2/2014

Zdzisława Piątek  

Affiliation: Institute of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Grodzka 52, 31-044 Kraków, Poland

E-mail: zdzislawa.piatek33@gmail.com

PECULIARITY OF CULTURAL ADAPTATION. THE INSTANCE OF FUNCTIONING OF GENDER STEREOTYPES

ABSTRACT

The peculiar character of cultural adaptation in relation to biological adaptation consists in the fact that when the former adaptation has arisen the survival of the human species depends not only on the transmission of genes, but also on memes, i.e. the cultural replicators and their success in the anthroposphere. This paper claims that the adaptative value of cultural reality is ambivalent, because culture contains both true and false beliefs (memes) about both the dimensions of human environment. This is caused by the fact that the mechanisms of cultural adaptation on the level of memes are to some extent independent from the adaptation on the level of genes and may have a negative effect on that level. The way in which memes may influence genes has been presented through the relationship between metaphysics and gender stereotypes.

Keywords: cultural adaptation, biological adaptation, anthroposphere, cultural replicators (mem).

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Robert Piłat

Affiliation: Institute of Philosophy, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, Wóycickiego 1/2, 01–938 Warszawa, Poland

E-mail: r.pilat@uksw.edu.pl

PHILOSOPHY AND THE TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

ABSTRACT

In this report, devoted to the relation between the humanities (especially philosophy) and technical high schools, I analyse the paradox emerging when four claims are accepted: (1) technical high schools demonstrate more and more clearly university aspirations and get properties of the university; (2) the humanities and social sciences are an inherent part of the classical university; (3) in all the world a deep crisis of the classical university occurs; also the social legitimization of the life disinterestingly concentrated on knowledge disappears; (4) the technical mentality and the technical civilization are responsible for this crisis. It is easily seen that the last claim is contradictory to the first one. I try to indicate the sources of this paradox by demonstrating the falsity of claim (4). In conclusion, I maintain a real nihilistic tendency present in the attitude of modern societies toward knowledge.

Keywords: technical high school, university, philosophy, technical civilization.

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Maciej Soin

Affiliation: Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Nowy Świat 72, 00-330 Warszawa, Poland

E-mail: msoin@poczta.onet.pl

ON POSIBLE WAYS OF TEACHING OF PHILOSOPHY

ABSTRACT

The paper attempts to respond to the postulates included in the National Frameworks of Qualifications. Those require syllabuses in higher education be shaped  by  “abilities of autonomous and responsible actions”. The Author considers the usefulness of various fields of teaching of philosophy for this goal, and he concludes that the greatest prospects for its attaining lie in the teaching of critical thinking in the version based on Wittgenstein’s philosophical investigations. The syllabuses of such teaching are not being reduced to the logical analysis of argumentation, but embrace among others problems of polysemousness of concepts and the verbal disputes emerging when differences between various ways of language use are neglected.  The teaching of critical thinking at an advanced level can be engaged in the problem of truth:  the diversification of criteria of truthfulness, abilities of differentiating empirical and grammatical statements, and the comparative role of samples in research practices in various domains of science.

Keywords: teaching of philosophy, critical thinking, Wittgenstein.

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Zbigniew Król

Affiliation: Warsaw University of Technology, Pl. Politechniki 1, 00-661 Warsaw, Poland

E-mail: zbigkrol@wp.pl

PHILOSOPHY AND EXACT SCIENCES

ABSTRACT

In the paper the non-separable union of philosophy and science is demonstrated; it is argued that philosophy is a necessary element of scientific practice. The author presents some arguments for the inalienable presence and need of philosophy in science whose aspirations – as he maintains – are not being reduced to the realization of utilitarian needs. The necessity of philosophy originates from the human pursuit of the understanding of reality; this understanding also is the main task of science.

Keywords: science, philosophy, utilitarian needs, the understanding of reality.

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Grzegorz Pyszczek

The Maria Grzegorzewska Academy of Special Education, Szczęśliwicka 40, 02-353 Warszawa, Poland

E-mail: pyszczek@poczta.onet.pl

THE PHILOSOPHER IN TECHNICAL UNIVERSITIES

ABSTRACT

The paper concerns the problems of the teaching of philosophy in technical universities. Stereotypes and prejudices concerning technology (technophilia, technophobia) is the first barrier in this enterprise. The second barrier is caused by the lack of philosophy of technology in philosophical courses, and the third one is brought on by the absence of meta-technical reflection in technical subjects.

