The study is devoted to the issue of criminal liability of a perpetrator suffering from conversion identity disorders. Therefore, its aim is to highlight the dilemmas arising from a split personality disorder in the context of the insanity of the perpetrator of a prohibited act. Based on the example of Kenneth Bianchi (case study), the difficulties related to the diagnosis of this disorder and its consequences in relation to criminal liability are shown. In turn, the analytical-dogmatic method is used to consider the issue related to the recognition of these disorders as a specific category of causes of the condition referred to in Article 31 § 1 of the Polish Criminal Code. Regardless of this, the study also presents an approach to this issue that differs from that previously presented in the literature. The conclusions drawn on this basis also allow for filling a certain gap in the Polish literature on criminal law, which is a lack of studies on the subject matter.
Author(s): Blanka Julita Stefańska / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 2 ENG/2023
Keywords: attack; crime; criminal law protection; intervention; public official; public order; public security; selfdefence;
The scholarly and research-focused article examines the content of Article 25 §§ 4 and 5 CC, which was transferred to the new Article 231b §§ 1 and 2 CC of Chapter XXIX of the Criminal Code by means of Act of 20 February 2015 amending the Criminal Code Act and Certain Other Acts. The regulation concerns the intervention-related self-defence, wherein a person acting in self-defence and repelling an attack on another’s good protected by law, while simultaneously protecting public security or order, is granted the same legal protection as public officials. The article analyses the genesis and development of this defence, its legal nature, objectives, conditions for application, the scope of criminal law protection for a person acting within the intervention-related self-defence, the exclusion of this protection, and the relationship between Article 231b § 1 and Article 217a CC. The primary scientific objective is to evaluate the legitimacy of its introduction to the Criminal Code and the correctness of defining the premises for its application and its scope. The aim of the considerations is to demonstrate that this measure, despite the negative assessment of its introduction to the Criminal Code in the doctrine, can play a vital role in ensuring security and public order.
A legal good under art. 62(1) of the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction of 2005
Author(s): Katarzyna Tkaczyk-Rymanowska / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 2 ENG/2023
Keywords: legal good; drug possession; criminal law; constitution;
The focus of this article is the regulation of Article 62(1) of the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction of 29 July 2005, often referred to in literature as ‘possession for personal use’. The fundamental issue related to the subject matter pertains to the definition of the legal good in Art. 62(1) of the Act. Contrary to initial impressions, identifying this interest is neither simple nor unequivocal, as there may be doubts over whether such a good protected by law exists and, if so, whether it should be protected under criminal law. The article also explores the correlation of this legal good and the need to protect it with other legal goods protected by the Constitution (e.g. individual freedom). Additionally, the article also examines the significance of the consent of a holder of a given good for the exclusion of unlawfulness or the absence of any attack on the legal good. Behaviour undertaken with the consent of the holder, allegedly “violating” the legal good, is after all, an act that conforms to the norm from the outset, and therefore does not involve any element of unlawfulness. As such, it does not constitute a criminal act. There are doubts whether in the case of possession and use of drugs, there is a threat to the legal good or whether such conduct is lawful from the very beginning, given the consumer’s consent. The article critiques the existing criminal law regulations, and its key argument is the thesis that drug addiction is an issue of exclusively medical and social concern, rather than one of criminal law.
This study explores the assumptions of the Bill of 13 April 2022 amending the Act – Fiscal Penal Code and Certain Other Acts in the scope of administrative penalty ticket proceedings conducted in cases of fiscal petty offences. The primary focus of the analysis is the presentation of the proposed changes (ultimately withdrawn) regarding the extension of the catalogue of bodies authorised to conduct administrative penalty proceedings to include the Municipal Police and the Trade Inspection Authority, and to define their competence. Furthermore, the article presents the positions submitted by various entities as part of public consultations on the draft in question. The publication concludes with the author’s evaluation of the currently applicable legal regulations concerning the issue under discussion.
Investigations say about truth. I start, however, with a discussion of the remarks on truth contained in the Tractatus because the thoughts expressed in the former should be read in the context of the thoughts expressed in the latter. According to my interpretation of paragraphs 134–137 of the Investigations, Wittgenstein aims to show that the relationship between the concept of truth and the concept of a proposition may consist in the fact that truth and falsity, in certain language games, are constitutive elements of what a proposition is, but it must be added that these concepts cannot be comprehended independently from each other. I also come to the conclusion that in his opinion the concept of truth is expressed in various ways in our language, it being conveyed by such expressions as “… is true” and “this is how things are: …,” and that this shows that while asserting that something is true one can emphasize, on the one hand, that it is a proposition that says that things are a certain way, and on the other, just the fact that things are thus and so.
