The detailed story of the passionate and secret love affair between two of the most prominent philosophers of the 20th century--Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger. Drawing on their previously unknown correspondence, Elzbieta Ettinger describes a relationship that lasted for more than half a century, a relationship that sheds startling light on both individuals.

We claim that much of the confusion associated with the "tautology problem" about survival of the fittest is due to the mistake of attributing fitness to individuals instead of to types. We argue further that the problem itself cannot be solved merely by taking fitness as the aggregate cause of reproductive success. We suggest that a satisfying explanation must center not on logical analysis of the concept of general adaptedness but on the empirical analysis of single adapted traits and their (...) causal relationship to changes in allele frequencies. (shrink)

Elżbieta Walerich The Nature of an Idea according to A. Arnauld’s On True and False IdeasIn the work On True and False Ideas Arnauld attacks, above all, the part of Malebranche’s theory which concerns the ontological status of ideas. The French Jansenist claims that in this doctrine the perceiving mind is completely cut off from the real world created by God. The most important aim of the book is to prove, using geometrical method, the falsity of ideas if one (...) understands them as representative beings where the term representative being signifies a representative archetype different from the act of perception. Arnauld also criticizes the doctrine of seeing ideas in God. Nevertheless, he does not attack the representative standpoint in general but rather its radical version. He does not negate the division into an idea understood as mental perception and a physical thing being perceived. Like René Descartes, the French Jansenist thinks that all objects are known by means of perceptions which are modifications of our mind and, moreover, that we have the idea of God and the idea of the soul. Ideas are then our soul’s modifications and are the same thing as our perceptions. These are psychological beings having representative character, they make objects present to our intellect. So there are not two different entities but only one entity in two relations. When Arnauld claims that representative ideas are the same thing as the acts of perception, he means that modifications of our mind stay in relation to our mind which they modify and, at the same time, in relation to objects which they represent. The term perception underlines the ontological status: it is the modification of the mind. And the term idea indicates that it relates to external objects. The acts of perception represent external things but they do not imitate these objects like pictures do; their objective existence in the mind is different from the real existence of physical objects. When a thing is present to the mind in an objective manner, it does not mean that it is present as an object immanent to our mind but that it is known by our intellect, so that it is the object of the act of perception. The thing is present in our mind objectively when it is represented by the act of perception and then it becomes the intentional object of this act. Keywords: idea, perception, representation, representative being, modification of the mind, representationalism, objective existence. (shrink)

The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognized that “everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits”. As a result, cultural rights have been understood as inseparable from human rights and require protection mechanisms within particular international legal systems. The European continent is proud to have developed one of the most effective mechanisms of the human rights protection by establishing the Council (...) of Europe and adopting the European Court of Human Rights. The recent outbreak of the COVID-19 reformulated many concepts of access to human rights and possibilities to enjoy freedoms. Even if access to culture has been available online for many years, it is the time of globally occurring lockdowns that forced people to stay home and found themselves in a situation when all of a sudden online access to culture became the only way of access to culture. The article aims to analyze the current situation in Europe by asking questions if and how online access to culture is recognized and protected under the Council of Europe’s mechanisms with special emphasis on the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights in this field. (shrink)

COVID-19 pandemic occurred as an unexpected experience affecting all countries around the globe. In addition to the obvious health, economic and political effects, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered immense changes in the social spheres. People and institutions were forced to adjust to the new circumstances, change habits and move most or all of their activity online. In the completely virtual world, pandemic became a fertile ground for the bloom of the conspiracy theories already existing, but struggling for the global attention. The (...) aim of the paper is to present three main conspiracy theories rapidly gaining popularity during the pandemic (the QAnon, anti-vaccination movements and anti-5G movements) and to analyse how they developed since the pandemic had been announced. In particular, the rising activity of the representatives of the movements will be analysed, as well as its acceleration in connection with pandemic and the resulting influence on social and political life. Finally, the paper will try examine whether the rapid development of conspiracy theories within societies has had any relations to the level of trust towards government-made decisions. The thesis being verified hereto is that pandemic accelerated the development of conspiracy theories due to the diminishing level of trust towards governments operating in the most difficult period in recent history. There are variety of reasons for the belief in conspiracy theories and they depend on the specificity of the theory and specificity of group of people it originates from. In general, it can be noted that all kind of conspiracies are developed by either (1) people who actually believe in them and are sharing them with good intentions (to warn other about the dangers hidden behind certain actions or institutions) or (2) malignant individuals whose aim is to discord or discredit an opponent or critic or, alternatively, distract attention from misconduct or lack of competence. (shrink)

