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The author makes an attempt to show why (1) Darwin’s teaching in The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection and The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex cannot be “scientific” in a modern, classical, or any, sense and that, consequently, in them, (2) Darwin did not scientifically prove the reality of evolution of species. He claims that, while the question of the origin of genera and species is principally and primarily a metaphysical problem, Darwin’s ignorance of the nature of philosophy and metaphysics and the complexity of the problem of the nature of genera and species caused him mistakenly to frame this metaphysical problem as one of physics, more precisely as one of biology, which Darwin reduced to a natural history of living, physical beings.
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In his seminal paper, ‘Can There Be Vague Objects?’ (1978), Gareth Evans advanced an argument purporting to prove that the idea of indeterminate identity is incoherent. Aware that his argument was incomplete as it stands, Evans added a remark at the end of his paper, in which he explained how the original argument needed to be modified to arrive at an explicit contradiction. This paper aims to develop a modified version of Evans’ original argument, which I argue is more promising than the modification that Evans proposed in his remark. Last, a structurally similar argument against the idea of indeterminate existence is presented.
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G. M. Tamás: Kommunismus nach 1989. Beiträge zu Klassentheorie, Realsozialismus, Osteuropa Herausgegeben und übersetzt von Georg Wallner Mandelbaum, Wien, 2015. 252 oldal, 19.90 €(kritik & utopie)
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Anhand der Lebensläufe ist es zu vermuten, dass die Gestalt von Pythagoras während des 3. und 4. Jahrhunderts sehr populär und die platonische Philosophie durch die pythagoreischen Vorstellungen durchgedrungen war. Aus vielen gemeinsamen Stellen geht hervor, dass die ethischen Territorien der Philosophie in den Vordergrund gerieten. Zwei Vitae, die Werke von Porphyrios und Jamblich beinhalten viele Anknüpfungspunkte. Der Prozess des ethischen Bildungsganges geschah stufenweise in beiden Schriften. Meine Hypothese ist, dass sich diese Bildung nicht nur bei Jamblich, wie es Lurje behauptete, sondern auch bei Porphyrios in einem vierstufigen System verwirklichte, wobei das philosophische Leben, das eine heilgeschichtliche Sendung hat, als mystischer Aufstieg der Seele galt.
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The author considers John Paul II’s treatment of the topic of evolution in order to retrieve its full content. He starts with an analysis of the Pope’s 1996 Address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, especially addressing the problem of the meaning of the words that “the theory of evolution . . . [is] more than a hypothesis,” and the problem of hominization. Then, he explores papal statements from 1985 and 1986. Finally, he concludes that John Paul II’s teaching on evolution appears as fragmentary and ambiguous and, as such, requires greater precision and further development, especially for the sake of the Catholic theology of creation.
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This article interprets Eckhart’s contradictions by presenting them as a result of an existential search for salvific power. It is shown that power is ambivalent in nature: it is the power of what is and the power of (self)overcoming (of what is). Just because power is in itself ambivalent and the process of searching for it existentialist (so not completely conscious), Eckhart’s mystical texts are full of contradictions and the German mystic is apparently not aware of it. The sample of them is shown in this article with regard to his ideas on God and man. Three other interpretations of Eckhart’s (“apophatic,” “educational,” “methodological”) are presented and argued against.
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This paper contains three acts, so to speak, each part analyzing approaches to thephilosophical Problem of Evil within the 19th century. This is done by juxtaposingsome of the strongest arguments over the Problem of Evil. Before going into thearguments themselves, I survey the movements of the 19th century and specificallyexamine a 19th century piece of art by Alexander Leloir, symbolizing man’s strugglewith God, and use his image as my model for channeling the following twoarguments. I then examine a piece of literature from the 19th century, The BrothersKaramazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, focusing specifically on his character IvanKaramazov’s critique of God in regard to the suffering of children and the innocent.Ivan gives one of the best articulations of the atheist critique of God’s amorality andallowance of evil. Following that, I examine the religious philosophy of a 19thcentury figure, Joseph Smith, whose contributions I attempt to show provide a validtheodicy for acquitting God from the Problem of Evil, due to the conception of God,Mankind, and a christogenic cosmos that Smith introduces. While an entireexhaustive treatment on the problem of evil would require a lot more space then thispaper can presently afford, this is a synthesized account of the compelling argumentsof each side. This paper isn’t to invalidate or delegitimize past, present, and futuresuffering. The rationalization of evil, even if it be with profound meaning, isn’tsufficient on its own to eradicate the consequences of evil, nor to fully comfort itsvictims. This exercise might untangle webs of logical confusion and cognitivedissonance, but it does not in of itself end the poverty in third world countries,horrific wars and acts of terror, bullying, prejudice, or homelessness, to name a fewexamples. I recognize that explanations for the horrors of history can sound trite and International Journal of Theology, Philosophy and ScienceNo. 5, Year 3/2019https://ijtps.com/ ISSN 2601-1697, ISSN-L 2601-1689IJTPS STUDIES AND ARTICLES © 2019 IFIASA Page | 13trivial, almost at times an insult. Even if Smith’s position proves logically coherent, Irecognize this paper has only solved the logical problem of evil rather than the actualproblem of evil in our world. It simply seeks to understand the problem and examineways that make it meaningful, rather than eradicating it. The problem cannot besolved through a logical proof on a chalkboard or in an argument through a paper.Nevertheless, all action is derived from how we think and what we desire, which inturn can be impacted by words and ideas, and for that I believe this paper holdsrelevant value. Hopefully these chambers of reflection serve as a catalyst to action, tocontribute a verse into the lessening of others’ suffering.