Keywords: technical university, teaching of philosophy, technophilia, technophobia, philosophy of technology.

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Marek Maciejczak

Affiliation: Warsaw University of Technology, Plac Politechniki 1, 00-661 Warsaw, Poland

E-mail: marmaciejczak@poczta.onet.pl

KNOWING HIMSELF AS A CONDITION OF SUBJECT’S IDENTITY

ABSTRACT

Sociological investigations show the ever changing meaning of concepts of individual, identity, obligation towards self and others, and also culture, university, religion.   In consumerist societies these concepts become fluid. Not only the project of a life style becomes market-oriented, but also that of self-fulfilment. The personal identity requires attention, goals, values, a language. Personal identity requires reflection. Kant, Wittgenstein, Heidegger, Wojtyła and Taylor provide guidelines as how to examine this kind of reflection.  

Keywords: reflection, self-determination, a personal identity, consumerist society, conscious, art, university, religion. 

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Paweł Bytniewski

Affiliation: Institute of Philosophy, Marie Curie-Skłodowska University, Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej 4, 20-031 Lublin, Poland

E-mail: pbytniewski@poczta.umcs.lublin.pl

PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCES, THAT IS, EPISTEMOLOGICAL ADVANTAGES OF HISTORY OF SCIENTIFIC COGNITION

ABSTRACT

The paper takes as the basis of the considerations the phenomenon of the self-isolation of intellectual cultures of philosophy of science; those cultures are closed in individual traditions, consider pre-restricted issues, ignore achievements of other cultures and research environments. This fact cannot be satisfactorily explained by linguistic differences and separate communicative channels used by social groups of scientists. The paper presents and confronts with each other, in a synoptic system, two traditions: Anglo-Saxon philosophy of science and French philosophy of sciences. Two essential differences between them are emphasized. The first one is the difference between the pluralistic and disciplinary grasps of science in philosophy of sciences and the monism of philosophy of science in treating such problems as rationality of science(s), roles of particular scientific fields in forming philosophical models of the science(s) change; the significance of history of science(s) for epistemological solutions, the grasp of the hierarchy of cognitive values, conceiving the object of history of science(s). The second difference lies in the distinctness of the relation between philosophy and history of science(s) assumed by philosophy of science and philosophy of sciences. 

Keywords: the Anglo-Saxon philosophy of science, French philosophy of science, history of sciences, Bachelard, Canguilhem, Foucault, rationality of science, epistemological non-continuity, archeology of knowledge.

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Stanisław Czerniak

Affiliation: Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Nowy Świat 72, 00-330 Warszawa, Poland

E-mail: czerniak.stanislaw@wp.pl

GERNOT BÖHME’S PHILOSOPHY OF TECHNICS

ABSTRACT

The article reconstructs the main threads of Gernot Böhme’s philosophy of technology. In his writings on the subject in the volume Invasive Technification: Critical Essays in the Philosophy of Technology (2008) Böhme abandons his earlier “finalisation of science” theory (which the author expounds in detail in the first part of the article) and situates philosophy of technology between philosophical anthropology and social philosophy. In this context, he reflects on the effects of technification for the identity of contemporary humans and changing social integration models (the social role of IT networks and technostructures). Böhme’s position is par excellence critical. Referring to the philosophical traditions of the Frankfurt School, he argues against the social philosophy of Jürgen Habermas and asks about the criteria which determine the “rationality” of technology. Böhme also reviews the cultural sources of resistance to “invasive technification”, not only in Western, but also in Far Eastern cultures. Finally, he discusses those anthropological horizons of technological progress which he considers to be ethically neutral and capable of opening new areas of self-knowledge and expression to humankind. The author closes his paper with a set of questions which in his opinion point to some still open issues in Böhme’s philosophy of technology.

Keywords: philosophy of science models, philosophy of technology, technification, philosophical anthropology, critical theory, rationality of technology, cultural brakes on technification, dialectic of technification.

