PurposeThe goal of this study was to create and validate a brief self-report scale of antisocial beliefs.MethodsThe Antisocial Beliefs Scale, the Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire, the Mach-IV, the IVE Questionnaire were administrated to 718 prisoners. Dimensionality and construct validity of the ABS was investigated using CFA techniques, along with confirmatory bifactor analysis and second-order factor analysis. Four alternatives models of the ABS were specified and tested using Mplus. A comparison sample of adult male non-offenders was also recruited. This sample completed only (...) the ABS.ResultsThe bi-factor model offered the best representation of the data. Results suggest that the ABS consists of eight subscales. The ABS showed different levels of antisocial beliefs in offenders and non-offenders. The factors of ABS correlate significantly with external variables. The Antisocial Beliefs Scale demonstrated very good internal consistency.ConclusionThe Antisocial Beliefs Scale can be used among participants with criminal history. (shrink)

The present paper is a response, of sorts, to the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID) and lockdown that we all must face. We have an idea of what doctors, nurses, teachers, among many of the other professions, do for the general public, but one may ask whether there is something substantial that philosophers and ethicists can offer in these circumstances. The thesis of this paper is that the stoic attitude towards times of trouble and the pragmatist way of finding (...) out what is possible to elevate the quality of living against all odds, if skilfully interwoven, could be an important tool in keeping mental health in good shape and, additionally, could contribute to the cultural scene at large. If this is the case, stoic pragmatists can indeed offer an interesting example of practical philosophy for many audiences, especially during the pandemic lockdown and, perhaps, for other serious difficulties or problems. To be effective in delivering their message, stoic pragmatists, as most with philosophers today, should enrich their textual and oral modes of traditional transmission of knowledge and become digital-culture public intellectuals that can recognize and reach more general audiences by, among other things, visual modes of digital communication. (shrink)

The immune system, to protect the body, must discriminate between the pathogenic and non-pathogenic microbes and respond to them in different ways. How the mucosal immune system manages to make this distinction is poorly understood. We suggest here that the distinction between pathogenic and non-pathogenic microbes is made by an integrated system rather than by single types of cells or single types of receptors; a systems biology approach is needed to understand immune recognition.

Abstract:Non-anthropocentric approaches to environmental ethics face problems that cannot be resolved within a holistic framework of natural value since such frameworks posit abstract and general properties as the bearers of intrinsic value and thus ignore the moral claims of individual organisms. Two paradigm examples of such approaches, Aldo Leopold's Land Ethic and Arne Neass' Deep Ecology suffer from this problem. Christine Korsgaard's argument for the conceptual separation of intrinsic and instrumental valuing, however, serves as a strong theoretical grounding for a (...) reconceptualization of the value of nature, which can best be described as an enlightened anthropocentrism, while preserving the spirit of Leopold's and Naess' proposals. (shrink)

Virtual objects, such as online shops, the elements that go to make up virtual life in computer games, virtual maps, e-books, avatars, cryptocurrencies, chatbots, holograms, etc., are a phenomenon we now encounter at every turn: they have become a part of our life and our world. Philosophers—and ontologists in particular—have sought to answer the question of what, exactly, they are. They fall into two camps: some, pointing to the chimerical character of virtuality, hold that virtual objects are like dreams, illusions (...) and fictions, while others, citing the real impact of virtuality on our world, take them to be real—an actual part of the real world, just like other real objects. In this article, we defend the thesis that both sides are wrong. Using Roman Ingarden’s phenomenological ontology, we advocate a position according to which a virtual object is a computationally grounded intentional object that has its existential foundation in computational processes, which are compliant with a certain model of computation. We point out that virtuality is framed by some kind of ideal mathematical objects: i.e., mathematical models of computation, which in turn fall, each of them, under their respective ideas. We also refer to the idea of natural computation, which in conjunction with the ontological analysis carried out leads to the thesis that an object can be more or less virtual. (shrink)

