Epistemological esthetization of knowledge can have a lot of forms. In this article I focus my reflection on the person that is an electronic simulation model. The background for the reflections will be the simulation anatomical model Visible Human Project (VHP). The problem is what cognitive function the model fulfils and what it simulates. Conclusions: 1. VHP is not associated with real body, but with other anatomical models; it is not a simulation of real body, but only a simulation of (...) its perception by us; 2. The function of anatomical simulation model has educational character. It also involves projecting medical intervention, which minimalizes invasiveness of actions. It is a part of training preparing to undertake computer-aided surgical procedures. (shrink)

There is a growing body of literature concerning factors that can influence patients’ perception, preferences, or expectations with regard to autonomy in making healthcare decisions. Although many factors responsible for the desire for autonomy in medical decision-making are already recognized, little is known about how the desire for autonomy is related to values, which refer to important goals of human actions. The present study was designed to determine the relationship between the desire for autonomy and basic personal values drawn on (...) Schwartz’s value theory. We conducted survey in two age groups: younger and older adults. In the group of younger adults, the desire for autonomy was associated with the need to be appreciated as a person, motivation to act independently, and the abandonment of traditional order and values, whereas in the group of older adults, with independent thinking and a lack of humility. Our study highlighted that the desire for autonomy may result from slightly different reasons in people of particular age groups. These findings might be helpful for medical professionals in developing accurate communication patterns with different age groups of patients. (shrink)

The article reviews the book Granice pojęciowe metafizyki [The Conceptual Boundaries of Metaphysics], by Sebastian Tomasz Kołodziejczyk.

Author: Boruszewski Jarosław Title: MACHINES AND SYMBOLS (I) – SEMANTIC ASPECTS OF CYBERNETICS AND AUTOMATION (Maszyny i symbole (I) – semantyczne aspekty cybernetyki i automatyzacji) Source: Filo-Sofija year: 2011, vol:.12, number: 2011/1, pages: 397-425 Keywords: MACHINES, SYMBOLS, SEMANTIC, CYBERNETICS, AUTOMATION Discipline: PHILOSOPHY Language: POLISH Document type: ARTICLE Publication order reference (Primary author’s office address): E-mail: www:This article is the first part of the cycle titled “Machines and symbols”. The main issue of this cycle may be formulated as a question: can (...) machines and technical devices operate with symbols? A very important problem raised in this essay is the difference between symbols and signals. The concept of signal is also broadly discussed in the paper, because there are many different definitions of this concept. The present text contains semantic and philosophical considerations concerning cybernetics, mathematical theory of communication, industrial semiotics and semio-technics. In these theories, terms “symbol” and “signal” are often used interchangeably which leads to misconceptions. One of the most frequent misconceptions is confusing discrete signals with symbols. The author focused on communication systems where machines are senders and humans are receivers, because descriptions of these systems tend towards anthropomorphization of a machine-sender. This tendency makes signals sent out by machines treated as symbols comprehensible by a human-receiver. Another interesting aspect of machine-human communication systems is the treatment of a human-receiver as some kind of machine. Such an idea is called “mechanomorphism”. (shrink)

'Zugang' ist der bislang übersehene Grundbegriff von Martin Heideggers Denken bis zum Hauptwerk 'Sein und Zeit' (1927). Menschsein bedeutet demnach: Zugänge erschliessen zu dem, was ist. Ermöglicht wird diese Form der Existenz durch unser gebrochenes Selbstverhältnis: die Fraktur der Subjektivität"--Page 4 of cover.

