Cykliczny obraz świata we współczesnej kosmologii. Próba filozoficznej oceny modelu ekpyrotycznego Steinhardta i Turoka

Author(s): Damian Luty / Language(s): Polish Issue: XXVIII/2016

I present a brief history of cosmology, where I point at a certain class of cosmological models in which the Universe is conceived as an endless cycle of phases evolving in a specific way. Here I state an analogy with the discussion about the status, or rather: the “topology”, of time – is it linear or does it have the structure of a cycle? This leads me to bring up one of the newest concepts in cyclic cosmology – the Ekpyrotic Model. After reconstructing the model and giving a summary of the scenario of how the Universe develops in the Ekpyrotic model, I attempt to criticise it from a philosophical perspective. I make several claims regarding some epistemological and methodological issues. In connection with the Ekpyrotic Model, I discuss problems with underdetermination, theory choice and mathematical simplicity.

Fenomenologia a duchowy wymiar życia

Author(s): Agnieszka Wesołowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: XXVIII/2016

The aim of the article is to demonstrate that Husserl’s phenomenology as a science involves problems connected with essence of spiritual life. The spiritual dimension is an important context in the reading of Husserl’s work. This problem affects the specificity of Husserl’s thought and manner of philosophizing. According to Husserl, the fundamental task of philosophy concerns the sphere of spirit and its evolution. In correspondence with the question of the essence of spirit, Husserl’s phenomenology is presented in the perspective of two threads. First, the author consider the problem of spiritual life taken as a life in truth; secondly, a reflection over essence of spirit is understood as a purpose of philosophizing.

Matafora jako marzenie języka. Koncepcja metafory Donalda Davidsona

Author(s): Magdalena Filipczuk / Language(s): Polish Issue: XXVIII/2016

In his article What metaphors means Donald Davidson points out that there is an "error and confusion" in claiming "that a metaphor has, in addition to its literal sense or meaning, another sense or meaning". Metaphor has no special meaning, says Davidson and gives a number of arguments to support his controversial thesis. "If a metaphor has a special cognitive content, why should it be so difficult or impossible to set it out?" – he asks rhetorically. Davidson makes many remarks about the effects of a metaphor; he shows that metaphor belongs exclusively to the domain of use and denies that the metaphorical sentences have any special cognitive content. "For a metaphor says only what shows on its face – usually a patent falsehood or an absurd truth... given in the literal meaning of the words". In the first part of my paper, I analyse Davidson’s concept of metaphor in terms of his own assumptions. First, I argue that Davidson narrows the commonsense use of “meaning”, which is much wider than he makes it out to be. Secondly, if metaphors belong exclusively to the domain of use, it is only when language is used in a peculiar, untypical way (drawing our attention to the paradoxical coincidence of words within metaphor) that a sentence can be considered metaphorical. If so, all we do is violate the everyday use of language, or even modify its rules, and let the context influence the meaning of words within the metaphor. We don't make those words mean something other than they usually mean. The last part of my paper deals with Davidson's claim that interpretation is the work of imagination and creation. I argue that the understanding of metaphor has a dynamic structure. If metaphorical sentences say something with suggestive indefiniteness, it is because metaphor is a kind of task that lies before a reader or a listener, a variant of ancient gnome. It is true that it is all about the effect but usually the effect is not instantaneous. Following Coleridge, I view understanding in terms of growth. It leads an individual to undertake an attempt to grasp certain objective truths. What we notice thanks to extraordinary metaphors in literature and philosophy is that they illuminate us somehow. Our task is then to express this effect in language. Therefore, contrary to what Davidson claims, the possibility of multiple interpretations do not necessarily question the objective cognitive content of a metaphor.

Koncepcja odbiorcy sztuki w estetyce Romana Ingardena

Author(s): Przemysław Suchodolski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 16/2016

The subject of the article is the analysis of perception in the aesthetic created by polish phenomenologist Roman Ingarden in the first half of the twentieth century. The author's intention was to show the basic ideas of the philosopher about art reception, the complexity of the act of aesthetic experience and comparison of Ingarden’s theory with hedonistic art reception. In the concluding remarks of this article there is an attempt to transfer Ingarden's aesthetic theory on the selected contemporary trends in art.

