Tributes to Professor Andrzej Kopcewicz - Agnieszka Salska New Media Effects on Traditional News Sources: A Review of the State of American Newspapers - Richard Profozich Review of The Body, ed. by Ilona Dobosiewicz and Jacek Gutorow - Grzegorz Kość “Taste good iny?”: Images of and from Australian Indigenous Literature - Jared Thomas Speaks with Teresa Podemska-Abt Engaging the “Forbidden Texts” of Philosophy - Pamela Sue Anderson Talks to Alison Jasper.

Why does a baby who is otherwise cognitively similar to an animal such as a dog nevertheless have a higher moral status? We explain the difference in moral status as follows: the baby can, while a dog cannot, participate as a rearee in what we call “person-rearing relationships,” which can transform metaphysically and evaluatively the baby’s activities. The capacity to engage in these transformed activities has the same type of value as the very capacities (i.e., intellectual or emotional sophistication) that (...) explain unimpaired adult humans’ high moral status. We attempt to extend this account to individuals with severe cognitive impairments. (shrink)

Artykuł podejmuje się pytania o trwałość granic ludzkiego ciała i jego związki z otaczającą rzeczywistością. W odniesieniu do pogłebiającego się w wyniku zmian klimatycznych i zwiększającej się toksyczności środowiska lęku przed tym, co wnika z zewnątrz do naszego ciała, przywołuję koncepcje takich myślicielek, jak Stacy Alaimo, Donna Haraway i Karen Barad, by zastanowić się, w jaki sposób przemyśleć nasze relacje ze środowiskiem. Problem ten poruszam poprzez lekturę dwóch powieści eko-grozy, „Wilder Girls” Rory Power (2019) oraz „Unicestwienia” Jeffa VanderMeera (2014). Najważniejsze (...) tematy analizy to relacja między wnętrzem i zewnętrzem ciała, powiązania między ludźmi a środowiskiem, przemiany ciał wynikajace z zakażenia oraz znaczenie języka. Odwołując się do artykułu Bethany Doane „Sublime Annihilation and Planetary Ecohorror” (2020), zastanawiam się nad etycznym wymiarem podobnych opowieści i ich znaczeniem w obliczu katastrofy klimatycznej. (shrink)

(Purpose) The purpose of the study is to present Thomas Piketty’s demand view on the issue of growing income and wealth inequalities in highly industrialized countries. It should be indicated here that in his research, Piketty not only explains the mechanism of growing inequalities, but also defines the tools to tackle inequalities (a combination of theoretical and pragmatic views). (Methodology) The aim of the study is achieved through the literature review method as well as the descriptive methods, complemented by comparative (...) analysis. (Results) Piketty’s considerations clearly show that the problem of income and wealth inequalities will not disappear spontaneously, so market automatism will not only not eliminate their causes, but also will not create conditions for a fair distribution of production outcomes between capital and labor. Therefore, reducing the level of inequality requires a return to the concept of the welfare state. (Contribution to the discipline) The conducted analysis may become part of a larger research project showing the relationship between the level of economic development and its impact on the scale of income and wealth inequalities. (shrink)

Goal – The great depression forced changes in the economic program of the Christian Democracy. Indicating the exceptional role of the Upper Silesian heavy industry in the economic potential of the Second Polish Republic, the program emerged from the criticism of the Sanation program of surviving the crisis. Research method – The study analyzes archival sources and literature on the subject, as well as statistical data. Results – In the years of the great depression, official state authorities, as well as (...) individual political groups formulated their own programs for overcoming the economic difficulties that were faced. Christian Democracy was one of these groups, but its program to combat the crisis was limited only to ad hoc measures aimed at mitigating the negative effects of the crisis. The activists of the Silesian Christian Democrats did not properly interpret the sources of economic difficulties, as they did not understand the core of the problem. (shrink)

The article is devoted to the Roman Kurkiewicz essays. He is a philosopher, but is also a wellknown newspaper, radio and television journalist. The publication Klapsy polskie contains selected essays printed in ‘Przekrój’. They are alphabetically arranged and concern many issues important for Poles at the time. Political, economic, sporting and cultural events are the starting point for general discussions on the human and the world. Kurkiewicz writes about difficult and controversial topics. The article describes selected examples of different kinds (...) of essay titles. The author refers to the literature, press and TV movies. Selected examples demonstrate the richness of the author’s ideas. (shrink)

The author shows that, after some considerations about the nature of speech, we can take two substantially different paths. Wittgenstein’s early philosophy is the paradigm of the first path, his later the paradigm of the second. According the author, the difference between these two conceptions is that in the late Wittgenstein, as opposed to his early conception, rejects the search for, and the clarification of, the essence of our language.

