In this paper, we study natural language constructions which were first examined by Barwise: The richer the country, the more powerful some of its officials. Guided by Barwise’s observations, we suggest that conceivable interpretations of such constructions express the existence of various similarities between partial orders such as homomorphism or embedding. Semantically, we interpret the constructions as polyadic generalized quantifiers restricted to finite models. We extend the results obtained by Barwise by showing that similarity quantifiers are not expressible in elementary (...) logic over finite models. We also investigate whether the proposed readings are sound from the cognitive perspective. We prove that almost all similarity quantifiers are intractable. This leads us to first-order variants, which only approximate the strong readings, but are cognitively more plausible. Driven by the question of ambiguity, we recall Barwise’s argumentation in favour of strong readings, enriching it with some arguments of our own. Given that Barwise-like sentences are indeed ambiguous, we use a generalized Strong Meaning Hypothesis to derive predictions for their verification. Finally, we propose a hypothesis according to which conflicting pressures of communication and cognition might give rise to an ambiguous construction, provided that different semantic variants of the construction withstand different pressures involved in its usage. (shrink)

With the limited initial availability of COVID-19 vaccines in the first months of 2021, decision-makers had to determine the order in which different groups were prioritized. Our aim was to find out what normative approaches to the allocation of scarce preventive resources were embedded in the national COVID-19 vaccination schedules. We systematically reviewed and compared prioritization regulations in 27 members of the European Union, the United Kingdom, and Israel. We differentiated between two types of priority categories: groups that have increased (...) infection fatality rate (IFR) compared to the average for the general population and groups chosen because their members experience increased risk of being infected (ROI). Our findings show a clear trend: all researched schedules prioritized criteria referring to IFR (being over 65 years old and coexisting health conditions) over the ROI criteria (eg occupation and housing conditions). This is surprising since, in the context of treatment, it is common and justifiable to adopt different allocation principles (eg introducing a saving more life-year approach or prioritizing younger patients). We discuss how utilitarian, prioritarian, and egalitarian principles can be applied to interpret normative differences between the allocation of curative and preventive interventions. (shrink)

In this interview, Tomasz Zarębski speaks with Allan Janik, co-author of _Wittgenstein’s Vienna_ (1973, with Stephen Toulmin), on the occasion of the 50 th anniversary of the publication of this pathbreaking book. The conversation concerns the circumstances, motivations and reasons for his undertaking the work on the book, as well as its reception and place in Wittgenstein scholarship. A large part of the discussion refers to his perspective of Wittgenstein, Toulmin’s philosophical writings, and Janik’s own vision of philosophy. The (...) interview took place in Innsbruck on 23 rd and 25 th August 2023. (shrink)

We prove the following theorems:1. IfX⊆ 2ωis aγ-set andY⊆2ωis a strongly meager set, thenX+Yis Ramsey null.2. IfX⊆2ωis aγ-set andYbelongs to the class ofsets, then the algebraic sumX+Yis anset as well.3. Under CH there exists a setX∈MGR* which is not Ramsey null.

Artykuł prezentuje wyniki analizy ilościowej i jakościowej zawiadomień o retrakcji w publikacjach z zakresu filozofii (o zasięgu globalnym) zawartych w Retraction Watch Database, z punktu widzenia zaleceń Komisji Etyki Publikacji. Pod względem ilościowym próba wynosi jedynie 0,48% rekordów w całej bazie, przez co trudno uznać ją za reprezentatywną dla dyscypliny, a tym bardziej niemożliwe jest uogólnienia wniosków na całą aktywność naukową. Statystyka wycofań publikacji może być jednak podstawą do studium przypadków. Treść zawiadomień jest często niekompletna lub niejednoznaczna. Normatywne uregulowania retrakcji (...) publikacji w odniesieniu do przedmiotu badań należy uznać za nie w pełni adekwatne do specyfiki praktyki wydawniczej w filozofii. (shrink)

SummaryThe aim of the study was to assess the relationship between adverse life events, a tendency to respond with a high level of anxiety, and height and adiposity of adolescents. The sample included 575 persons aged 10–15 from the Wielkopolska region of Poland. The influence of adverse events during the 6 months before the examination and anxiety trait, as assessed with a STAIC questionnaire, on body height and BMI was analysed. Also sex, age, chronic diseases and socioeconomic status indicators were (...) assessed. One-way and two-way ANOVA was used for assessment of relationships. Adverse events had no influence on body height and BMI. Subjects with a high level of anxiety trait were shorter than subjects with a normal level of anxiety trait. The association of anxiety trait and body height was significant after adjustment for sex, age, chronic diseases and history of adverse life events. The analysis showed no statistically significant influence of adverse life events on height and BMI and a significant relationship between the general tendency to respond with anxiety and body height of adolescents. This suggests that psychological characteristics associated with the cognitive tendency to interpret events as threatening, and consequently, to respond with stress, may be involved in the variability of biological traits regardless of the objective harmfulness of the situation. (shrink)

