The paper presents a scientific profile of Mieczysław Wallis in the perspective of the question of his intellectual status. The author looks for the answer within two areas that were the subject of Wallis’ interest: philosophy and history of art. She analyses the path of Wallis’ intellectual development and the formation of his creative interests: from his education (in Heidelberg and Warsaw) and inspirations, through his first intellectual concerns, to an analysis of his scientific output. In his (...) youth, Wallis wrote about the desire to create a philosophical system. Did this aspiration determine his scientific work, and to what extent? Did it set the course of his intellectual path? Was Wallis’ profile dichotomous in nature? For, as a philosopher, Wallis asked himself a fundamental question about the phenomenon of human being and its relation to the world. As a historian of art, he sought the answer by analyzing the world of man’s creative activity, his aesthetic experiences and artistic creations. Thus, on the one hand, the author emphasizes the role of philosophy in the development of Wallis’ intellectual views; on the other hand, she points to the philosophical depth of his achievements in the field of art theory. (shrink)

The article presents the results of several years of analytical and reconstruction efforts carried out by the author who focused on archival writings by Mieczysław Wallis, a representative of the second generation of the Lvov-Warsaw School, which were to a large extent unknown to readers. Wallis’ intellectual profile has been associated so far mostly with his writings on art criticism, aesthetics, theory, and history of art. In the light of painstaking, multistage research of the large collection of his (...) unpublished archival works, it turned out that the current perception of his intellectual preferences and academic achievements is too narrow and simplified. What is especially little known and insufficiently edited are his notes on philosophical anthropology, discussing the question of human existence and human activity in the world. They contain a unique philosophical program based on the axiological concept called psychological relationism. Its main category is the “homo creativus” approach. Wallis’ intellectual program is a valuable contribution to the achievements of the Lvov-Warsaw School and, in general, to the Polish philosophy of the 20th century. (shrink)

Artykuł przedstawia etyczny problem dehumanizacji w perspektywie prac i doświadczeń Mieczysława Wallisa, polskiego uczonego, przedstawiciela filozoficznej szkoły lwowsko-warszawskiej. W czasie II wojny światowej myśliciel ten spędził około 5 lat w niemieckich obozach jenieckich. Nie poddał się jednak wówczas atmosferze niepokoju i rezygnacji, nie pogrążył w strachu przed długotrwałą niewolą, lecz nieprzerwanie kontynuował swoją pracę naukową i dydaktyczną. W rezultacie, nie tylko zilustrował mechanizmy dehumanizacji zachodzące w rzeczywistości obozowej, ale także sformułował autorski intelektualny „program profilaktyczny”, który pozwalał obronić ludzką psychikę, osobowość, (...) doznania i emocje przed ich szkodliwym, destrukcyjnym wpływem. Jego fundamentem był świat ludzkiego wnętrza, postawa skupienia się na sferze wartości i przeżyć estetycznych oraz implikowanych przez nie specyficznie ludzkich działaniach. (shrink)

Archive Materials of Mieczysław Wallis are in the collection of Combined Libraries of Philosophy and Sociology Faculties of the University of Warsaw, the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Science and the Polish Philosophical Society. There are two files devoted to Henryk Elzenberg. They contain a rich historical material, not published before and not known to many people. It is a valuable source of knowledge in the field of the history of Polish philosophy. Wallis’s (...) notes provide a lot of unique informations both on Elzenberg’s private life and also his activity in the scientific community. Furthermore, they present his philosophical concepts, as well as his motions of life and adversities he had to cope with. M. Wallis’s memoirs are an unusual record of the friendship and scientific co-operation of the two scholars that lasted for a few decades. Wallis’s work creates also an intellectual testimony of the epoch, in which they both lived and worked. (shrink)

The aim of the paper is to present views and opinions of the representatives of Lvov-Warsaw School upon subject, tasks, methods of aesthetics and its place among others sciences. Although writings on aesthetical problems appeared in the Lvov-Warsaw School relatively late, many scholars from that scientific circle contributed very much to the development of aesthetics - among others - Stanisław Ossowski, Mieczysław Wallis, Leopold Blaustein, Władysław Tatarkiewicz, Tadeusz Czeżowski, Stefan Baley, Władysław Witwicki and Tadeusz Witwicki. The opinions of these (...) philosophers and psychologists (and also other representatives of Lvov-Warsaw School which were not interested in particular aesthetical problems) upon subject of aesthetics and its place among sciences are varied, but they agree that aesthetics is a philosophical science and that the concepts and thesis of aesthetics should be clear and well constructed, whereas incorrectly posted problems - eliminated. (shrink)