La pédagogie est constitutive d’une relation de formation portée par une intention de développement de la personne mobilisant une configuration de savoirs afin d’inscrire cette personne dans un parcours de développement. La mise en oeuvre de cette relation dans une situation organisée et instrumentée produit la matière du développement, en réalité ce qui fait la valeur de la formation. L’alternance est une manière particulière d’organiser ce processus de valorisation. Dans cette contribution est analysé un dispositif faisant cohabiter deux populations en (...) alternance : des jeunes apprentis et des adultes en activité professionnelle. Une double enquête auprès de trois promotions de cette formation permet de comprendre la négociation des savoirs qui s’opère dans le cours de cette action et la résonnance que produit la pédagogie mise en oeuvre. On perçoit alors la construction de leur parcours par les alternants et les évolutions de leur rapport à l’activité. (shrink)

The case law surrounding surrogacy, in vitro fertilization, genetic donation, and legal parenthood is notoriously confused. Yet the issues involved in these cases are of fundamental importance to our most basic rights. To make matters worse, ongoing developments in technology continue to push the conceptual limits of both our legal and moral schemes. In this paper I argue that the concept of ‘parenthood’ is deeply ambiguous and attempt to carefully untangle the notion into two distinct concepts – one biological and (...) largely descriptive, and the other social and profoundly normative. I argue that the social notion of parenthood is a complex function of intentions, actions, and emotional states. It is a concept both defined and constrained by social norms. The biological notion of parenthood, for its part, cannot be understood in strictly genetic terms. I offer, instead, a more fleshed out view that treats biological parenthood as a family resemblance concept. Finally, I discuss the role of gestation in the context of a powerful feminist critique and argue that although gestation is a biological phenomenon, it is a mistake to think that its relevance is limited to biology. In fact, what is special about gestation, in the context of parenthood and obligation, is its distinctly social role. By shifting the discussion of gestation away from biology and toward the realm of the social, we can make better sense of the disputes that manifest themselves in the literature and in the law. (shrink)

In this paper we show that properties of non-linear time structures have not been studied enough. Axioms forcing the existence of a branching point in a branching area of a structure are presented for various classes of structures. We show also that the classical Dedekind continuity axiom does not work well in non-linear structures and we suggest stronger versions. Finally, some interdependencies between the axioms presented are proved.

The aim of the paper is to consider the notions of economy, redundancy and optimality, with regard to language structure and its functioning in time and with regard to certain principles of the Universal Grammar. I argue that the notion of optimality needs not to be congruent with economy, and at odds with redundancy. On the contrary, if we hold realistic premises regarding the ontology of language (as Chomsky does) and think of language as a natural system existing in time, (...) then we should expect similar principles of organization in language as in other natural systems (cf. system theories: von Bertalanffy, Laszlo, Kauffman). In that approach, connecting optimality with economy is untenable. That stance is contrary to Chomsky's Minimalist Program, in which economy has become the actual principle of the Universal Grammar. I discusses a major inconsistency in Chomsky's assumptions about the nature of the language faculty and trace its possible origin. Key words: language system; language faculty; systems theory; economy principle; redundancy; optimality; edge-of-chaos theory; Minimalist Program. (shrink)

Elżbieta Kałuszyńska argues her anti-representationism (scil. anti-realism).

Cloninger's Psychobiological Model of Personality and Strelau's Regulative Theory of Temperament - analysis of their associations in a Polish sample The present study explores the relationship between Cloninger scales and Strelau's Regulative Theory of Temperament traits. Cloninger's psychobiological model identifies four dimensions of temperament and three dimensions of character. RTT proposes the traits of Briskness, Perseveration, Sensory Sensitivity, Emotional Reactivity, Endurance and Activity as the basic dimensions underlying individual differences. The relationships between the dimensions of Cloninger's Temperament and Character and (...) Strelau's Regulative Theory of Temperament are investigated in a sample of 282 participants. Data analysis demonstrated some significant correlations between the two models. The strongest associations were found between the dimension of Harm Avoidance from Cloninger's concept and Strelau's RTT traits. However, there is not enough evidence to suggest that the two models offer an alternative way of explaining individual differences. According to RTT, temperamental traits are expressed in formal characteristics of behavior and every kind of behavior can be described in the same formal categories. In the Psychobiological Model of Personality the traits are characterized rather by the content or goals of behavior. In this model, in addition to underlining the biological variation of heritable traits, the social, cultural and phenotypical levels of behavior are reflected. (shrink)