Boris Kment formulates two challenges to anti-haecceitism: one based on the concept of chance, and the other involving counterfactuals. In this paper I refute the chance-based argument by appropriately reformulating its premises in a non-individualistic language. Regarding the argument from counterfactuals I consider three strategies of defense. The strategy that is ultimately accepted as most promising is a revamped approach based on the distinction between possible worlds and possibilities. I counter Kment’s claim that the introduction of fine-grained possibilities within possible (...) worlds is haecceitism in disguise. My conclusion is that anti-haecceitism survives the criticism, and is an overall more attractive position than its competitor. (shrink)

This book uses the formal semantics of counterfactual conditionals to analyze the problem of non-locality in quantum mechanics. Counterfactual conditionals enter the analysis of quantum entangled systems in that they enable us to precisely formulate the locality condition that purports to exclude the existence of causal interactions between spatially separated parts of a system. They also make it possible to speak consistently about alternative measuring settings, and to explicate what is meant by quantum property attributions. The book develops the possible-world (...) semantics of quantum counterfactuals using David Lewis's famous approach as a starting point but modifying it significantly in order to achieve compatibility with the demands of the special theory of relativity as well as quantum mechanics. There have been several attempts to use counterfactuals semantics to strengthen Bell's theorem and its cognates such as the GHZ and Hardy theorems. These are critically evaluated in the book. Finally, a counterfactual reconstruction of the EPR argument and Bell's theorem is proposed that sheds a new light on their philosophical consequences regarding the relations between realism and local causation. (shrink)

We show that Pitts' modeling of propositional quantification in intuitionistic logic (as the appropriate interpolants) does not coincide with the topological interpretation. This contrasts with the case of the monadic language and the interpretation over sufficiently regular topological spaces. We also point to the difference between the topological interpretation over sufficiently regular spaces and the interpretation of propositional quantifiers in Kripke models.

Three basic positions regarding the nature of fundamental properties are: dispositional monism, categorical monism and the mixed view. Dispositional monism apparently involves a regress or circularity, while an unpalatable consequence of categorical monism and the mixed view is that they are committed to quidditism. I discuss Alexander Bird's defence of dispositional monism based on the structuralist approach to identity. I argue that his solution does not help standard dispositional essentialism, as it admits the possibility that two distinct dispositional properties can (...) possess the same stimuli and manifestations. Moreover, Bird's argument can be used to support the mixed view by relieving it of its commitment to quidditism. I briefly analyse an alternative defence of dispositional essentialism based on Leon Horsten's approach to the problem of circularity and impredicativity. I conclude that the best option is to choose Bird's solution but amend the dispositional perspective on properties. According to my proposal, the essences of dispositions are determined not directly by their stimuli and manifestations but by the role each property plays in the structure formed by the stimulus/manifestation relations. (shrink)

Das vorliegende Buch unternimmt den Versuch, die polnische Platon-Rezeption einem breiten Publikum zugänglich zu machen. Die Jahre 1800–1950 umfassen die Schwerpunkte der Geschichte der polnischen Philosophie: Die Rezeption westlicher philosophischer Strömungen, die Entwicklung der Lemberg-Warschauer Schule, des Neo-Messianismus und der Neo-Scholastik. Das Buch erörtert, wie diese Phänomene in der modernen polnischen Philosophie zur Interpretation von Platon beigetragen haben.

Deutsch 2010 (The Review of Philosophy and Psychology 1: 447–460) claims that hypothetical scenarios are evaluated using arguments, not intuitions, and therefore experiments on intuitions are philosophically inconsequential. Using the Gettier case as an example, he identifies three arguments that are supposed to point to the right response to the case. In the paper, I present the results of studies ran on Polish, Indian, Spanish, and American participants that suggest that there’s no deep difference between evaluating the Gettier case with (...) intuitions and evaluating it with Deutsch’s arguments. Specifically, I argue that one would find these arguments persuasive if and only if one is already disposed to exhibit the relevant intuition. (shrink)

In this paper we show that a variety of modal algebras of finite type is semisimple iff it is discriminator iff it is both weakly transitive and cyclic. This fact has been claimed already in [4] (based on joint work by the two authors) but the proof was fatally flawed.