Уроки Ханны Арендт: внеконтекстуальные проблемы системы организованной лжи

Author(s): Viktor P. Makarenko / Language(s): Russian Issue: 16/2016

The author of the article, based on original interpretation of the Hannah Arendt’s concept, presents the problem of the truth in politics. He analyses the relations between the truth and politics, the truth and the opinion, the truth of the mind and the truth of the fact, the position of the philosopher and the position of the citizen. These issues are considered in the context of the relation between the technical progress and the improvement of the means of violence. This improvement has led to the wars. The consequence of this state of affairs is the system of organized lie as a weapon against the truth in politics.

Ewolucja pojęcia paradygmatu w Strukturze rewolucji naukowych Thomasa S. Kuhna

Author(s): Krzysztof Jankowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 16/2016

Kuhn repeatedly redrafted the text of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions before he decided to print it. In this article, the author discussed several important differences between the various editings of The Structure… concerning the investigated category. He also showed when Kuhn has used that term for the first time, as well as he indicates important differences between the manuscript of The Structure… and the text published in 1962. He also showed certain characteristics of the paradigm as a dogma and explain why Kuhn has abandoned it in The Structure…. Finally the author discusses the consequences of ambiguous use of that category.

O Bogu i bogach religii oraz absolucie filozofii

Author(s): Andrzej Leszek Zachariasz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 16/2016

Praktyka interpretacji alegorycznej w filozofii antycznej

Author(s): Magdalena Gilicka / Language(s): Polish Issue: 16/2016

Book review: Mikołaj Domaradzki, Filozofia antyczna wobec problemu interpretacji. Rozwój alegorezy od przedsokratyków do Arystotelesa, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Instytutu Filozofii UAM, Poznań 2013, ss. 318

Znajomość postaci i idei rosyjskiego neokantyzmu w Polsce

Author(s): Barbara Czardybon,Władimir Ł. Biełow / Language(s): Polish Issue: 52/2017

The article deals with the main tendencies in the studies of Russian neo-Kantianism in Poland. Although the number and quality of research in the history of Russian neo-Kantianism still cannot be equated with those of the history of German neo-Kantianism, the situation of these studies is constantly changing for the better. The authors mark the undeniable progress in the studies of Russian neo-Kantianism in Poland in the recent years: there are monographs, articles, collections, research projects on particular thinkers or themes related to the history of Russian neo-Kantianism. The authors consider A. Noras’s idea of the development of neo-Kantianism into post-neo-Kantianism rather heuristic. One of the main features of this development is the ontologization of the cognitive process. This “ontological turn”, typical of Russian neo-Kantianism, in particular as represented by S. Hessen, V. Sesemann, B. Jakovenko, is, on the one hand, the hallmark of the entire Russian philosophy and, on the other, it brings together the philosophical efforts of Russian neo-Kantians and the conception of the author of the “new ontology” – N. Hartmann.

Can a Daoist Sage Have Close Relationships with Other Human Beings?

Author(s): Joanna Iwanowska / Language(s): English Issue: 52/2017

This paper explores the relationship between the art of creating a close, loving bond and the Daoist art of emptying one’s heart-mind. The fact that a Daoist sage is characterized by an empty heart-mind makes him somewhat different from an average human being: he is withdrawn from certain tendencies characteristic of the human heart-mind, and thus it seems that he may be emotionally detached and unsupportive. The question that I would like to delve into is whether this difference makes the sage unable to have close relationships with other human beings, especially love-based romantic relationships. By performing a close reading of the Zhuangzi, I wish to show that the Daoist detachment from certain tendencies characteristic of a human heart-mind does not imply a detachment from other human beings. In fact, the Daoist sage occurs to be very well suited for the task of being a loving partner.