Après avoir présenté la conception spécifique de l'idéologie et de l'utopie qui apparaît chez Ricœur en tant que catégories anthropologiques, je passe aux difficultés liées à la compréhension du concept ricœurien d'utopie. En différenciant les utopies “pratiques” de celles “littéraires,“ Ricœur introduit entre elles également une hiérarchie, puisque les utopies présentées comme irréalisables constituent pour lui une distorsion de la fonction de l'utopie. Or, afin qu'une utopie puisse être conçue comme réalisable déjà au moment de sa rédaction, une nouvelle conception (...) de l'histoire est nécessaire, qui n'apparaît que dans la seconde moitié du 18 ième siècle. Une dimension historique doit donc être incluse dans la conception anthropologique de l'utopie. Finalement, en évoquant les catégories méta-historiques de Reinhart Koselleck, horizon d'attente et champ d'expérience, j'amorce une interprétation de la domination du genre littéraire de l'anti-utopie sur l'utopie au 20 ième siècle. (shrink)

. Taking vaccine regret and hesitancy seriously. The role of truth, conspiracy theories, gender relations and trust in the HPV immunisation programmes in Ireland. Journal for Cultural Research: Vol. 25, What should academics do about conspiracy theories? Moving beyond debunking to better deal with conspiratorial movements, misinformation and post-truth., pp. 69-87.

Translated here into Polish is Tim Maudlin’s “Distilling Metaphysics from Quantum Physics,” which is a chapter of The Oxford Handbook of Metaphysics. The author discusses six important metaphysical issues on which quantum physics sheds new light. He shows how differently each of the three main intepretations of quantum theory (von Neumann’s and GRW collapse theory, Bohm’s hidden variable theory, and Everett’s many-worlds theory) views each of them. The issues discussed are determinism, determinateness, the role of the observer, uncertainty and complementarity, (...) quantum logic, and entanglement and non-locality. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to present the changes referred to as the “fourth industrial revolution” and the role of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in accelerating the technological revolution in relation to Polish companies. The ongoing economic downturn has different causes and much broader effects than previous crises. Hence the need to analyze trends (megatrends) in the emergence of innovations initiated or significantly accelerated by the pandemic crisis, and consequently, among other things, the intensification of the (...) digital transformation process. The study has a theoretical and empirical character. For the research, the authors used the descriptive method with elements of statistical data analysis. The analysis was based on reports of such institutions as the World Intellectual Property Organization, the European Commission and the Central Statistical Office. (shrink)

There are two aims of the paper. The first is to critically analyse the claim that hope can be regarded as an intellectual virtue, as proposed by Nancy E. Snow in her recent account of hope set within the project of regulative epistemology. The second aim is to explore the problem of rationality of hope. Section one of the paper explains two different interpretations of the key notion of hope and discusses certain features to be found in hope-that and hope-in. (...) Section two addresses the question of whether hope could be interpreted as an intellectual virtue. To develop an argument against that view, a brief account of the notion of epistemic virtue is provided. Section three analyses the problem of rationality of hope and the parallels between rational belief and rational hope; the section focuses on what exactly makes a particular hope-that a rational and justified hope. Belief that p is possible/probable is part of the meaning of hope that p; therefore, it is assumed that rationality of hope cannot be considered in isolation from rationality of belief. It is argued that the “standard account” of the reasonableness of hope, which is found in the analytic literature, does not meet the standards of epistemic responsibility and needs rectifying. (shrink)

. What should academics do about conspiracy theories? Moving beyond debunking to better deal with conspiratorial movements, misinformation and post-truth. Journal for Cultural Research: Vol. 25, What should academics do about conspiracy theories? Moving beyond debunking to better deal with conspiratorial movements, misinformation and post-truth., pp. 1-11.

The family of a child with cancer - changes within the family system This study aimed to describe the functioning of families of children with cancer. A semistructured questionnaire was used to interview 116 parents from 58 such families. Changes occurring within the family system from the parents' perspective have been determined and recorded. Most of the changes turned out to be directed at internal relationships within families. Families with much self-orientation have been shown to be prone to transforming into (...) hermetic systems. Polish version of FACES-III was applied to map families as balanced, mid-range or unbalanced. Results of the study underline the importance of illness duration for functioning of the family. Cancer persisted for the shortest time in balanced families, slightly longer in mid-range and the longest in unbalanced families. The difference between balanced and unbalanced families was significant. (shrink)