Tudom-e, hogy mi a tudat?

Author(s): Sándor András / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 05/2013

The original title of the essay consists of a play on words which is impossible to translate into English, built on the meanings of the Hungarian word for consciousness, i.e. “tudat”. Within his contribution, the author employs various etymological speculations, close readings of classical texts and original arguments in the original investigation of human consciousness. His dialogue partners are classic and contemporary authors, such as Daniel C. Dennett, Owen Flanagan, Sigmund Freud, William James, Bertrand Russell, and others. The author’s original reflections on their arguments effectively assume the form of a freestyle philosophical journal, almost written in a stream-of-consciousness style, which simultaneously exemplifies the intimate workings of human consciousness, also addressed at the theoretical level.

Tudat, tudatosság, tudatparadoxonok

Author(s): Péter Egyed / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 05/2013

In our daily lives, we are in the habit of continuously monitoring and maintaining our consciousness, more or less consciously. This process is characterized by a systematic and cyclic investigation from morning to night, and it even interferes with our dreams. Due to this type of universal preoccupation with the phenomena of human consciousness, more advanced cultures are always inclined to produce theories for its explanation and functioning. The author offers a fascinating contemporary close reading of John Locke’s seminal Essay Concerning Human Understanding, associating its basic questions and tentative answers with modern directions in the philosophy of mind, among which the works of Étienne Balibar, David Chalmers, and Edmund Husserl.

Kripkeański Wittgenstein, faktualizm i znaczenie

Author(s): Alexander Miller / Language(s): Polish Issue: 29/2015

The paper provides a detailed discussion of George Wilson’s factualist interpretation of Saul Kripke’s Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language and presents a new non-factualist interpretation. After exposition of Wilson’s construal of Kripke’s Wittgenstein’s sceptical argument and sceptical solution, it is argued that this interpretation ultimately fails. Two possible interpretations of Wilson’s Kripke’s Wittgenstein’s meaning-fact are considered; one of them is based on Kripke’s Wittgenstein’s remarks on normative conditionals, and the other involves minimalism. It is claimed that on either of these interpretations the meaning-fact proposed by Wilson falls prey to Kripke’s Wittgenstein’s sceptical argument. Regardless of this, it is admitted that Wilson’s factualist interpretation has important advantages. One of them is that it highlights the importance of distinguishing between basic sceptical conclusion and radical sceptical conclusion. In concluding sections a new non-factualist interpretation of Kripke’s Wittgenstein is proposed that preserves this distinction and some other benefits claimed by Wilson for his interpretation.

Myślenie a mówienie. Na marginesie uwag Kazimierza Twardowskiego

Author(s): Anna Brożek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 29/2015

Kazimierz Twardowski’s article „On clear and unclear philosophical style” (O jasnym niejasnym stylu filozoficznym) is considered as one of his manifests of the Lvov-Warsaw School: clarity of expressing thoughts was one of methodological determinants of this school. Because of some passages in this article, Twardowski is often considered as a philosopher who believed that we may only think in words. In the article, Twardowski’s views on the relation between language and speech are analyzed through the prism of the less known Twardowski’s writings with application of some theoretical distinctions.

Richard Gale i problem negacji

Author(s): Adam Bastek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 29/2015

There is still no agreement as to the way of interpreting negative statements and the ontological status of negative facts or events. Following W. V. Quine (On What There Is), some philosophers claim that world becomes overcrowded. It becomes overcrowded because positive events (or states of affairs) carry on their backs an infinite number of negative phantoms (quasi- entities). For instance, my being here now requires my not being elsewhere. As we know, in his works Quine developed a minimalistic vision of ontology (Quine’s taste for desert landscapes related to Ockham’s razor). On the other hand, every true proposition (positive or negative) corresponds with an event – there must be a negative event. Otherwise we will find it difficult to express what it is that corresponds to a negative statement. This point of view was temporarily presented by B. Russell (Philosophy of Logical Atomism). Gale (On What There Isn’t) examines the arguments for and against negative facts and events. The purpose of this paper is to present Gale’s inquiry into negatives and its ontological consequences. The conclusion of Gale’s investigations is as follows: what exists in the world is positive and the world is fully describable in positive statements. He argues along Kantian lines with British accent: it is meaningful to say that some objects are non-existent but it is meaningless to apply negation to the universe as a whole. While he argues along Kantian lines with British accent, I suggest solution with Polish accent (S. Leśniewski): it is contradictory to say that some objects are nonexistent.

