Интелигентният дизайн: какво той е и какво не е и как обикновен непрофесионализъм компрометира родната философия (и наука)

Author(s): Lilia Gurova / Language(s): English,Bulgarian Issue: 4/2016

This article is a response to the publication of Theodora Dimitrova’s „On the Top Ten Scientific Problems of Biological and Chemical Evolution“ (Philosophical Alternatives 1/2016). In her paper, T. D. restates the arguments against the evolutionary explanations of the origins of life and species as summarized by Casey Luskin, a famous proponent of the intelligent design theory. T. D.’s article contains no critical discussion of these arguments nor refers to sources where such a discussion could be found. It is difficult to say whether these lacks are a result of mere ignorance or of an unscientific bias towards evolutionary theory. In any case, the publication of such an article in a respectable academic journal brings shame upon the journal and its associates. In support of the latter claim, this paper draws attention to those aspects of the intelligent design movement that show its unscientific and anti-intellectual nature.

Sceptyczne tropy Wittgensteina i transcendentalizm

Author(s): Witold Marzęda / Language(s): Polish Issue: 36/2016

The article concerns the rule-following paradox, which, according to Saul Kripke, was formulated in “Philosophical Investigations” (PI) by Ludwig Wittgenstein. The article indicates that an interesting starting point for the discussion of the paradox may be the concept of structure from Principia Mathematica and used in the Tractatus. It makes it possible to show how extracting a set of rules and a set of actions designated by them (which together form structure) can lead to paradoxical consequences and difficulties, as well as to identify three sceptical clues based on famous paragraph 201 of the PI. These are: (1) An action can be coordinated with a rule only for a finite number of steps. (2) A specific rule can be coordinated with any action. (3) A specific action can be coordinated with any rule. In order to analyse the first of them, the author evokes Wang’s finitism paradox. The second and third clue refer to the semantic difficulties identified by Saul Kripke in his famous book Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language and to the problem of recognition of the sign, which Kripke does not mention and which makes the scepticism of the clues more radical. Wittgenstein’s paradox was already implicitly present in the transcendental philosophy of Immanuel Kant, as well as in the later discussions on the foundations of logic and mathematics — in the works of Ernst Schröder and David Hilbert, who pointed out the necessity of the principle of recognition of the sign as a kind of protection against doubt. Although transcendental philosophy, from its Kantian origins, was to be an alternative to both skepticism and dogmatism, transcendentalism is not the only possibility to escape the paradoxical sceptical consequences that Wittgenstein presented. Another solution may be to reject the distinction between rules and actions.

Shaftesbury as a Popperian: critical rationalism before its time? Part II

Author(s): Lydia Amir / Language(s): English Issue: 36/2016

Shaftesbury has assigned humor an unparalleled role within philosophy, which may be encapsulated in the following tenets: (1) ridicule is the test of truth; (2) humor and good humor have a habilitating function with regard to truth; (3) the most effective criticism is humorous; and (4) humor is the mark of rationality. In the present article, I introduce Shaftesbury’s views on ridicule, good humor and humor in order to assess both the originality and viability of Shaftesbury’s contribution. I argue, first, that Shaftesbury’s views on ridicule as a test of truth and on good-humor as habilitating truth are thoroughly original, but cannot be implemented without adhering to his metaphysics and epistemology. Second, Shaftesbury’s views on humor are only partially original, though these can be implemented independently of metaphysical and epistemological assumptions for the greatest benefit of philosophers in general and critical rationalists in particular. I conclude that not only does Shaftesbury anticipate the view that critical thinking is the core of rationality, the main principle of the view known as critical rationalism associated with the renown 20th century philosopher of science and social philosopher, Karl Popper, but he also offers a viable means to enhance criticism as rationality by taking into consideration the psychological resistance to criticism that Popper acknowledges but refuses to address.