Życie jako insynuacja w ujęciu Henri Bergsona i George’a Santayany

Author(s): Katarzyna Kremplewska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 52/2017

The article analyzes Henri Bergson’s understanding of human life in the light of his metaphor of life as “insinuation.” Comparing his ideas with the ideas of another original thinker of the age, George Santayana, allows shedding light on Bergson’s ontological strategy of making matter– as a threat to life –subject to mediation. Memory and imagination use matter to play out the past in the guise of the present–for the sake of life. The text also focuses on the formulas of freedom arising out of both thinkers’ conceptions of conscious life – that of Bergson, for whom the horizon and the fulfillment can be found in the beginning, or the primary vital impulse, and that of Santayana, who sees fulfillment in the forms of finitude assumed by each particular life. Looking at humanity in terms of a spiritual challenge links both conceptions. The whole discussion responds to the need to return to such fundamental but sidestepped terms as “humanity” and “spirituality”.

Leonard Nelson and Metaphysical Knowledge against the Neo-Kantian Background

Author(s): Tomasz Kubalica / Language(s): English Issue: 52/2017

Leonard Nelson is known primarily as a critic of epistemology in the Neo-Kantian meaning of the term. The aim of this paper is to investigate the presuppositions and consequences of his critique. I claim that what has rarely been discussed in this context is the problem of the possibility of metaphysics. By the impossibility of epistemology Nelson means the possibility of metaphysical knowledge. I intend to devote this paper to the analysis of this problem in relation to the Neo-Kantian background.

Argument Williamsona przeciwko KK-tezie

Author(s): Grzegorz Lisowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 52/2017

The KK-principle can be defined as follows: “For any subject x: if x knows that p, then she is always in a position to know that she knows that p”. This principle has been widely accepted in the history of philosophy. However, in contemporary epistemology it is considered controversial and regarded as an important part of the debate concerning the nature of knowledge. One of the arguments against the KK-principle has been presented by Timothy Williamson and it involves the so-called “safety principle”. In this paper, I argue against this account. My argument consists of two parts: in the first part, it is argued that the safety principle presented by Williamson contradicts Dretske’s account of knowledge. In the second part, I claim that the safety principle, as defined by Williamson, is not precise enough, which enables one to argue that it does not contradict the KK-principle.

Two Criticisms against Mathematical Realism

Author(s): Seungbae Park / Language(s): English Issue: 52/2017

Mathematical realism asserts that mathematical objects exist in the abstract world, and that a mathematical sentence is true or false, depending on whether the abstract world is as the mathematical sentence says it is. I raise two objections against mathematical realism. First, the abstract world is queer in that it allows for contradictory states of affairs. Second, mathematical realism does not have a theoretical resource to explain why a sentence about a tricle is true or false. A tricle is an object that changes its shape from a triangle to a circle, and then back to a triangle with every second.

Noemat jako sens. Problem przedmiotu świadomości w transcendentalnym idealizmie Husserla

Author(s): Marek Rosiak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 52/2017

The paper develops the argument presented in my earlier article, Intentional Reference and Its Object in Husserl’s Transcendental Idealism (Diametros 50). It contains further considerations on the proper understanding of Husserl’s notion of noema. My aim is not only to present an interpretation of Husserl’s text, but primarily to understand what constitutes an intentional reference of an act of consciousness. I agree with some of Husserl’s claims in Ideas, Book I, that noema, sense and intentional object are basically the same. This standpoint implies, however, a drastic reinterpretation of the notion of an object. I refer to Ingarden’s conception of a purely intentional object to show the difficulties connected with regarding noema as an object separate from consciousness but still existentially dependent on it. Analyzing Husserlian notion of a noematic core I emphasize the relevance of universals for Husserl’s theory of consciousness.