Od emocji do komunikacji. Gilles Deleuze’a analiza problemów reprezentacji, pragnienia i poznawania

Author(s): Paulina Kłos-Czerwińska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 29/2015

The article presents the analysis of the problems of representation, desire and acquiring knowledge as the foundations of Gilles Deleuze’s thought. However, the analysis of these problems can significantly contribute also to the understanding of the issue of symbolic and affective poverty, as it was formulated by Bernard Stiegler, noticed and described much earlier by Deleuze, though taking visible shapes nowadays in connections with the workings of capitalist, consumptionist, economically driven societies. The analysis of each of the presented topics reveals hidden dependencies between the understanding of the problem of knowledge and the perception of sensibility of the Other. To be able to communicate the vast diversity of emotions in the confrontation with a difference, it is good to stay open for what Deleuze indicates: the multiplication of the possibilities of living, and in result, to learn to affirm them as a part of social enterprise, whenever they stay in agreement with presumed powers of critical mind.

Radykalny enaktywizm a konserwatywna kognitywistyka

Author(s): Tomasz Korbak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 29/2015

Seksualny solipsyzm

Author(s): Rae Langton / Language(s): Polish Issue: 30/2015

The article presents a philosophical analysis of pornography and its impact. The author suggests that pornography instantiates two kinds of solipsism. The first kind of solipsism involves treating things as people; the second kind of solipsism involves treating people as things. The paper also investigates the possible connections between these two solipsisms.

O tolerancji politycznej z punktu widzenia Michaela Walzera

Author(s): Dorota Sepczyńska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 30/2015

The main focus of this article is little known in Poland political tolerance. The article aims to: reconstruct of Michael Walzer concept of the political tolerance; to place it in the typology of relativism – universalism; to make a first step towards the separation of political tolerance from personal tolerance for a general discussion of tolerance; demonstrate that tolerance is not only modern, liberal concept, associated with the individual freedom; show that the dispute about tolerance not only between the enemies.

Holizm, indywidualizm, personalizm: od dualizmu platońskiego do sporu o źródło i status ludzkiej jednostkowości (N. Elias, I. Berlin, R. Rorty)

Author(s): Zbigniew Ambożewicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 30/2015

Individualism as a way of feeling and comprehension of reality has been a basic element of Western civilization for a long time. In 20th century individualism was criticized by personalism and similar currents. I shall point to the dualistic source (Platonic, Christian, Cartesian and Kantian) of the personalist criticism of individualism which also was, in my opinion, more or less apparent inspiration of later sociological and social-anthropological research on relationships between individual and society. I also try to answer what the social or ontological status of commonly accepted modern individualistic values is.

Rozumienie libertarianizmu

Author(s): Hubert Staśkiewicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 30/2015

This scientific article treats of libertarianism. This school of political thought is based on methodological individualism, methodological subjectivism, anti-empiricism, apriorism. Libertarian philosophers demand almost absolute freedom in every area of life and that is why they are at the opposite pole to all totalitarian ideologies. The greatest influence on the understanding of libertarianism had Carl Menger, Murray Rothbard and David Nolan.

On cyberimmortality

Author(s): Adam Drozdek / Language(s): English Issue: 31/2015

This article discusses the view of man as software, which leads to a view of personal immortality accomplished by uploading the mind to the computer. The view has been defended by computer scientists (e.g., Moravec, Kurzweil) and by theologians (e.g., Polkinghorne). The article argues that true immortality of the mind, or of the pattern of the mind, is riddled with the problem of maintaining personal identity. Moreover, because the preservation of the mind pattern requires a material substrate, the view also assumes that the material world is eternal. This article favors the Platonist-Augustinian view of immortality of the soul understood as a substance.

Continuous creation in the probabilistic world of the theology of Chance

Author(s): Dariusz Łukasiewicz / Language(s): English Issue: 31/2015

The aim of the paper is to present and analyze the doctrine of continuous creation typical for theism. Continuous creation is conceived of as divine causal action consisting in God’s bringing about the existence of any being at every moment of its existence. Such a definition of divine action, as N. Malebranche argued, leads to occasionalism – that is, to the view that God is the only cause in the world. In the first part of the paper, an attempt is made to demonstrate that Malebranche’s conclusion is valid and that two alternative views, weak and strong concurrentism, are not tenable. In the second part of the article, the idea of continuous creation is discussed, which can be formulated from the point of view of probabilistic theism.

Pierwszy paragraf siódmej księgi Etyki eudemejskiej (EE 7.1, 1234b18-1235b12) – wprowadzenie, przekład i komentarz

Author(s): Maciej Smolak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 31/2015

The Introduction is devoted to the survey of the relation between The Eudemian Ethics and The Nicomachean Ethics from the point of the consideration on the friendship. The analysis is undertaken on the background of the study focused on the elaboration typology of the friendship, and the solution of the problem of intrapersonal friendship. The Introduction also contains the short presentation of the Aristotle’s research method, described by him as the natural way of the study, the aim of which is to know the first principles. The Commentary includes comments which do not relate to The Nicomachean Ethics, and refers mainly to the content of the other parts of the Eudemian Ethics.