Von Marburg nach Pittsburgh-2: Anschauung in der Struktur der Erfahrung

Author(s): Maja Soboleva / Language(s): German Issue: 35/2016

The paper focuses on the problem of constitution of our cognitive experience. Two approaches to this problem proposed by Ernst Cassirer and John McDowell are central for the analysis. Both authors use Immanuel Kant’s theory of cognition as a foundation for their own conceptions und they develop their independent interpretations of it according to the traditions they belong to. Although McDowell’s interpretation emerged within analytical philosophy, we can see similarity with Cassirer’s theory. Comparative studies of these theories will point out the convergences and divergences between them.

Epistemological Ethics. New Ethical Dimensions of Knowledge

Author(s): Cornelia Gashparel / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2015

The man’s position in relation to knowledge forms and regaining his dignity in terms of its unity as a being endowed with mind and soul is the essence of the epistemological theory of ethics. The thesis from which we start the new foundation of ethical theories is that: in conditions of freedom or adaptation / surviving, within the size of which the perception, representation, intention and action may bring about, one can see the human nature endowed with mind and soul. Knowledge theories aim the man and his entire ethical value that finds itself in the manner of government and social and moral living. Between the man’s „evil” and „good” we must explain the idea of solidarity, justice, truth and freedom. Within the universal value of the soul, the history of religions finds its place and the ethical values largely justify both the life here, and especially the one beyond. Or, in this new light it is required to see the ethical value of man and necessary alliances are needed that initially would require putting together those individual researches in various fields that complete harmonization of knowledge. This fact would imply a unity in diversity of ethical theories about man and society. Within the architecture of the new theory of epistemological ethics the value of human ethics and the role of ethics in theory of knowledge can be seen.

Философското познание в информационната епоха

Author(s): Anna Ivanova / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2015

Since contemporary society of Western civilization is grounded on the pragmatic attitude toward knowledge, the demand for usefulness does not surpass philosophy as well. Social changes in the so called “information age” reignite the old historical question about the value of philosophy, this time in a different cultural context. The article challenges the common vision of philosophical work as purely intellectual and explores two main aspects of the practical implications of philosophical knowledge in modern day. The first aspect is the epistemic value of criticism in the information-overloaded environment of contemporary life. The second is the role of philosophy as a guardian of free thinking and the spiritual autonomy of public consciousness, provided by the constant moral awareness and farseeing of the practicing philosophers.

Границите на Кантовия категориален синтез

Author(s): Dimitar Tsatsov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2012

The article offers a discussion of the (im)possibility to apply the categories of transcendental analytics to objects beyond the possible experience as things in themselves, God and freedom.

Ks. prof. dr hab. Józef Herbut (1933–2018)

Author(s): Kazimierz M. Wolsza / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2018

Ks. prof. dr hab. Józef Herbut (1933–2018)

A methodological analysis of the scientific research

Author(s): Kadzik OGANYAN / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2017

The article addresses the structure of scientific research in the context of the methodology of science. This goal is realized through the concrete material of physical theory, detailing the structure of scientific research and its elements; its process and the laws it obeys; its results, which leadthe process; its motives, e.g. the "driving forces" of research and the role of philosophy in the process.The paperexamines the theoretical phase of researches as a synthesis of the empirical and the speculative,in contrast to the existing literature that presents the opposition between theoretical and empirical research. The steps of knowledge of the objective laws in a particular area are analysed: the empirical research,the non-fundamental theoretical,the speculative, and the fundamental theoretical; this analysis allows the generalization of the patterns of scientific research. Particular attention is paid to the speculative research and its main elements. The“methodological mechanism” of formation of new fundamental conceptions in science is unravelled. The essence of this mechanism consists of some non-logical cognitive operations (idealization, choice of “Gestalt”, substitution, generalization). The knowledge of corresponding combinations of these operations made by the investigator facilitates the process of research, decreases the probability of errors in the scientific cognition.