The uniqueness of Poland’s experience with the 2020 coronavirus lays in the interplay of two factors: the decisive governmental response to the pandemic, and the overlap of the pandemic with the country’s presidential election scheduled on May 10, 2020. The government’s fast reaction, combined with the citizens’ discipline, resulted in the suppression of the virus’s spread. The ratings of the current President Duda skyrocketed well above 50% needed for re-election in the first round. However, the expectation was that they would (...) be going down with the pandemic and lockdown fatigue. For almost two months, the government tried to organize the elections under the normal schedule while the opposition tried to block them. Finally, the opposition won, and the elections were rescheduled on June 28, with the President Duda’s ratings substantially lower. Nevertheless, in the runoff on July 11, Duda won. Our conclusion goes against the common opinion that electoral engineering is always one-sided. The reconstruction of the pre-electoral political maneuvers shows that many independent players were simultaneously involved in complex engineering, and that the final outcome was hard to predict until almost the very end. (shrink)

This paper focuses on one of Tischner’s last and little-known essays on the issues concerning work in the era of free market and the hegemony of the laws of economic calculation. In a discussion with Dominique Méda and André Gorz, Tischner diagnoses various threats to contemporary forms of work. Tischner criticizes above all the one-sided—that is, only objective—conception of today’s work. Referring to his own and original anthropologico-ethical project of work, the Polish scholar draws the reader’s attention to the need (...) to promote the subjective model of work to be construed as interhuman dialogue. In work, thus construed, Tischner discerns a guarantee of the moral order of contemporary societies. His anthropological-ethical concept of work successfully inscribes itself in some of the models of work of the future, which are very much promoted today. (shrink)

In the paper there are presented two proposals of the interpretations of the applications of mathematics in the natural sciences - realistic and instrumentalistic. The realistic conception, in accordance with the successes of science, maintains that there exists some kind of correspondence between the mathematical structures and the internal structure of the world. It is expressed in the thesis of the mathematicality of nature. The instrumentalistic approach separates the cognitive content of the scientific theory from the mathematical means of expression (...) of the content. In this approach the mathematical categories do not represent any aspect of the modelled reality. In the final part of the paper the author undertakes such an attempt of approaching the applications of mathematics which, while combining the advantages of the above discussed conceptions, would be devoid of their disadvantages. (shrink)

The paper is devoted to the problem of formal representation of prescriptive obligation, i.e., the obligation concerning the way in which an action is to be performed. Improper representation of prescriptive obligation leads to Forrester's Paradox. In the paper I first present a new version of Forrester's Paradox that generalizes the observation on which the original version is based. Then I challenge the two existing solutions to the paradox. I reject the solution of H.-N. Castañeda and analyze problems to which (...) the solution of W. Sinnott-Armstrong leads. I conclude the paper with a proposal for how to improve Sinnott-Armstrong's solution. (shrink)

In the paper it is shown that every physically sound Birkhoff – von Neumann quantum logic, i.e., an orthomodular partially ordered set with an ordering set of probability measures can be treated as partial infinite-valued Łukasiewicz logic, which unifies two competing approaches: the many-valued, and the two-valued but non-distributive, which have co-existed in the quantum logic theory since its very beginning.

Working memory (WM) is regarded the engine of the mind. It has been defined as ‘an ability to mentally maintain information in an active and readily accessible state while concurrently and selectiv...

Marketing communication in modern times is similar to the propaganda model, i.e. persuasive communication in all possible fields of exploitation. The last three decades in Central and Eastern Europe constituted a time of transformation in many areas of social, political and economic life. Thanks to immanent changes depending on the economic situation and the clash of demand and supply, it was possible to create functional models in three selected time intervals distinguished by the author (socialism, transformational period and capitalism). The (...) use of functional models gives the opportunity to indicate how many changes have taken place in such a short period of time both in terms of consumer mentality and in satisfying the needs of producers. The basis for the application of this type of operationalization of the idea is the statement that “the functional model consists in mapping the functioning of a given system. It should give an idea of the functions and processes taking place in a given system” (Sabryła, Trzciniecki 1986). The purpose of this article is also to start a discussion on contemporary models of product communication. (shrink)

This paper tries to present the Kantian view on ethical issues in negotiations. The central problems concerns certain manipulation techniques in negotiations, where the broadest definition of manipulation is used. The difference between informational and emotional manipulation is presented and ethical norms concerning them are shown. Despite the unequivocal Kantian view on using manipulation techniques, situations where even Kantian ethics allows for exceptions are presented.