Integration (interaction among parts of an entity) is suggested to be necessary for individuality (contra, Metaphysics and the Origin of Species). A synchronic species is an integrated individual that can evolve as a unified whole; a diachronic lineage is a non-integrated historical entity that cannot evolve. Synchronic species and diachronic lineages are consequently suggested to be ontologically distinct entities, rather than alternative perspectives of the same underlying entity (contra Baum (1998), Syst. Biol. 47, 641–653; de Queiroz (1995), Endless Forms: Species (...) and Speciation, pp. 57–75; Genes, Categories and Species). Species concepts usually refer to either one or the other entity; for instance, the Biological Species Concept refers to synchronic species, whereas the Cladistic Species Concept refers to diachronic lineages. The debate over species concepts has often failed to recognise this distinction, resulting in invalid comparisons between definitions that attempt to delineate fundamentally different entities. (shrink)

Relations between Australia and the United States have developed for long time notably during World War II. Over the following decades, cooperation has become more intense as Australians adopt many cultural patterns from the Americans. Australia declared and supported US presidents in military operations, which is why some have called Australia, America’s sheriff for working to stabilize this part of the world. One cannot overlook the personal arrangements between leaders that help shape the dynamic of deepening the mutual relations these (...) two nations. Donald Trump’s personal interactions’ with the Prime Ministers of Australia play a significant role in this regard. (shrink)

American metaphysics of race In the 1990s, a debate about the race began in the United States, in which many philosophers are involved. In philosophy, this debate has become known as the metaphysics of race. The aim of this article is to outline positions that have formed in the area of the metaphysics of race as a separate, mainly American, current of philosophical thought - realism (naturalistic and constructivist) and anti-realism - and to indicate the most important arguments invoked by (...) their most outstanding proponents to justify their metaphysical positions, as well as the counter-arguments of their opponents. The article also discusses the normative aspect of this dispute, very important from the moral and social point of view, listing two main positions on this level: eliminativism and conservatism regarding the presence of racial terms and concepts in public discourses. In the final parts of the article, the relations between metaphysical positions and normative directives formulated by the participants of the debate are considered, and critical arguments concerning the philosophical value and social importance of this trend of thinking are presented. (shrink)

???? Wydawnictwo von Borowiecky : Jak pisze autor we wstępie do czwartego, niniejszego, wydania tej książki, „metafizyka jest dyscypliną filozoficzną, która identyfikuje to, co podstawowe i pierwsze w samej rzeczywistości”. Metafizyka jest więc nauką o rzeczywistości, o tym, co realnie istnieje. Elementarz metafizyki uczy filozoficznego rozpoznawania rzeczywistości, uczy właśnie jej identyfikowania. Dzięki niemu uzyskujemy umiejętność wskazywania na byt i jego pryncypia, uczymy się odróżniać realny byt od wytworów, w tym także od pojęć, usprawniamy się w wiedzy i mądrości. Elementarz metafizyki (...) jest nieocenioną, ale też i wciąż niedocenioną, pomocą w dziedzinie poznania i myślenia, wreszcie definiowania. Dzięki tej książce nauczymy się nie tylko postrzegać rzeczywistość, ale też rzeczowo i jasno o niej rozprawiać… © Wydawnictwo von Borowiecky. (shrink)

The article discusses knowledge and reality. In his most important book, “The Metaphysics,” Aristotle wrote that all men, by nature want to know. They want to know the world itself and know themselves. This knowledge is present in the whole of human history. Some thought about the world is present, some thought about man is present.

The development of science, proceeding at a higher and higher speed, leads to the creation of new concepts, theories, and ideas. They constitute a progressive component of science. However, scientific development does not mean that everything that was accepted earlier has to be given up. New elements may be acquired and exist together with the old ones. Such old elements constitute a conservative component of science. That is why modern science shows itself as a wholeness constituted by the above-mentioned components.

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)

The article deals with the moral aspect of war. The writer points out the actual danger of total war and its consequences, as well as the reflection of this danger in social consciousness and in the development of the pacifistic movement. Further he emphasizes the importance of the ethical reflection relating to the phenomenon of war. This reflection has a long tradition and may be found both in philosophic and moral literature and in letters. Nowadays the social-political literature and the (...) military one are especially rich in ethic opinions. This requires not only a further development of the mentioned reflection from definite positions, particularly from the Marxist ones, with regard to the scale and the strength of the socialist anti-war movement, but also analyses relating to the essential contents of the mentioned reflection in the course of history and in the present time. (shrink)