Peter van Inwagen’s answer to the Special Composition Question, call it Organicism, says the xs compose y iff the activity of the xs constitutes a life. What about suspended lives (i.e., cryptobiosis)? Suppose a cat is alive at t1, completely frozen at t2, then revived at t3. Is the cat alive while frozen? Plausibly no, which according to Organicism means the cat-qua-composite ceases to exist at t2. Intuitively, however, the same cat seems present at all of t1, t2, and t3. (...) To account for these intuitions, van Inwagen modifies his answer: the xs compose y iff the activity of the xs constitutes or results from a life. Alas, this modification permits problematic duplication cases where one collection of objects composes something, yet a duplicate collection does not. This prompts the search for alternative modifications that identify frozen organisms as composites without introducing duplication problems. A dispositional variant is proposed. (shrink)

It has long been taken for granted that the immune system’s capacity to protect an individual from infection and disease depends on the power of the system to distinguish between self and nonself. However, accumulating data have undermined this fundamental concept. Evidence against the self/nonself discrimination model left researchers in need of a new overarching framework able to capture the immune system’s reactivity. Here, I highlight that along with the self/nonself model, another powerful representation of the immune system’s reactivity has (...) been developed in the twentieth century immunology. According to this alternative view, the immune system is not a killer of nonself strangers but a peace-maker helping to establish harmony with the environment. The balance view of the system has never become part of the dominant paradigm. However, it is gaining more and more currency as new research develops. Advances in mucosal immunology confirm that instead of distinguishing between self and foreign the immune system reacts to microbial, chemical and self-induced alterations to produce responses that counterbalance effects of these changes. (shrink)

The extent to which normal (nonmalignant) cells of the body can evolve through mutation and selection during the lifetime of the organism has been a major unresolved issue in evolutionary and developmental studies. On the one hand, stable multicellular individuality seems to depend on genetic homogeneity and suppression of evolutionary conflicts at the cellular level. On the other hand, the example of clonal selection of lymphocytes indicates that certain forms of somatic mutation and selection are concordant with the organism-level fitness. (...) Recent DNA sequencing and tissue physiology studies suggest that in addition to adaptive immune cells also neurons, epithelial cells, epidermal cells, hematopoietic stem cells and functional cells in solid bodily organs are subject to evolutionary forces during the lifetime of an organism. Here we refer to these recent studies and suggest that the expanding list of somatically evolving cells modifies idealized views of biological individuals as radically different from collectives. (shrink)

Philosophy of immunology is a subfield of philosophy of biology dealing with ontological and epistemological issues related to the studies of the immune system. While speculative investigations and abstract analyses have always been part of immune theorizing, until recently philosophers have largely ignored immunology. Yet the implications for understanding the philosophical basis of organismal functions framed by immunity offer new perspectives on fundamental questions of biology and medicine. Developed in the context of history of medicine, theoretical biology, and medical anthropology, (...) philosophy of immunology differs from these related branches of study in its focus on traditional philosophical questions concerning identity, individuality, ecology, cognition, scientific methodology and theory construction. This broad agenda derives from immunology’s multifaceted research program that has developed from its initial clinical challenges of host defense, transplantation, autoimmunity, tumor immunology, and allergy. In addition to these well-established research areas, immunity is now understood to play a central role in other physiological functions, development, ecology, and evolutionary mechanics. Holding together these diverse domains of inquiry lie philosophical commitments oriented by organismal identity. In this regard, pertinent issues are raised concerning cognition (organization of immune perception and information processing), the character of individuality (framed by the ecological context of immune-mediated assimilation and rejection), and the dynamics of complex systems (understood as holistic systems biology). Indeed, immunology, in the context of cognitive science, evolutionary biology, environmental sciences, and development provides multi-focal perspectives for philosophy of science. (shrink)

