Darwin i naturalizm

Author(s): Elliott Sober / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 14/2017

Darwin’s theory of evolution is usually thought to conform to the requirements of methodological naturalism, but how can this be reconciled with the fact that Darwin talks about God more than a few times in the Origin of Species? Answering this question involves clarifying what methodological naturalism means. In the process, I consider whether propositions about supernatural beings are ever empirically testable and whether science would come to a halt if methodological naturalism were abandoned. Another question is whether Darwin’s theory and its modern successors are incompatible with isolated acts of divine intervention. And if numbers are understood Platonistically (as existing outside of space and time), does the modern mathematical theory of evolution thereby violate methodological naturalism?

Filozoficzne wady naturalizmu metodologicznego i perspektywy na przyszłość

Author(s): Jonathan Bartlett / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 14/2017

Methodological naturalism, when used to enforce an exclusive view of scientific investigation, is based on three problematic streams of philosophy: mechanical philosophy, positivistic epistemology, and divine incomprehensibility. Each of these philosophies has inherent flaws that prevent them from being usable across the entirety of causal relationships that science attempts to investigate. However, even in the face of such criticisms, methodological naturalism as a methodology does have some positive features that should be retained even if methodological naturalism itself is not.

Czym są epistemiczne układy odniesienia?

Author(s): Krzysztof J. Kilian / Language(s): Polish Issue: 14/2017

This paper sets out to explain why it is that epistemic frameworks as discussed so far have never functioned in such a way as to furnish a criterion of demarcation. It also seeks to shed light on why such frameworks, though only sine qua non conditions for what may be considered scientific, nevertheless play a leading role in science. As the history of the philosophy of science shows, there are many sine qua non conditions for counting as scientific. Moreover, it should be asked whether epistemic frameworks differ significantly from other sine qua non conditions. To answer that question, two distinctions are to be introduced with respect to such conditions: between strong and weak ones, and between material and formal ones.The paper also examines the reasonableness of separating epistemic frameworks from research programs and paradigms. Initially, epistemic frameworks look like they would lend themselves to serving as components of Popperian metaphysical research programs, as well as of the hard cores of Lakatosian scientific research programs. (In the latter instance, they could play the role of strong heuristic rules guiding scientific research.) One may also try to insert them into Kuhnian disciplinary matrices, where they will function as components of values or ontological models. Even so, the best candidates as bearers of such frameworks will be Feyerabendian natural interpretations, together with Lakatosian normative basic judgments.

Quo vadis, realisme? O obecnym stanie sporu o realizm naukowy

Author(s): Mateusz Kotowski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2 (102)/2018

The article investigates the intuition that both scientific realism and scientific antirealism are turning into degenerating research programs. The evolution of realism in reaction to pessimistic (meta)induction has certainly led to its increased sophistication as it has given rise to various versions of selective realism. However, many current discussions seem either too focused on semantic niceties or are turning into endless quarrels over case-study refutations of particular forms of realism. The point of finding a better understanding of the relations of scientific knowledge to the world seems to get lost in the process. Magnus, Callender, and Saatsi are among those who see the problem. Although drawing on different observations, they agree that the source of the problem is the wholesale approach according to which it is possible to resolve the realism debate in one move, by finding a single universal method of interpreting any scientific theory. Instead, they call for a more modest approach, based on case-by-case analyses. Particularly promising is Saatsi’s idea of exemplar realism, according to which realism should be an attitude motivating detailed case studies rather than a specific account of science in general.

W obronie rozumu

Author(s): Wojciech Torzewski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 22/2016

Artykuł porusza problematykę związaną z pojęciem rozumu. W szczególności kwestię, jakie czynniki musi wziąć pod uwagę obrońca znaczenia idei rozumu oraz jak może uzasadniać swoją obronę. Ponadto, jakie uwagi można sformułować co do tego uzasadnienia i jaki ono samo ma walor. Przyjrzymy się zatem najpierw próbom obrony rozumu formułowanym na gruncie niemieckiej filozofii współczesnej, kładąc szczególny nacisk na Herberta Schnadelbacha koncepcję „rozumu otwartego”, następnie zapytamy o uzasadnienie samego dążenia do ustanowienia takiej koncepcji, która w zamierzeniu ma być obroną rozumu. W końcu sformułujemy podstawowe uwagi krytyczne.

