This article discusses the character of hegemonic subjectification as it is seen by Ernesto Laclau. By explaining the concepts of the constitutive features and form of a hegemonically acquired political identity, such as antagonism, undecidability, overdetermination and decision, I define the social fields and dynamics of subjectification. At the same time, I adopt that such subjectification occurs within the boundaries of the particular –universal, i.e., the ideologically assigned view of identity as totality. Besides, in contrast to Laclau, I juxtapose the (...) dialectically conceived form of the particular–universal relation with its poststructuralist Laclau’s version, and I try to prove that—contrary to Laclau—the idea of hegemony enjoys its vitality thanks to Theodor W. Adorno’s concept of negative dialectics. To determine the points of similarity of the two methods of constructing and deconstructing identity and subjectivity, I reject Elmar Flatschart’s incomparability argument. Lastly, I point out the earlier mentioned points of convergence: on Adorno’s part—the concept of proper names and the concept of constellation; on Laclau’s part—the concept of undecidability and decision which keep discourse ontologically and epistemologically open. (shrink)

This paper analyses whether current explainable AI (XAI) techniques can help to address taxpayer concerns about the use of AI in taxation. As tax authorities around the world increase their use of AI-based techniques, taxpayers are increasingly at a loss about whether and how the ensuing decisions follow the procedures required by law and respect their substantive rights. The use of XAI has been proposed as a response to this issue, but it is still an open question whether current XAI (...) techniques are enough to meet existing legal requirements. The paper approaches this question in the context of a case study: a prototype tax fraud detector trained on an anonymized dataset of real-world cases handled by the Buenos Aires (Argentina) tax authority. The decisions produced by this detector are explained through the use of various classification methods, and the outputs of these explanation models are evaluated on their explanatory power and on their compliance with the legal obligation that tax authorities provide the rationale behind their decision-making. We conclude the paper by suggesting technical and legal approaches for designing explanation mechanisms that meet the needs of legal explanation in the tax domain. (shrink)

En esta contribución se analizan dos grandes períodos de la obra intelectual de Pietro Barcellona. El primero se corresponde con sus originarias reflexiones sobre los distintos usos del derecho, en el sentido de la transformación-adecuación de las instituciones y del ordenamiento jurídico italiano de la postguerra con los principios de la Constitución de 1948. De este primer período hay que destacar sus investigaciones sobre el uso alternativo del derecho y de los lazos de funcionalidad existentes entre el Estado, la economía (...) y el derecho. En el segundo período, se analiza el tránsito del pensamiento barcelloniano hacia las cuestiones que deben enriquecer un concepto de democracia plena de sentido para un individuo cada vez más alienado, sometido a la lógica de lo económico y, por tanto, menos libre y autónomo. Barcellona afronta esta última cuestión analizando los fundamentos de la Modernidad, para comprender principalmente dos cosas: a) el destino del individuo en esta fase de la sociedad occidental, y b) saber cómo ha logrado la burguesía, a través de qué principios y formas, consolidar y reproducir su hegemonía social en la sociedad moderna. En esta etapa el siguiente trabajo se centra, en primer lugar, en su teoría del individualismo propietario y en la crítica al "derecho igual", para después, en un segundo momento, plantear sus propuestas acerca de la política y de la democracia como forma de vida. Todo el análisis de la obra de Barcellona, considerada por los autores del siguiente ensayo, como fundamental para entender diversos aspectos jurídico-políticos de las sociedades post-industriales, ha sido desarrollado respetando el orden cronológico de la producción intelectual de Barcellona a lo largo de los dos períodos tratados. (shrink)

_The Cinema of Andrzej Wajda: The Art of Irony and Defiance_ Edited by John Orr and Elzbieta Ostrowska Foreword by Andrzej Wajda London: Wallflower Press, 2003 ISBN 1-903364-89-2 227 pages.

