In general introduction few examples of astronomical explanations of well-known and common local physical phenomena are presented. They are meant to show that it is often much easier to explain commonly experienced phenomena by investigating the behavior of something which is very far from the observer. In main chapters of the article the transparency of interstellar and intergalactic medium as well as the mystery of diffuse interstellar bands are presented. These very important fundamental problems are – for some reasons – (...) overlooked by contemporary researchers. Plausible mechanisms of sociological, psychological and methodological kinds are proposed in last chapter as a potential explanation of fading of the scientific attempts to understand the nature and to create better future for the mankind. These are ethics in science and interdisciplinary way of solving scientific problems. (shrink)

The strict-tolerant approach to paradox promises to erect theories of naïve truth and tolerant vagueness on the firm bedrock of classical logic. We assess the extent to which this claim is founded. Building on some results by Girard we show that the usual proof-theoretic formulation of propositional ST in terms of the classical sequent calculus without primitive Cut is incomplete with respect to ST-valid metainferences, and exhibit a complete calculus for the same class of metainferences. We also argue that the (...) latter calculus, far from coinciding with classical logic, is a close kin of Priest’s LP. (shrink)

The contributors to this volume examine recent controversies about the importance of common sense psychology for our understanding of the human mind. Common sense provides a familiar and friendly psychological scheme by which to talk about the mind. Its categories tend to portray the mind as quite different from the rest of nature, and thus irreducible to physical matters and its laws. In this volume a variety of positions on common sense psychology from critical to supportive, from exegetical to speculative, (...) are represented. Among the questions posed are: Is common sense psychology an empirical theory, a body of analytic knowledge, a practice or a strategy? If it is a legitimate enterprise can it be naturalized or not? If it is not legitimate can it be eliminated? Is its fate tied to our understanding of consciousness? Should we approach its concepts and generalizations from the standpoint of conceptual analysis or from the philosophy of science? (shrink)

Modal constitution theory is one of the most influential solutions to the paradoxes of coincidence, and the problem of personal identity. It rests on three fundamental premises: common-sense objects exist; sometimes objects coincide in space; the coincidence of objects in space requires explanation. In this article, the author offers a critique of the modal theory of constitution. First, the definition of the constitution is examined and a new argument is offered that modal theory either does not provide asymmetry of the (...) constitution or leads to an infinite series of constitutive objects, unsatisfactorily extending ontology. Also, the author demonstrates that possible additions to the constitutive definition, which can make the definition sufficient for asymmetric relation, lead to additional theoretical difficulties, leading to the logical impossibility of constitution relation. Second, the author demonstrates that the theory of constitution offers an unsatisfactory theory of identity because it faces three problems: the overpopulation problem, the epistemic problem, and the personal problem. All of these considerations lead the author to conclude that modal constitution theory is not metaphysically satisfactory. (shrink)

Intra-theoretical logical pluralism is a form of meaning-invariant pluralism about logic, articulated recently by Hjortland :355–373, 2013). This version of pluralism relies on it being possible to define several distinct notions of provability relative to the same logical calculus. The present paper picks up and explores this theme: How can a single logical calculus express several different consequence relations? The main hypothesis articulated here is that the divide between the internal and external consequence relations in Gentzen systems generates a form (...) of intra-theoretical logical pluralism. (shrink)

У статті проаналізовані причини виникнення російсько-українського воєнного конфлікту з березня 2014 р. до сьогодні. Для достовірності викладених фактів наведений перелік військових частин, які брали активну участь у воєнних діях на території України, із посиланням на російські та зарубіжні джерела. Зроблені висновки щодо можливих військово-політичних наслідків для двох воюючих сторін у близькій перспективі. Надані практичні пропозиції щодо посилення системи національної безпеки незалежної України.

A specific shift has recently occured in the philosophy of science. This shift consists in stressing the importance of experiment in science. This enable one to find conclusive arguments in favor of „manipulative realism”. According to the author, a growing intrest in Bacon's thought is the source of the mentioned tendencies.

Logical nihilism is the view that the relation of logical consequence is empty: there are counterexamples to any putative logical law. In this paper, I argue that the nihilist threat is illusory. The nihilistic arguments do not work. Moreover, the entire project is based on a misguided interpretation of the generality of logic.