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Małgorzata Czarnocka

Affiliation: Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Nowy Świat 72, 00-330 Warszawa, Poland

E-mail: mczarnoc@ifispan.waw.pl

SUBJECTIVITY BY KANT

ABSTRACT

The paper reconstructs Kant’s cognitive subjectivity (transcendental as well as empirical one) by tracing both the text of the Critique of Pure Reason and some important relevant analyses conducted by Kantians within recent thirty years. The aim of the reconstruction is to consider how and if at all the concept of Kant’s subject may be used in today’s investigations on cognition. The non-eliminable multiplicity of interpretations of each important aspect of this subjectivity is demonstrated. Some doubtful properties of Kant’s construction of subjectivity are revealed; they call into question the applicability of this construction to now formed apprehensions of cognition.

Keywords: Kant’s subjectivity, cognition, John Niemeyer Findlay, David Carr, Siyaves Azeri, Andrew Brook.

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Barbara Trybulec

Affiliation: Institute of Philosophy, Marie Curie-Skłodowska University, Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej 4, 20-031 Lublin, Poland

E-mail: barbara.trybulec@poczta.umcs.lublin.pl

MIND: EMBEDDED OR EXTENDED? THE TENSION IN THE THEORY OF THE SITUATED MIND

ABSTRACT

The situated mind is a new stream in the philosophy of mind. By some, it is perceived as a revolution in the field, or even as a paradigm change. Philosophers working on this new perspective try to create a unified and fruitful interdisciplinary project, aimed to shed a new light on problems of cognition. This task, if possible, is not easy. The Situated Mind is composed of at least three notions that could hardly be thought to present a unified picture of the mind: Embodied Mind, Extended Mind and Embedded Mind. These notions indicate a tension within the project that weakens its integrity. In the paper, I will investigate how strong this tension is, and, specifically, whether the various approaches to Situated Mind are really competitive, or maybe there is a hope for a unified new picture of the mind. I will argue that such a picture cannot be created by combining this three ideas, and will show that one of them is the most useful and fruitful description of the mind.

Keywords: situated mind, embedded mind, embodied mind, cognitive processes.

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Ignacy Szczeniowski

Affiliation: Institute of Philosophy, University of Warsaw, Krakowskie Przedmieście 3, 00-047 Warszawa, Poland

E-mail: ignacy.szczeniowski@gmail.com

NONCONCEPTUAL KNOWLEDGE AND KAZIMIERZ TWARDOWSKI’S POSTULATE OF THE CLARITY OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL STYLE

ABSTRACT

The article offers a few remarks on Kazimierz Twardowski’s thesis about the clarity of the philosophical style. The issue is discussed in the context of the problem of nonconceptual thinking and non-propositional knowledge. A short history of the polemic in the Lvov-Warsaw School serves as an introduction to further methodological and epistemological considerations.

The main subject of the comment is the work entitled About the Clear and Unclear Philosophical Style by the Polish philosopher. Twardowski’s article remains pertinent to the metaphilosophical discussion concerning the status of philosophical language and—which is overlooked in most studies—to the debate concerning conceptualization and communication at the intersection of epistemology and philosophy of mind and language. The polemic with Twardowski’s thesis that unclear style of philosophical works is indicative of the ambiguity of philosophical thinking, is presented in the three stages. I discuss Twardowski’s thesis that we think with words, and two theses by David Einhorn: that an object which cannot be grasped by concepts, cannot be known at all, and that the only access to thought we have is by means of words.

Keywords: knowledge, concepts, Kazimierz Twardowski, clarity, know how.

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Anna Michalska

Affiliation: Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Nowy Świat 72, 00-330 Warszawa, Poland

E-mail: michalskanna@gmail.com

PRAGMATISM AND THE PROBLEM OF CHANGE IN THE CONCEPTUAL SCHEME IN THE LIGHT OF THE SENSORIMOTOR CONCEPTION OF EXPERIENCE

ABSTRACT

In the article, I propose a thesis that pragmatism offers a way out of the performative conflict inherent in the quest for the laws of change in conceptual frameworks, i.e. the conflict between the explicit notion of change and the implicit notion of continuity.