There are various authors who discussed the nature and manner of the existence of aesthetic values and the characterisation of aesthetic experience, among others, Thomas Acquinas, Roman Ingarden, Władyslaw Tatarkiewicz, Stanisław Ossowski, and Mieczysław Wallis. Taking into consideration their positions, the author claims that, potentially, each object as a coincidence of respective qualities is suitable for an aesthetic attitude. It may appear aesthetically somewhat, such that it alone may move (with its contents), i.e. it may draw attention, stir, delight, (...) arouse fancy, affect strongly. All this may be done ..disinterestedly\", therefore without any reference to the practical sphere (to the sphere of usefulness, profit), nor should this object be a source of pleasure (,,cause good composition\"). (shrink)

This article discusses selected conceptions of aesthetic value formulated by representatives of the Lvov-Warsaw School, including Kazimierz Twardowski, Władysław Witwicki, Władysław Tatarkiewicz, Tadeusz Czeżowski, Mieczysław Walfisz-Wallis, Stanisław Ossowski, Leopold Blaustein, and Tadeusz Kotarbiński.

Author: Dziemidok Bohdan Title: AXIOLOGY OF WŁADYSŁAW TATARKIEWICZ (Aksjologia Władysława Tatarkiewicza) Source: Filo-Sofija year: 2011, vol:.13/14, number: 2011/2-3, pages: 459-472 Keywords: AXIOLOGY, AESTHETIC THEORY, WŁADYSŁAW TATARKIEWICZ, OLD AGE Discipline: PHILOSOPHY Language: POLISH Document type: ARTICLE Publication order reference (Primary author’s office address): E-mail: www:Władysław Tatarkiewicz was not only a co-creator of Polish aesthetics (aside Roman Ingarden, Stanisław Ossowski and Mieczysław Wallis) but also, aside Henryk Elzenberg, a co-creator of Polish axiology. Main issues of Tatarkiewicz’s axiological development were: value and (...) validation theory and happiness and perfection theory. His undebatable achievement in axiological discourse is justification of the need to acknowledge relationism as a middle ground position between objectivism and subjectivism and axiological pluralism as a position different from absolutism and axiological relativism. The article presents not only axiology explicite, contained in his theoretical works, but also tries to reconstruct Tatarkiewicz’s personal axiology, which guided him throughout his long life. The personal axiology of his, I tried to reconstruct based on his memoirs, interviews he gave, letters and my personal contacts with him. (shrink)

Anarchism is commonly viewed as an outdated and wholly impractical idea. Worse, it has an accursed reputation for advocating chaos, violence, and destruction. The aim of An Anarchist’s Manifesto is to convince readers of the exact opposite: that anarchism is the most adaptive, humane, intelligent, singly inclusive proposal that we, as social animals, have ever envisioned. -/- In the bracing tradition of the manifesto, Glenn Wallis “makes public” the values informing the anarchist way of life—order, equality, mutual support, and (...) a vitalizing rejection of authoritarianism, oppression, and exploitation. Offering examples of anarchism in action that are sure to surprise, this startling book inspires even the most skeptical readers to experiment with these values in practical ways. Along the way, it offers a succinct account of anarchism’s historical blights of violence and quixotic utopianism. -/- An Anarchist’s Manifesto cogently promotes and presents a transformative approach to living in harmony with others. -/- Glenn Wallis is an independent scholar and founder of Incite Seminars in Philadelphia. He has taught at several universities, including Brown University and the University of Georgia. His most recent books include A Critique of Western Buddhism and How to Fix Education. Wallis blogs at Speculative Non-Buddhism. He holds a Ph.D. in Buddhist studies from Harvard University. (shrink)

Sickle cell disease is an autosomal recessive hemoglobinopathy found mainly in populations of African and Mediterranean descent, including approximately 100,000 Americans. It is also very common in Spanish-speaking regions of Central America, South America, and parts of the Caribbean, in Saudi Arabia, and in India and Sri Lanka. The disorder is characterized most commonly by lifelong recurrent unpredictable vaso-occlusive pain that may be disabling, and by chronic tissue damage and organ dysfunction. There are several genotypes of the disease. Although SCD (...) pain frequency generally varies between genotypes, it also varies between subjects even within genotype. It may worsen from childhood to adulthood. It may vary by gender. Its location, timing, and severity may be unpredictable.Until recently, pain in SCD had been characterized as episodes that were acute, periodic, and relatively rare. Crises were viewed as usually associated with hospitalization. Many patients utilized hospital or emergency care for pain once per year or less, so painful episodes in SCD were called vaso-occlusive “crises.”. (shrink)

