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Edward Osborne Wilson formulated the biophilia hypothesis according to which biophilia is a tendency to focus on life and life-like processes. The status of this hypothesis is controversial among the natural, social and environmental sciences as well as in environmental ethics. On the methodological level, among other things, the charge of non-falsifiability is made; ecological ethicists criticize the hypothesis for its anthropocentric implications. In this article, we propose a philosophical interpretation of biophilia as a form of biomorphism, according to which the concept of substantive being, values and norms of morality are based on the paradigm of living being.
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In my book Tropy i uniwersalia: Badania ontologiczne [Tropes and Universals: Ontological Investigations], I proposed a systematic and historical analysis of the problem of universals. I distinguished three main concepts of universals, understood as common properties, common aspects or common wholes, and then I applied these concepts for a detailed analysis of the theories of Roman Ingarden, St. Thomas Aquinas and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. In this paper, I outline the methodological assumptions of my work, my understanding of universals, and the main results of my interpretations. Next, I briefly review the discussions provoked by my book. Katarzyna Barska and Marek Piwowarczyk questioned my reading of Ingarden’s theory, while Tomasz Tiuryn and Michał Głowala criticized my interpretation of Aquinas’s position. Finally, I analyze a way in which Karol Kleczka interestingly developed an interpretation of the notion of concrete universal within the framework of the contemporary truthmaking theory.
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The aim of this paper is to discuss Aristotle’s concept of the universal, and in particular to defend the claim that Aristotle’s concept is different from the modern concept of the universal, which is understood as the entity common to many individuals. For Aristotle, the universal is first and foremost an object which is predicated, is the object of the acts of the intellect, and is the object of the definition. In the text I also show that universals in Aristotle’s theory are causally inert, so they cannot be properties or causes of properties of individuals. This makes them similar to the modern concept of abstract objects such as Frege’s senses. The immediate point of reference for this paper is Paweł Rojek’s book Tropy i uniwersalia. Badania ontologiczne [Tropes and Universals: Ontological Investigations] (2019). I argue here against Rojek’s reading of the classical concept of the universal, and above all, against his interpretation of the theory of Thomas Aquinas.
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In the paper, I discuss the interpretation of the Thomistic theory of universals put forward in Paweł Rojek’s book Tropy i uniwersalia. Badania ontologiczne [Tropes and Universals: Ontological Investigations] in the context of the issue of hidden nominalism. My aims are threefold. (i) I suggest a more precise definition of a universal that enables a defence of basic claims by Rojek concerning hidden nominalism; (ii) I show that the interpretation of Aquinas put forward by Rojek does in fact collapse into hidden nominalism; (iii) I offer another interpretation of the Thomistic theory of universals based on the theory of triplex status naturae that seems free from the trap of hidden nominalism.
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The aim of this article is to compare the three concepts of universals presented in “Tropes and Universals” by Pawel Rojek with theories of truthmaking. Rojek presents three approaches to the problem of unity in multiplicity: (1) specific unity which involves abstract properties, (2) general unity based on undefined aspects, and (3) concrete universals. Rojek proposes to interpret the first two in scope of truthmaking, by invoking the “passionfruit argument” and developing his own version of it. In my paper I follow Rojek's steps by developing his comparison to truthmakers to the concept of concrete universals. That development involves Schaffer’s priority monism and the concept of “the most promiscuous truthmaker”. Finally, I present my own version of the “passionfruit argument” that uses the notion of grounding.
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Analytic philosophers usually believe that the problem of universals they discuss is the same problem that was discussed in antiquity and the Middle Ages. However, historians of philosophy point out that the old dispute on universals involved many different issues and did not focus on the currently debated problem of common properties. In my book Tropy i uniwersalia [Tropes and Universals], I assumed that the concept of universals had more or less the same meaning and I interpreted St. Thomas Aquinas’ position as a kind of contemporary realism. My interpretation raised interesting polemics by historians of philosophy, Tomasz Tiuryn and Michał Głowala. In this paper I attempt to examine the similarities and differences between contemporary and medieval understandings of universals and to answer some of their objections. It seems that there were at least three different notions of universals in the Middle Ages. First, they were understood as common beings, strictly identical in many realizations. This concept of universals is perhaps due to the patristic discussions of the Trinity in the fourth century. Second, universals were defined as entities predicated of the many, that is, as general concepts existing in the intellect. Third, and finally, they were thought, especially in late scholasticism, as entities divided into their realizations. Only the first concept agrees with the contemporary understanding of universals. It follows that the medieval and contemporary dispute over universals partially overlap. Finally, I also try to show that the interpretations of Aquinas’s position proposed by Tomasz Tiuryn and Michał Głowala lead in fact to a peculiar position that combines trope theory and Quine’s ostrich nominalism.
