Research on natural and artificial brains is proceeding at a rapid pace. However, the understanding of the essence of consciousness has changed slightly over the millennia, and only the last decade has brought some progress to the area. Scientific ideas emerged that the soul could be a product of the material body and that calculating machines could imitate brain processes. However, the authors of this book reject the previously common dualism—the view that the material and spiritual-psychic processes are separate and (...) require a completely different substance as their foundation. -/- Reductive Model of the Conscious Mind is a forward-thinking book wherein the authors identify processes that are the essence of conscious thinking and place them in the imagined, simplified structure of cells able to memorize and transmit information in the form of impulses, which they call neurons. The purpose of the study is to explain the essence of consciousness to the degree of development of natural sciences, because only the latter can find a way to embed the concept of the conscious mind in material brains. The book is divided into three parts. Part 1 works to convince readers that the emergence of consciousness does not require detailed knowledge of the structure and morphology of the brain, with the exception of some specific properties of the neural network structure that the authors attempt to point out. Part 2 proves that the biological structure of many natural brains fulfills the necessary conditions for consciousness and intelligent thinking. Similarly, Part 3 shows the ways in which artificial creatures imitating natural brains can meet these conditions, which gives great hopes for building artificially intelligent beings endowed with consciousness. Covering topics that include cognitive architecture, the embodied mind, and machine learning, this book is ideal for cognitive scientists, philosophers of mind, neuroscientists, psychologists, researchers, academicians, and advanced-level students. The book can also help to focus the research of linguists, neurologists, and biophysicists on the biophysical basis of postulated information processing into knowledge structures. (shrink)

: La democracia es una expresión de la subjetividad de la sociedad y por tanto merece reconocimiento. Hoy en día, sin embargo, la democracia está amenazada con una separación de los valores universales y aliada con el relativismo moral. El resultado de este proceso es la reducción de la democracia a meros procedimientos. Esto puede llevar a la tiranía de la mayoría democrática. Los procedimientos democráticos requieren valores fundamentales que son la base del consenso social, el acuerdo y la cooperación (...) para el bien común. El Cristianismo es una fuente importante de estos valores. Los valores universales están también arraigados en el Evangelio y los Cristianos que participan activamente en los procesos democráticos desempeñan un papel crucial en su transmisión. (shrink)

Das Hauptziel des Aufsatzes ist es, die Polemik Richard Shustermans gegen Richard Rorty über die nicht-diskursive Erfahrung und ihre Rolle in der Philosophie John Deweys sowohl kritisch zu interpretieren als auch darzustellen, auf welche Weise diese Debatte Shusterman zur Begründung einer neuen philosophischen Disziplin, die er „Somästhetik“ nennt, führt. Im ersten Teil wird Folgendes analysiert: Shustermans Kritik an dem „globalen Textualismus“ Rortys; Shustermans Auffassung von Deweys Theorie der Erfahrung. Im weiteren Teil wird die Somästhetik synthetisch dargelegt.

This is the first collection in English devoted exclusively to pragmatist aesthetics. Its main aim is to employ the resources of that rich and exciting tradition in studying artistic phenomena such as film, sculpture, bio-art, poetry, the novel, cuisine, and various body arts. But it also attempts to provide a wider background for such studies by sketching the history of pragmatist reflection on the aesthetic and by discussing some of the main positions that this history has produced: the aesthetic conceptions (...) of C.S. Peirce, William James, John Dewey, Joseph Margolis, Richard Shusterman (somaesthetics in particular), and others. (shrink)

An interview with Wiesław Chrzanowski, a member of the Home Army’s “Gustaw” unit. Chrzanowski recounts the political situation in Europe at the time and the Soviet Union’s and Allies’ stance towards the Warsaw Uprising. He is also critical towards the uprising’s commanders, who launched it without adequate preparation.