Abstractabstract:The aim of this article is to analyze the close relation between social theory (“sociological phenomenalism”) and the political ideology of the Polish thinker Edward Abramowski. Abramowski’s “applied sociology” involved: (1) the sociology of “fraternity,” examining basic forms of socialization; (2) combining social revolution with ethical self-improvement; and (3) the dissemination of “social laboratories” through the development of a network of cooperatives. As “experiments of the will,” the cooperatives allowed Abramowski to combine science, imagination, and ethics in a coherent project (...) of political utopia-building, extending the possible forms of community. Finally, the article shows that in Abramowski’s case, the meaning of utopia as an element embedded in a wide range of political practices derives from his vision of social science. Due to the influence that Abramowski’s thought had on political reality in Poland, the concept of “experimental” utopia entered the vocabulary of modern social sciences in Poland for good. (shrink)

The Metaphysics of Cooperation presents the intellectual achievements of the Polish associative socialist and pioneer of social sciences, Edward Abramowski. The volume is divided into five sections, each of them contains an analysis of Polish philosopher's work according to the issues he dealt with: sociology, ethics, politics, cooperativism, and psychology. Each part also contains a selection of his writings. Its intention is to show Abramowski's works in the context of global intellectual history and to include them in the current political (...) debates. Abramowski makes fraternity or cooperation the main concepts of his social metaphysics. The Polish version of cooperativism can be inspiring both for contemporary researchers and political activists in the post-economic-crisis Europe. It also opens up a space for creating more democratic political and economic institutions. (shrink)

A possibilities-based account of practical logic.Andrzej Kisielewicz’s logic without edgesIn this paper I comment on the theses presented in Andrzej Kisielewicz’s book entitled Logic and Argumentation. A Practical Course in Critical Thinking. The author argues that the current way of teaching practical logic is not good, because it is too much based on formal logic. It should be replaced by a comprehensive analysis of reasonable possibilities. I demonstrate that Kisielewicz’s vision of changing the way in which practical logic is taught (...) is a good one. I claim that Kisielewicz proposed a kind of ontologization of logic. I argue that teaching logic and critical thinking need to be complemented by creative thinking techniques. I do not agree with the criticism of traditional logic and formal logic made by Kisielewicz and point out that common sense — so highly valued by Kisielewicz — is deceptive and does not encourage critical thinking. (shrink)

The present paper outlines John Lachs’s idea of stoic pragmatism and develops its important part that is the relation between the individual and the community. In his project, Lachs reduces the whole tradition of Stoic philosophy to its later, Roman version and tries to link it with the philosophical tradition of American pragmatism (especially William James, John Dewey, and George Santayana, who is close to pragmatism at some points) hoping that it is possible for these two to "enrich and complete (...) each other" so that to provide "a better attitude to life than either of the two views alone." Stoic pragmatism pursues factual improvement in the quality of life for individuals living in given social circumstances, rather than a new theory about such improvement. Interestingly, stoic pragmatism overlaps at many points with the so-called modern stoicism, a movement that uses Stoic ethics in contemporary contexts. (shrink)

Coordination of immune responses in the gut is a complex task. In order to fight pathogens and maintain a defined population of commensal microbes, the mucosal immune system has to coordinate information from the external (luminal) and internal (abluminal) environment and respond accordingly. Dendritic cells (DCs) are crucial cell types involved in this process as they integrate these signals and direct immunogenic or tolerogenic responses. Here, we review how various functions of DCs depend on microbial stimuli and how these stimuli (...) influence the course of immune activation. (shrink)

There are philosophers of mind who believe that externalism with regard to mental content leads inevitably to the conclusion, that the mind should be identified with something external to the cognitive system. These philosophers are convinced that contents of our thoughts are not located in our heads on the basis of Putnam's belief that the contents of linguistic expressions are not located in head. The aim of this paper is to show that despite the above widespread convictions, externalism with regard (...) to mental content allows to identify mental states with the states of the cognitive system. If the question regarding the localization of the mind makes any sense, the mind has to be identified with the entity located within the cognitive system of an individual. I will show that an externalist is not in a position to identify the mental with contents of representational states of the cognitive system. She is unable to identify the mind and mental states with physical bearers too. What is the common mistake of these two options is an unacceptable idealization according to which it is possible to separate content from a bearer. The only possible option that externalist could embrace is the one that says that a mental state should be identified with physical bearers bearing content. Such bearers are the physical objects that thanks to the system in which they exist can stand for other objects. Form the externalistic point of view this power of standing for something is determined, at least partially, by external factors. (shrink)