Nauka krytycznego myślenia w herezji, czyli o pożytkach ukrytych w heretyckich poglądach

Author(s): Joanna Hańderek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 20/2014

W niniejszym artykule zostanie omówiona herezja jako fenomen kulturowy zakorzeniony w tradycji myśli i filozofii europejskiej od czasów starożytności. Herezja potraktowana będzie jako kulturotwórcze zjawisko wyrażające zdolność do krytycznego myślenia oraz podejmowania namysłu wbrew ogólnym tendencjom danej epoki. Jako sprzeciw staje się manifestem niezależności samej filozofii, pozwalając na rozwijanie własnych doktryn i założeń myślenia. W artykule poruszone też będzie zagadnienie przeciwstawienia się herezji i problem: dlaczego herezję uznawano za przejaw wrogości i tego co negatywne nie tylko poznawczo, ale i moralnie. Ukazana też zostanie ważna rola herezji jako sposobu myślenia sceptycznego, rozwijającego filozoficzny namysł, jak również samą kulturę, dająca jej kontrapunkt tak potrzebny do rozwoju i myślenia.

Wzrokowy układ poznawczy jako spektrometr

Author(s): Mirosław Zbigniew Harciarek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 20/2014

W pracy zaproponowano rozumienie wzrokowego układu poznawczego w oparciu o model spektrometru, który pozwala zrozumieć: obiektywizowanie percepcji, wybór informacji ze środowiska oraz rolę zjawiska powidoku w spostrzeganiu. Przedstawiony model ma charakter dwuaspektowy i wyróżnia spostrzeżenia oraz wewnętrzne wrażenia doświadczane jako efekty następcze. Pierwowzorem opisu układu wzrokowego jako spektrometru jest teoria wypływu Helmholtza, która wyjaśnia problem stabilizacji obrazu świata mimo poruszania oczami oraz opisuje związek percepcji z motoryką, współcześnie określany jako tzw. poznanie ucieleśnione. Cały układ wzrokowy to system sprzężenia zwrotnego, w którym zgodnie z koncepcją Helmholtza powidok jest sygnałem sterującym percepcją i przejawem intencjonalności poznawczej. W artykule przedstawiono szereg argumentów, które przemawiają za rozumieniem układu wzrokowego jako spektrometru, a najważniejszym jest percypowanie figury jako jaśniejszejniż tło, na co zwrócili uwagę już psychologowie postaci. W opisie układu wzrokowego jako spektrometru uwzględniono dwa układy wzrokowe opisane przez Milnera i Goodale’a. W zakończeniu pracy przedstawiono propozycje wykorzystania modelu spektrometru do badania procesów poznawczych, podkreślając znaczenie zjawiska powidoku jako przejawu przetwarzania informacji wzrokowych.

Fasada i matrioszka

Author(s): Jacek Sobota / Language(s): Polish Issue: 20/2014

Nowa interpretacja wybranych pism George’a Berkeleya

Author(s): Marta Szymańska-Lewoszewska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 20/2014

W obronie absolutności prawdy

Author(s): Katarzyna Ossowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 20/2014

Problem istnienia w filozofii greckiej (ujęcie Charlesa H. Kahna)

Author(s): Damian Kokoć / Language(s): Polish Issue: 6/2016

Scholars agree that question of existence was ignored by the ancient Greeks. The main cause of such a state was the way that the ancients perceived the world. We can found this imgage not only in their mythology, but also in their philosophy. Jacek Wojtysiak claims, for antic Hellenes the world was relatively contingent, which means that for them anything that was, was not something necessary, because the whole reality was constantly changing. Therefore, the universe and its laws could receive different form that they have now. But the ancients didn’t perceived reality as radically contingent, which means that they received the universe as eternal and it was impossible that it would not exist. This is the way Greeks concentrated on the question of nature of the reality, what was it Basic substance, and what decide that the universe was what it was. Charles H. Kahn’s considerations are important in the study of the ancient conception of being and existence. Basing on the analysis of language of ancient Greeks, he answers the question why they didn’t considered the question of existence. Kahn claims that for ancients the main issue in Greek’s theory of being was not the question of the existence, but truthfulness meaning of the verb einai. This linguistic investigations are useful because, as he claims, the way how we are perceiving the reality depends on language we use. It also applied to ontological consideration.