The theme of this essay is rather simple, though its demonstration is not. It is that humans think reflexively or metamentally because -- and often in the forms in which -- they interpret each other. In this essay ‘metamental’ means ‘about mental’ and ‘reflexive mind’ means ‘a mind thinking about its own thoughts.’ To think reflexively or metamentally is to think about thoughts deliberately and explicitly, as in thinking that my current thoughts about metamentation are right. Thinking about thoughts requires (...) understanding thoughts as thoughts, as mental structures that represent; it also requires an ability to relate thoughts to other thoughts and to recognize such inter-thought relations. Since metamentation is essential to and uniquely distinctive of human minds, the idea that it originates in interpreting other minds can be encapsulated in the slogan that minds are minded because minds mind minds. This word play translates as: minds evolve into reflexive minds because they mind other minds -- where ‘minding other minds’ means interacting and bonding with other minds, being concerned or curious about them, representing their relations to the world, manipulating and using these relations for some purpose, and the like. All of this amounts (in my terminology) to interpreting other minds in social contexts of cooperation, communication, education, politics, and so on. It follows that intermental relations among individuals, handled by a distinct competence for interpretation, are essential to the evolution of abilities to represent intramental relations among thoughts, typical of a reflexive mind. I take ‘interpretation’ to be a convenient, short, and grammatically flexible label for what is known in philosophy as commonsense or folk psychology and in psychology as theory of mind, mindreading, or naive psychology. Interpretation is a cognitive rapport between an interpreter (she, in this book) and a subject (he), whereby she represents his mind-world relations, from the simplest, such as seeing.... (shrink)

In this paper I analyse the claim according to which law is objective. After clarifying the philosophically relevant meaning of this claim , I distinguish several aspects of the thesis, concerning, respectively legal truth , legal error , legal determinacy and the metaphysical status of legal entities . Then, I take into consideration the phenomenology of our legal practice and the apparent support it gives to claims of legal objectivity. Finally, I stress the connection between legal objectivity and normativity and (...) suggest that legal objectivity reduces to the conclusiveness of legal reasoning. (shrink)

Some of the topics presented in this volume of original essays on contemporary approaches to belief include the problem of misrepresentation and false belief, conscious versus unconscious belief, explicit versus tacit belief, and the durable versus ephemeral question of the nature of belief. The contributors, Fred Dretske, Keith Lehrer, William Lycan, Stephen Schiffer, Stephen P. Stich, and the editor, Radu Bogdan, focus on the mental realization of belief, its cognitive and behavioral aspects, and the semantic aspects of its content. (...) This interdisciplinary study takes advantage of many new theories in what has become an important area of research. (shrink)

In this paper I offer a proof-theoretic defence of meaning-invariant logical pluralism. I argue that there is a relation of co-determination between the operational and structural aspects of a logic. As a result, some features of the consequence relation are induced by the connectives. I propose that a connective is defined by those rules which are conservative and unique, while at the same time expressing only connective-induced structural information. This is the key to stabilizing the meaning of the connectives across (...) multiple determinations of the consequence relation. (shrink)

An argument that in response to sociocultural pressures, human minds develop self-consciousness by activating a complex machinery of self-regulation.

Este artículo analiza la poesía de Leonel Lienlaf, poeta mapuche, desde una óptica ecocrítica. Para ello, se toman varias poesías del poemario Se ha despertado el ave de mi corazón (autotraducidas al español por el autor) con el fin de subrayar la importancia de la relación hombre-naturaleza. La dimensión simbólica utilizada por el autor se conecta directamente con la dimensión etnocultural del pueblo mapuche que, si bien no es el objeto principal del análisis, será igualmente importante considerarla. El artículo quiere (...) destacar el diálogo con la naturaleza queLienlaf pone de manifiesto en sus poesías y que se convierte, en última instancia, en una coexistencia con el medio ambiente. (shrink)

This is the second book by Michael Heller which presents to English readers his previously written papers on science and theology. The first one, The New Physics and a New Theology is worth mentioning in this context because in it, Michael Heller proposes a new direction in theology - the theology of science. The theology of science as envisioned by Heller is defined as an authentic theological reflection on the existence, foundations, methods, and results of modern science. Its purpose is (...) to break down the mutual lack of trust between science and theology and to help theology advance to a new stage, where it can participate creatively in the currents of modern thought. Philosophers of science examine the boundaries of natural science and what can be known by the methods of science alone. Theology extends beyond these boundaries to include the supernatural, although Heller is far from embracing any kind of dualism. His way of extending these boundaries is different. A good example is provided by Einstein's famous question, „Why is the world comprehensible?" Neither Einstein nor any other philosopher or scientist is able to answer this question. It is theology that has to take over and seek the answer to Einstein's question. Heller provides more similar issues. (shrink)

An exploration of why and how the human competence for predication came to be.

This is how guidance of behavior to goal grounds and explains cognition and the main forms in which it manages information.

