According to the essential arguments of post-modernism (relativism and subjectivism in particular), which was popular in last decades, there is no point in dealing with moral philosophy. Post-modernists admit, however, that moral is worth discussing yet with a different approach then before. This new approach is totally opposed to the morality of the bygone decades and lacks a wide spectrum of values such as the objective truth, norms or principles and other generally accepted values. The new morality is supposed to (...) compete effectively with the past morals because it is better. In order to prove that post-modernists characterize morality of the past as a set of norms and legal principles which rule the social life. This kind of ethics was bound to heteronymous obligation which determined human life and thus ruined human freedom and autonomy. Every deed which was at variance with the standards was regarded as an offence. In such circumstances people avoid making decisions and rejected responsibility. They felt comforted to obey regulations imposed by authorities. Post-modernists are unable to prove the superiority of their new approach since they have no rational or theoretical arguments. In this approach there is no unchanging human nature or fixed norms or values. Ethics is basically a question of sensitivity and imagination; it is depended on the instinct and impulse – therefore on something subjective, elusive and fastidious. There is no absolute certainty that human decisions and deeds are reasonable and good. If we pursue ethics in this particular way it will become senseless and will result in subjectivism, irrationalism, nihilism, relativism, etc. On the grounds of such ethics it would be possible to both praise and condemn the same deed. (shrink)

Our contemporary life is said to be in conformity with what we do. People tend to be honest and trustworthy unlike those in the past - in the Victorian times, for example, when there were elements of hypocrisy and conventional behaviour among citizens. Many people nowadays live their lives according to their own subjective beliefs; and they speak openly about their both good and bad deeds – even if some of them were kept secret to the public. And the public (...) is equally open to tolerate or even accept them. An analysis of many cases in which people follow their own moral beliefs shows that this category of people are not always honest – only then, when their system of moral values is in accord with the objective system of moral values. Individual moral beliefs can be a result of false or relative moral theories, or even constructed to fit one’s moral attitude. Behaviour in which one respects the established principles, though may seem genuine, does not need to be considered honest. Following this kind of thinking, a man does not have any motivation or need to control himself – human-beings can dispense with self-development. The Victorian hypocrite had at least a due respect for moral values and knew that he had done wrong. His honesty followed what was good in his life but his deeds were all in all doomed to failure. Failure on the way of applying the right moral principles in life is not dishonesty. Every attempt to follow them inspires humans to undertake some spiritual efforts and gives opportunity to one’s own personal development. (shrink)

The last few years are the time of the ongoing integration of Europe and its vivid discussion about it. The thorny issue is the role and the place of Christianity in the life of Europe. Pope John Paul II had authoritatively taught on the issue. His teaching is a kind of antidote against those who are in favour of Europe without God. The European culture is not a monolith since it is inhabited by many nations with a different characteristic but (...) all are rooted in the same values of the Good News acknowledged on the Continent. The present time – and especially the centuries after the Enlightenment – seems to be the time of abandoning Christianity. As the result of such a process, Europe witnessed two totalitarian systems responsible for numerous crimes. A human being wanted – without God’s participation - to decide about right and wrong. They were tempted like the first parents in Eden. They were changed from godlike humans to objectified ones – from “homo sapiens to homo demens”. John Paul II and many authors dealing with the processes of mankind underlined the need to build unity in Europe in close connection to Christianity. Christianity is an important element of culture in which the man is not restricted to his mortal life but opens up for a supernatural perspective. Through Christianity the European culture is richer and the man fully developed. Taking Christianity into consideration in his life, man can discover the truth about himself and his true relation to God. Only the truth allows man to grow and achieve his perfection, whereas falseness condemns him to the degeneration. (shrink)

OPER ACCESS. The correspondence between Meinong and Kazimierz Twardowski highlights the relationship between two philosophers who influenced the history of philosophy and psychology in Austria and Poland. The two correspondents discuss, among other things, their epistemological approach and the university politics of their times. In addition, there is an extensive introduction that places the correspondence in its proper historical and philosophical context.

When asked in 1962 on what he was working Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz replied: Several years ago Polish Scientific Publishers suggested that I pre pare a new edition of The Logical Foundations of Teaching, which I wrote 1 before 1939 as a contribution to The Encyclopaedia of Education. It was a small booklet covering elementary information about logical semantics and scientific methodology, information which in my opinion was necessary as a foundation of teaching and as an element of the education of (...) any teacher. When I recently set to preparing the new edition, I rewrote practically everything, and a booklet of some 100 pages swelled into a bulky volume almost five times bigger. The issues have remained practically the same, but they are now analysed much more thoroughly and the threshold of difficulty is much higher now. The main stress has been laid on the methods used in the empirical sciences, and within that field, on the theory of measurement and the methods of statistical inference. I am now working on the last chapter of the book, concerned with explanation procedures and theory construction in the empirical sciences. When that book, which I intend to entitle Pragmatic Logic, is com pleted I intend to prepare for the press Vol. 2 of my minor writings, 2 Language and Cognition, which will cover some of my post-war pa pers. (shrink)

