displayed very decided anti-totalitarian convictions typical for many conservatives. (shrink)

In this interview a Warsaw Uprising fighter speaks about his work for the Diversionary Directorate of the Home Army and recalls the dramatic moments of the Uprising and his feelings about the meaning and consequences of this memorable event.

The development of product innovations in small and medium enterprises is determined mainly by their financial capabilities. These enterprises usually encounter financial problems when it comes to the introduction of product innovations. Therefore, managers should manage the company’s finances in the way that will enable them using all available means to solve these problems. This means that they ought to use external financial resources to a greater extent (not only in the form of loans). The article focuses on the financial (...) conditions for the development of product innovations in small and medium enterprises, while other forms of innovation are omitted. Product innovations are given the highest priority by mentioned companies. The analysis covered the years 2010-2017. The case study allowed to present changes in this most important form of activity for enterprises in the SME sector during the analyzed periodFor the purpose of this paper, large companies have also been included in the study in order to extend the comparative base.. In the article there were used data published by GUS, NBP, PARP, Eurostat. The article presents the following thesis: The innovative activity of Polish enterprises takes mainly the character of product innovations, which often require large financial outlays. Two hypotheses were used to verify the thesis: HPT1: The increase in the outlays of enterprises on technical progress and on research and development works (R&D) leads to companies' own the development of product innovations. HPT2: The resources are the main source of financing for product investments. Due to the greater capacity of large companies to spend on R&D, they are more active in product innovation than small companies, whose financial resources are significantly limited. Broader implementation of product innovations in SMEs requires wider access to finance and greater involvement of many participants. In order to be able to take advantage of all possible opportunities to renew the production programme, the company should ensure appropriate internal and external integration in the management of the process. (shrink)

Cognitive science of religion is sometimes portrayed as having no bearing on the theological doctrines of particular religious traditions, such as Christianity. In this paper, I argue that the naturalistic account of the etiology of religious beliefs offered by the cognitive science of religion undermines the important Christian doctrine of the grace of faith, which teaches that the special gift of divine grace is a necessary precondition for coming to faith. This has some far-reaching ramifications for Christian theology. -/- .

Aspect-perception is a phenomenon described in detail by L. Wittgenstein in part XI of Philosophical Investigations. The most famous example is the duck-rabbit figure, which can be viewed either as a duck or a rabbit, but the phenomenon extends well beyond visual Gestalt pictures and permeates various fields of human life, including aesthetic, moral and linguistic experience. Recently there have been attempts to apply the notion of aspect-perception to religious faith. It has often been observed that religious faith involves a (...) particular way of ‘seeing’ different objects and events (recall the famous phrase from the hymn Amazing Grace, ‘I once was lost, but now am found; Was blind, but now I see’). For this reason, the attempt to use the category of aspect-seeing to analyze religious faith may appear promising. My aim in this paper to analyze critically one such attempt, made by N. K. Verbin in ‘Religious Belief and Aspect seeing’ and ‘Can Faith be Justified?’. In these papers Verbin argues for two closely related theses regarding religious belief. The first is conceptual; she proposes that we should understand ‘certain kinds of religious beliefs which we view as central to a person having a living faith’ as ‘a type of aspect-seeing’. The second follows from the first: we should modify accordingly the way we construe justification for religious belief. In what follows I expound Verbin’s conceptual claim and present arguments against equating religious belief with seeing religious aspects. Basing myself on examples of people who see religious aspects but do not reach religious belief, I conclude that the two categories should not be conflated. Although I reject Verbin’s overall claim, however, I concede that aspect-seeing does play a significant role in justifying religious belief, although not in the way Verbin proposes. (shrink)

W tekście zostały poruszone kwestie dotyczące pracy operatora telewizyjnego: sposobu nagrywania newsa, obowiązujących obecnie tendencji w filmowaniu zdjęć newsowych, sytuacji, kiedy operator nagrywa materiał telewizyjny tzw. longiem lub tworzy master shot, pracy operatora przy dużej produkcji programowej, trudach pracy zawodowej (m.in. ciężkiej kamerze, szybkim tempie pracy na zdjęciach), współpracy z dziennikarzem i innymi członkami ekipy, czym jest i jak przebiega realizacja telewizyjna programu studyjnego (serwisu informacyjnego) i tzw. łączeń na żywo, wejść antenowych z terenu.