Obóz Kultury 2.0 Mirosław Filiciak, Alek Tarkowski, Agata Jałosińska, Andrzej Klimczuk, Maciej Rynarzewski, Jacek Seweryn, Stunża M., D. Grzegorz, Marcin Wilkowski & Anna Orlik .

This paper examines how the Polish communist intelligence service attempted to recruit professor Stefan Węgrzyn, who was a prominent specialist on automatic control and computer science in post-war Poland. Eventually, Węgrzyn’s refusal to cooperate with the Polish spy agency, together with his profound relationship with French scientist and servomechanism expert Jean Charles Gille, made them both targets of surveillance orchestrated by the communist security apparatus. In the broader context of human-intelligence studies, this case study involves the problem of moral ambiguity. (...) We experience informative examples of scientists, who often – not only during the Cold War – have had to choose between commitment to the rules of the academic world, along with its openness and transparency on the one hand, and patriotism including an ethos of secrecy for the sake of the homeland’s prosperity, on the other hand. (shrink)

This article regards the field of neuroscience and indicates on the proper or erroneous functioning of the human brain. Intellectual virtues, especially practical wisdom play a significant role in capturing the truth and implementing it in life. The agile formation of the cognitive function of man encompasses both his reason as well as the sensual judgment of utility with all the bodily backup. The brain possesses great plasticity in the production of neuronal connections. Habit as a permanent wont utilizes the (...) reactions being developed to the construction of often inappropriate mechanisms, that in turn are not easy or completely impossible to eliminate. When practical reason is introduced into a false ethos, the brain responds by forming “ruts” of neuronal connections which seem difficult to consider as something appropriate. The reparation of the existing situation and the removal of the wrong habit require relevant virtues so as to unblock the psychological resistance that is deeply rooted within the physiological neuronal substrate. The learning about the virtues of St. Thomas Aquinas is the best warranty not only for theoretical explanations, but also for the practical application of virtues in dealing with the arised situation. Only well-formed virtues give the opportunity to correct the false instinctive cognition and liberate from erroneous actions. (shrink)

Notwithstanding the opportunities it provides, the implementation of some measures of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (EU CAP), including agri-environment-climate measures (AECMs), also generates threats. The study identifies an extremely disturbing process that can be referred to as “internal neo-colonialism”, which has been driven by the technocratic agrarian policy of the EU and transformations in Poland at the turn of the twenty-first century. The associated disadvantageous practices mainly affect areas under threat of marginalisation and peripheralisation, including Poland with its post-Socialist (...) heritage, which has shaped the attitudes and behaviour of society and has consolidated linkages between politics and business. In order to retrace such activities, the study analyses EU funds granted in support of farmers implementing AECMs, with a focus on analysing the place of residence of the “farmer” and the location of the farm. As the research shows, the attractiveness of CAP support causes Polish agriculture and Poland’s countryside, including its natural and financial resources, to be drained by so-called “suitcase farmers”, i.e. people/entities not tied to the place where the agricultural activity is pursued, many of whom live in cities. One common practice is to take over land located in legally protected areas noted for their high quality of natural environment. Not only does the practice of land grabbing strengthen the social exclusion of rural communities and the peripheralisation and pauperisation of these areas, but it also hinders discussion about environmental justice and the ecological integrity of rural areas. (shrink)

Scientific psychology has been fouded on the deterministic view of human being. Implicitly or explicitly, human behaviour was assumed to be totally shaped by the environmental and/or biological forces with the little if any agentive role left to the person.Recently, personality and social psychology attempts at incorporating the idea of freedom and self-determination to the scientific study of human behaviour. Psychologists agree now that one cannot understand and predict what people do without referring to the idea of agency, freedom, or (...) personal control.To avoid apparent inconsistency of "free will" with the assumption of determinism (fundamental for scientific approach to reality), psychologists take subjectivistic solution: They ascribe freedom a status of a cognitive construct. Freedom is understood as a subjective representation of one's own ability to choose among behavioural alternatives. In this context, the Author reviews several current theoretical models of perceived (experienced) freedom in social psychology including approaches of Steiner, Mills, Kelley, Harvey, and Kruglanski.This kind of conceptual solution helps psychologists to preserve deterministic view of the world. However even if being illusion, freedom has — according to them - real existence as psychological entity. As it is demonstrated in numerous studies, feelings of freedom or corecion have profound impact on information processing, affective and motivational processes, and behaviour. (shrink)

Recenzja książki: The Philosophy of Biology. A Companion for Educators, Kostas Kampourakis, Springer, Dordrecht 2013, ss. 762.

The book presents a collection of articles authored by several members of the Warsaw School of Political Theory, affiliated with the University of Warsaw. The team of scholars, first founded in the 1970s by professor Artur Bodnar, has been conducting research under the leadership of professor Miroslaw Karwat.

Tematem artykułu jest stanowisko władz państw komunistycznych w Europie wobec wyboru Karola Wojtyły na papieża w 1978 r. oraz pierwszych lat jego działalności w Watykanie. Tekst stanowi zarys problemu oparty przede wszystkim na literaturze przedmiotu i wydawnictwach źródłowych. Uwaga autora koncentruje się na Polsce, a także na innych państwach posiadających w swych granicach znaczącą liczbę katolików: Czechosłowacji, Węgrzech i Związku Sowieckim. W szczególności omówiono reakcje władz na wizytę Jana Pawła w Polsce oraz działania podejmowane w kierunku zwalczania wpływów Watykanu w (...) państwach bloku sowieckiego. Cezurę końcową stanowi zamach na papieża 13 maja 1981 r. (shrink)

The issues of the nature and existence of God, time and infinity, respectively, and how they relate to each other, are some of the most complicated problems of metaphysics.This volume presents contributions of thirteen internationally renowned scholars who deal with various aspects of these complex issues. The contributions were presented and discussed during the international conference: God, Time, Infinity held in Warsaw, September 22—24, 2015.