A particular kind of communication with God is the linguistic form of prayer. The theoretical analysis of each act of communication calls for a reference to the applied theory of communication. In reference to prayer it is appropriate, inasmuch as we accept the standpoint according to which the relations between God and man should be described in line with the achievements of science (A. Peacocke). Thus Peacocke describes the communication between God and man. His description is based on the assumption (...) about God\'s self-limitation to adjust to His recipient. This assumption results from the acceptance of the relay theory of communication. According to this theory, the contents of the recipients\' message (in this case God) must be reproduced by the recipient (in this case man). This theory is inappropriate to describe the acts of communication between God and man. The theory of relevancy is more appropriate for the description of this kind of relation of communication. According to this theory, it is the recipient that decides about the contents of the message. The theory does not require that self-limitation should be assumed when describing prayer as an act of communication with God. According to this theory, God, being the addressee of the acts of prayer fully understands the contents and intentions of the message. Man (the sender) may only hope that he has appropriately performed an act of communication. (shrink)

The notion of conceptual system is usually connected with criticism or defence of relativism but sometimes the notion appears in discussion on realism/anti-realism. The aim of the article is: (1) to present connection between understanding of notion of conceptual system and ways of understanding of realism/anti-realism; (2) to present that notion may constitute a foundation of argument for realism, although usually it is taken as argument for anti-realism. Investigations of the article create the basis for discussion of the conception of (...) relativity proposed by Adam Grobler in Truth and Relativity. (shrink)

Communication is perceived as a means of obtaining knowledge possessed by others and transmitting this knowledge from subject to subject. This process takes place in a communication area defined by a variety of parameters. The communication content (message) transmitted in the course of communication requires consideration of many aspects, therefore its description must take place in many aspects of the communication area.Messages can be distinguished in three dimensions of the communication area: (1) semantic (referential, informative); (2) subjective (individual) and (3) (...) cultural (social). Communication theory based on the multi-dimensional character of the communication area should enable the resolution of important problems. For instance in the first dimension it should be able to solve issues relating to the transmission of the semantic properties of a message and the connected problem of the constancy of the subjective reference in successive acts of the communication process; in the second, the problem of the variability of subjective content resulting from the diversity of experience and linguistic competence; in the third, the problem concerning the existence of a community of cultural meanings and the problem concerning the mechanisms of building common representations of the world.The essay also seeks to specify theories enabling cohesive descriptions of the discussed message dimensions in keeping with the adopted naturalistic methodological and ontological assumptions. (shrink)