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The text is an introduction to the discussion, presenting briefly the book that is its subject Etyka chrześcijańska dla postchrześcijańkiej epoki [Christian Ethics for the Post-Christian Age] by Sebastian Gałecki. The book tries to find an answer to the question of whether it is possible to re-merge the three traditions of Christian ethics (natural law, virtues, conscience) to create an ethical system expressed in a language understandable to contemporary culture, which consciously breaks up with his Christian heritage, although in fact he is still thoroughly penetrated by it.
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The subject of the article is an assessment of conceptualizations of the theoretical deficits in the doctrine of Christian ethics, both genuine and presumed ones, variously diagnosed by contemporary Christian moral philosophers. The article is a polemic with the theoretical approach to these deficits, as well as an attempt to overcome them, formulated by Sebastian Gałecki in his book Etyka chrześcijańska dla postchrześcijańskiej epoki [Christian Ethics for the Post-Christian Age] (2020). While appreciating the boldness of the theoretical task undertaken in his book, and the theoretical significance of the project of integrating various ethical trends now emerging within Christianity, I point out several serious shortcomings in implementing this commendable venture. I stress, among others, the excessively occidental point of view adopted by the author, questionable operationalization of the category post-Christianity in his diagnosis of contemporary social transformations, his neglect to analyze the causes, endemic to Church institutions, for the people to depart from the Christian ethical canon and the internal inconsistency of the attempt to integrate various theoretical perspectives of the contemporary Christian moral theology.
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The title issue is analyzed in the article in the space of co-thinking with Sebastian Gałecki, the author of the book Etyka chrześcijańska dla postchrześcijańskiej epoki [Christian Ethics for a Post-Christian Age]. The question of a model of ethics for contemporary times, which is rightly referred to as post-Christian, is one of the most important issues of contemporary ethical research. The author of the above-mentioned monograph wants to build this model by integrating three, in his opinion remaining in isolation, traditions of ethics: the theory of natural law, the theory of virtues and the theory of conscience, in their contemporary interpretation by J. Finnis, A. MacIntyre and J.H. Newman. Is such a path optimal for the question posed in the title of this article? The doubts and questions raised as a result of reading Gałecki’s dissertation sketch the framework of an answer to this question, drawing at the same time positive paths of reflection on the shape of ethics in the times of late modernity.
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The article refers to Sebastian Gałecki’s book Etyka chrześcijańska dla postchrześcijańskiej epoki [Christian Ethics for the Post-Christian Age], in which the author proposes the concept of such an ethics, based on a Christian foundation. At its core, it is a metaethical work, for which the prototype and inspiration were the taking of ethics by John Henry Newman, Alasdair MacIntyre and John Finnis. Broadening the research horizon of Gałecki’s book, it should be noted that all ethical systems are a challenge for contemporaries, because not only ethics, but every science conceived classically as theoria has only motivational power for practical life, and in social life it has an impact if it is translated into reliable popularization and effective dissemination of it. The “Christian” adjective merely specifies a particular ethic, determines it in a certain way, but does not modify it. Thus, Christian ethics is a proposal not only for concrete individual and social life, but also for theoretical ethical discussion. Nowadays, in the post-Christian era, argumentative pluralism is of great importance in this discussion. It has its foundation in the fact that the phenomenon of morality is always apprehended in the richness of its aspects, although often some of them are unjustly absolutized.