The author shows that Aquinas’s treatise on the Trinity can be viewed in two ways. According to the first, now prevailing opinion, the thoughts of the Angelic Doctor are too speculative and in essence they harm our personal relationship with God. He aims to show that the main source of inspiration for this approach are those currents in modern and contemporary philosophy according to which any metaphysics is impossible. Adherents of the other view do not reject metaphysics, and so they (...) are also sympathetic towards Aquinas’s connecting speculation with the Trinity doctrine. They see a great advantage in this connexion, as it allows us to understand more deeply the mysteries of faith and so to demonstrate the uniqueness of the Christian message. The author aims to show that both approaches are justified and one should not be sacrificed for the other. He believes that a philosophical framework allowing the old and the new Trinitarian theologies to coexist is provided by Wittgenstein’s conception of speech games. (shrink)

Prokops "Geheimgeschichte" ist eine chronique scandaleuse mit pikant-erotischem Inhalt. Kaiser Justinian erhält in diesem Werk eine wahre Teufelsfratze: Habgier, Misswirtschaft, willkürliche Unterdrückungsmaßnahmen, Grausamkeit, Mordlust und Versklavung prägen seine Regentschaft. Schonungslos prangert der Autor auch das sittenlose Leben von Kaiserin Theodora an und kritisiert Belisar, den berühmten Feldherrn das Kaisers. Mit Erläuterungen, einer Einführung und Literaturhinweisen von Mischa Meier und Hartmut Leppin.

[A] man does not consist of memory alone. He has feeling, will, sensibilities, moral being…. And it is here … that you may find ways to touch him.—A. R. Luria1.

In this article, I present the conception of the first object of human intellect in the thought of the leading representatives of 13th century Scholasticism. The first object of a cognitive faculty is the essence that determines the proper domain of that faculty; thus the first object of human intellect is what defines the possible extension of human epistemic possibilities. The conception of the first object of human intellect presupposes and implies definite solution of important epistemological, metaphysical, and anthropological questions. (...) While one current of scholastic opinion, represented by St. Bonaventure and Henry of Ghent favored God as the first object of human intellect, more empirically minded Aquinas upheld the Aristotelian position that the proper object of human intellectual cognition is the essence of material reality; Duns Scotus evolved an elaborate position that tried to steer the middle course between the solutions of his predecessors and overcome the one-sidedness of their insights. Finally, I proceed to vindicate my opinion, that the epistemology of the 15th century thinker Nicholas of Cusa remained under significant influence of the scholastic debates and solutions. (shrink)

The philosophical activities during the Safavid era mark the peak of a renewed engagement with Greek sources unmediated by Ibn Sina's interest in them and their successive incorporation into his philosophy.1 Among the topics for which the Safavid thinkers consulted ancient Greek authors were cosmology, the role of the intellect and the ways of acquiring knowledge, the nature of the soul, and the process of emanation.2 This engagement, to be sure, did not mean an antiquarian, philological return to the original (...) texts in Greek. Rather, it was a re-reading of their Arabic translations from the ninth to tenth centuries to find ideas beyond those of which Ibn Sina made use, and to legitimize—through their... Read More. (shrink)

Although there is much research on the relationships of corporate social responsibility and employee-related outcomes, a systematic and quantitative integration of research findings is needed to substantiate and broaden our knowledge. A meta-analysis allows the comparison of the relations of different types of CSR on several different outcomes, for example to learn what type of CSR is most important to employees. From a theoretical perspective, social identity theory is the most prominent theoretical approach in CSR research, so we aim to (...) investigate identification as a mediator of the relationship between CSR and employee-related outcomes in a meta-analytical mediation model. This meta-analysis synthesizes research findings on the relationship between employees' perception of CSR (people, planet, and profit) and employee-related outcomes (identification, engagement, organizational attractiveness, turnover (intentions), OCB, commitment, and job satisfaction), thereby distinguishing attitudes and behavior. A total of 143 studies (N= 89,396) were included in the meta-analysis which was conducted according to the methods by Schmidt and Hunter (except of the meta-analytical structural equation model). Mean effect sizes for the relationship between CSR and employee-related attitudes and behaviors were medium-sized to large. For attitudes, the relationships were stronger than for behavior. For specific types of CSR, average effect sizes were large. Identification mediated the relation between CSR and commitment, job satisfaction, and OCB, respectively. Based on our results, we give recommendations concerning the design of CSR initiatives in a way that benefits employees. (shrink)

In their article, Sankary et al. (2022) interviewed participants who underwent implantation (n = 16) and subsequent explantation (n = 9) of brain stimulation devices associated with their recent (n...