Silence of the Idols: Appropriating the Myths of Daedalus and Sisyphus for Posthumanist Discourses

Author(s): Steven Umbrello,Jessica Lombard / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2018

Both current and past analyses and critiques of transhumanist and posthumanist theories have had a propensity to cite the Greek myth of Prometheus as a paradigmatic figure. Although stark differences exist amongst the token forms of posthumanist theories and transhumanism, both theoretical domains claim promethean theory as their own. There are numerous definitions of those two concepts: therefore, this article focuses on posthumanism thought. By first analyzing the appropriation of the myth in posthumanism, we show how the myth fails to be foundational and how we need to rethink the posthumanist mythological framework. We then introduce Haldane’s Daedalus figure as a fruitful analogy to understand the demiurgic posture that critics mean to unveil by first using Prometheus. Daedalus embodies the artisan role, whose status as an inventor for the mighty preserves from the gods' direct opprobrium. Thereafter, we introduce the Camusian Myth of Sisyphus as a competing analogy that ultimately serves as a myth better suited to address the posthumanist position on an existential standpoint. we ultimately show that Sisyphus, as the ‘absurd man’ that Camus claims him to be, is himself the posthuman, thus serving as a more ideal foundational myth for posthumanism and preserving the importance of narrative in posthuman discourses. To conclude, we specifically show that the concept of Sisyphus as a posthuman icon has significance that reaches beyond narrative value to current ecological debates in posthumanism.

DIFERENŢELE TRANSCENDENTALE ŞI ÎNTEMEIEREA ULTIMĂ

Author(s): Virgil Drăghici / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 2/2018

The aim of this paper is to analyse the way in which the transcendental project of the ultimate foundation does contain the premises of its own destruction. In its kantian expression the transcendental difference is that between "experience" and "the transcendental conditions of the possibility of experience". In the Wittgenstein's early philosophy (Tractatus) we we'll find it in the form of the difference between "what can be said" (was sich sagen läßt) and "what only shows itself" (was sich nur zeigt), and in Heidegger's early philosophy in the form of the ontological difference. Both these last philosophical constructions are fraught with insuperable difficulties. The Wittgenstein's transcendental difference leads to the self-suppressing of the expression: the condition of the possibility of expressing is not itself expressible. The Heidegger's ontological difference falls in what is called the aporia of thematization: the thematization of something (the sense of Being) which reveals itself in a non-thematic way. In both cases, Wittgenstein and Heidegger, the result is the same: the self-suppressing of conceptualization build up on a transcendental basis.

AUTONOMIE UND VERANTWORTUNG — ZUM MORALISCHEN STATUS DER ARZT-PATIENTEN-BEZIEHUNG AUS PHILOSOPHISCHER SICHT

Author(s): BRIGITTE FLICKINGER / Language(s): German Issue: 2/2018

For almost two millennia the relationship between a physician and a patient, with regard to medical treatment, was settled according to the paternalistic moral principles laid down in the Hippocratic oath and later, in a modernized diction, in the Declaration of Geneva. With social und scientific changes occurring over the recent decades this structure lost its ethical balance and, thus, requires an amendment. Medicine is split into a curative part and a new field of scientific biomedicine, researched in laboratories independently from the relationship between a physician and a patient. While doctors have been experiencing increasing economic and legal restrictions, actual and potential patients have been tending to make use of the new medical opportunities, claiming their right to autonomous decisions. With advances made in biomedicine, the concept of health became broader and now it includes all sorts of the desired treatment (Wunschmedizin) and projective diagnosis. Today not only patients seek medical assistance, but also clients who, on the basis of their own right for autonomy, claim to have their bodily wishes fulfilled by medical practitioners. The article examines the ethical implications of these changes, with special attention paid to the concept of autonomy. Autonomy, in Kant’s enlightened deontological ethics, is the basis of such universal moral principles as the human dignity and the social responsibility. However, as can be shown, for contemporary biomedical ethics the concept of autonomy is based on libertarianism and utilitarianism. Moreover, the newly revised Declaration of Geneva neither is able to solve the moral dilemma physicians have to face choosing between professional duty and own conscience, nor can it compensate for the lack of responsibility of both sides in the relationship between a physician and a patient. Mutual respect can help to recreate a full-fledged notion of autonomy that would regain its moral value.

