It is widely believed that mathematics carries a substantial part of the explanatory burden in science. However, mathematics can also play important heuristic roles of a different kind, being a source of new ideas and approaches, allowing us to build toy models, enhancing expressive power and providing fruitful conceptualizations. In this paper, we focus on the application of dynamical systems theory (DST) within the extended cognition (EC) field of cognitive science, considering this case study to be a good illustration of (...) a general phenomenon. In the paper, we justify both a negative and a positive claim. The negative claim is that dynamical systems theory hardly plays any explanatory role in EC research. We justify our claim by analyzing several accounts of the explanatory role of mathematics and stressing the way mathematical arguments are used in explanations. Our positive claim is that even though, for now, DST has no explanatory power in many of the EC approaches, it still plays an important heuristic role there. In particular, using mathematical notions improves the expressive power of the language and gives a sense of understanding of the phenomena under investigation. The case study of EC allows us to identify and analyze this important role of mathematics, which seems to be neglected in contemporary discussions. (shrink)

Purpose: The main aim of the research was to analyse aggression dimensions among athletes practising martial arts and combat sports.Material and Methods: There were 219 respondents. The Buss and Perry Aggression Questionnaire in the Polish adaptation by Siekierka was applied.Results: Martial arts apprentices turned out to present a statistically significantly lower level of hostility and of the general aggression index than combat sports athletes. It turned out that lower level of aggression was noted in female participants, verbal aggression, hostility, and (...) the general aggression index. Analysis revealed that the training experience and the training rank did not differentiated the level of the respondents' particular aggression dimensions.Conclusions: It would be advisable to perform parallel analyses in other areas of Poland and take into account the respondents' education and place of residence. (shrink)

The paper examines Robert Sugden’s arguments for contractarian economics, which exclude objective valuation. From a metaethical stance we claim that it is possible and desirable to enrich the axiology of contractarian economics to make it more convincing and applicable. Analyzing Sugden’s argument against paternalism, we show that adopting a richer axiology is compatible with the contractarian framework. Examining Sugden’s claim for redistribution, we demonstrate that explaining the psychological stability of a market economy is problematic without a richer axiology. Considering sweatshop (...) problem, we argue that without a richer axiology, contractarian economists are unable to recognize mutually advantageous exploitation. The paper concludes with the postulates on contractarian economics. (shrink)

For many decades, Duhem has been considered a paradigmatic instrumentalist, and while some commentators have argued against classifying him in this way, it still seems prevalent as an interpretation of his philosophy of science. Yet such a construal bears scant resemblance to the views presented in his own works—so little, indeed, that it might be said to constitute no more than a mere phantom with respect to his actual thought. In this article, we aim to deconstruct this phantom, tracing the (...) sources of the misconceptions surrounding his ideas and pinpointing the sources and/or causes of its proliferation. We subsequently point out and discuss those elements of his philosophy that, taken together, support the view of him as a scientific realist of a sophisticated kind. Finally, we defend our own interpretation of his thought against suggestions to the effect that it is oriented towards neither instrumentalism nor scientific realism. (shrink)

The problem discussed in the study is part of the polemics connected with the so-called “Platonic question,” to be precise, it seeks to prove that the so-called two Platonic “critiques” of the writing/text (Plato’s Phaedrus, 275c ff., Letter VII 341c ff.) are not sufficient evidence that, according to Plato, dialectic procedures to discover and know the first forms of being may be realised only in a sensu stricto dialogue, in the act of living speech, and they cannot be fixed in (...) a writing/text. On the basis of the Platonic descriptions of dialectic procedures three forms of dialectic skill (διαλεκτικὴ τέχνη) have been distinguished: synoptic dialectics, which is always a kind of propedeuctics of research in the form of ordering the results of sense perception in sets and trying to find in them a criterion of possibility for this ordering in the form of something one; hypothetical dialectics that calls for a thesis whose object is the ontic status of this one, where it is, and how to verify this thesis in a reliable manner; and diairetic dialectics that allows to elicit from the most general concept some definitions of concrete objects. By analysing the descriptions of dialectic procedures in Platonic texts, numerous statements of the Philosopher himself in the mouth of Socrates, or the Guest of Elea, we may conclude whether these procedures are carried out exclusively in the philosopher’s intellect, and Platonic dialogues are their written form “for voices,” or else they have, among other things, didactic purposes. (shrink)