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The article is an invitation to rethink a new and not necessarily original question — the role of metaphor in scientific writing. The immediate pretext is the metaphor of the compass, map, and training, and, in another plan, “old wineskins into which new wine is poured.” These figures are used by Sebastian Gałecki as the culmination of his dissertation Etyka chrześcijańska dla postchrześcijańskiej epoki [Christian Ethics for the Post-Christian Age], confronting the three concepts: ethics of character efficiency (virtue) (Alasdair MacIntyre), conscience (John Henry Newman), and the new theory of natural law (John Finnis). Leaving aside the essence of the content of the dissertation, I try to identify several issues and threats related to the use of metaphors by the authors. In the Umberto Eco terminology, they are regarded as “hot” and methodologically problematic elements of reflection and the way of writing in science. Despite the doubts and reservations about the metaphor as an “unscientific” figure, I would like to defend the right to its correct use in philosophy, especially in ethics. As an example of such use, I consider their use in Sebatian Gałecki’s book.
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In my article, I would like to answer the most important remarks and critiques to my book Christian Ethics for the Post-Christian Age], made in discussion by Adam Chmielewski, Jan Krokos, Krzysztof Stachewicz, and Marcin Zdrenka. I have divided my answers into five groups. First I deal with formal comments. Then I will move to more factual remarks, concerning the relationship between Christianity and post-Christianity, the postulate of making the three traditions of moral inquiry more consistent and the role of metaphors in philosophical writing. Finally, I dealt with the remaining significant critiques that did not relate to any of the above topics.
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In the natural deduction system for classical propositional logic given by G. Gentzen, there are some inference rules with assumptions discharged by the rule. D. Prawitz calls such inference rules improper as opposed to proper ones. Improper inference rules are more complicated than proper ones and more difficult to understand. In 2022, we provided a sequent system based solely on the application of proper rules. In the present paper, on the basis of our system from 2022, we classify improper inference rules.
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In this paper, a paradox is shown to arise in the context of classical logic from prima facie highly plausible assumptions for the existence predicate as applied to definite descriptions. There are several possibilities to evade the paradox; all involve modifications in the principles of first-order logic with identity, existence, and definite descriptions; some stay within classical logic, others leave it. The merits of the various "ways out" are compared. The most attractive "way out," it is argued, stays within classical logic, except for the fact that it involves a new logical truth: "There is at least one non-existent object." But this "exit" will certainly not be to everyone's taste and liking. Thus, the paradox defies complete resolution (as every good paradox should).
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In this paper we present a tableau system for deontic logics with the operator of explicit permission. By means of this system the decidability of the considered logics can be proved. We will sketch how these logics are semantically defined by means of relating semantics and how they provide a simple solution to the free choice permission problem. In short, these logics employ relating implication and a certain propositional constant. These two are in turn used to define deontic operators similarly as in Andersonian-Kangerian reduction, which uses different intensional implications and constants.
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The paper deals with the idea of participation or community in dance. The idea of community has become key in contemporary discussions about the globalization of contemporary societies, and dance has a large share in the reflections of these. Dance also has a very long tradition of community thinking. From this long and rich tradition, this paper will point out the ways in which the idea of community is reflected in social and artistic dances, pointing out both concrete dance forms and theoretical concepts, ideas and practices. Of the dance forms, the paper will discuss the tango pair dance, the flash mob dancegathering form as well as the contact improvisation developed within postmodern dance. Of the theoretical and philosophical settings that underpin discussions of community in dance studies, the paper will discuss the concept of kinesthesia or “kinesthetic empathy”, “mirror neurons” in neuroscience as well as philosophical reflections on affect.
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The concept of vampirism in the tradition of peasant culture is an inversion of social norms by individuals or groups, which the community recognizes as responsible for social problems and crises. “Vampire” as a social institution has a role in resolving the crisis, but also manifests power of the collective and the desirable model of worldview. However, the experience of field research imposes a perspective that does not perceive the “vampire” as a rigid institution, but also an adaptable tool of social or political communication. By analyzing two cases (performances) of “murder of a political vampire” (Josip Broz Tito and Slobodan Milosevic), as a performance of political communication, I try to point out the crucial importance of understanding the context, position and motivation of actors in dialogue. The focus of the analysis is on “vampires”, the signifier of the aberrant, who uses vampire symbolism as a means of spreading political information but also achieving political goals
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