Background: The development of the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the implementation of many procedures to safeguard against further increases in illness. Unfortunately, this has drastically reduced residents’ contact with their families, which has increased feelings of loneliness and isolation. This is particularly difficult in long-term care facilities, where the risk of developing depression is higher than in the general population.Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess the risk of depression among the residents of long-term care institutions in Poland (...) during the COVID-19 pandemic and to determine the relationship between the risk of depression and the occurrence of cognitive impairment in the study group.Methods: The study included 273 residents from long-term care institutions in Poland. The risk of depression was determined based on an originally designed questionnaire. The cognitive state of the subjects was assessed using the screening test Mini-Mental State Examination. Both the depression risk assessment and the MMSE test were conducted twice: in March and December 2020.Results: In March, severe dementia was present in 28.2% of the residents and normal MMSE scores were observed in 16.1% of the subjects; in December, the prevalence of severe dementia increased to 31.1% and that of normal scores decreased to 10.3%. In March, no participant was found to be at high risk of depression and moderate risk was observed in 14.3% of the subjects; in December, 2.6% of the residents had a high risk score and 45.4% had a moderate risk score. Statistical analysis revealed that higher MMSE scores correspond with a higher risk of depression.Conclusion: A higher risk of depression was observed with the development of the pandemic. Residents with cognitive impairment were characterised by a lower risk of depression compared to individuals with normal MMSE scores. During the study, progression of cognitive impairment was observed in the residents. (shrink)

Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie wybranych wątków związanych ze sprawowaniem przez Mikołaja Zebrzydowskiego urzędu starosty krakowskiego (1585–1620). Autor skoncentrował się na trzech kwestiach: objęciu starostwa, zaangażowaniu Zebrzydowskiego w sprawowanie wymiaru sprawiedliwości oraz wpływie rokoszu sandomierskiego (1606–1608) na działalność grodu krakowskiego. Główną podstawę źródłową tekstu stanowią krakowskie akta grodzkie, przechowywane w Archiwum Narodowym w Krakowie. Będąc studium przypadku, artykuł bada problem z perspektywy historycznoprawnej, krytycznie analizuje źródła oraz korzysta z metod statystycznych i porównawczych. Dzięki ich wykorzystaniu udało się odtworzyć przebieg czynności, które (...) doprowadziły do objęcia starostwa przez Zebrzydowskiego w 1585 r. Z zestawienia działalności Zebrzydowskiego z Janem Zamoyskim i Gabrielem Tarnowskim wynika, że jego zaangażowanie w sprawowanie wymiaru sprawiedliwości nie było duże, chociaż większe niż poprzednika i następcy. Limitując roki, Zebrzydowski chętnie powoływał się na sprawy prywatne, ale jego następca czynił to jeszcze częściej. Duży wpływ na funkcjonowanie starostwa miał rokosz sandomierski. Sąd nie działał przez ponad trzy i pół roku, urząd przez ponad 17 miesięcy, a kancelaria grodzka przez niecały rok. W sporze o położoną na Wawelu kamienicę starościńską, który stanowi symbol konfliktu Zebrzydowskiego z Zygmuntem III, rację należy przyznać królowi, pełnoprawnemu właścicielowi budynku, chociaż jego postępowanie w tej sprawie zaostrzało napięcie. (shrink)

In the light of a vast political information ‘buffet’, so-called news-avoiders stay away from the news for indefinite periods of time. Recent research suggests that news avoidance can be intentional or unintentional. However, research has mostly focused on one form of news avoidance or has not differentiated at all. Based on survey data, this study (a) identifies and compares motivations for intentional and unintentional avoidance and (b) investigates drivers of different news avoidance motives. Findings suggest that, overall, avoidance is rooted (...) in the preference for other pastimes, with intentional avoiders also being tired of news and seeing it as too negative, biased, and unreliable. Further, different motives are driven by specific characteristics: Political knowledge and internal efficacy relate to ‘cognitive’ motives, empathy, and being negativity-prone to ‘emotional’ motives, while external efficacy relates to ‘political’ motives. (shrink)

Este artículo analiza el proceso de integración del Mercosur en el que participan Argentina, Brasil, Paraguay y Uruguay y sus efectos sobre la ciudadanía política y social. En la primera parte del mismo los autores examinan los rasgos, el contexto de nacimiento y la filosofía del proceso de integración mercosureño. La segunda parte analiza la evolución de la democracia y de la justicia social durante el proceso de integración. Los autores llegan a la conclusión de que el modelo de integración (...) mercosureño no puede contrarrestar la crisis de la democracia y de la justicia social que tienen lugar especialmente en Argentina y Brasil. (shrink)