Bycie czy byt? O dwóch podstawowych terminach filozofii Heideggera i problemach z ich polskimi przekładami

Author(s): Daniel Roland Sobota / Language(s): Polish Issue: 31/2015

Martin Heidegger’s texts are among the most difficult in the philosophical literature throughout the world. Paradoxically, despite they are commonly considered as untranslatable, they belong to the most frequently translated twentieth-century philosophical texts. High availability of translations makes the thought of Heidegger still enjoy great interest and result in a number of comments. The constantly growing number of translations of his texts affects shapes of national philosophies and their issues. It is particularly clearly visible in Poland where for a long time the philosophy of Heidegger was available only to the narrow circle of the German-speaking philosophers. The situation has changed significantly since the early nineties, when there rapidly began to appear translations of his major works. However, a different problem occurred – namely the problem of translation. It is nowhere so much invisible as in the case of two basic words: bycie (Being) and byt (being). This text follows various ways of translating and interpreting of Heidegger’s terms, asking about their philosophical relevance and relationship to the established philosophical tradition. Not denying any previous choices, it tries to develop a relevant criterion for understanding the two concepts. In order to do this, it tries to reveal the most important idea of Heidegger’s philosophy.

Nihilista radykalny. O diagnozach kulturowych Emila Ciorana

Author(s): Patryk Szaj / Language(s): Polish Issue: 31/2015

The author of the article tries to describe the philosophy of Emil Cioran as a radical diagnosis of European nihilism. The first part of the article is about threads of theodicy in Cioran’s writing. It shows their timeliness as an announcement of nihilism. Subsequently author analyzes Cioran’s reception of the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche. It turns out that Cioran is one of the most original interpreters of Nietzsche, but also one of his most radical continuers. The existential philosophy of Cioran rejects any metaphysical comfort and face the tragedy of human being. The last two paragraphs of the article are an attempt of a comparative interpretation of Cioran’s and Gianni Vattimo’s philosophy of nihilism. They reveal a similarity between both of philosophers who think of nihilism as a chance to recover from the illness called humanism, anthropocentrism or metaphysics.

Śmierć Boga, śmiech człowieka

Author(s): Marcin Smerda / Language(s): Polish Issue: 31/2015

Author of the article starts with a question about the meaning of the activity that is writing. He looks for answers in ‘The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences’ by Michel Foucault, which – according to the author – emerged from the experience of the laughter, triggered by the book of Jorge Louis Borges, in which he included an excerpt from the Chinese encyclopedia describing the classification of animals. The author is analyzing this phenomenon in detail, inter alia in the context of what about the laughter thought Georges Bataille, who greatly inspired Foucault. However, the author does not end his deliberation with an answer to the question: ‘Why Foucault wrote ‘The Order of Things’’, where the philosopher announced ‘the death of man’ for the first time. He is trying to go deeper and answer the question: ‘why the man had to die?’

Napad na Pascala

Author(s): Nick Bostrom / Language(s): Polish Issue: 31/2015

Niedyrektywność w poradnictwie genetycznym dotyczącym decyzji reprodukcyjnych

Author(s): Olga Dryla / Language(s): Polish Issue: 32/2015

Nondirectiveness is almost universally recognized as the most defining feature of genetic counseling and adherence to a nondirective approach is the generally required and professed standard; there is no widely accepted definition of nondirectiveness yet. Although the principle of nondirectiveness is still poorly understood, its importance is widely discussed and sometimes questioned. The current article tries to elaborate – by analyzing different descriptions and interpretations of nondirective approach – a theoretically consistent and practically operational concept of nondirectiveness in genetic counseling concerning reproductive choices.

Związek filozofii Karla Jaspersa z klasyczną antropologią filozoficzną XX wieku

Author(s): Maciej Urbanek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 32/2015

The main objective of this paper is to reconstruct Jaspers’ views on philosophical anthropology of the early twentieth century. The text can be divided into three parts. First part tries to reconstruct direct and indirect references which Jaspers makes toward: a) term “anthropology”, b) the representatives of philosophical anthropology. Second part shows Jaspers’ attitude toward Scheler’s anthropology. Third and final part raises a question: Why do we often regard Jaspers’ philosophy as anthropology, can he be considered as philosophical anthropologist? We will show that the main point of his critic is that anthropology sets biological point of view as a starting point for its inquiry on human being. Therefore, human being can not be seen adequately from anthropological perspective. Its specificity is reduced by anthropologists to the specific characteristics of species, a collection of biological, psychological and social conditions that describe the phenomenon of man but do not reach the depths of the human being.