Modern Polish philosophy has an impressive record as a powerful, innovating tradition, in many respects parallel to but independent of the development of analytical philosophy in Britain and America. Owing to an absence of adequate translations however, the work of its leading exponents has generally only been encountered second-hand. To remedy this, Quinton and Skolimowski have translated an introduction to philosophy written by Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz, probably the outstanding representative of the generation. Problems and Theories of Philosophy surveys concisely and, (...) so far as possible, systematically the main problems in epistemology and metaphysics and the most historically important of the solutions proposed to them. The book still reads freshly and displays many of the characteristic intellectual virtues of Polish philosophy: clarity and straightforwardness of presentation combined with a bracing rigour and precision. It is in no sense parochial to its Polish origins and can stand beside the classic English introductions to the subject as stimulating and lucid analysis of perennial philosophical problems and strategies. (shrink)

A simple, journalist scheme indicates that knowledge qualif‌ied to be scientif‌ic directly and fundamentally changes – thanks to its technological applications – the social world. The author presents arguments indicating that things are not that simple for several reasons.Firstly, historians of science argue that many fundamental technologies were created without a clear reference to scientif‌ic knowledge, and the knowledge accumulated by technologists often arises outside the areas of scientific theory. Secondly, we also know that what is technically possible is not (...) necessarily socially possible – not least because of costs, cultural constraints or social practices that we are not willing to give up. Thirdly, it is increasingly clear that the increase in scientif‌ic knowledge is primarily the result of the decision to allocate more and more resources to applied research. This means, however, that the pursuit of knowledge results not so much from the pressure to seek scientif‌ic truth, but from the values that we consider important. Fourthly, this leads to a reorientation in science, which allows contesting the thesis about the objectivity of scientif‌ic cognition in various ways: due to methodological disputes conducted by philosophers of science, the so‑called ‘scientif‌ic method’ does not guarantee the objectivity of scientif‌ic cognition. Consequently, the Enlightenment vision of science, which collapsed under the pressure of post-modernism, ceases to be the basic frame of reference on which we try to improve our collective life. We need this frame only when we cannot imagine this life without appealing to authorities that allow the resolution of essentially undecidable disputes. (shrink)

In this paper I seek to analyse the following question: how is it that I am able, today, to succeed in fulfilling my goals? My analysis will, I hope, demonstrate that virtues are important because they facilitate this sort of fulfilment. An examination of the classical notion of virtue is thus called for, and this in turn suggests that, at least in certain cases, virtue is connected with luck—that these two belong together. This points towards a new form of contemporary (...) virtue ethics, whose distinctive character will be reflected in the particular significance it invests in the concepts of “qualification” and “competence.” Finally, we are led to Wittgenstein's assertion that “The world of the happy person is other than the world of the hapless person.”. (shrink)

Społeczny charakter istoty osobowej człowieka wyrażony w antropologicznych wątkach historiozofii A. Cieszkowskiego wyznaczają dwa czynniki o charakterze normatywnym – prawo i moralność. Normatywność prawna reguluje zachowania zewnętrzne człowieka w skali międzyosobowych relacji społecznych oraz w wymiarze stosunków osobowo-grupowych i instytucjonalnych. Normatywność etyczna ma wyraz w wewnętrznych autoosobowych i interpersonalnych relacjach jako realizacja dobra moralnego. Osoba ludzka manifestuje przestrzeganie prawa poprzez obiektywizację w czynie (działaniu) treści normy prawnej. Obiektywizacje treści norm prawnych motywowane są funkcjonowaniem czynników rozumowych (racjonalnością). Obiektywizacje norm etycznych, przejawiające (...) się w postawie moralnej, motywowane są funkcjonowaniem woli. Całościowe wyposażenie osobowościowe człowieka wyznaczają czynniki racjonalne i wolicjonalne uzewnętrzniające się w czynie. Myślenie i działanie funkcjonuje komplementarnie, jako ontologiczna jedność w osobie ludzkiej oraz jako epistemologiczna i aksjologiczna nierozdzielna całość. "Socjum" osobowe człowieka jest zawsze zrelatywizowane do obiektywnych, tj. naturalnych i cywilizacyjno-kulturowych determinacji, tworzących historyczne warunki bytu człowieka. Istnienie osoby ludzkiej w jej dziejotwórczym czynie posiada znamiona egzystencjalnego zdeterminowania. (shrink)

Présentation Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz (1890-1963) était un disciple direct de Kazimierz Twardowski, fondateur de l’Ecole de Lvov-Varsovie. Le texte de 1935 a été publié en allemand dans Studia Philosophica I, pp. 1-27 sous le titre « Die syntaktische Konnexität ». C’est l’un des travaux les plus importants de Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz et la théorie du langage en général, et plus particulièrement pour le développement de la linguistique mathématique. Ce texte est aussi considéré comme fondateur pour...

This paper is an English translation of "The Metaphysics of Soul" by Kazimierz Twardowski.