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Richard Rorty suggests that we should stop looking for something common to us all, for universal justifi cations and truth. Rorty argues that focusing on a single truth sooner or later serves those who claim that there is a proper, true model of living. In the end, they use violence and cause pain, as they are driven by the idea that everyone should accept their truth. In this article I shall argue that such reasoning is not justifi ed and whether we are universalists or constructivists, our actions may be the same and cause pain. At the same time, having the same beliefs will not stop us from acting differently. What matters is how we use a particular concept in accordance with our interests and not the concept itself. I shall also argue that dialog can help to prevent violence and that while Rorty is right, there are also a number of problems with that proposition
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The author discusses the problem of abortion. He defines abortion as a deliberate and immediate killing of a human being before birth; he distinguishes it from spontaneous miscarriage or a situation where the child is allowed to die without this being intended, where the death is the result of causes not dependent upon acting persons—abortus indirectus. In order to morally evaluate the act of abortion, the author considers both the ontic status of the conceived human being and the criteria usually used for the evaluation.
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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.
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The paper presents the historical and cultural context of the establishmentof the two higher education institutions in the capital cities of the Romanian Principalities(Moldavia and Wallachia), between around 1700 and 1821. In the investigated period,the political and economic dependence of Moldavia and Wallachia to the OttomanEmpire increased, but the administrative organization of the two Principalitiesimproved. At the Princely Academies of Bucharest and Jassy, the education was held inGreek (the recognized language for culture and religion in the former regions of theByzantine Empire), many teachers being Greek language speakers, while the studentswere mainly of Romanian upper class origin or Orthodox Christians from the OttomanEmpire. There are two important periods in the functioning of the Princely Academies:1. The Neo-Aristotelian Period (around 1700 – around 1770); 2. The EnlightenmentPeriod (around 1770–1821). The article analyses each period, with a special focus onthe philosophical disciplines taught in the respective time.
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The paper develops a non-Gricean account of accommodation: a contextadjusting process guided by the assumption that the speaker’s utterance constitutes an appropriate conversational move. The paper is organized into three parts. The first one reconstructs the basic tenets of Lepore and Stone's non-Gricean model of meaningmaking, which results from integrating direct intentionalism and extended semantics. The second part discusses the phenomenon of accommodation as it occurs in conversational practice. The third part uses the tenets of the non-Gricean model of meaning-making to account for the discursive mechanisms underlying accommodation; the proposed account relies on a distinction between the rules of appropriateness, which form part of extended grammar, and the Maxim of Appropriateness, which functions as a discursive norm guiding our conversational practice.
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This study investigated acedia in existential and moral contexts, using its descriptions from antiquity through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, modern and postmodern times. I have chosen to work with six definitions of acedia. These are: carelessness of heart (the Bible), narcissism (Evagrius of Ponticus), contradiction in will (St. Augustine), sluggishness of the mind which neglects to begin good (St. Thomas, Summa Theologica,II.2.q 35.1), demonic despair of will to be oneself (Søren Kierkegaard), and self-contempt (Jean-Luc Marion). My approach is inspired by philosophical investigations of Evagrius, St. Augustine, St. Thomas, Kierkegaard, and Marion. As we shall see, it is impossible to draw a clear line between carnal and spiritual issues of acedia. Contrary to common opinion, interconnections between acedia and sloth are multilayered and complex, yet the nature and significance of this relationship is incomprehensible for contemporary psychologists who try to turn the attention away from acedia’s dialectical nature. Hence I emphasize that acedia always concerns both carnal and spiritual (not only mental) disorders. If we look at this from the point of view of St. Thomas, we will see that acedia is contrasted to love, not to accuracy. Sloth is evil because it denotes blame worthy sorrow for spiritual good. Seven capital vices relate to the consequences of improper human activity but acedia refers to the condition of people who are unable to perform their social duties, want to do nothing and avoid undertaking moral challenges in the world because of their laziness, passivity, weakness of will, indecision, cowardice. A certain weariness in working, shortage of esteem, contempt for virtuous people are main symptoms of acedia. Oppressive acedia’s sorrow is an inner consequence of being saddened about the good things. Acedia is associated with long-standing frustration of desire. The paper discusses some philosophical and educational strategies for helping to overcome acedia as an evil in appetitive movements.