We say that a semantical function is correlated with a syntactical function F iff for any structure A and any sentence we have A F A .It is proved that for a syntactical function F there is a semantical function correlated with F iff F preserves propositional connectives up to logical equivalence. For a semantical function there is a syntactical function F correlated with iff for any finitely axiomatizable class X the class –1X is also finitely axiomatizable (i.e. iff is (...) continuous in model class topology). (shrink)

The article presents a problem of proper hedging strategy in expected utility model when forward contracts and options strategies are available. We consider a case of hedging when an investor formulates his own expectation on future price of underlying asset. In this paper we propose the way to measure effectiveness of hedging strategy, based on optimal forward hedge ratio. All results are derived assuming a constant absolute risk aversion utility function and a Black-Scholes framework.

Alfred North Whitehead is a prominent contemporary philosopher and scientist. He was an active participant of the scientific revolution in the two very first decades of this century. In a concise book dedicated to his philosophy the Author considers the concept of beauty elaborated by Whitehead, especially in his two principal works: Process and Reality and Adventures of Ideas.

It is shown that the nonlocal anomalous effective actions corresponding to the quantum breaking of the conformal symmetry can lead to observable modifications of Einstein’s equations. The fact that Einstein’s general relativity is in perfect agreement with all observations including cosmological or recently observed gravitational waves imposes strong restrictions on the field content of possible extensions of Einstein’s theory: all viable theories should have vanishing conformal anomalies. It is shown that a complete cancellation of conformal anomalies in \ for both (...) the \ invariant and the Euler invariant can only be achieved for N-extended supergravity multiplets with \. (shrink)

A definition of elementary interpretation, equivalent (up to isomorphisms) to the ones of [3] and [4], is given. The defining condition, used here, seems to confirm that intuitions agree with the choice of the class of elementary interpretations, which was done in [3].

In response to the assumptions of new public management models and public or good governance, practical aspects of research in the area of public admin­istration and the development possibilities of qualitative research methods are presented in the article. Due to the fact that qualitative research has become increasingly popular in the above disciplines, data archiving and trans­parency is discussed, and guidelines and principles are established. However, there is a lot of controversy among scholars, and some examples are missing. This paper (...) presents the challenge of ‘openness’ in the empirical activities of researchers. Its purpose is to present the archiving data potential from in-depth interviews on the example of a small set of qualitative data from research in the field of public administration. Firstly, the basic assumptions of new models of functioning of public administration and related consequences for researchers are described. In the second part, the challenges related to openness in contemporary public administration models are briefly mentioned. Next, the method of creating an archive from existing data, individual stages, documents, and data is outlined; it is based on the au­thor’s best practice on Qualidata and DA-RT principles.1 The summary includes examples of probable opportunities and challenges related to usage of data archiving for the research in public administration and political science development. (shrink)

This essay reconsiders the notion of “world” by looking critically at the idiom of life dominating current critical debates. Showing how and why life should be displaced from the privileged position it has assumed in modernity, it examines Arendt’s and Heidegger’s comments on the world. In The Human Condition, Arendt provides an interesting philosophical and cultural account of the rise of life to prominence in the modern age, pointing out its detrimental effects on the understanding of the world and human (...) action. Heidegger, on the other hand, executes, through his idiomatic approach to mortality, perhaps the most radical displacement of life in an attempt to rethink and bring to eminence being and the event of the world. At stake is a different experience of the world and a change in the understanding of the human, situating the human life always already in response to the nonrepeatable event of being. (shrink)