To this end, I interpret two main theses of pragmatism—the strict relationship between theory and action and between language and conditions of its use—in the light of the sensorimotor conception of experience. This conception—introduced by Jean Piaget and now advanced within cognitive neuroscience—imposes certain constraints on the way in which both theses might be construed, thus eliminating all one-sided versions of pragmatism. The conflict between continuity and change might be overcome in that it is not an object construed as an item of a certain kind, but a pattern of action is what constitutes the proper reference of thoughts and concepts. The change in the pattern or scheme of action is a resultant upon a series of adaptations subordinated to the mechanism of executive control, which encompasses the ability of planning and reflecting upon the incomes of one’s own and others’ actions.

Keywords: conceptual framework, pragmatism, sensorimotor conception of experience, rational development.

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Paweł Zeidler

Affiliation: Institute of Philosophy, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Szamarzewskiego 89 c, 60-568 Poznań, Poland

E-mail: zeidlerp@amu.edu.pl

ABOUT THE ROLE OF EMPIRICALLY-GROUNDED METAPHORS IN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH PROGRAMMES

ABSTRACT

Along with the formulation by Max Black the interactive theory of metaphor, the philosophers of science began to analyze the role of metaphors in scientific cognition. It has been shown that metaphors can play different functions in all stages of the creation of scientific knowledge. In this paper I focus on the analysis of the role of metaphors in the account of empirical data and their impact on the constitution of scientific research programmes. I present views on this issue formulated ​​by Max Black, Mary Hesse, Richard Boyd, Thomas Kuhn, Daniela Bailer-Jones, and especially by John Styles, who analyzed in detail the role that empirically-grounded metaphors play in science. In the last paragraph of the paper, I consider the impact of metaphors on the constitution of the research programme of Bohr’s atomic structure in the context of the Imre Lakatos’s methodology of scientific research programmes.

Keywords: interactive theory of metaphor, empirically-grounded metaphor, scientific research programme.

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Mariusz Mazurek

Affiliation: Lublin University of Technology Nadbystrzycka 38 D, 20-618 Lublin, Poland

E-mail: mariusz.mazurek@pollub.pl

SCIENTIFIC MODELS IN RONALD GIERE’S CONCEPTION OF SCIENCE

ABSTRACT

The paper reconstructs and analyzed critically Ronald N. Giere’s view on scientific models situated within his model conception of science. It is demonstrated that Giere’s conception of science is too poor: it is not capable of determining certain properties of models postulated in it. First of all, it does not present clearly their status of non-linguistic, abstract entities, nor the 4-ary relation of representation. 

Keywords: representation, theory, models, relation of similarity, Ronald Giere’s account of scientific models.

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Marek Szydłowski

Affiliation: Astronomical Observatory of the Jagiellonian University, Orla 171, 30-244 Kraków, Poland

E-mail: marek.szydlowski@uj.edu.pl

ONTOLOGICAL AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE COSMOLOGICAL MODEL

ABSTRACT

The standard cosmological model plays a crucial role in the research practice of modern cosmology. We examine ontological and epistemological aspects of this model, and its roles in the research practice of cosmology. We have found that there is not one distinguished ontology of the cosmological model. We point out different ontologies fitting it. The epistemological significance of the notion of cosmological model is also investigated, and complex epistemological roles of this notion are determined. We suggest that that the model is not an object belonging to one ontology, but it is a mixture of elements belonging to different ontological categories.

Keywords: ontology and epistemology of cosmological model, methodology of cosmology.

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Marek Łagosz

Affiliation: Institute of Philosophy, University of Wroclaw, Koszarowa 3/20, 51-149 Wrocław, Poland

E-mail: lagosz@o2.pl

THE UNIVERSE: INFINITY AND TIME

ABSTRACT

The considerations presented in this paper elaborate and complete some threads examined in my published book Realność czasu [The Reality of Time]. I extend here the earlier sketched inifinistic (multi-world) and dynamic image of real being. I propose a model “of circular causality”, I argue for an asymmetric version of causal theory of time, and I present an ontological interpretation of Bolzano-Dedekind definition of infinite set.

Keywords: time, real being, circular causality, causal theory of time, Bolzano-Dedekind’s definition of finite set, infinity of the universe.