Liking and respect are postulated as two dimensions of interpersonal attitudes. Liking-disliking is an idiosyncratic response which depends mostly on how target persons influence interests and well-being of the attitude holder and is accompanied by beliefs in their communal traits. Respect-disrespect is a socially shared response which depends mostly on the social status of target persons and is accompanied by beliefs in their agency. This Self-interest /status Model of differences between liking and respect was tested in two studies. It was (...) predicted and found that respect responses are socially shared to higher extent than liking responses. (shrink)

The purpose of this paper is to present some of the findings (which were reported on more extensively in earlier work) regarding the visibility of gender issues in the literature on selected information and communication technologies (ICTs) with a view to make predictions about potential ethical issues that the application of these ICTs may bring about in the future. On the basis of the analysis of around 100 published sources, which dealt with various aspects of selected ICTs, conclusions have been (...) drawn regarding gender issues and concerns that the applications of these ICTs may cause. The authors' analysis is theoretically informed by critical discourse analysis (CDA) which assumes that texts, both written and spoken, as well as other forms of symbolic representations, are indicative of social practices. Of particular methodological relevance was the survey of methods of text and discourse analysis presented in Titscher et al and especially the application of keyword search as a way to measure the prominence of each investigated method. This approach to literature surveying proved very useful in selecting analytic material: only those published sources on the selected four ICTs have been included in the survey, for which the analysis of keywords, abstracts and indexes of terms indicated authors' interest in gender issues. Findings - First, ICTs such as affective computing, ambient intelligence, and artificial intelligence, have been found to have the potential of positively affecting gender power relations and thus positively affecting gender balance in the areas of labour market related to ICT across EU countries and worldwide. Second, more research on the relationship between gender and ICT design, application and representation is needed, so as to enhance a better understanding of ethical issues resulting from unequal participation of women and men in all aspects of ICT production and implementation, which in itself is an ethical dilemma with which both the ICT business and legislators have to grapple. The paper offers insight into the relationship between the level of attention devoted to particular ICTs by ICT researchers, as evidenced in the reviewed literature, and the likelihood of the application of a particular ICT in the future, which is looked at and assessed from a gender perspective. (shrink)

This paper presents an analysis of learning effectiveness for the courses “Selected issues in visual rehabilitation” and “Ophthalmology and ophthalmic nursing” taught in the years 2009-2011 at the Medical University of Bialystok, Poland. We compared the effectiveness of traditional and distance learning methods; an e-learning platform was implemented experimentally for the purpose of this study. We assessed the usefulness of online learning in terms of organization, knowledge gained and students’ satisfaction with the course. The study was conducted among 75 second (...) year master degree students in the nursing field in the academic years 2009/2010 and 2010/2011. The students were divided into two groups. For the study group of 39 persons, lectures and seminars took place on an e-learning platform, while 36 persons in the control group attended traditional classes. 80% of students in the e-learning group and 89% of students in the traditional group assessed the organization of both forms of courses positively. The fact that the majority of students in both the e-learning and traditional classes gave positive feedback indicates that for both forms there was a high level of content and technical preparedness. The mean scores of the final exam for both courses were 82% in the e-learning group and 79% in the traditional group in the years 2009- 2011. The above results show that both forms of learning are equally effective. (shrink)

Recent accounts of mindreading—i.e., the human capacity to attribute mental states to interpret, explain, and predict behavior—have suggested that it has evolved through cultural rather than biological evolution. Although these accounts describe the role of culture in the ontogenetic development of mindreading, they neglect the question of the cultural origins of mindreading in human prehistory. We discuss four possible models of this, distinguished by the role they posit for culture: (1) the standard evolutionary psychology model (Carruthers), (2) the individualist empiricist (...) model (Wellman, Gopnik), (3) the cultural empiricist model (Heyes), and (4) the radical socio-cultural constructivist model, which we favor. We motivate model (4) by arguing that many forms of mental state ascription do not serve the function of simply describing inner states causally responsible for the behavior of a cognitive agent; rather, they relate the agent to her environment by characterizing her practical commitments. Making these practical commitments explicit has an important regulatory function in that it supports action coordination and alignment on joint goals. We propose a model of how the ascription of mental states may have evolved as a linguistic device to perform exactly this function of making agents’ practical commitments explicit. (shrink)