Towards a Computational Ontology for the Philosophy of Wittgenstein: Representing Aspects of the Tractarian Philosophy of Mathematics
Author(s): Jakub Gomułka / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 63/2023
Keywords: Ludwig Wittgenstein; Semantic Web; Knowledge Representation; Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus; Philosophy of Mathematics
The present paper concerns the Wittgenstein ontology project: an attempt to create a Semantic Web representation of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s philosophy. The project has been in development since 2006, and its current state enables users to search for information about Wittgenstein-related documents and the documents themselves. However, the developers have much more ambitious goals: they attempt to provide a philosophical subject matter knowledge base that would comprise the claims and concepts formulated by the philosopher. The current knowledge representation technology is not well-suited for this task, and a non-standard approach is required. The creators of the Wittgenstein ontology project are aware of this fact; recently, they have been discussing conceptual devices adjusting the technology to their needs. The main goal of this paper is to present examples of a representation of philosophical content that make use of both the devices already proposed and some new inventions. The represented content comes from the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus; more specifically, its theses concerning the problems in philosophy of mathematics.
Ingarden’s Aesthetic Argument against Husserl’s Transcendental Idealism Turn
Author(s): Hicham Jakha / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 63/2023
Keywords: Roman Ingarden; Edmund Husserl; idealism–realism; phenomenology; aesthetics
Husserl’s allegiance to realism came under attack following his Ideas. Ingarden was a fierce critic of his teacher’s turn to transcendental idealism, and provided compelling arguments both for his idealist reading of Husserl and for his rejection of idealism. One of the main arguments Ingarden devised against Husserl’s turn was based on his aesthetics. Against Husserl, Ingarden established literary works and fictional objects as purely intentional objects that are (1) doubly structured, vis-à-vis their formal ontology, and (2) endowed with spots of indeterminacy. These facts, Ingarden argues, necessitate the transcendence of the purely intentional object. In this paper, I explore his argument, while establishing the ontological foundation on which it rests.
Inconsistencies in Himma’s Intellectual Property Theory
Author(s): Wojciech Gamrot / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 63/2023
Keywords: immaterial goods; intellectual property; state of nature; natural rights; original appropriation; Locke
The intellectual property theory of Kenneth E. Himma aims to vindicate natural rights to abstract objects, believed to form the “intellectual content of creations.” Himma proposes a reformulation of John Locke’s property rights theory in terms of value. He maintains that even if abstract objects preexist their alleged creation, then they are not ready for consumption until access to them is provided by laboring innovators and artists. He declares that making them available is an act of value creation that justifies granting intellectual property rights. In this paper, tacit presuppositions on which Himma’s theory relies are examined and challenged. Against his claims, it is argued that no human labor can improve the availability of abstract objects. It is then demonstrated that “intellectual commons” cannot be “stocked” by human activities and that the alleged value creation cannot happen, because the concept of value is inapplicable to abstract objects. This derails the theory. Finally the meaning of rights envisaged by Himma is investigated. It is shown that they cannot be exercised with respect to causally inert entities.
Popular research methods in assessing the impact of macroeconomic and environmental variables on music preferences were psychological experiments and surveys with small groups or analyzing the effect of one or two variables in the whole population. Instead inspired by the article of The Economist about February being the gloomiest month in terms of music listened to, we have created a dataset with many variables. We used Spotify API to create a dataset with average valence for 26 countries for the period from January 1, 2018, to December 1, 2019. Then we applied the regression and machine learning models to them. Our study confirmed the effects of summer, December, and the number of Saturdays in a month and contradicted the February effect. The influence of GDP per capita on the valence was confirmed, while the impact of the happiness index was disproved. All models partially confirmed the influence of the music genre on the valence. Among the weather variables, two models confirmed the significance of the temperature variable. Macroeconomic variables turned out to have non-linear relationships that made interpretations difficult, while the environmental ones clearly indicated a linear relationship with valence.