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Jarosław Mrozek

Affiliation: Institute of Philosophy, Sociology and Journalism, University of Gdańsk, Bażynskiego 4, 80-952 Gdańsk, Poland

E-mail: filjam@univ.gda.pl

MATHEMATICS IN THE LIGHT OF THE STRONG PROGRAMME OF THE SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE

ABSTRACT

The sociology of science propagates the thesis about the social nature of all knowledge, however, Karl Mannheim, the most eminent representative of this way of thinking, tends to treat mathematics and logic differently. Mannheim considered mathematics and logic as disciplines of knowledge which are not amenable to social determination. The representatives of the Strong Programme of the sociology of knowledge raise once again the problem of the status of mathematics and logic. They aim to show that these sciences can be also reasonably analysed by means of sociological tools. In their considerations they refer to the ideas of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Imre Lakatos. They are convinced that Wittgenstein’s Remarks on the Foundations of Mathematics and Lakatos’s Proofs and Refutations opened a way to a sociological approach to mathematics.

Keywords: mathematics, sociology, Strong Programme, status of mathematics.

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Andrzej Wilk

Affiliation: Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Nowy Świat 72, 00-330 Warszawa, Poland

E-mail: awilk@ifispan.waw.pl

CHAOS AND INCOMPUTABILITY

ABSTRACT

The paper is devoted to the problem of the implementation of incomputability in the real world. It considers the following basic question: has logical noneffectiveness its realization in the physical world or, has non-algorithmicity a physical/material medium? The conclusion is: the algorithmically interpreted theory of deterministic chaos corresponds with the non-random/decidable part of mathematics. It should be, however, taken into account that it is always the nonalgorithmicity, randomness of models in which a description is formed.

Keywords: theory of computability, theory of chaos, Church’s thesis.

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Maciej Sopek

Affiliation: Institute of Philosophy, University of Warsaw, Krakowskie Przedmieście 3, 00-047 Warszawa, Poland

E-mail: riven213@gmail.com

THE SEMANTIC WEB—INTRODUCING MEANING TO THE INTERNET

ABSTRACT

The aim of the present article is to explore selected philosophical aspects of the World Wide Web, with particular emphasis on the Semantic Web technologies. This is motivated by the conviction that the Web as such provides grounds for philosophical investigation, and at the same time remains a subject that is rarely approached from philosophical perspective. The article contains a brief sketch of the development of the World Wide Web and emphasizes the conceptual novelty that the Semantic technologies introduce to the area; as well as examples of their practical application. Some of the notions approached in the article include meaning, reference and the question of the ontological status of objects being part of the Web.

Keywords: internet, web, semantics, designators, meaning, reference

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Andrzej Gecow

Affiliation: Centre for Ecological Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, Dziekanow Lesny, 05-092 Łomianki, Poland

E-mail: gecow@op.pl

HEREDITARY INFORMATION AND THEIR CHANNELS

ABSTRACT

The presented second part of the Draft of the Deductive Theory of Life cannot be understood without studying the first one, where the basic notions used here are defined. Inheritance is a transfer of collected purposeful information to descendant. The description of propagation of purposeful information is here broadened by the cycle of the object and environment, also the spatial and functional heterogeneity of environment. The description of hereditary channels needs to call the model of covering as structural tendency. The description of the theoretical base of this model will be a theme of next parts of the Draft; here only intuitive base is shown. Inheritance concerns a part of changeability controlled by purposeful information, but covering concern random part of changeability. The place in the Draft and mutual references of both these models are discussed. The model of inheritance proposed here is closely connected to works of Eva Jablonka. It offers more clear and formal theoretical bases for her results.

Keywords: deductive theory of life, inheritance, environment, object, hereditary channels.

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Krzysztof Chodasewicz

Affiliation: Academy of Physiotherapy, Tadeusza Kościuszki 4, 50-038 Wrocław, Poland

E-mail: kchodasewicz@o2.pl

EMERGENCE IN BIOLOGY – REDUCTIONISM VERSUS ORGANICISM

ABSTRACT

The article offers a comparative analysis of the views on biological emergence by two philosophizing scientists – Bernd-Olaf Küppers and Pier Luigi Luisi. Both authors declare different philosophical positions: the former claims to be a reductionist, while the latter considers himself an organicist. Both scientists differ also in their opinions about whether it is possible to define life. Küppers is convinced that life cannot be defined, unless it possesses some emergent properties, while Luisi claims that life exhibits emergent features and can be satisfactorily defined. The confrontation of opinions of both authors leads to unexpected conclusions.

Keywords: emergence in biology, organicism, mechanicism, downward causation, defining life.