"Istotna tożsamość physis i techne" - Heidegger i problem artefaktu w ekofilozofii

Author(s): Magdalena Holy-Luczaj / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 20/2014

Celem artykułu jest pokazanie, że nowy trend w ekofilozofii, jakim jest próba włączenia artefaktów w zakres jej rozważań etycznych, może znaleźć wsparcie w filozofii Martina Heideggera. Artykuł skupia się na następujących założeniach ontologicznych filozofii Heideggera: odrzuceniu idei „drabiny bytu” (koncepcji hierarchii metafizycznej oraz rozszerzeniu jej spektrum), jedności physis i techne oraz nieodłączności jednostkowości i współzależności bytów. Te założenia prowadzą Heideggera do stworzenia koncepcji „właściwego używania”, która może stanowić podstawę dla ekologicznego ethosu obejmującego byty naturalne oraz artefakty.

"Projekt matematyczny" a idea "przewrotu kopernikańskiego" w filozofii Immanuela Kanta

Author(s): Tomasz Kups / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 20/2014

Jose Ortega y Gasset (w eseju Wokół Galileusza) oraz Martin Heidegger (w rozprawie Pytanie o rzecz) sformułowali wykładnię źródeł nowożytnej nauki i nowej postawy badawczej. Obu filozofów odkrycie nowej metody w przyrodoznawstwie przypisało Galileuszowi. Uzyskiwanie wiedzy naukowej o przyrodzie przybiera w nowożytności (w XVII i XVIII w.) charakterystyczną formę „projektu matematycznego”. Nowy sposób „tworzenia” praw, zastępujący dotychczasowy „opis” faktów, jest wyraźnie podkreślany przez obu współczesnych filozofów. Analogiczny sposób rozumienia przyrodoznawstwa został jednak sformułowany wcześniej przez Immanuela Kanta i po praz pierwszy wyrażony w postaci metafory „przewrotu kopernikańskiego” w przedmowie do drugiego wydania Krytyki czystego rozumu. Artykuł jest próba zestawienia tych dwóch spojrzeń na istotę nowożytnego przewrotu w przyrodoznawstwie.

"Universalia ante res" vs. "Universalia in rebus"

Как съвременната аналитична метафизика решава проблема за универсалиите?

Author(s): Denitsa Zhelyazkova / Language(s): Bulgarian / Issue: 3/2018

The problem of universals has a long history. The inheritance of tradition marks the development of philosophy, especially during the Middle Ages, and occupies a central part of the overall philosophical issues of Modernity. There are three main camps that try to answer the question what the nature of universals is – realists, nominalists and conceptualists. One of the main tasks of modern analytical metaphysics is to provide a metaphysical explanation for the existence and essence of the universals. Analytical philosophy tries to solve the problem of universals by introducing a new theory. Whether the theory of tropes repeats earlier nominalist theories, is the subject of many discussions at the moment. The supporters of the theory assert the view that the world (in whole or in part) consists of the so-called tropes and that the tropes that characterize reality are abstract properties. The thesis I will defend in this article is that the theory of tropes is much closer to realism than to nominalism.

"Wtedy zaczął się mój upadek...". Egzystencjalne dylematy bohaterów Józefa Conrada i Alberta Camusa

Author(s): Irena Jokiel / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 3/2014

The article uses the notion of 'border' in the interpretation of psychological and ethical themes in "Lord Jim" by J. Conrad and "The Fall" by A. Camus. The heroes of these novels realise that they had made bad use of their freedom , and the moment in which this happened had marked their lives irrevocably, and divided it into zones of rise and fall. After this moment nothing would be as it used to. Throughout the centuries literature has developed language to express the fundamental experience of this kind; it tells the stories of people experiencing the traumatic force of a demarcation moment, which after passing, leaves no posibility of returning to the life before; it creates alternative worlds inhabited by people who seek the truth about their "I", it constructs situations that embodies our anxiety resulting from the fact that man is not "redy and finished", and in the flowing "here and now" he does deeds which shape his destiny. "The Fall" indirectly includes the question of attitude of modern world towards Condrad's ethos.