Recent accounts of mindreading—i.e., the human capacity to attribute mental states to interpret, explain, and predict behavior—have suggested that it has evolved through cultural rather than biological evolution. Although these accounts describe the role of culture in the ontogenetic development of mindreading, they neglect the question of the cultural origins of mindreading in human prehistory. We discuss four possible models of this, distinguished by the role they posit for culture: the standard evolutionary psychology model, the individualist empiricist model, the cultural (...) empiricist model, and the radical socio-cultural constructivist model, which we favor. We motivate model by arguing that many forms of mental state ascription do not serve the function of simply describing inner states causally responsible for the behavior of a cognitive agent; rather, they relate the agent to her environment by characterizing her practical commitments. Making these practical commitments explicit has an important regulatory function in that it supports action coordination and alignment on joint goals. We propose a model of how the ascription of mental states may have evolved as a linguistic device to perform exactly this function of making agents’ practical commitments explicit. (shrink)

Artykuł jest prezentacją najważniejszych rysów teologii apofatycznej Mistrza Eckharta, która jest mocno zakorzeniona w myśli Pseudo-Dionizego Areopagity. Autor ukazuje swoistą dialektykę poznawalności i niepoznawalności Boga, ilustrując to obficie przykładami z Eckhartowych Kazań. W tekście został poruszony także inny, niezwykle istotny problem, a mianowicie relacji zakorzenionej w neoplatonizmie henologicznej wizji rzeczywistości Eckharta do chrześcijańskiej nauki o Trójcy Świętej. Autor przytacza tu opinię Marie-Anne Vannier, że Eckhart jest „wirtuozem teologii trynitarnej”, ale dodaje, że zawsze pozostawia on tu miejsce dla przeżywania Tajemnicy.

The great task of cognitive science is to explain the phenomenal, first-person experience through the brain’s biophysical processes. This articles takes up this challenge by presenting the theory of how to reconcile the distinguishable properties of a material and mental processes. For this purpose, I describe how knowledge representations arise and how they can correlate with the emotions that accompany their formation. These associations can lead to first-person sense impressions, that is, qualia, which are the gist of phenomenal awareness. I (...) hypothesize that perception and consciousness and their causal role can only be explained by pointing to two aspects of consciousness: The event reporting aspect responsible for being aware of what is happening and the executive aspect responsible for the body’s actions and bodily responses. Both of these aspects are functionally accomplished by two separate neural mechanisms. Explaining the stream of consciousness required diversification of the concept of consciousness and the distinction of “executive” and “reporting” consciousness, respectively. Impression of feeling, a stream of consciousness, and a train of thought felt as conscious perception are the effect of stimulation of the lower sensory fields of the brain by feedback stimuli from upper cerebral areas. Subjectively perceived sequences of such recreated images only accompany brain processes but do not affect them directly. However, they are not objectively epiphenomenal since they modify the neural representations of knowledge embedded in memory and thus influence future states of consciousness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

The author begins by asking the question: what kind of justification, if any, can be given in support of a normative system? Within the category of normative systems he allows for a variety of theories, ethical and legal. The are cross-classified, in particular they are divided into open and closed systems with regard to their normative, axiological and informative content.