„GESUNDHEIT“ UND „KRANKHEIT“ IN DER MUSIK: EIN PROBLEMAUFRISS

Author(s): Dorothea Redepenning / Language(s): German Issue: 2/2018

The article synthesizes the cultural, historical and philosophical problem areas arising from the relationship of health / disease and music, with a focus on Western European music of the 19th and early 20th century. A first section gives an introductory overview of the representations of disease in operas and instrumental music. A second section examines medical histories of composers and the question of whether and to what extent illness may have had an effect on the creative process. In particular, works by Robert Schumann are examined in the light of his syphilis disease. Schumann was inspired by E. T. A. Hoffmann’s insane Kapellmeister Kreisler to write a piano cycle Kreisleriana, which gives the impression of insanity with compositional means. But the creation of such music and the structures of this music are anything but “insane”, they are well thought out to evoke the effect of madness. A very different impression brings the so-called Ghost Variations, a small cycle, Schumann’s last work. He believed that the music was given to him by angels – base is a subject that he had previously used in several works. The third part discusses the narrative of “ill art” on the one hand in the perspective it received from the Italian psychiatrist and coroner Cesare Lombroso. Illness, especially mental illness, in his opinion generates “degenerate” art. Illness, especially mental illness, in his opinion generates “degenerate” art. On the other hand, the opposite view is illuminated, pointing the disease, especially mental illness as a sign of the Chosen One. Thomas Mann embraces this perspective when he speaks of “genius-donating disease” in his Doctor Faustus. At the end there is an outlook on the ideological abuse of innovative art.

KRANKHEIT ALS METAPHER ODER KRANKHEIT DER METAPHERN? HANS WERNER HENZES EIN LANDARZT (1951). ZWISCHEN FRANZ KAFKA UND WALTER BENJAMIN

Author(s): Mauro Fosco Bertola / Language(s): German Issue: 2/2018

As Susan Sontag highlights in her seminal monograph “Illness as metaphor” published in 1978, the appropriation of illness for constructing powerful metaphors which have a great impact on broad social, political or cultural issues became a widespread phenomenon both in everyday life and in artistic discourse. For various arts illness turns into an important meaning-making metaphor for the social and cultural phenomena. In my article I intend to explore the use of such kind of metaphor in the context of Franz Kafka’s short story Country Doctor („Ein Landarzt”). A condition of a man who is ill is similar to the condition described by Freud in terms such as “oblivion”, “suppression”, “negation” etc. This text is very important for the psychoanalytical interpretation of Kafka’s legacy because one can see a definite parallel between a wound of a young man and his sexual desire for Roza. In my article I also analyse Hans Werner Henze’s homonymous radio opera, composed in 1951, which is based on Kafka’s text. Thanks to the special expressive instrumental medium, Henze creates an atmosphere of unreality and fuzziness of the Kafka’s short story. Adopting Walter Benjamin’s interpretation of Kafka’s œuvre qua a reflection on the “illness of tradition” („Erkrankung der Tradition”) in relation to the modern situation, I point out that Kafka and Henze share common understanding of modernity as well as show how Henze re articulates this idea of modernity as “illness of tradition” both in his poetic as well as in his compositional strategies after World War II.

