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In Physics II.8 Aristotle claims that the type of necessity found in natural processes is not simple necessity as the ancient physicalists maintained, but hypothetical necessity. The article first considers the textual context within which this issue arises. Then it examines two basic elements of Aristotle’s conceptual apparatus, nature and necessity. It considers his understanding of nature as an...
The focus of this article is on the conformity of quality of life indicators reformed by the institutions of the European Union with the concept of sustainable development. The reform was launched in 2009 under the title GDP and beyond – Measuring progress in a changing world. The issue is presented from the perspective of conclusions drawn on the basis of philosophical analysis of the problems we...
W pracy przedstawiamy modele kosmologiczne kosmogenezy kwantowej. Wszechświat powstaje w nich na drodze pewnego mechanizmu kwantowego. W pracy wskazujemy też na różne ontologie terminu ex nihilo stosowanego przez fizyków proponujących modele kosmogenezy kwantowej. Za każdym razem wskazujemy, że owo „nic” jest „czymś”: a to punktem w podejściu S. Hawkinga, zbiorem pustym w interpretacji G. McCabe’a,...
Celem artykułu jest odpowiedź na pytanie o obecność koncepcji naturalnego prawa permisywnego w twórczości Pawła Włodkowica, krakowskiego filozofa, prawnika i dyplomaty. Cel ten zrealizowany jest w dwóch krokach: w pierwszej kolejności, omówiono krótką historię permisywnego prawa natury w tradycji średniowiecznej oraz nakreślono historyczny kontekst, w którym Paweł Włodkowic opracował swoją teorię...
W artykule przedstawiono refleksje i spostrzeżenia współczesnego polskiego teologa, historyka sztuki i poety Janusza Stanisława Pasierba (1929−1993) na temat relacji Bóg – człowiek. Rejestrowaną przez niego na kartach swoich dzieł, zwłaszcza poetyckich, historię spotkań Boga z jednostką ludzką, odejść, powrotów, nawiedzeń, nagłych rewelacji i iście medytacyjnych skupień, można postrzegać w kategoriach...
Artykuł jest próbą wyjaśnienia kategorii formy logicznej użytej przez Ludwiga Wittgensteina w "Traktacie logiczno-filozoficznym" za pomocą pojęć zaczerpniętych z "Monadologii" Gottfrieda Wilhelma Leibniza. Pomiędzy oboma dziełami zachodzą liczne podobieństwa oraz analogie, a kluczowe jest dla nich pojęcie tego, co wewnętrzne, i uznanie ważności rozważań nad podstawowymi kategoriami...
W czasach obecnych, kiedy kwestionuje się modlitwę, wskazując że nie ma ona sensu, gdy rozpatruje się ją, mając na uwadze istotę człowieka, autor artykułu stara się pokazać, czym jest modlitwa dla człowieka, biorąc pod uwagę właściwe rozumienie osoby ludzkiej, tak jak jest ona ukazana w dziełach Karola Wojtyły, Romano Guardiniego i Richarda Schaefflera. Osoba ludzka, posiadając godność absolutną,...
Catholic sexual ethics proposes a number of exceptionless moral norms. This distinguishes it from theories which deny the possibility of any exceptionless moral norms (e.g. the proportionalist approach proposed in the aftermath of "Humanae Vitae" and condemned in "Veritatis Splendor"). I argue that Catholic teaching on sexual ethics refers to chosen physical structures in such...
The article focuses on the difference between murder or suicide and the act of martyrdom. The arguments refer to John Paul II’s teaching on absolute moral norms and John Finnis’ theory of basic human goods. The core of the text is a discussion with the approach of Finnis who claims that a martyr merely accepts her own death as a side-effect of her other intentional action; the discussion is based...
I start off with what the American Sociologist Robert Bellah and the Canadian Philosopher Charles Taylor call ‘Expressive Individualism’, and which they present as the default lifestyle of our time, especially in the West. I give some examples and then ask about the origin of this lifestyle. I first trace this back to the cult of the artist revered as a ‘genius’, which flourished during the 19th-century;...
The central metaethical contention of "Veritatis Splendor" is that an indispensable element of any plausible conception of moral agency must always be a specific notion of a moral act – an act executed by a moral agent. In my paper I focus on the way in which the interpretation of a moral act as a specific enterprise fully identifiable and determined by its clearly outlined aim (the object...
This article deals with the “is” – “ought” question in the Thomist natural law tradition. The 20th century revival of natural law theory, in jurisprudence and political theory, has placed its foundations under scrutiny. Do principles of natural law depend on conceptions of human nature? If so – how? Two central claims are made in this article. First, I put forth that there is no obvious position...
Having set out in some detail the central teaching of the encyclical “Veritatis Splendor” – on exceptional moral norms – this paper outlines some of the preparatory work done by the International Theological Commission in a document which, though adopted with virtual unanimity by the Commission, remains unpublished because it so closely preceded the encyclical. In a third section, the paper recalls...
John Paul II’s encyclical Veritatis Splendor continues to proffer a dynamic and relevant contribution to the ethical discourse surrounding just peacemaking. Concerning the human phenomena of organized violent conflict, this article explores the textual and philosophical resources advocating restraint and recognition within Veritatis Splendor. It investigates how these two concepts might be understood...
The present article is the first part of a paper that was delivered, in an abbreviated form, as keynote address, December 16, at the Conference “Ethics of Moral Absolutes Twenty years after 'Veritatis Splendor', Warsaw 16th–17th December 2013. Containing the word truth in its name, the Encyclical insists that human freedom is based on the foundation of truth. Therefore, even though the judgment of...
This paper investigates the claim that developments in biological sciences require us to abandon the account of moral norms advanced by natural law theory and to embrace some version of evolutionary ethics. A brief sketch of a contemporary statement of evolutionary ethics is followed by a consideration of the two fundamental ways in which it opposes the natural law account. Both of these objections...
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