Część II pracy objaśnia molekularne podłoże pamięci w oparciu o założenia Neuro-Elektro- Dynamiki postulowanej przez Aura i Yoga. Wskazano na biofizyczne mechanizmy generacji wspomnień, refleksji i odczuć dzięki efatycznym sprzężeniom synaptycznym, spełniającym wymagania indukowania impresjonów Vadakkana. Wykazano, że działanie mechanizmu selekcyjnego WTA może być dobrym modelem opisującym funkcję przełączania uwagi. Wskazano na relacje między pamięcią roboczą, krótkoterminową i trwałą i ich spójność z molekularnymi procesami zapamiętywania i rozpoznawania wzorców. Wskazano, że trwała pamięć epizodyczna wymaga konwersji sekwencji czasowych sygnałów bottom-up do (...) rozkładu przestrzennego tworzącego impresjony dynamiczne. Odwrotna transformacja tych impresjonów umożliwia przypominanie epizodów z przeszłości. Omówiono znaczenie wrodzonych struktur sieci neuronowych zapewniających dziedziczenie zachowań instynktownych. Struktury te nie wykluczają zachowania plastyczności umysłu umożliwiającej efektywne uczenie. (shrink)

Celem pracy jest wskazanie na podstawowe procesy neurologiczne i biofizyczne konstytuuj ące kompleksowy model umysłu świadomego. Przedstawiono zarówno model obliczeniowy działania neuronowych pól tworzących mentalne reprezentacje rzeczywistości, jak i biologiczne koncepcje realizacji tych funkcji mózgu. Wyjaśniono motywacje ludzkiego i zwierzęcego działania. Przedstawiono koncepcje, jak powstaje świadomość oraz jak rozpoznajemy, że jesteśmy świadomi, co objaśnia także problem samoświadomości. Wskazano, że zrozumienie fenomenu świadomości usuwa antynomię teleologicznego i przyczynowego charakteru natury ludzkiej, co niweluje dualizm cielesnego i duchowego charakteru substancji tworzącej nasze umysły. (...) W części pierwszej przedstawiono ograniczenia koncepcji obliczeniowego modelu rozpoznawania poprzez porównywanie i poszukiwanie podobieństw wzorców według Perlovsky’ego oraz wskazano na sposób rozwinięcia tej koncepcji poprzez uwzględnienie morfologii i biologicznych funkcji sieci neuronowej mózgów naturalnych. Pokazano, że neuronowe pola synaptyczne o strukturze hierarchicznej impresjonów w rozumieniu hipotezy Vadakkana mogą spełniać role neuronowych pól modelujących zaangażowanych w gówne procesy psychiczne. Zauważono, że rozszerzony w ten sposób poziom analizy funkcji mózgu w dalszym ciłgu nie pozwala na wyjaśnienie fenomenu świadomości i konieczne jest przeanalizowanie podłoża biochemicznego i molekularnego tych procesów, co zostanie przedstawione w następnych częściach pracy. (shrink)

W części III przedstawiono motywacje do aktywności autonomicznego systemu inteligentnego w postaci bólu i przyjemności. Wskazano, ze kształtowanie zaawansowanych stanów świadomości takiego systemu wymaga innego rodzaju motywacji w postaci ciekawości i potrzeby zrozumienia. Przedstawiono neuronalne podłoże tych motywacji. Zaproponowano kompleksowy model umysłu świadomego, obejmujący wszystkie poziomy przetwarzania informacji. Przedstawiony model wyjaśnia główne cechy ludzkiej psychiki. Wyjaśnia, jak się tworzy świadomość refleksyjna i samoświadomość, jak umysł formułuje sens i cel swego istnienia, a także sens istnienia otaczającego go świata, w jaki sposób (...) uzyskuje wolną wolę i jak może skutecznie działać dla dobra swojego i dobra świadomości osadzonej w neuronowych polach modelujących. Wyjaśnia, jak potrzeba rozumienia i potrzeba harmonii może tworzyć dobro i inne wartości etyczne. Jakie emocje kierujące umysłem mogą wyzwolić uczucia empatii i altruizmu. Wyjaśnia też, że dla spełnienia tych funkcji, dla nauczenia się wszystkiego, co dobre i moralne, niezbędne jest ciało i możliwość postrzegania oraz oddziaływania na otoczenie. To bezpośredni dowód na konieczność zjednoczenia ciała i ducha aby zaistniały intencjonalnie moralne byty samoświadome. (shrink)