The Evil of Refraining to Save: Liu on the Doctrine of Doing and Allowing

Author(s): Jacob Blair / Language(s): English Issue: 52/2017

In a recent article, Xiaofei Liu seeks to defend, from the standpoint of consequentialism, the Doctrine of Doing and Allowing: DDA. While there are various conceptions of DDA, Liu understands it as the view that it is more difficult to justify doing harm than allowing harm. Liu argues that a typical harm doing involves the production of one more evil and one less good than a typical harm allowing. Thus, prima facie, it takes a greater amount of good to justify doing a certain harm than it does to justify allowing that same harm. In this reply, I argue that Liu fails to show, from within a consequentialist framework, that there is an asymmetry between the evils produced by doing and allowing harm. I conclude with some brief remarks on what may establish such an asymmetry.

Profesja. Derrida i uniwersytet

Author(s): Krzysztof Hoffmann / Language(s): Polish Issue: 25/2016

This paper is an attempt to recapitulate the main themes in Jacques Derrida’s thought on the uni- versity. The author focuses on The University without Condition (presented for the first time in 1998). The paper briefly recounts the philosopher’s involvement in educational institutions (GREPH, Collège International de Philosophie). Next, there is an analysis of the distinction between the future (futur) and the future-to-come (l’avenir), as well as the related opposition between profession (profession) and craft/trades (métier). The strategy of conceiving the university as the topolitical place of resistance is revealed using Derrida’s deconstruction of the repeater figure (agrégé-répétiteur). The paper ends by presenting an analogy between the condition of structural atheism and the obligation of the university to create a possibility for an event (beyond the constative/performative opposition).

HUMAN PRAXIS, ALTERNATIVE THINKING, AND HETEROGENEOUS CULTURE – ZYGMUNT BAUMAN’S REVISIONIST THOUGHT

Author(s): Dariusz Brzeziński / Language(s): English Issue: 37/2017

Zygmunt Bauman was one of the leading revisionists in Poland before March 1968. Together with six other academics he was expelled from the University of Warsaw on the basis of the decision of the Minister of Higher Education taken on the 25st March 1968. It should be stressed, however, that at the beginning of his academic career Bauman had been a staunch believer of the Polish United Workers’ Party and an adherent of the Marxist-Leninist ideology. In his first revisionist paper, published soon after the Polish October, he criticized the previous policy of the Party and expressed his hope that significant changes will take place in Poland. As a result of Party withdrawal from the reforms, his attitude towards both the communist rule and Marxism-Leninism had been changing. This paper analyses the evolution of his thought towards revisions. It presents the characteristic features of Bauman’s revisionism as well: an emphasis on human praxis, alternative thinking, and heterogeneity of culture.

GETTING HANDS DIRTY: ON ADAM SCHAFF’S POLITICAL WRITINGS

Author(s): Krzysztof Świrek / Language(s): English Issue: 37/2017

Adam Schaff was one of the most important Marxist philosophers in Poland. His work well documents the time, when Marxism was an 'official philosophy', burdened with political responsibilities and problems of strategy. The text is a critical analysis of Schaff's political writings. It highlights the most specific traits of his often paradoxical position, that was termed in literature as 'orthodox-revisionism'. Schaff tried to meet double and often conflicting requirements: tried to develop Marxist theory by posing problems unforeseen by the classics, and to stay faithful to what he understood as strategic interests of socialist countries at the same time. It will be argued, that even in its theoretical shortcomings, his writings are still among the most important resources for reflection on complex and tragic history of the Left in 20th Century.

HISTORIOGRAPHY AFTER REVISIONISM. REMARKS ON POMIAN’S IDEA OF WRITING HISTORY

Author(s): Marcin Leszczyński / Language(s): English Issue: 37/2017

Krzysztof Pomian’s works on history are one of the most interesting theoretical achievements of contemporary humanities. Being one of the prominent revisionists, Pomian took part in an important period of Polish history. Revisionist movement has also played an important role in shaping some basic ideas of Pomian’s later work. Article shows the meaning of revisionism in Polish tradition concerning historiography, and more specifically the meaning of Pomian’s ideas on historiography.