The Level of Socio-Economic Development of Polish Provinces in the Period 2005-2020
Author(s): Ewa Szczucka,Michał Gostkowski / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 1/2023
Keywords: socio-economic development; multidimensional comparative analysis; synthetic measure of development level; provinces of Poland;
Socio-economic development is a multi-dimensional and highly complex subject. The goal of the current regional policies, which are widely implemented around the world, is to equalize the level of development of regions. In order for these measures to be effective, there is a need for developing methods and its continuous improvement. One method that allows statistical and multidimensional description of the level of socio-economic development is the determination of synthetic measures. The purpose of the article is to assess the level of socio-economic development of Polish provinces in 2005–2020 and to identify groups of provinces with similar levels of development. The applied methods made it possible to create rankings of provinces. The results of the study showed a high spatial differentiation of the level of socio-economic development in Poland. The provinces with the highest level of socio-economic development in terms of selected variables were the Mazowieckie, Dolnośląskie, Pomorskie and Małopolskie provinces, and those with the lowest were the Podkarpackie, Warmińsko-Mazurskie and Świętokrzyskie.
The Volatility of 10-Year Government Bonds in the Period of Increased Economic Uncertainty
Author(s): Maria Sadowska / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 1/2023
Keywords: government bond yields; VAR models; variance decomposition;
Within the scope of this paper is to investigate the dynamic correlation and the volatility of 10-year sovereign bond yields in the G7 countries from January 4, 2010 to December 30, 2022. The following analyses were performed by dividing the said period into two sub-periods taking August 2, 2019 as a breaking point. Conclusions were made based on built VAR models. Conducted research indicates the USA as having the most significant influence on the rest of countries. European countries are perceived as more vulnerable to the external impact in shaping their bond yields. There are noticeable changes taking place in Italy between analyzed two periods – quotes become more dependent on other countries over time.
The main issue addressed in the article relates to the impact of complex economic crises on the book value of joint-stock companies. Turmoil on the stock market has a negative impact on the book value of the entities studied. This is more important because investors buying or selling shares of individual listed companies have a diffi- cult task, since in making decisions around their investments they are exposed to enormous risk and, at the same time, uncertainty. In this case, it is worth examining which stock market indicators are most helpful in assessing the financial health of companies. The purpose of this article is to determine the impact of the selected indicators on the growth of book value of the companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange during crisis circumstances. The research method used in the presented article is the estimation of an econometric model that con- firms the high impact of selected metrics on the book value of listed companies The research on the impact of estimators on the dependent variable covers the period January 2020–May 2023.
Good neighbourhood as an EU accession criterion for Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia?
Author(s): Christina Griessler / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 3/2023
Keywords: EU enlargement; conditionality; conflict; neighbourhood; Western Balkans; Eastern European Partnership; Russia
For the new and future EU candidate countries of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, the path to EU membership is based on the same "established criteria and conditions'' as for the long-term candidates of the Western Balkans (WB). However, the WB’s EU accession process brought with it additional conditions, such as regional cooperation, reconciliation and good neighbourly relations. The EU’s objective at the time was to encourage the countries in the region to improve relations with their neighbours and to deal with the war legacies through regional cooperation initiatives. This raises the question of how, and to what extent, these additional criteria could become part of the EU integration process of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia – all countries in conflict with neighbouring Russia. The theoretical background of the analysis is the EU’s actorness and its policy of external governance, expanding its normative sphere of influence to non-EU members. The paper discusses the additional WB conditions and identifies similar preconditions in the relevant EU agreements and documents for Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia since 2014. It shows that some of the WB preconditions are used in Eastern European Partner (EaP) countries but are, for now, seemingly less of a priority.
Geopolitical Challenges and the Macedonian Path to EU Accession
Author(s): Zhidas Daskalovski / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 3/2023
Keywords: EU enlargement; Western Balkans; conditionality; geopolitical considerations; bilateral disputes; corruption
While formally founded on a variety of values and rules, the enlargement of the European Union (EU) has also been consistently influenced by geopolitical considerations, including within the Western Balkans (WB). The author particularly focuses on the Macedonian case in this regard, observing it in the context of the enlargement policy’s diminished credibility, the lack of progress towards fulfilling membership criteria, and more recently, the complications caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Apart from the veto imposed by Greece due to the naming dispute (which began in 2005), Skopje’s progress towards EU accession was further hindered by additional challenges related to democratic regression, state capture, and corruption. However, even the change of government and the subsequent conclusion of the Prespa Agreement with Athens in 2018 failed to result in the initiation of EU accession negotiations, which were initially blocked by France and later by Bulgaria. Meanwhile, concerns regarding the high degree of corruption persisted, while Bulgarian bilateral demands became integrated into the broader EU expectations from Skopje. The author concludes that the Macedonian case is characterized by a significant degree of bilateral and geopolitical considerations, further undermining the legitimacy and objectives of the enlargement policy.