(Nie)obiektywna podmiotowość

Author(s): Piotr Piotrowski / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 36/2016

In this article, I analyze the issue of subjectivity in the form in which it appears in Charles Taylor’s and Richard Rorty’s writings. Positions of these philosophers are generally regarded as contradictory. I will, however, argued that the position on subjectivity represented by Rorty finds its complementation in Taylor’s concept. To do this, I will show firstly that both Rorty and Taylor use the category of contingency, presenting some common thesis about subjectivity. This way I will show that the location of the category of subjectivity and the scope of its use in each of them concept is closely related to the understanding of objectivity accepted by each of them. This will allow then to reconstruct the concept of subjectivity presented by Taylor and Rorty. Next, in the conclusion, I will present such a summary of those two standpoints, which will include justification of the thesis of their complementarity.

(Post)sekularna filozofia negatywna, media wizualne i ekstasis (dekonstrukcja jako wariant neofenomenologii)

Author(s): Joanna Sarbiewska / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2016

The author proposes a neophenomenological interpretation of the late Jacques Derrida’s deconstruction, by bringing it into the light of (post)secular negative philosophy and indicating the application of its mystic/ecstatic implications on a media techno-vision basis. In this conceptualization, deconstruction/negation, as an ,epoche strategy, not only denudes (kenosis) cognition of the idolatry, characteristic of the traditional methaphysics of presence and the dogmatic religion, but also suspends “the source” itself (the Offenberkeit register), and thus, causes the experience of radical emptiness (chora) as a condition of an opening to the Impossible. The author, by presenting the concept of negative image, demonstrates that technology visual media provide a suitable space (groundlessness) for Impossible to manifest itself in post-industrial culture.

A Critical Thinking Approach to Globalisation and Culture

Author(s): Stelu?a Stan / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2016

The diverse and complex cultural consequences of the present time have been subject to various studies. The new non-material digital forms of communication make the global cultural flows to move easier and more freely around the globe, a phenomenon that has been associated with many cultural consequences. Major theses, such as homogenization (standardization around a Western or American pattern), polarization (resistance to cultural conformity or standardization and emergence of cultural alternatives), and hybridization have been used as relevant analysis criteria. Having in mind the final objective (respectful contact with other cultures and successful intercultural communication), the present study, as part of a larger enterprise, is an introduction to a critical thinking approach to cultural awareness and the need for a cultural paradigm shift.

A fenomenológiával való megismerkedésem

Author(s): László Tengelyi / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 06/2015

In this interview, László Tengelyi answers the question of the Hungarian Phenomenological Society: “how did you arrive to the phenomenological tradition and to phenomenological thinking?” The form of the answer is an essay which was written in 2006. Tengelyi describes his first encounter with Husserl and Heidegger through Nicolai Hartmann’s aesthetics and ontology. This attraction was deepened during his 1988-89 stay in Leuven with the support of the Soros Foundation. Rudolf Bernet and other prominent phenomenologists (Klaus Held, Bernhard Waldenfels, Marc Richir) convinced him that phenomenology is one of the possible ways of original thinking. What distinguishes phenomenology from other contemporary schools of thought (structuralism, analytical philosophy, critical social philosophy) is its inner relation to the whole tradition of Western philosophy. That is why phenomenology, “with its historical saturation”, is able to maintain a kind of spiritual vigilance in the philosophical practice.