Several logical puzzles, riddles and problems are defined based on the notion of games in informative contexts. Hintikka argues that epistemology or the theory of knowledge must be considered from the notion of information. So, knowledge cannot just be based on the notions of belief and justification. The present proposal will focus on the logical structure of information, and not only on the quantification of information as suggested by Claude A. Shannon. In many cases, the information bits, although seemingly or (...) factually contradictory, are quite relevant. The paraconsistent systems of logic offer a formalization of reasoning that can support certain contradictions. The well-known “Bar-Hillel–Carnap Paradox” causes embarrassment when it concludes that the informational content of a contradiction would be maximum, opposing the traditional notion that the semantic information must be true, and that contradictions are necessarily false. (shrink)

Traffic research shares a fundamental dilemma with other areas of empirical research in which humans are potentially put at risk. Research is justified because it can improve safety in the long run. Nevertheless, people can be harmed in the research situation. Hence, we need to balance short-term risks against long-term safety improvements, much as in other areas of research with human subjects. In this paper we focus on ethical issues that arise when human beings are directly affected in the performance (...) of research by examining how the ethical requirements in biomedical research can inform traffic research. After introducing the basic ethical requirements on biomedical research, each of the major requirements is discussed in relation to traffic research. We identify the main areas where biomedical research and traffic research differ, and where the ethical requirements from the former cannot easily be transferred to the latter. Finally, we argue that there is a need for systematic studies of the ethics of traffic research and point to some of the issues that need to be addressed. (shrink)

In the history of human thought, various writers have called their philosophies universal, universalistic or simply “universalism”. Almost every philosophical or scientific theory claims to be of universal importance, to be a generalization and universality, but relatively few have believed that the term “universalism” to be the only adequate, and therefore only viable, description of their own thought system or newly constructed theory. Efforts to construct, develop or reconstruct a theory, viewpoint, vision or universalistic attitude—or merely to reinforce universalistic postulates—have (...) long been undertaken in many different countries. Such attempts include those that implicitly assume or imply some sort of universalism. I would like to emphasize that I am principally interested in the visions, frequently appearing in Poland, whose authors, and not merely commentators, have defined their own philosophy, more or less refined, as universalism. John Paul’s universalism is a continuation of a tradition of universalist thinking lasting two thousands years. It makes it possible to look at the reality of the individual man and of the whole of humanity in their personalistic and communitarian dimensions at one time. Christian universalism has been closely tied to the concept ofuniversalism that was related to the Pope and imperial Rome, or even to Byzantium. (shrink)

Most papers included in this special issue were presented at the Fifth International Bioethics Conference, “The Ethics of Intellectual Property Rights and Patents,” held in Warsaw, Poland on 23–24 April, 2004.

What is the relationship between natural science, social science, and religion? The dominant paradigm in contemporary social science is scientism, the attempt to apply the methods of natural science to the study of society. However, scientism is problematic: it rests on a conception of natural science that cannot be sustained. Natural scientific understanding emerges from an instrumental and objectifying relation to the world; it is oriented toward control and manipulation of the physical world. Social‐scientific understanding, by contrast, must begin with (...) a practical and meaningful relation to the world: it is oriented toward the mediation of values and objective possibilities in the social world. Social science is therefore a form of practical reason based on objective claims. But while social‐scientific understanding starts with interpretation, its possibilities by no means end there. In particular, by developing abstract and objectified models of society as a system, social science opens existing social organization to critical reflection. Religion, by contrast, is a form of speculative reason about ultimate values, based on subjective claims of religious experience. Social science nevertheless shares with religion an orientation toward values and concern with the “good life.”. (shrink)

Continued scientific and medical progress in Central and Eastern Europe depends on the development of an atmosphere that is conducive to implementing the changes that are necessary to bring better health and longer lives for everyone. Privatization and commercialization are threatening the objectivity of clinical research and the availability of health care because uncontrolled market mechanisms focused on profit are nurturing conflict of interest that generate bias and unreliability into research and medicine. Changes are needed that address the following: – (...) The amount of public support for basic and clinical research and health care, – standards for the conduct of clinical trials and delivery of health care, – administrative procedures for responding to the conflict of interest problem. (shrink)