Comment s’excuser en français et en polonais : étude pragma-sémantique

Author(s): Francis Grossmann,Anna Krzyżanowska / Language(s): French Issue: 30/2018

This paper focuses on discursive routines used to express apology in email exchange. We adopt a contrastive (French-Polish) and intercultural approach, integrating apology in the politeness theory. We start from the hypothesis of cognitive grammars (see e.g. L a nga cke r 2008a and 2008b) that apology, even if it includes a shared conceptual core in various languages, presents for each language an original configuration that specifically reorganizes semantic constituents. The results of the research previously conducted by Dz ia d k iew icz (2007) show that, in the case of apology, the extent of the polite scale in Polish is not the same as in French. The corpus is composed of interpersonal emails (about 200 mails per language) collected in both languages, in professional or private context.

Епископът и философите: Мил

Author(s): Liuben Sivilov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2020

In a series of six articles the reactions of philosophers to the epochal achievement of Bishop Berkeley, set out in his “An Essay Towards A New Theory of Vision“ are followed. The comments to the theory of Berkeley became the occasion for the modern reader to focus on overwhelming conclusions about the philosophical life and philosophical education in Bulgaria. The fourth article deals with John Stuart Mill.

How to Do Things with Rights?

On Circulation of Ideas between Great Britain and France

Author(s): Emmanuelle de Champs / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2020

Based on Dan Edelstein’s fascinating theses, Emmanuelle de Champs explores the status of eighteenth-century declarations as performative documents and the ways in which ideas of rights circulated between the French and the English-speaking worlds. She agrees that the impulses of the Declaration of 1789 were elaborated during the Revolution and even during the 19th century, but recalls that their normative status in their own age was questioned. Emmanuelle de Champs explores critiques which grew from the Tory heritage of England, where she includes Jeremy Bentham, Edmund Burke or Samuel Johnson. In the critical responses to the French Declaration, Bentham basically treated rights as fictious entities which should not be backed by any legal sanctions. These thinkers questioned what Dan Edelstein calls the ‘preservation regime of human rights’. Emmanuelle de Champs approvingly follows Edelstein’s attempt to show how the idea was disseminated in France before 1789, but asks whether it would not be better to follow not only the Encyclopédie and Diderot but also the periodical press. She suggests that this was also the channel through which British republican ideas were disseminated in France.

Неевклидова геометрия в „Критика на чистия разум“?

Символично конструиране отвъд диктата на чистия наглед

Author(s): Rosen Lyutskanov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2021

The paper discusses a traditionally construed as problematic aspect of Kant's philosophy of mathematics: the place and importance of non-Euclidean geometry in the structure of mathematics. Kant's conception of pure intuition in mathematics is usually considered incompatible with the existence of mathematics, leaving no place for the latter. In this paper I argue that we can find a place for them, provided we know where to look. Of key importance in this respect is the concept of symbolic construction, which Kant employs in his discussion of algebra. The concept makes it possible to sidestep the limitations related to the requirement of constructibility in pure intuition. The development of Hilbert's formalism in the philosophy of mathematics can be seen as a continuation of this move that makes manifest its full potential, which was not, and even could not, be realized by Kant.

Otwartość Boga. Wieczność i wolna wola

Author(s): Eleonore Stump / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2020

This article is an analysis of the doctrine of divine eternity. The sources for this doctrine can be traced back to the philosophy of Boethius or Thomas Aquinas. According to the doctrine of divine eternity, the existence of God is not determined by the linear passage of time – God exists in the eternal present. From an eternal perspective, God has simultaneous access to all moments of nature’s linear time. The doctrine of divine eternity is meant to be an antidote to the alleged contradiction of God’s omniscience with the freedom of human will. However, the doctrine of divine eternity has been criticised. Recently, its effectiveness in solving philosophical problems has been undermined by Alvin Plantinga or William Hasker, among others. This work is an attempt to creatively argue against the Hasker’s position. Hasker sees his position as an alternative to classical theism as represented, for example, by Thomism. Hasker rejects Thomism for two reasons. First, the Thomistic God cannot be intimate with human beings or responsive to them. Secondly, the Thomistic view of God as timeless solves the problem of God’s foreknowledge and of the existence of free will only at the cost of making God’s timeless knowledge useless to him in interaction with the temporal world. This paper analyses Hasker’s reasoning leading to the conclusion that free will and timeless knowledge are compatible and gives reasons for concluding that his argument is itself incompatible with the doctrine of eternity. Subsequently, it has been shown that the same conclusion is made even more clearly on the basis of considerations derived from the concept of eternity. Finally, these considerations are used to challenge Hasker’s conclusion that timeless knowledge might be useless to God in directing his actions over time.