This paper argues that the well-established fact of political irrationality imposes substantial constraints on how governments may combat the threat of political misinformation. Though attempts at regulating misinformation are becoming increasingly popular, both among policymakers and theorists, I intend to show that, for a wide range of anti-misinformation interventions (collectively termed “debunking” and “source labeling”), these attempts ought to be abandoned. My argument relies primarily on the fact that most people process politically-relevant information in biased and motivated ways. Since debunking (...) or factual correction of politically relevant misinformation (as well as source labeling) themselves consist of providing politically-relevant information, they are also very likely to be processed in irrational ways. This makes it extremely difficult to effectively correct people’s political beliefs and political information processing. Since governments should not pursue policies likely to be futile, they should refrain from mandating such interventions. My conclusion is of relevance to considerable literature in digital ethics of misinformation. It shows that many celebrated works in the field ignore political irrationality and fail to consider its implications. (shrink)

George Santayana (1863-1952), a Spanish-American philosopher, is an influential personage on the cultural stage in English- and Spanish-speaking countries. His numerous books and papers on topics as varied as epistemology, ontology, aesthetics, ethics, anthropology, value theory, and American studies, along with his best-selling novel, his sophisticated poetry, and his famous autobiography, make him a vivid and profound source of reflection on the history of American and European thought, as well as a stimulus for future work. Santayana's exceptionality was appreciated by (...) William James and Josiah Royce, his most eminent colleagues in Harvard University's Department of Philosophy, and has been discussed by such respected authors as John Dewey, Bertrand Russell, Charles Hartshorne, Eric Voegelin, Alfred Schutz, Richard Rorty, Hilary Putnam, Arthur Danto, and Ferdinand Savater, among others. This book aims to understand Santayana by considering his often provocative views on America. Other scholars have reconstructed his thought at various times and in a variety of ways, but no one has yet considered Santayana's approach toward America in a serious and profound way (at least not in the English language). This book attempts to convince the reader that the impartiality of Santayana's philosophy, its transcendence of cultural limits and mental borders, makes it a living philosophy, and that this is the strongest aspect of Santayana's thought. (shrink)

It is a well-known fact that mathematics plays a crucial role in physics; in fact, it is virtually impossible to imagine contemporary physics without it. But it is questionable whether mathematical concepts could ever play such a role in psychology or philosophy. In this paper, we set out to examine a rather unobvious example of the application of topology, in the form of the theory of persons proposed by Kurt Lewin in his Principles of Topological Psychology. Our aim is to (...) show that this branch of mathematics can furnish a natural conceptual system for Gestalt psychology, in that it provides effective tools for describing global qualitative aspects of the latter’s object of investigation. We distinguish three possible ways in which mathematics can contribute to this: explanation, explication and metaphor. We hold that all three of these can be usefully characterized as throwing light on their subject matter, and argue that in each case this contrasts with the role of explanations in physics. Mathematics itself, we argue, provides something different from such explanations when applied in the field of psychology, and this is nevertheless still cognitively fruitful. (shrink)

Author: Sipiński Bartłomiej Title: THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL EXPRESSION OF THE ESSENCE OF THE PERSON (Fenomenologiczne określenie Osoby) Source: Filo-Sofija year: 2006, vol:.6, number: 2006/1, pages: 91-100 Keywords: PERSON, MAX SCHELER, PHENOMENOLOGY, PHENOMENOLOGICAL EXPRESSION Discipline: PHILOSOPHY Language: POLISH Document type: ARTICLE Publication order reference (Primary author’s office address): E-mail: www:The main problem of this article is a try to find the meaning of an essence of the Person. Asking about the Person in colloquial meaning is asking about the cultural pattern of (...) the Person at the same time. What can be helpful in leaving the cultural pattern of the Person without leaving an essence of problem known as a Person, but difficult to indicate without an example? Answer at this question, will be probably similar with finding an essence of the Person as a pure comprehension. Phenomenology, as a finding of certainty can be a method in that “personalistic adventure”, especially in version of the German phenomenologist – Max Scheler, who was trying to explain comprehension of the Person from the emotional point of view. Emotions, which can be understood as a phenomenon of the Person appearing in the practical function, and creating a culture with its examples of the Person, and finally giving its place in non personal surrounding world. Here appears solution. By using Scheler’s method describing the Person from the emotional side, it seems to be possible to separate the pure comprehension from the cultural pattern of the Person. That shows another reduction, next to well known reductions in Phenomenology. It could be something like an emotional reduction, which separates the Person from non personal structure of surrounding world and not gives a cultural pattern of the Person at the same time. The next move is building a dialogue as a relation between Persons, which defines them as a dialogical subjects. (shrink)