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In my article I intend to analyze L. Kołakowski’s departure from Marxism. I will conduct my reflections in the context of his relationship with Adam Schaff. It is precisely this that A. Schaff was the promoter of the dissertation of Master and Candidate (PhD) Leszek Kołakowski.Both these philosophers in the sixties of the twentieth century revisited their views on Marxism by entering into a current called revisionism. Leszek Kołakowski, however, criticized Marxism and became his leading critic, while Adam Schaff attempted to reform it by enriching the existing ideology of man’s philosophy. The views of both philosophers differed from the official version of Marxism. While Kolakowski had completely escaped from Marxism, Schaff tried to defend him. Schaff did not particularly approve the assessment of Marxism embodied in Mainstream Marxism of Kołakowski. It is not by chance, therefore, that both philosophers can be regarded as the most outstanding representatives of Marxism before 1968 in Poland.Their views were not always contradictory, but they were often similar because Schaff approached Kolakowski talking about ecumenical Marxism — and therefore their antagonism was primarily personal and less philosophical.
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The subject of the article is the influence of the broadly understood Neo-Kantianism on the assimilating of Kantians ideas of critical philosophy (critical method) in Poland. I would like to present a philosophical and historical reflection on the dissertation of professor of University of Poznan Adam Wiegner (1889—1967), entitled Zagadnienie poznawcze w oświetleniu L. Nelsona (Problem of Knowledge in the Light of L. Nelson, 1925), in which he undertook a critical analysis of Nelson’s problem of impossibility of the theory of knowledge and possibilities of the metaphysics. The main aim of the article is to present the Neo-Kantians (as well as the Neo-Friesians) context of the above-mentioned Wiegners dissertation and to reflect on the reception of Nelson’s thoughts in Poznań. I would like to show that, contrary to the schematic simplification, Neo-Kantian thought had a significant influence on the shape of philosophy in Poland.
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The aim of this work is to express standpoint about concept of the truth as it was taken and supported by Thomas Aquinas. He was convinced that truth is spread all over the world and that the primarly task of the human thought is to seek and gather the truth. His originality is in its entirety. He does not repeat some old ideas. Thomas is a realist in a special sense who resolves all the difficulties and problems that carry the question of reality with faith in reality. Things are more realistic than they are shown to us. We have to discover them. They are unrealistic if they are just in the row of the possibilities, and not in the reality. They are still incomplete and they are waiting for their further development. Thomas loved God more than his mind, and yet he loved the mind more than any other philosopher. He was an apostle of the mind, a teacher of truth and a renewer of intellectuality not only for 13th century but also for our time. Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas is a philosophy of faith and truth which is known, and at the same time a philosophy of natural reason. According to the methodological principle, suspicion is necessarily the starting point for unbiased scientific and theological research, and the aim of this research is to remove suspicion. But it is necessarily to be on clear with the suspicion on its own and to know what we can resonably doubt. Because the one who doubts in all, doubts also in validation of his own doubt. God's being is the first and the most perfect, and his truth is the first and highest. The truth for Thomas, by his definition, which remained stigmatized for the whole scholastic period defined as an adequate, is an adequate state of rei et intellectus. Thinking further about the truth, Thomas answers on question: is there only one truth where everything is true? It is emphasized again that the truth, all truths, expressed about things in comparation with human mind do not affect on the existence of the thing in their essence because there is a truth about these things in comparation with god's mind that is inseparable from them. That is why everything is true, thanks to one truth and that is the truth of the God's mind. On that truth, which comes from God's mind into ours, we judge everything. It is not changeable and cannot be aqcuired with the human sense. Everything that is sensational owns something similar to false, so that can be recognized, but there is nothing false in the true. Something is considered for truth when truth exist in mind and when it is not a reality. If the truth of things is observed in the right way towards the human mind, it can be changed either into a lie or to another truth.When compared with things, the statement is considered true if it is in accordance with them. From this comparison comes out variability of the truth, and the first truth remains unchanged. When one thing changes because of it's decay, which is important to the thing, it will change truth of the thing. The mind, while realizes the truth thinks of its own act, realizes its relation to things, co-forms with things, in fact, the mind realizes even the truth of the mind, it thinks about itself. So, in comparation with God's mind one thing cannot be false. In comparison with the human mind, a disharmony of thing with the mind sometimes happens, and that disharmony is always caused from thing itself.
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