Emerging from the disruption of the First World War, surrealism confronted the resulting ‘crisis of consciousness’ in a way that was arguably more profound than any other cultural movement of the time._ _The past few decades have seen an expansion of interest in surrealist writers, whose contribution to the history of ideas in the twentieth-century is only now being recognised._ Surrealism: Key Concepts_ is the first book in English to present an overview of surrealism through the central ideas motivating the (...) popular movement. An international team of contributors provide an accessible examination of the key concepts, emphasising their relevance to current debates in social and cultural theory. This book will be an invaluable guide for students studying a range of disciplines, including Philosophy, Anthropology, Sociology and Cultural Studies, and anyone who wishes to engage critically with surrealism for the first time. _Contributors:_ Dawn Ades, Joyce Cheng, Jonathan P. Eburne, Krzysztof Fijalkowski, Guy Girard, Raihan Kadri, Michael Löwy, Jean-Michel Rabaté, Michael Richardson, Donna Roberts, Bertrand Schmitt, Georges Sebbag, Raymond Spiteri, and Michael Stone-Richards. (shrink)

"Working from newly available texts in Heidegger's Complete Works, Krzysztof Ziarek presents Heidegger at his most radical and demonstrates how the thinker's daring use of language is an integral part of his philosophical expression. Ziarek emphasizes the liberating potential of language as an event that discloses being and amplifies Heidegger's call for a transformative approach to poetry, power, and ultimately, philosophy."--Publisher's website.

This article discusses places and practices of young heterosexual Malaysian Muslims dating in non-private urban spaces. It is based on research conducted in Kuala Lumpur (KL) in two consecutive summers 2016 and 2017. Malaysian law (Khalwat law) does not allow for two unrelated people (where at least one of them is Muslim) of opposite sexes to be within ‘suspicious proximity’ of one another in public. This law significantly influences behaviors and activities in urban spaces in KL. In addition to the (...) legal framework, the beliefs of Malaysian muslims significantly influence the way they perceive space and how they behave in the city. The article discusses the empirical theme, beginning with the participants’ narratives of their engagement with the dominant sexual and gender order in non-private spaces of KL. Utilizing questionnaires, interviews and observations, this paper draws upon a qualitative research project and questions the analytical usefulness of the notion of public space (as a Western construct) in the context of an Islamic, postcolonial, tropical, global city. (shrink)

Sixteen years ago, Prahalad and Hart introduced the possibility of both profitably serving the poor and alleviating poverty. This first iteration of the Bottom/Base of the Pyramid approach focused on selling to the poor. In 2008, after ethical criticisms leveled at it, the field moved to BoP 2.0, instead emphasizing business co-venturing. Since 2015, we have witnessed some calls for a new iteration, with the focus broadening to a more sustainable development approach to poverty alleviation. In this paper, we seek (...) to answer the question: How has the BoP approach evolved over the past 16 years, and has it delivered on its early promise? We conducted a systematic review of 276 papers published in journals in this period, utilizing a rigorous correspondence analysis method to map key trends, and then further examined the 22 empirical studies conducted on the BoP approach. Our results suggest that the field has evolved, passing through a number of trends and coming full circle—with our analysis pointing to more recent BoP literature emphasizing similar themes to those espoused in the initial BoP iteration, rather than reflecting the principles espoused in either BoP 2.0 or BoP 3.0. Our analysis also points to a lack of clear evidence that the BoP concept has delivered on its promise either to businesses or to BoP participants. (shrink)

Introduction -- Philosophy in the Middle Ages -- Polish philosophy in the Renaissance and Baroque -- Polish philosophy in the Enlightenment -- Polish philosophy of the Romantic era -- The philosophy of Polish positivism -- Polish philosophy in the age of modernism --Polish philosophy in the interwar period -- Polish philosophy after World War II -- A selection of post-war general literature on the subject -- Conclusion.