Philosophers have no time. They are tired with philosophising. They doze off or even die of fatigue over yet another review, opinion, article, translation of works of an English-speaking philosophical genius, publishing and editing of a book. They are exhausted by the obligatory teaching, bored with listening to conference papers, depressed by defences of post-doctoral theses, hopeless against plagiarism, out-of-breath chasing credits, worn out by English articles, crumpled and ill-treated by institutions, tired with maintaining and co-creating them, jaded by the (...) speed of information transfer, weakened by the absence of lively thought, knackered by the number of graduates and languid due to their quality, depressed by discord, exhausted by the continuous game of getting lost and finding oneself in science and the Academy. -/- In this ruffle, shabbiness and depletion they undertake with difficulty yet another fight for philosophy, in which they often represent the lost cause and happen to be merciless to each other, sometimes they give up and even moan. Their tiredness is accompanied by heavy steps and sluggishness. Barely alive they keep on living. Somewhere they find the energy, they live for something, serve something. In the article, following the smartest of philosophers, Socrates, and his defence speech, the speech in defence of his life, we explain where the philosophers find the energy, what they live for and what, often in contradiction to their own declarations, they serve. (shrink)

Abstract:The term stoic pragmatism was coined by John Lachs for a theory and practice of the good life in individual, social, and cultural contexts. My intention is not only to promote this interesting idea but also to develop it at some points. In the first instance, I propose something that we may call digital-culture public intellectual as a way for stoic pragmatists to be more visible with their teachings nowadays. Indirectly, and at least to some degree, stoic pragmatists may contribute (...) to the task of the humanization of cyberspace despite its massive algorithmizing according to the Big Tech business models. (shrink)

At the dawn of the computational era, immunology is at a crossroads: Its efforts to frame microbial-host interactions in combative, war-related terms no longer fit the larger picture of immune protection, and its focus on antimicrobial responses barely captures the diverse functions of the immune system, from tissue maintenance to cancer surveillance to development. As the classical view of immune processes becomes increasingly complex, the problem of self, individuality, mind-body interactions, and disease causation have stimulated extensive philosophical comment. Relating these (...) disparate research topics to changing avenues of theoretical studies, philosophy of immunology helps to reframe basic conceptions of the organism from an atomistic, insular entity to one characterized by fluidity, hybridity, and porosity. In addition, highlighting the role of the observer in experimental research, this interdisciplinary field has redefined classical demarcations between science and culture while advancing our understanding of biology as a fundamentally human endeavor. (shrink)