When Aristotle deals with specific kinds of motion, he surprisingly asserts that there is no movement according to a relation. This assertion is, on the one hand, well justifiable, but, on the other hand, it is at variance with the naturalistic spirit of peripatetic philosophy. In this paper I would like to propose a solution to this dilemma. Such an achievement, however, has an implication which may be difficult to accept: viz. the necessity to quite radically transform the traditional categorial (...) scheme. (shrink)

In this article, we present ethnographic material collected among the Telengits, mainly in the Kosh-Agach district of the Republic of Altai (Russian Federation). Analysis of Telengit concepts and practices shows a person as a complex network of relations and therefore a composite entity. Each of the terms that the Telengits use and which could be translated as 'soul' corresponds to various aspects, potentialities, and powers of a person; at the same time, a person is also a part of a larger (...) composite entity — Altai. It is easier to grasp the Telengit way of acting and conceptualizing the world if we see those notions as tools that help people to come to terms with particular situations and tasks and not as a structured set of mental representations. (shrink)

Due to the development of global economy and increased geographical and occupational mobility, communication with people from multicultural backgrounds has become commonplace in many healthcare institutions. As the demographic profiles of both patients and medical personnel are increasingly varied, intercultural competence has become an integral component of English for Medical Purposes training. However, are medical students generally familiar with the notion of intercultural competence? What intercultural aspects should they be aware of in order to practise effectively when they graduate? The (...) aim of this article is to present medical students′ understanding of IC based on a survey conducted among undergraduate learners at the Medical University of Bialystok, Poland. The article begins with a discussion on intercultural competence in the context of health care. Following this, a discussion on why intercultural competence needs to be incorporated and used in Medical English programmes is presented. (shrink)

This distinctively interdisciplinary approach to the subject encompasses filmmaking, psychoanalysis, philosophy and popular culture and offers a unique insight into documentary film practice from a psychoanalytic perspective. At the heart of the enquiry is belief that ‘transference-love’ is present in the documentary encounter. With a focus on testimony-driven film and a foreword by Michael Renov, who calls this book 'a radical and compelling account', _Psychoanalysis and Ethics in Documentary Film _covers a range of topics including: Four fundamental concepts of psychoanalysis (...) and documentary film A review of documentary film practice A personal account of the author’s relationship with a subject of her own work A thorough interrogation of the ethics of documentary Ideal for film studies scholars, psychoanalysts, psychotherapists and psychotherapeutically engaged professionals, as well as filmmakers, culture studies students and anyone interested in the process of documentary-making and contemporary culture, this work offers a unique approach. (shrink)

In his work on internality, identification, and caring, Harry Frankfurt attempts to delineate the organization of agency peculiar to human beings, while avoiding the traditional overintellectualized emphasis on the human capacity to reason about action. The focal point of Frankfurt’s alternative picture is our capacity to make our own motivation the object of reflection. Building upon the observation that marginal agents (such as young children and Alzheimer’s patients) are capable of caring, I show that neither caring nor internality need to (...) depend on the phenomena of reflectiveness. I develop alternative interlocking accounts of caring and internality that are independent of both reflectiveness and evaluation, but that can still do justice to the central role of carings in the organization of agency characteristic of human persons. (shrink)

In our article (Zawadzki and Adamczyk 2021), we analyzed threats that novel memory modifying interventions may pose in the future. More specifically, we discussed how optogenetics’ potential for reversible erasure/deactivation of memory “may impact authenticity by producing changes at different levels of personality.” Our article has received many thoughtful open peer commentaries for which we would like to express our great appreciation. We have identified two main threads of objections. They are related to the potential applicability of optogenetics as a (...) therapeutic memory modification technology (MMT) in humans—applicability thread, and the normative value of authenticity, that is, the assumption that preserving authenticity is valuable (either in general or in the particular approach we adopted)—normative thread. Both of these threads concern fundamental issues: The former deals with the scientific credibility of the case vignette on which our discussion is based, and the latter deals with the normative weight of our considerations. We think that addressing both of them can be instructive in a broader context as they reflect a more general disagreement among neuroethicists about the very purpose and method of our discipline. (shrink)