The “Power of Weakness”? The Western Balkans and Europe’s Global Neighbourhood
Author(s): Ádám Balázs / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 3/2023
Keywords: the power of weakness; Western Balkans; EU enlargement; globalization; Bertrand Badie; decolonization; imperial legacies; Hungary; European perspectives
Putin’s war in Ukraine might result in a shift from the worn-out refrain of “Europeanization” towards a more realist approach to EU enlargement and its geostrategic stakes. Russia has turned into a significant threat due to its weakness rather than its power. The author considers the “power of weakness” a crucial concept in the ongoing aggression and its geostrategic consequences. Paradoxically, weakness might be an actual source of power in these uncertain times of global transformation. Is that an opportunity for the Western Balkans (WB)? Analyzing the troublesome Western Balkans’ EU integration based on their economic, demographic, and other (limited) features while relying on the decolonization approach, the author finds that their integration constitutes an emergency precisely due to their weak points. Russia and China seek for weakening states across the globe, minor players where anti-Western feelings are easy to instrumentalize. The WB candidates deserve to be better integrated into the list of European priorities. A lack of EU strategy in the WB might indicate the absence of sound perspectives for the Union’s broader international role. The paper explores Bertrand Badie's decolonization approach, applying it to the Western Balkans, Hungary’s practice regarding the “power of the weak”, and Turkey, aiming to illustrate that weakness should not be perceived solely as the opposite of power, but as a suspicious international element since the Cold War onwards.
Western Balkans-EU Relations between the USA, Russia and Turkey
Author(s): Yağmur YETİMOĞLU,Gökhan Akşemsettinoğlu / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 3/2023
Keywords: enlargement; Euro-Atlantic integration; power balance; soft power; counterbalance; superpower; power struggle; European Union
Driven by stability and security concerns stemming from the recent past, the European Union (EU) has decided to include the Western Balkans (WB) in its enlargement process. In the meantime, the United States of America (USA), Russia, and Turkey have become engaged in promoting the need for balance of power in the region, although their interests have been mutually conflicting. In fact, the USA has supported the policies of the EU towards the WB to consolidate Euro-Atlantic integration and to maintain its authority as a superpower on the eastern side of the Atlantic. Another major power, Russia, has sought to counterbalance both the EU and the USA in the region by leveraging its close relations with Serbia. On the other hand, a neighboring country in the region, Turkey, has adopted the policy of soft power and good neighborly policy towards the WB to strengthen relations with old partners, based on perception of shared culture, heritage and history. This article analyzes the diverging national interests of the USA, Russia, and Turkey in the context of the Normative Power Europe approach pertaining to the WB.
On the Necessity of Dialogue among Religions and Cultures
Author(s): Ivo Komšić / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 2/2023
Keywords: Dialogue; religion; culture; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Cultural identities; Bosnian society;
Today, global society is in the stage of searching for a model of social cohabitation. The problem lies in the fact that global societies have constructed their identities through culture and religion and therefore the process of cohabitation with others appears only as a process of assimilation. The solution to this difficulty is usually found in a compromise that is plausible only when we leave essentialist standpoints. Leaving these standpoints also means the loss of identity. To overcome this problem, the first step is coming to know and understand other cultures and religions and recognize their distinctions, rather than avoiding, ignoring, or suppressing.
The Land, the People, and the Language of Petar Kočić
Author(s): Ivo Andrić / Language(s): English
/ Issue: 3/2023
Keywords: Petar Kočić; Ivo Andrić; From the Mountain and Below the Mountain; Kočić's literary work;
I will not talk about all the aspects of Petar Kočić, but only about three elements from the life and work of Petar Kočić —the land, the people and the language, and how these three elements show up in his life and work and influence them. »The Bosnia vilayet is crisscrossed in all directions by wild mountains«. With these words Austrian major Gustav Thömel began his book about Bosnia, published in 1867. That book is part of the literature of intelligence and propaganda that the Austro-Hungarian government disseminated in order to prepare for its occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the year 1878. But even tendentious and commissioned books can sometimes contain some accurate observation. Such is also this opening line. Seemingly too simple and obvious, it comprises a well-observed characteristic of a country, one important part of its reality, and a circumstance that determines people’s lifestyle and influences their development and social conditions.
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