Learning to Learn: Critical Thinking Skills to Help Students for Life

Author(s): Cristina Tripon / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2018

With the last two decades, critical thinking has become imperative for integrated students at the workplace. Critical thinking includes the component skills of analyzing arguments, making inferences using inductive or deductive reasoning, judging or evaluating, making decisions or solving problems. Involves both cognitive skills and dispositions, which can be seen as attitudes or habits of mind, include flexibility, a propensity to seek reason, a desire to be well informed, a respect for and willingness to entertain different viewpoints.This paper describes a study to investigate the impact of critical thinking strategies applied to work with students, to develop critical thinking skills. The research was conducted about 6 months, in a technical university, focuses on developing critical thinking skills in part by using complex contextualized problems. Upon conclusion of the study and analysis of the data, we observed significant gain in those skills, measured with the standard instrument: Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA).The WGCTA has been used to compare students on entry and exit program, make comparisons between different levels and investigate the correlation between critical thinking and variables. All test items include problems and arguments based on situations experienced in the daily workplace, classrooms, social media and others. The tool has five subsets designed to evaluate different elements of critical thinking, comprise deduction, inference, the relevance of assumptions, interpretation, and evaluation of arguments.

Hylomorphic Teleology in Aristotle’s Physics II

Author(s): Catherine Peters / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2019

This study draws attention to the ordering of matter and form argued for in Aristotle’s Physics II, 8 (199a30–32). This argument for hylomorphic teleology relies on the presentation of nature earlier in Physics II, 1. In this way, it highlights the connections between chapter one’s account of nature as matter and form and chapter eight’s defense of final causality. Grounding final causality in the principles of nature reveals its central importance for Aristotle’s view of nature. To clarify the meaning of hylomorphic teleology I contrast my interpretation of Aristotle with that of Wolfgang Wieland regarding the scope and foundation of the final cause, countering his claim that chance and universal final causality are mutually exclusive. I contend that the presentation of teleology in chapter eight supports a diverse interpretation of the final cause, one that admits chance events while not sacrificing the intrinsic ordering of matter to form.

Dwa rozumy Szestowa

Author(s): Michał Węcławski / Language(s): Polish Issue: 63/2018

The text is an attempt to examine the notion of reason in Lev Shestov’s philosophy and to show that it is not as clear as it usually seems. It is therefore about what is visible and what is hidden, yet not meaningless. On the one hand his critique of reason uncompromisingly dispels any doubts about the harmful nature of all rationalism; on the other hand, however, it indicates that the notion of reason conceals only a specific attitude towards the world and a certain way of philosophising. Although Shestov himself would not speak of the two reasons, careful reconstruction of his views justifies such an idea. To better grasp the meaning of the issue, the article looks at the ideological background, reminding that in the history of philosophy reason had also been understood in different ways, and that the ‘two reasons’ have their historical equivalents. The qualities that Shestov attributes to reason are enumerated. It is also emphasized that the negation of knowledge and reason should not be regarded as a nihilistic manifesto; Shestov does not discourage all knowledge, but under the outer layer of negation he announces a positive message about the shape of reason and its proper role in authentic philosophy. Hence Shestov’s thought is not a mere critique of reason in general, but only of its certain historical form, and it is also an appeal to replace it with a different one.

Absolutny fakt „Ja jestem” jako konsekwencja pierwszeństwa istnienia przed istotą

Author(s): Piotr Łaciak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 63/2018

The main thesis of this paper is that absolute fact of “I am” in the Husserl’s phenomenology can be understood as a result of the priority of existence over essence. Author points out that transcendental ego is not consciousness in general, but my consciousness as a realm of my “I am” which is the quintessence of facticity. The world-constituting consciousness as an actually experiencing consciousness has ultimate ground in the original fact of “I am” which is constant companion of all constitutive achievements of my subjectivity. This absolute fact precedes its own objectification and it enunciates itself in pure existence. Absolute fact of “I am” appears to be an irrational fact because its existence must precede essence and it does not find its ground in the eidetic. From this point of view, the aim of phenomenological investigations is to show that all eidetic possibilities are rooted in this fact which constitutes unique case in regard to the relation between fact and essence. The irrational existence of my absolute ego is apodictic fact, without which no knowledge would be possible and this egotic fact does not require justification, but on the contrary, all justifications must be based on it.