The purpose of the article is to contribute to the discussion about the relevance of existential issues in contemporary education. Analysis presented in the paper is related to the problems of self-awareness, becoming oneself and self-development. First, the author begins by depicting the meaning of human existence in the light of philosophy. The following aspects have been analyzed: being true to one’s own beliefs and values, recognizing personal truth, making existential choices and finding one’s own voice. A special attention is (...) paid to the language as an essential, constitutive element of being. Second, the article attempts to consider some educational implications resulting from the existential approach to education. Some of the issues discussed are learning to philosophize and to discover meaning, the concept of encounter in education and the role of language in self-development. While describing them the author indicates that the ignoring of crucial existential questions in education contributes to spiritual vacuity in life of young people and reduces educational thinking merely to instrumental, pragmatic problems concerning qualification and transfer of communicative skills. (shrink)

Optogenetics is an invasive neuromodulation technology involving the use of light to control the activity of individual neurons. Even though optogenetics is a relatively new neuromodulation tool whose various implications have not yet been scrutinized, it has already been approved for its first clinical trials in humans. As optogenetics is being intensively investigated in animal models with the aim of developing novel brain stimulation treatments for various neurological and psychiatric disorders, it appears crucial to consider both the opportunities and dangers (...) such therapies may offer. In this review, we focus on the memory-modifying potential of optogenetics, investigating what it is capable of and how it differs from other memory modification technologies. We then outline the safety challenges that need to be addressed before optogenetics can be used in humans. Finally, we re-examine crucial neuroethical concerns expressed in regard to other MMTs in the light of optogenetics and address those that appear to be unique to the memory-modifying potential of optogenetic technology. (shrink)

The standard interpretation of Avicenna's correspondence theory of truth posits that propositions either correspond to what exists extramentally or otherwise their truthmaker is mental existence. An influential post-Avicennian philosopher, Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī (d. 1274) points to the insufficiency of the above division of propositions and their respective truthmakers. He mentions the possibility of conceiving false propositions, such as ‘One is not half of two’ and postulates the necessity of the existence of another truthmaking domain for their true counterparts which he (...) calls nafs al-amr. It is where objective and timeless entities, such as mathematical propositions, are located. While some claim that Ṭūsī's identification of this domain with the first Separate Intellect is a testimony to his Avicennian convictions, Ṭūsī's solution is a conspicuous departure from Avicenna that not only helps him remedy the insufficiency of Avicenna's theory of truth but is consistent with his critique of Avicenna's theory of God’s knowledge. (shrink)

The main aim of the paper is to show an existential religious model of business leadership. We want to defend the thesis that leaders, who consider existing norms and regulations, have the greatest influence on how organisational aims are achieved. Thus, based on the concept of Kierkegaard’s modes of existence, we show that the individual values and motives of leaders’ behaviour influence the shape of the leadership itself as well as the management of an organisation. On the basis of a (...) literature review, we propose the following connections: an aesthetic mode with instrumental motives which result in the shareholder perspective; an ethical mode of existence with normative motives which lead to the stakeholder perspective; and the spiritual mode of existence with transcendental motives which enable leaders to introduce a holistic perspective of management. However, we cannot link certain motives with a particular type of leadership, as leaders with different modes of existence might practice the same type of leadership (i.e., leadership based on values, authentic leadership) and combine various types of leadership in their actions. The paper might provide a theoretical basis for empirical research on leadership and managerial behaviour. (shrink)

The aim of the article is to present a new Polish tool for measuring the flow experience in professional tasks - a FLOW-W Questionnaire. The questionnaire was inspired by Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory and flow in Bakker’s work. On its basis a set of positions was established, on which subsequently an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was conducted. The analysis showed the possibility of a uni- or bifactorial solution. After checking the theoretical and empirical validity of both solutions, the unifactorial solution (...) was adopted. The validity of the questionnaire was examined, i.a. by correlations with theoretically related variables: work engagement with the UWES questionnaire and affect at work. The studies showed a significant positive correlation between flow at work and work engagement and between flow and positive affect. The reliability of the questionnaire is very high; α = 0.96. The tool has very good psychometric properties. (shrink)