Genealogia jest tą nauką pomocniczą historii, która od pewnego już czasu obecna jest w cyberprzestrzeni. Deklasuje pod tym względem inne nauki pomocnicze historii, które pozostają daleko w tyle chociażby pod względem liczby wyświetleń w przeglądarce, będących efektem wyszukiwania stron internetowych. Stanowi to konsekwencję popularności badań genealogicznych, które w ostatnim czasie prowadzone są w znaczącej mierze nie przez naukowców, ale pasjonatów i genealogów-amatorów, którzy samodzielnie chcą zgłębiać historię swoich rodzin, a co za tym idzie – tworzyć rodzinne kompendia genealogiczne. O takim, (...) a nie innym ukierunkowaniu badań świadczą także różnego rodzaju poradniki, które w ostatnim czasie ukazały się na polskim rynku wydawniczym. Oferują one czytelnikowi zarówno omówienie tradycyjnych narzędzi wykorzystywanych w badaniach genealogicznych, jak i tych nowoczesnych, związanych z postępem technologicznym i przedstawianiem informacji w formie cyfrowej. W rezultacie w niemal każdej tego typu publikacji zamieszczony został rozdział poświęcony charakterystyce funkcjonujących w Internecie serwisów i baz danych, które stanowią nieocenioną pomoc w badaniach genealogicznych. Są nią także różnego rodzaju profile i grupy w mediach społecznościowych, które do tej pory pozostawały jednak niezauważone, tak przez naukowców, jak i popularyzatorów. Z tego też względu niniejszy artykuł poświęcony zostanie syntetycznemu omówieniu obecności genealogii w cyberprzestrzeni, zarówno w skali makro (duże serwisy i bazy internetowe), jak i mikro (niewielkie grupy w mediach społecznościowych). Celem artykułu jest bowiem ukazanie genealogii jako tej z nauk pomocniczych historii, która nie tylko odnalazła się w świecie cyfrowym, ale w nim zadomowiła i wciąż się rozwija. (shrink)

Throughout the centuries, the doctrine of divine simplicity laid at the heart of Christian theology. In Thomas Aquinas’ mature thought, simplicity occupies a privileged place among other attributes of God. A simple simple being is a being that does not consist of any parts or constituents. God’s being simple means that he does not exhibit any of the seven types of composition. The arguments that serve as the justification for this thesis can be divided into four groups which I labeled: (...) the argument from the lack of potentiality, the argument from the priority of parts to the whole, the argument from the anterior maker and the argument from perfection. All of them begin with identifying God with the first cause of all things and add other premises that are specific to them. The first argument — that the first cause does not have potentiality and every composite being does have it. The second — that everything that is composite depends on it’s parts while the first cause is not dependent upon anything. The third — that every composite being needs a cause or explanation and the first cause has neither. The fourth — that the first cause is a perfectly good being and such a being cannot be composite. The analyses that were conducted show that the first two reasonings seem to be unsound. The third of the arguments provides a fine justification for the thesis in question. The fourth may serve as an additional, but weaker justification for it. (shrink)

Augustyn Jakubisiak (1884-1945), Polish priest, philosopher and theologian, undertook polemics with Jan Łukasiewicz, whom he knew personally. A dispute concerning the so-called logistics (mathematical logic) and its relationship with philosophy developed between the two. The most important arguments were laid out, primarily in the following works: in the case of Jakubisiak, in the book From Scope to Content and in the case of Łukasiewicz, in the texts Logistics and Philosophy and In the Defense of Logistics. Jakubisiak criticized logistics for its (...) anti-metaphysical, anti-theological and anti-religious attitude, which was based on neo-positivist philosophy, and led, in consequence to atheism. He also claimed that one should focus on what is concrete, avoiding idealization and abstraction (meaning the content of concepts, not their scope). Łukasiewicz defended logistics claiming that it possesses its own methods based on intellect, and is also an area of independent knowledge (but not completely detached) from philosophy, due to the fact it can consider the most important philosophical problems such as finiteness and infinity. This dispute, as the researchers identified, basically concerned the reduction of philosophy to the study of language (analytic philosophy) and initiated one of the most important discussions concerning the relationship between philosophy and logic. This debate was crucial because it also concerned questions related to fundamental metaphysical issues (naturalism – supranaturalism, rationalism – irrationalism) and epistemological issues (realism – idealism, boundaries and structure of cognition). (shrink)

This paper deals with Angus Kerr-Lawson's interpretation of George Santayana's philosophy of values. I claim that Kerr-Lawson reads Santayana correctly; however, as regards axiology, he reads Santayana literally and misses Santayana's engagement with it. Santayana's engagement with the philosophy of values is clearly seen when we use axiological terms and problematics in approaching his thought.