A fiatal Pauler Ákos és az olasz filozófusok

Author(s): Róbert Somos / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 06/2015

Although his main favourites were German, French and English thinkers, Ákos Pauler, the most respected Hungarian philosopher of the first decades of the 20th century, had also substantial connection with Italian philosophers and works. Treating the topic of the Italian line, according to the chronological order, the following items should be analysed: 1. Pauler’s longer sojourns in Italy before the First World War, when he attended different conferences and made personal relationships with different philosophers, especially with Mario Calderoni. 2. Benedetto Croce’s influence on Pauler and the Hungarian philosopher’s criticism on Croce’s position relating to the problems of pure logic and aesthetics. 3. Pauler’s view on Mussolini and its import for the political ideas of the Hungarian thinker. 4. The reception of Pauler’s Grundlegung der Philosophie in the philosophical school of Naples (Cleto Carbonara, Nicola Abbagnano) and Pauler’s answers to their criticisms. 5. Antonio Rosmini-Serbati’s and Giovanni Peano’s influence on Pauler in his later years in the fields of theistic metaphysics and symbolic logic. The paper focuses on the influences of the early phase of Ákos Pauler’s activity and it deals with the first two points.

A Foray Into the System of Anthropological Sciences

Author(s): Cristian Bocancea / Language(s): English / Issue: 22/2018

In philosophy, theology or modern social sciences, we can always identify an anthropological axiom, that refers to the genesis, the evolution of the human species as well as the ”human nature”. Starting with the modern period, this type of thinking found itself organized as part of some positive sciences, that can be seen as an actual ”system of anthropological sciences”, put together by British, American, French and German scientists. The English have developed what we call ”social anthropology”. In the United States, several academic disciplines have thrived as part of the ”general anthropology”: archeology, physical anthropology, linguistic anthropology, cultural anthropology and applied anthropology. The French are mostly known for their work in the field of ethnography and ethnology. As for the Germans, they focused on studying popular culture (Volkskunde).

A magyar filozófia, amint saját történetét írja

Author(s): Béla Mester / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 06/2015

János Erdélyi, a 19th century Hegelian classic of the historiography of Hungarian philosophy has summarised his narrative in the following scheme. The first epoch was the prehistory of Hungarian thought, formulated in a foreign language, Latin; the second one was the long period of the turn from Latin to Hungarian; and the third and last one is when Hungarian philosophy writes its own history, beginning with the foundation of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. After Erdélyi’s masterpiece on Hungarian philosophy, there have been no serious candidates for a new synthesis until the second half of the 20th century. This paper offers an overview of the last two centuries of the history of Hungarian philosophy in the mirror of its paradigmatic errors. First, it discusses the case of Boëthius de Dacia as a Hungarian mediaeval philosopher, and then the misinterpretation of the early modern works of János Pósaházi and József Rozgonyi, following the pattern of the history of reception. According to the hypothesis of this paper, all these paradigmatic errors have been caused by a wrong formulation of the connection between the universal and the national narratives of the history of philosophy. After an overview of the usual solutions to this problem in the Hungarian historiography of philosophy, the author outlines a new method for establishing the paradigm of an East-Central-European history of philosophy, above, but not instead of the national narratives, which can also modify the universal narrative in several details.

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.

A Note on a Remark of Evans

Author(s): Wolfgang Barz / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2016

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.

A PRESENCE WITHOUT PRESENT: MAKING SENSE WITH THE OTHER

Author(s): Cristian Bodea / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2019

Marc Richir’s phenomenological work proposes a new type of phenomenology, a non-standard one. To him, a non-standard phenomenology is, first of all, a phenomenology that is “crossing the barrier of intentionality” (Richir, 2015). In this context, perception has a special role. Firstly, it involves phantasia, and not the imaginary. Secondly, it is a perception of non-intentional objects. Because of these two reasons, the other becomes the Other, namely a non-intentional object that cannot be pinpointed in a definite time / space frame. In this paper, I will try to demonstrate that, starting from this lack of conceptualization that the Other represents, a sense is constructed. It is a sense in the making (sens se faisant), as Richir puts it (Richir 1988, 2015); a sense whose never-ending development gives meaning to someone’s life. In order for this to take place, the effective presence of the Other is crucial. Otherwise, sense stands still and meaning is aborted.