Autor wylicza problemy, którymi zajmuje się terapia filozoficzna i podejmuje próbę podania jej definicji. W tekście znajdziemy odwołania do psychologii homeryckiej, współczesnych nurtów terapeutycznych oraz przykładów zastosowania terapii filozoficznej. W artykule ukazany został związek terapii filozoficznej ze starożytnym pojmowaniem filozofii. Główną osią, wokół której prowadzone są rozważania jest zastosowanie terapii filozoficznej w procesie stawania się osobą.

In this article I briefly discuss two problems of ontology of states of affairs: the issue of negative states of affairs and the so-called slingshot argument. In particular, I consider several objections against negative states of affairs, including this one: if one accepts the existence of negative states of affairs, why not accept the existence of conjunctive states of affairs (or, alternatively, Shefferian ones, or even binegative ones), which results, it seems, in the acceptance of the existence of states of (...) affairs of any logical form. I argue that regardless of this doubt, at least some negative sentences have (non-trivial) ontological correlates. As for the slingshot argument, I argue that it is not the implicated Principle of Extensionality that is at fault, but the principle of the identity of the correlates of logically equivalent sentences (often called ‘Wittgenstein’s Principle’), which is simply false since ‘2+2=4’ and ‘8-5=3’ are just logically equivalent. (shrink)

Ongoing long-time research into the courts of rulers, their spouses, and their children clearly demonstrates the enduring presence of clergy in their midst. Priests performed various functions in religious practices or worked in the court chancellery. The aim of this article is to show the presence of clergy at the court of Elizabeth of Austria, wife of King Casimir IV, and their youngest daughter Elizabeth Jagiellon. The reconstruction of this environment was possible on the basis of an analysis of a (...) very broad source base, due to its fragmentary nature and incidental occurrence of references to clergy, often in anonymized form. In the case of both Elizabeths, the clergy functioning at their courts were associated with the capella and the chancellery, but they also performed duties as medics or stewards. There are still issues without satisfactory answers, which require further studies and analyses of scattered source material, for instance the question of the queen and her daughter’s relations with the Krakow cathedral and city clergy, both lay and monastic, or the question of the influence of the two Elizabeths’ knights on the assumption of benefices connected with their courts by the clergy). (shrink)

Standard deontic logic (SDL) is defined on the basis of possible world semantics and is a logic of alethic-deontic modalities rather than deontic modalities alone. The interpretation of the concepts of obligation and permission comes down exclusively to the logical value that a sentence adopts for the accessible deontic alternatives. Here, we set forth a different approach, this being a logic which additionally takes into consideration whether sentences stand in relation to the normative system or to the system of values (...) under which we predicate the deontic qualifications. By taking this aspect into account, we arrive at a logical system which preserves laws proper to a deontic logic but where the standard paradoxes of deontic logic do not arise. It is a logic of strictly-deontic modalities DR. (shrink)

Reclamation of a slur involves the creation of a new, positively-valenced meaning that gradually replaces the old pejorative meaning. This means that at a critical stage, the slur is ambiguous. It has been claimed that this ambiguity is polysemy. However, it is far from clear whether the view can explain why the introduction of the new meaning forces the old one out of existence. I argue that this datapoint can be explained by invoking the mechanism of homonymic conflict, and, therefore, (...) that the ambiguity involved in reclamation is homonymy. One generalization that follows from my account is that conventionalized verbal irony, unlike conventionalized metonymy and metaphor, begets homonymy. Along the way, I criticize the standard ways of drawing the distinction between polysemy and homonymy in terms of semantic and etymological relatedness. If the notions of polysemy and homonymy are to be invoked in explanations, they should be understood in terms of how meanings are stored in the mental lexicon. My account also provides an elegant way of conceptualizing the difference between two types of conceptual engineering, namely reclamation and amelioration. (shrink)

Here, we discuss historical, philosophical and technical problems associated with relating logic and relating semantics. To do so, we proceed in three steps. First, Section 1 is devoted to providing an introduction to both relating logic and relating semantics. Second, we address the history of relating semantics and some of the main research directions and their philosophical applications. Third, we discuss some technical problems related to relating semantics, particularly whether the direct incorporation of the relation into the language of relating (...) logic is needed. The starting point for our considerations presented here is the 1st Workshop On Relating Logic and the selected papers for this issue. (shrink)