In this paper I criticize the most significant recent examples of the practical knowledge analysis of knowledge-how in the philosophical literature: David Carr [1979, Mind, 88, 394–409; 1981a, American Philosophical Quarterly, 18, 53–61; 1981b, Journal of Philosophy of Education, 15(1), 87–96] and Stanley & Williamson [2001, Journal of Philosophy, 98(8), 411–444]. I stress the importance of know-how in our contemporary understanding of the mind, and offer the beginnings of a treatment of know-how capable of providing insight in to the use (...) of know-how in contemporary cognitive science. Specifically, I claim that Carr’s necessary conditions for know-how fail to capture the distinction he himself draws between ability and knowing-how. Moreover, Carr ties knowing-how to conscious intent, and to an explicit knowledge of procedural rules. I argue that both moves are mistakes, which together render Carr’s theory an inadequate account both of common ascriptions of knowledge-how and of widely accepted ascriptions of knowledge-how within explanations in cognitive science. Finally, I note that Carr’s conditions fail to capture intuitions (heshares) regarding the ascription of know-how to persons lacking ability. I then consider the position advocated by Stanley & Williamson (2001), which seems avoid Carr’s commitments to conscious intent and explicit knowledge while still maintaining that “knowledge-how is simply a species of knowledge-that" (Stanley & Williamson, 2001, p. 411). I argue that Stanley and Williamson’s attempt to frame a reductionist view that avoids consciously occurrent beliefs during exercises of knowledge-how and explicit knowledge of procedural rules is both empirically implausible and explanatorily vacuous. In criticizing these theories I challenge the presuppositions of the most pervasive response to Ryle in the philosophic literature, what might be described as “the received view." I also establish several facts about knowing-how. First, neither conscious intent nor explicit representation (much less conscious representation) of procedural rules are necessary for knowing-how given the theory of cognition current in cognitive science. I argue that the discussed analyses fail to capture the necessary conditions for knowledge-how because know-how requires the instantiation of an ability and of the capacities necessary for exploiting an ability—not conscious awareness of purpose or explicit knowledge of rules. Second, one must understand knowledge-how as task-specific, i.e., as presupposing certain underlying conditions. Conceiving of know-how as task-specific allows one to understand ascriptions of know-how in the absence of ability as counterfactual ascriptions based upon underlying competence. (shrink)

Evidence from neurophysiological and psychological studies is coming together to shed light on how we represent and recognize objects. This review describes evidence supporting two major hypotheses: the first is that objects are represented in a mosaic-like form in which objects are encoded by combinations of complex, reusable features, rather than two-dimensional templates, or three-dimensional models. The second hypothesis is that transform-invariant representations of objects are learnt through experience, and that this learning is affected by the temporal sequence in which (...) different views of the objects are seen, as well as by their physical appearance. (shrink)

As reproductive genetic technologies advance, families have more options to choose what sort of child they want to have. Using preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), for example, allows parents to evaluate several existing embryos before selecting which to implant via in vitro fertilization (IVF). One of the traits PGD can identify is genetic deafness, and hearing embryos are now preferentially selected around the globe using this method. Importantly, some Deaf families desire a deaf child, and PGD–IVF is also an option for (...) them. Selection for genetic deafness, however, encounters widespread disapproval in the hearing community, including mainstream philosophy and bioethics. In this paper I apply Elizabeth Barnes’ value-neutral model of disability as mere-difference to the case of selecting for deafness. I draw on evidence from Deaf Studies and Disability Studies to build an understanding of deafness, the Deaf community, and the circumstances relevant to reproductive choices that may obtain for some Deaf families. Selection for deafness, with deafness understood as mere-difference and valued for its cultural identity, need not necessitate impermissible moral harms. I thus advocate that it is sometimes morally permissible to select for deafness in one’s child. (shrink)

This article briefly presents and characterizes a relatively young (nineteen-nineties) trend in methodology, the theory of science – and philosophy, called “the new experimentalism”. The fundamental problem is determined by the question about the value of the new experimentalism and experimental grounds of scientific knowledge in empirical sciences. In the first part of the article, the previous (old) experimentalism is presented. First of all, the history of the experimental method is outlined and the definitions of experiment, object, phenomenon, and of (...) the carried out and analyzed observation are provided. It is shown why the main proposition of experimentalists – “determining a fact based on sensory experience” is fallacious. The second part describes the way in which the representatives of the new experimentalism try to identify and characterize those factors of an experiment that guarantee the objectivity of its result; demonstrate that results are not only determined by psychological, historical, sociological or economic factors but also that they exist in nature as real objects and events. A correct and reliable analysis of the experiment and its results may – according to the new experimentalists – contribute to this conclusion. Therefore, the important role and value of the experimental foundation of social activity in general, and in particular, for the natural sciences, is rightly noted. (shrink)