V textu představuji dva přístupy k argumentační analýze: neformálně-logickou analýzu založenou na práci Ralpha H. Johnsona a J. Anthonyho Blaira a argumentační schémata od Douglase Waltona. V první části definuji oba dva přístupy a vysvětluji jejich vzájemný vztah. Dále vysvětluji základní pojmy obou přístupů – definuji argument, interní argument, implicitní premisu a PZ-strukturu, argumentační schéma a kritické otázky. Věnuji se i popisu jejich výhod a nevýhod. V druhé, praktické části textu aplikuji definované nástroje na video Přemluv bábu. Formuluji tři výzkumné (...) otázky, na které odpovídám. V rámci odpovědi na první předkládám PZ-strukturu argumentace z videa. Záměrem druhé otázky je identifikace argumentačních schémat v analyzované struktuře, kde považuji za nejdůležitější argument apelující na strach. Účelem poslední otázky je hledání odpovědí na kritické otázky související s identifikovaným schématem. Docházím k závěru, že protagonisté argumentu neodpovídají na otázky uspokojivě. Záměrem textu je předložit případovou studii, na které ukážu, jak analyzovat argumentační text pomocí zvolených přístupů. (shrink)

The main purpose of this paper is to contest the Aristotelian notion that the objects of metaphysics, mathematics and physics are all abstract, which is the reason why these disciplines constitute a homogeneous class. For a reflection on the way how objects are introduced into scientific discourse leads to the conclusion that some of these objects (especially the mathematical ones) are fictions of reason an that their nature is defined purely by their mutual relationships. From this it follows that, far (...) from being theoretical sciences, the respective disciplines are justifiedly classified as arts. (shrink)

This paper offers a novel interpretation of Hans Jonas’ analysis of metabolism, the centrepiece of Jonas’ philosophy of organism, in relation to recent controversies regarding the phenomenological dimension of life-mind continuity as understood within ‘autopoietic’ enactivism (AE). Jonas’ philosophy of organism chiefly inspired AE’s development of what we might call ‘the phenomenological life-mind continuity thesis’ (PLMCT), the claim that certain phenomenological features of human experience are central to a proper scientific understanding of both life and mind, and as such central (...) features of all living organisms. After discussing the understanding of PLMCT within AE, and recent criticisms thereof, I develop a reading of Jonas’ analysis of metabolism, in light of previous commentators, which emphasizes its systematicity and transcendental flavour. The central thought is that, for Jonas, the attribution of certain phenomenological features is a necessary precondition for our understanding of the possibility of metabolism, rather than being derivable from metabolism itself. I argue that my interpretation strengthens Jonas’ contribution to AE’s justification for ascribing certain phenomenological features to life across the board. However, it also emphasises the need to complement Jonas’ analysis with an explanatory account of organic identity in order to vindicate these phenomenological ascriptions in a scientific context. (shrink)

We discuss applications of our account of moral status grounded in person-rearing relationships: which individuals have higher moral status or not, and why? We cover three classes of cases: (1) cases involving incomplete realization of the capacity to care, including whether infants or fetuses have this incomplete capacity; (2) cases in which higher moral status rests in part on what is required for the being to flourish; (3) hypothetical cases in which cognitive enhancements could, e.g., help dogs achieve human-like cognitive (...) capacities. We thereby show that our account does not have the counterintuitive implications alleged by DeGrazia and other critics. (shrink)

The 17th and 18th centuries were exceptionally important in Western philosophy for the problematization and formation of the modern concept of subjectivity. Conceptions of the subject formulated in that period drew both from the rational, Cartesian tradition, and from the irrational elements that preceded 19th-century Romanticism; they were also anchored in everyday praxis. The explorations of reality, and limitations of one’s ego exposed in the uncommon situation of travel or wandering, fi ll the writing (philosophical and otherwise) of the 18th (...) century. Its proliferation laid the theoretical foundations for the eponymous “art of travelling,” and for conceptions of the subject which were opposed to radical rationalist ones. The attempts to defi ne human being as an “unfi nished project,” becoming itself in the experience of travelling, creating, and being created, rather than a finite and static res cogitans, support the vision of the subject known in contemporary philosophy. (shrink)