We investigate a model of becoming—classical sequential growth (CSG)—that has been proposed within the framework of causal sets (causets), with the latter defined as order types of certain partial orderings. To investigate how causets grow, we introduce special sequences of causets, which we call “csg-paths”. We prove a number of results concerning relations between csg-paths and causets. These results paint a highly non-trivial picture of csg-paths. There are uncountably many csg-paths, all of them sharing the same beginning, after which they (...) branch. Every infinite csg-path achieves in the limit an infinite causet, and vice versa, every infinite causet is achieved in the limit by an infinite csg-path. However, coalescing csg-paths, i.e., ones that achieve the same causet even after forking off at some point, are ubiquitous. (shrink)

Consider how we evaluate how normal an object is. On the dual-nature hypothesis, a normality evaluation depends on the object’s goodness and frequency. On the single-nature hypothesis, the evaluation depends solely on either frequency or goodness. To assess these hypotheses, I ran four experiments. Study 1 shows that normality evaluations vary with both the goodness and the frequency assessment of the object. Study 2 shows that manipulating the goodness and the frequency dimension changes the normality evaluation. Yet, neither experiment rules (...) out that some people evaluate normality solely based on frequency, and the rest evaluate normality solely based on goodness. Whence two more experiments. Study 3 reveals that when scenarios are contrasted—presented one after another—only frequency matters. But, as study 4 shows, when scenarios are evaluated alone, both frequency and goodness influence normality evaluations in a single person, although the more a person is sensitive to one dimension, the less she’s sensitive to the other. The dual-nature hypothesis seems thus true of uncontrasted applications of the concept of normality, whereas the single-nature hypothesis seems true of contrasted applications. (shrink)

We introduce the notion of bisimulation for first-order Kripke models. It is defined as a relation that satisfies certain zig-zag conditions involving back-and-forth moves between nodes of Kripke models and, simultaneously, between the domains of their underlying structures. As one of our main results, we prove that if two Kripke models bisimulate to a certain degree, then they are logically equivalent with respect to the class of formulae of the appropriate complexity. Two applications of the notion introduced in the paper (...) are given. First, we consider bisimulations in the context of Kripke models of Heyting Arithmetic. Next, we discuss the notion of elementary submodel of a Kripke model and provide a suitable example. (shrink)

We show that truth conditions for counterfactuals need not always be given in terms of a vague notion of similarity. To this end, we single out the important class of historical counterfactuals and give formally rigorous truth conditions for these counterfactuals, employing a partial ordering relation called "comparative closeness" that is defined in the framework of branching space-times. Among other applications, we provide a detailed analysis of counterfactuals uttered in the context of lost bets. In an appendix we compare our (...) theory with the branching space-times based reading of counterfactuals recently proposed by Belnap. (shrink)

The article discusses the issue of the departure from examining real behaviours in a real environment, a trend in social psychology which has been observed going back several years, and the impact of this phenomenon for social psychology as a scientific discipline. The article presents two studies on the well-known and explored “bystander effect”. This phenomenon is examined in two ways – once by way of a “traditional” field experiment conducted in natural conditions, and once through a survey. As it (...) turned out, the results generated by the two studies were diametrically opposite, and only in the field experiment were we able to achieve a pattern of results consistent with those in the original studies. (shrink)

The paper develops a theory of branching spatiotemporal histories that accommodates indeterminism and the insights of general relativity. A model of this theory can be viewed as a collection of overlapping histories, where histories are defined as maximal consistent subsets of the model's base set. Subsequently, generalized manifolds are constructed on the theory's models, and the manifold topology is introduced. The set of histories in a model turns out to be identical with the set of maximal subsets of the model's (...) base set with respect to being Hausdorff and downward closed. Further postulates ensure that the topology is connected, locally Euclidean, and satisfies the countable sub-cover condition. (shrink)

The debate between individualism and generalism (qualitativism) concerns the status of individualistic facts and their relations with qualitative facts. It is argued that a proper definition of individualistic facts should be a modal one, and moreover that it requires the assumption of haecceitism for its adequacy, contrary to the common belief. Consequently, the positions of individualism and generalism are dependent upon the more fundamental stances of haecceitism and anti-haecceitism in the metaphysics of modality de re.