Kontrowersje wokół ulepszania człowieka. Na podstawie książki Ulepszanie człowieka. Perspektywa filozoficzna

Author(s): Marcin Ferdynus / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2020

This work is a review of the book Human Enhancement. Philosophical Perspective (edited by G. Hołub and P. Duchliński, Jesuit University Ignatianum Press in Krakow, Krakow 2018). The main purpose of the text is a critical review of selected problems and views that are included in this publication. The article contains additions, comments, and polemics, as well as methodological remarks based on the literature in Polish and English.

Архетиповете на Юнг и ейдосите на Платон – атомите на душата

Author(s): Milen Marinov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 2/2022

This article attempts to reveal the relationship between Jung’s Archetypes and Plato’s Eidos. The thesis is advocated that, in the system of the individual psyche, the archetypal variety forms a two-unit hierarchy, representing the metamorphosis of primordial images into ideas and conditioning the 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒-𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 relationship.

Approaches to Teaching Agreement and Disagreement in Selected Coursebook Series

Author(s): Silvie Válková,Jana Kořínková / Language(s): English Issue: 9/2023

The article focuses on the explicit teaching of language used to express agreement and disagreement in the popular English language coursebooks English File and Navigate. It reviews the current research on teaching various aspects of polite language and politenesssensitive speech acts and analyses and compares the explicitly taught phrases of agreement and disagreement in the two selected coursebook series, as well as the methods of their presentation and the amount of background theoretical information provided to students and teachers to facilitate their proper usage. Differences were identified not in the inventories and language representation of the explicitly taught phrases, but mainly in the background support available for students and teachers on their usage.

ELEMENTS SPECIFIC TO MELANCHOLIC

Author(s): Carmen Daniela Berințan / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 30/2022

This article traces some elements of the melancholic man who feels the passage of time and the change of nature in a special way. He knows that he is transient, feels the approach of death and he is doomed to pass. That is why he becomes melancholic. The man is attracted to nature, but also separated from it. He is an eternal wanderer and this person is constantly waiting.

UNIVERSAL HISTORY VIEWED THROUGH METAPHORICAL LENSES

Author(s): Nicolae Iuga / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 32/2023

When reaching the limits of rationality regarding explanation, Plato told myths. Instead, Hegel, when he wanted to make himself easier to understand, resorted to metaphorical expressions. The vast and grandiose spectacle of universal History can be more properly expressed by a metaphor than by abstract concepts or uncomprehending, arbitrary and chaotic erudition. Here we briefly present some metaphors related to the object: Heraclitus' River, the metaphor of the death and rebirth of vegetation in ancient myths, the metaphor of the Sea in Hegel or the metaphors of Henri Bergson and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.

Listy Gottloba Fregego. Uwagi o polskim wydaniu [rec. Gottlob Frege: „Korespondencja naukowa”]

Author(s): Krystian Bogucki / Language(s): Polish Issue: 48/2022

The present article reviews the Polish-language edition of Gottlob Frege’s scientific correspondence. In the article, I discuss the material hitherto unpublished in Polish in relation to the remainder of Frege’s works. First of all, I inquire into the role and nature of definitions. Then, I consider Frege’s recognition criteria for sameness of thoughts. In the article’s third part, I study letters devoted to the principle of semantic compositionality, while in the fourth part I discuss Frege’s remarks concerning the context principle.