A szabadság eszménye a republikánus gondolati tradícióban

Author(s): Attila Demeter M. / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 02/2015

The essay highlights conclusions related to the nature and reason of freedom, which can be drawn from the tradition of republican thinking. Putting the question this way implies the presupposition that conclusions can be drawn from a tradition dating back to two thousand years ago. For this reason, the paper starts (and concludes) with some considerations related to the nature of political thinking. Unlike philosophical thinking in general, our political thinking is not a historical one by its nature. However, it is not purely unhistorical either, like mathematical thinking, for example. The political experiences accumulated in the course of time have been, of course, able to change the way we think about political matters, but our vision about the essence of politics has remained unchanged since the time of Ancient Greece. Turning now to the question of freedom: in this essay, I try to demonstrate that republicanism presents an ideal of freedom which radically differs from our perception of liberty and which, in consequence, can serve as a background for a “new utopia of liberty”. In our time, the dominant concept of freedom is based on the freedom of will. Freedom is usually regarded as a set of rights which aim to ensure citizens the almost unlimited possibility to choose their identity, their habits and ways of life. At the same time, citizens’ growing defencelessness against the state, as well as their increasing dependence on arbitrary social or political powers can also be observed. By contrast, for republican thinking, freedom has always meant – first and foremost – the lack of arbitrary power and, as a result, the capability and the possibility of self-government. The aim of republican thinking has always been to form citizens who are not subjected to anyone else’s will (and, of course, who do not want to dominate anyone else), instead of citizens who are helpless and defenceless – mostly in front of the state. It is an ideal which, I think, can be exemplary for all times – 0including ours.

Abgeschiedenheit Mistrza Eckharta w fenomenologicznej wykładni Bernharda Weltego

Author(s): Joachim Piecuch / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 2/2016

The basis of analyzes carried out in the article is the work of Bernhard Welte: Meister Eckhart. Gedanken zu seinen Gedanken. The central subject of research is the idea Abgeschiedenheit (“isolation”). Following the interpretation of Welte it has been considerated a phenomeno‐ logical description on two ways. From the practical experience, as a modus vivendi a religious man, and from the theoretical, as speculative thought. Theoretical considerations consist of analysis of the concept of truth and goodness, which Eckhart identifies with the idea of God. Welte shows that these concepts of medieval thinker at the starting point considerations are still sink in the schemes of metaphysical thinking, but in the next stages of its argumentation he overcome metaphysical discourse. The purpose of the article, guided by the suggestion Weltes interpretation, is to show ways of reaching the source forms of religious experience. At the same time the text raised the issue of problematic use formulas of mystical union and noticed parallels have been taking place between the method of phenomenological reduction and the idea of Abgeschiedenheit.

Abortion in The Universal Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Author(s): Marek Czachorowski / Language(s): English / Issue: 4/2018

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.

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

Author(s): Piotr Laciak / 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.

Accommodation and Convention

Author(s): Maciej Witek / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2016

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.

Acculturation Process and Ethnic Identity of Immigrants in Germany

Author(s): Liudmyla Smokova / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2015

In the present study, we discuss psychological acculturation, by which we mean the internal processes of change that immigrants experience when they come into direct contact with members of the host culture. The model we present builds on research in the areas of social and ethnic identity. Each of these perspectives is discussed in accordance with its relevance to the acculturative processes operating in immigrants. We understand ethnic identity as a dynamic state, that is determined by three components: (1) by the degree of inclusion in the group of one’s cultural origin; (2) the tendency to assimilate to the ethnic group of origin; and (3) the complementary tendency to differentiate from one’s own ethnic group. Social identity conveys belonging of the individual to different social categories and the value as well as emotional significance of this membership. We have sought to explain how the processes of social categorization, inand out-group identification and social comparison predetermine the direction of the acculturation process and hence the intercultural interaction and wellbeing of the youth from immigrant backgrounds in Germany. Results indicated that immigrants who have more identified themselves with dominant society have expressed the strong preference to integration strategies. The immigrants that had a high degree of ethnic identification have expressed the low preference to the integration as well to marginalization and assimilation. In its turn, the powerful feeling of belonging to an ethnic group and attitude towards the group promotes immigrants segregation choice.