A logical constant is weakly disharmonious if its elimination rules are weaker than its introduction rules. Substructural weak disharmony is the weak disharmony generated by structural restrictions on the eliminations. I argue that substructural weak disharmony is not a defect of the constants which exhibit it. To the extent that it is problematic, it calls into question the structural properties of the derivability relation. This prompts us to rethink the issue of controlling the structural properties of a logic by means (...) of harmony. I argue that such a control is possible and desirable. Moreover, it is best achieved by global tests of harmony. (shrink)

: The dual perspective model of agency and communion predicts that observers tend to interpret a target’s behavior more in terms of communion than agency, whereas actors interpret their behavior more in terms of agency. The present research for the first time tests this model in real interactions. Previously unacquainted participants had a short conversation and afterwards rated their own behavior and their interaction partner’s behavior in terms of agency and communion. Supporting the dual perspective model, observers rated the actor’s (...) behavior higher on communion than on agency, and higher on communion than actors themselves did. Findings for actors were more complex: Actors rated their own behavior as more agentic than observers did. However, they also rated their behavior high on communion. We discuss implications for the dual perspective model as well as for understandings in social interactions. (shrink)

The aim of this series is to inform both professional philosophers and a larger readership (of social and natural scientists, methodologists, mathematicians, students, teachers, publishers, etc. ) about what is going on, who's who, and who does what in contemporary philosophy and logic. PROFILES is designed to present the research activity and the results of already outstanding personalities and schools and of newly emerging ones in the various fields of philosophy and logic. There are many Festschrift volumes dedicated to various (...) philosophers. There is the celebrated Library of Living Philosophers edited by P. A. Schilpp whose format influenced the present enterprise. Still they can only cover very little of the contemporary philosophical scene. Faced with a tremendous expansion of philosophical information and with an almost frightening division of labor and increasing specialization we need systematic and regular ways of keeping track of what happens in the profession. PROFILES is intended to perform such a function. Each volume is devoted to one or several philosophers whose views and results are presented and discussed. The profiled philosopher(s) will summarize and review his (their) own work in the main fields of significant contribution. This work will be discussed and evaluated by invited contributors. Relevant his to rial and/or biographical data, an up-to-date bibliography with short abstracts of the most important works and, whenever possible, references to significant reviews and discussion will also be included. (shrink)

Opisy Chin w powieści _Danusia i Chińczycy _(1932) są wybiórczo egzotyczne (do granic szokowania czytelnika odmiennością), ale także ahistoryczne: odpowiadają realiom nie międzywojnia, a końca XIX w. Analiza tekstu Lewickiej wykazała, że wykorzystała ona swoje publikacje z 1894, które z kolei skompilowała z ówczesnych dzieł francuskich i amerykańskich, przeznaczonych dla czytelników dużo lepiej znających realia Dalekiego Wschodu, niż czytelnicy polscy. Lewicka zmodyfikowała tekst tak, by uczynić go mniej „obcym” i łatwiejszym dla przyswojenia, ale równocześnie bardziej „egzotycznym” i interesującym. Mimo że (...) była doświadczoną redaktorką pism dla młodzieży i popularyzatorką wiedzy, opisując w późniejszych publikacjach Republikę Chińską lat 30. XX w., przedstawiła świat Chin cesarskich sprzed pół wieku. Uwspółcześnienie części faktografii wskazuje, że te błędy ahistorycyzmu nie były wynikiem niedbalstwa, lecz raczej bezwiednego ulegnięcia mitowi „niezmiennych, wiecznych Chin”. (shrink)

Eliminativism assumes that commonsense psychology describes and explains the mind in terms of the internal design and operation of the mind. If this assumption is invalidated, so is eliminativism. The same conditional is true of intentional realism. Elsewhere (Bogdan 1991) I have argued against this 'folk- theory-theory' assumption by showing that commonsense psychology is not an empirical prototheory of the mind but a biosocially motivated practice of coding, utilizing, and sharing information from and about conspecifics. Here, without presupposing a (...) specific analysis of commonsense psychology, I want to challenge a key implication of the 'folk-theory-theory' assumption to the effect that commonsense psychology is committed to a definite architecture of the mind. (shrink)

A Ukrainian historian of Canadian origin, Yuriy Tys-Krokhmalyuk, highlighting the pages of the early missionary history of the Irish monasticism, states that about 600 g. They from the territory of Western Europe went further to the East, reaching the land of the Antes and Kiev. In this regard, the researcher expresses the following opinion: "It is not known whether the Irish monks were the first on our land. Apparently not, because they were not the first either in Burgundy, nor in (...) France, nor in Switzerland. It was at that time that the Roman cultural center grew up, and between these two centers - the Gellensky and the Roman - there was a misunderstanding in the competition for influence. Irish monks, coming to our lands, apparently intended to spread the Gaelic spirit in theology and science. Times have changed: there were those when the Gellian culture developed freely, but there were also those that were in the spread of difficulties and obstacles. Then Irish monks were looking for new peaceful centers for their activities ". (shrink)