During the first semester of the academic year 1930/31 in the John Casimir University in Lvov Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz delivered a series of lectures on logical semantics. In eight of them, now published for the first time, he presents - in the very clear manner - his fractional method of identifying syntactic categories, and he shows how to use this method to eliminate the antynomies of classes, relations and properties. The Ajdukiewiczian method had been appreciated among logicians and it is (...) considered widely one of the starting points of so-called categorial grammars. (shrink)

In the article I discuss three types of non-formal curriculum: the hidden, informal and null curriculum. Their negative impact on the moral education of medical students and physicians is documented through the choice of examples from Polish medical schools and the statements of Polish physicians. I also justify the thesis that the teaching of medical ethics as ethics-as-tools is deeply rooted within the Polish moral cultural tradition. The polemic with Władysław Biegański serves as a means of showing the relation between (...) the medical moral tradition and the belief that medical ethic is of little importance in the moral education of medical students and doctors. I also indicate that the lack of references to medical schools as moral entities within moral education condemns physicians to the solitude of their personal conscience when confronted with moral decisions. This, in turn, promotes the idea of defining this conscience in opposition to the law. (shrink)

Roman Ingarden (1893-1970) gehort zu den polnischen Philosophen, deren Leistung weltweit breite Anerkennung gefunden hat. Von Husserl hat er gelernt, wie phanomenologische Analysen durchzufuhren sind. Trotz dieser Verpflichtung seinem Meister gegenuber hat Ingarden niemals Angst gehabt, scharfe Kritik an Husserl zu aussern, die sich nach vielen Jahren in eine reife realistische Position umwandelte. Der Weg zu dieser realistischen Position ist durch Ingardens Auseinandersetzung mit dem transzendentalen Idealismus Husserls gekennzeichnet, also mit der These Die reale Welt und ihre Entitaten werden als (...) rein intentionale Gegenstandlichkeiten aufgefasst, die in den Tiefen des konstituierenden Bewusstseins ihren Seins- und Bestimmungsgrund haben.". (shrink)

. ACT, CONTENT, AND OBJECT OF THE PRESENTATION It is one of the best known positions of psychology, hardly contested by anyone, that every mental phenomenon ...

Wspomnienie o Profesorze Czesławie Głombiku, badaczu filozofii polskiej.

The paper presents the problem of the frame, a clearly prevalent pattern in the selected activities of Bauhaus representatives. Despite only a dozen years of its existence, the school of modern architecture and design had a significant impact on the 20th-century world of art, and its social context, aesthetic and functions. In spite of its utilitarianist approach, it has developed a variety of standpoints that resulted in debates over the limits of art and have evolved into a wide range of (...) creative movements that became a permanent feature of the art world. The essence of artistic activity evolved in this formation in two seemingly contradictory directions – towards a radical consolidation of the visual form, which is devoid of any decorations, and its gradual opening to the space surrounding the artistic and design activity. The first direction led to strengthening the integrity of the work and its materiality, while the second led to interference with the environment and the disappearance of the outline of the form. The diverse involvements and relations between these attitudes created different understandings of the frame encompassing the works. (shrink)

W artykule poruszono problem perspektyw rozwoju, a tym samym przyszłości filozofii tomistycznej na podstawie sytuacji w Polsce. Otóż taką szansę widzi się dla tej filozofii w badaniach bardziej partykularnych, znajdujących się poza głównym obiektem zainteresowań metafizyki ogólnej. Każdorazowo przybierają one postać metafizyk szczegółowych i stosowanych. Pierwsza z nazw nawiązuje do zawężonego pola badań, druga natomiast jest uzasadniona korzystaniem z dorobku innych nauk filozoficznych, bardziej podstawowych, włącznie z metafizyką ogólną. Metafizyki tego rodzaju stanowią szeroko pojęte studium tego, co jest najbardziej fundamentalne (...) nie dla bytu jako takiego, ale dla wszelkich podstawowych typów przedmiotów w sferze natury i kultury. Nie stanowią one jednak alternatywy dla metafizyki ogólnej, która bada rzeczywistość w wymiarze transcendentalnym, ponieważ korzystając z jej dorobku, zachowują z nią łączność oraz stanowią jej konieczne dopełnienie. Jako zaś typowe dyscypliny filozoficzne, dające możliwość rozwijania owych metafizyk, podano w artykule filozofię przyrody, antropologię filozoficzną oraz dwie formy filozofii ludzkiego działania, czyli religię i moralność. W ich przypadku wskazywano zarówno na tematy już podjęte przez wielu przedstawicieli myśli tomistycznej w Polsce oraz na te, jakie są możliwe do podjęcia. Realizacja tych form metafizyki odpowiada nie tylko strukturze rzeczywistości pluralistycznej i jednocześnie powiązanej ze sobą szeregiem zależności, ale też problemom aktualnym, nowym, wymagającym ujęcia gruntownego i całościowego, jakie stwarza dopiero perspektywa metafizyczna, rozpatrywana z pozycji filozofii tomistycznej. (shrink)