Author: Moraczewski Krzysztof Title: REFLECTIONS ON THEORETICAL GROUND OF THE HISTORY OF THE CULTURE (Refleksje o teoretycznych podstawach historii kultury) Source: Filo-Sofija year: 2011, vol:.12, number: 2011/1, pages: 239-262 Keywords: HISTORY OF THE CULTURE, HISTORY OF MENTALITY, MENTAL REALITY, FERNAND BRAUDEL, JERZY KMITA Discipline: PHILOSOPHY Language: POLISH Document type: ARTICLE Publication order reference (Primary author’s office address): E-mail: www:During last 60 years, there was a lot of discussion on the profits that history may gain by applying certain results and (...) theoretical approaches of cultural anthropology and philosophy of culture. Polemists involved were significantly less concerned with the opposite way: the consequences of new models of history for theory of culture. Trying to follow this way I start with classic propositions by Fernand Braudel and his ‘unfaithful’ followers in France, usually connected with the idea of ‘history of mentality’. My main concern is – minding all the theoretical and methodological problems that the term ‘mentality’ have caused and continues to cause – to confront their ideas with concept of culture as a ‘mental reality’, represented by Jerzy Kmita’s social-regulatory conception. The conclusions are not only to substitute the term ‘mentality’ with the theoretical concept of culture (the idea already formulated by Robert Darnton) but firstly to broaden and reformulate some Kmita’s ideas, allowing them to cover the field of research typical for the traditional history of mentality. (shrink)

The introspective devices framework proposed by Kammerer and Frankish (this issue) offers an attractive conceptual tool for evaluating and developing accounts of introspection. However, the framework assumes that different views about the nature of introspection can be easily evaluated against a set of common criteria. In this paper, I set out to test this assumption by analysing two formal models of introspection using the introspective device framework. The question I aim to answer is not only whether models developed outside of (...) philosophy can be successfully evaluated against the set of conceptual criteria proposed by Kammerer and Frankish, but also whether this kind of evaluation can reveal some limitations inherent to the framework. (shrink)

We generalize the model theory of small profinite structures developed by Newelski to the case of compact metric spaces considered together with compact groups of homeomorphisms and satisfying the existence of m-independent extensions (we call them compact e-structures). We analyze the relationships between smallness and different versions of the assumption of the existence of m-independent extensions and we obtain some topological consequences of these assumptions. Using them, we adopt Newelski's proofs of various results about small profinite structures to compact e-structures. (...) In particular, we notice that a variant of the group configuration theorem holds in this context. A general construction of compact structures is described. Using it, a class of examples of compact e-structures which are not small is constructed. It is also noticed that in an m-stable compact e-structure every orbit is equidominant with a product of m-regular orbits. (shrink)

The aim of this article is to present the Bayesian formulation of the argument from evil for atheism against the background of the contemporary debate on Rowe’s initial inductive formulation of the argument. At the beginning I present the key premises and basics of the Bayesian formulation (especially Bayes’s theorem, the notion of epistemic probability, etc.), then I discuss the most important challenges to Rowe’s weak and strong claims. The main problem with the Bayesian formulation of the argument is that (...) it does not accomplish what it was intended for: it fails to avoid the confrontation with skeptical theism. The latter has to be refuted in order to save Rowe’s argument (no matter which formulation we take into account, the inductive or the Bayesian). It seems that the debate on Rowe’s evidential argument from evil has reached a deadlock -- more and more analytic philosophers of religion claim we should return to the logical formulation of the problem of evil. (shrink)

In the paper it is shown that for the existence of the virtual particles - in Quine's sense of existence - is responsible a part H'(t) of the hamiltonian of the mutual interaction among real particles. The author tries to prove that the application of Quine's definition of existence to the justification of the existence of virtual particles, cannot be accepted by the physicists. For that reason they seek another justification for the existence of virtual particles - with the help (...) of the specific (strictly: false) interpretation of the Heisenberg time-energy uncertainity principle. (shrink)