In the article the possibility of breaking the eigenvalue-eigenstate link in quantum mechanics is considered. An argument is presented to the effect that there are some non-maximal observables for which the implication from eigenstates to eigenvalues is not valid, i.e. such that although the probability of revealing certain value upon measurement is one, they don't possess this value before the measurement. It is shown that the existence of such observables leads to contextuality, i.e. the thesis that one Hermitean operator can (...) represent more than one physical observable. Finally, contextuality brought about by these considerations is compared with contextuality suggested by the Kochen-Specker paradox. (shrink)

Keith DeRose zauważył, że niezmienności kontekstowej atrybucji wiedzy można bronić za pomocą tzw. manewru z zasadnej stwierdzalności. Stosujący ten manewr inwariantyści (jak np. Tim Black) utrzymują, że wartość logiczna określonej atrybucji wiedzy nie zmienia się wraz ze zmianą kontekstu jej asercji; może się jednak zmieniać to, co takie asercje konwersacyjnie implikują, skutkując poczuciem, że zmienia się wartość logiczna samej atrybucji. Z podobnym manewrem mamy do czynienia w innych sporach filozoficznych. Niektórzy autorzy (m.in. Fred Adams) utrzymują, że zdania fikcjonalne pozbawione są (...) wartości logicznej; jeżeli zdania takie wydają się ją mieć, to tylko za sprawą tego, że wypowiadając takie zdania, implikuje się konwersacyjnie sądy logiczne. Inni badacze (Emery i Hill) argumentują, że za poczucie fałszywości nierzeczywistych okresów warunkowych z niemożliwym poprzednikiem odpowiedzialne są fałszywe implikatury konwersacyjne generowane przez asercje trywialnie prawdziwych zdań tego typu. Z kolei niektórzy, jak Alan Hazlett, twierdzą, że z éA wie, że pù nie wynika to, że p; ale to, że p jest jedynie implikaturą konwersacyjną takiej atrybucji wiedzy. Merytoryczna wartość tego rodzaju argumentacji zależy więc od tego, czy asercje rozważanych zdań rzeczywiście generują określone implikatury konwersacyjne. W pracy wykazałem, że można mieć co do tego wątpliwości. W tym celu identyfikuję i opisuję własność implikatur konwersacyjnych, której – jak pokazuję – nie mają jednak sądy mające być w opinii wspomnianych badaczy implikaturami konwersacyjnymi asercji rozważanych zdań. Własność ta polega na tym, że implikatura konwersacyjna jest wrażliwa na tzw. dociekliwe pytania rozstrzygnięcia – odpowiedź twierdząca na takie pytanie nie generuje implikatury konwersacyjnej, którą asercja takiego zdania mogłaby mieć w innym kontekście. (shrink)

Advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMP) offer hope for health benefits in all situations where traditional methods of therapy fail or cannot be used for various reasons. The main purpose of this article is to analyze the concept of innovation as applied to the biotechnologies employed in ATMP. In the analysis of the concept, five main contexts of meaning that contribute to its understanding will be distinguished: a change in the way of thinking about the available spectrum of medical procedures, the (...) short time of recognition of technologies in the experimental and theoretical models, lack of clinical data in advance of used technologies, increase of technologies’ complexity and diversity of substrates used in them. The conducted analysis indicates the need to adopt an attitude of far-reaching caution in the evaluation of the safety of ATMP therapies in which innovative biotechnologies are used. (shrink)

O pewnym językowym rozszerzeniu logiki MR: podejście semantyczne i tabelau W artykule przedstawiamy rozszerzenie minimalnej, normalnej logiki pozycyjnej, czyli logiki z operatorem realizacji. Logika pozycyjna to logika filozoficzna, która umożliwia odniesienie zdań do kontekstów, które można rozumieć na wiele sposobów. Wzbogacamy podstawowy język minimalnej logiki pozycyjnej o dodatkowe wyrażenia zbudowane z predykatów i stałych pozycyjnych. Akceptujemy również wyrażenia zbudowane z operatorem realizacji oraz wiele pozycji, takich jak: Dzięki temu zwiększyliśmy wyrazistość minimalnej logiki pozycyjnej. W artykule wskazujemy na wiele przykładów na (...) to, że dzięki tej niewielkiej zmianie mogą powstać złożone teorie oparte na proponowanym rozszerzeniu. Jako teorię dowodu dla naszej logiki zakładamy metody tableau, pokazujące twierdzenia o poprawności i zupełności. Na koniec jednak pokazujemy, że badana tutaj logika jest tylko rozszerzeniem językowym MR: wszystkie twierdzenia o przedłużeniu mają swoje odpowiedniki w czystych twierdzeniach MR. Jednak teorie oparte na proponowanym rozszerzeniu mogą wyrazić znacznie więcej niż teorie oparte na czystej MR. (shrink)

This is an extended critique of comments made by Abner Shimony and Howard Stein on Henry Stapp’s proof of the non-locality of quantum mechanics. Although I claim that ultimately Stapp’s proof does not establish its purported conclusion, yet Shimony and Stein’s criticism contains a number of weak points, which need to be clarified.