Philosophy within the contemporary practice of American medicine. Various forms of the relationship between both disciplines: Edmund D. Pellegrin's approach

The paper presented here illustrates the issue of philosophy within the contemporary practice of American medicine. Four forms of relationship between both disciplines will be discussed: philosophy and medicine, philosophy within medicine, medical philosophy, and philosophy of medicine. The aim of the paper is to illustrate the specificity of the proposed forms of relationship, i.e. the contrast between the autonomous approach of the both disciplines and the realistic philosophy of medicine promoted by Edmund D. Pellegrin, which closely links the issue of the nature and theory of medicine with the undertaking of philosophical reflection. The issue of the topicality of Edmund D. Pellegrin's philosophy of medicine in the context of the current challenges of American health care will also be discussed.

The Philosophical Lineage of Mr. Cogito (part 3)

The third part of the article is focused on the interpretation of a well-known poem by Zbigniew Herbert, “The Message of Mr. Cogito”. The rhetorical figure, the golden fleece of nothingness, has been interpreted in the context of Meister Eckhart’s apophatic theology, as well as the phenomenology of Bertrand Welte. Since nothingness has been described by the predicate of the golden fleece, it paradoxically comes across as something that is. The golden fleece, in turn, alludes to the ancient Greek poem by Apollonius of Rhodes, in which it became a reward for the Argonauts’ virtue of courage in their fight against evil. In the ancient myths of Hellas, the golden fleece is also a symbol of divine providence and protection. Therefore nothingness, described in the poem by the predicate of the golden fleece, does not have to mean non-existence, or mere nothing, but it can point to reality which transcends the limits of human language and as such, it can be described merely in the terms of apophatic theology. For B. Welte, on the other hand, nothingness exists in the consciousness of Dasein as the inevitability of death and its ontological status is ambiguous. This is because nothingness exists as something that is. Since Dasein intends to endow his/her being-here with meaning by following the rules of ethics, the only guarantee of their rightfulness is nothingness understood as the mystery of transcendence.

Stanisław Leśniewski’s understanding of the role of formal language of mathematics

Formalism used by Leśniewski to present mathematical theory is called a radical one. According to the author, it is the implementation of the postulates of the so-called formal arithmeticians. Mathematical theory is presented as a pure game of formulas devoid of content. It is governed by the precise rules described in the metalanguage. The author stresses the difference between Leśniewski’s and Hilbert’s mathematical approaches.

The Philosophical Lineage of Mr. Cogito (part 2)

The article constitutes the second part of a larger paper concerning the philosophical heritage of Mr. Cogito, the lyrical subject of Zbigniew Herbert’s poems. The self-consciousness of the title character is formed, quite like in P. Ricoeur’s hermeneutics of existence, in relation to the sphere of history and culture, as well as to the other. Mr. Cogito, when confronted with the war and annihilation, cannot simply use the Cartesian deductive method of reasoning in order to intelligibly prove the existence of God and an immortal soul. Therefore, he refers in his philosophical thinking not merely to rationalism, but also to symbol, which more profoundly than ratio describes the nature of his existence. When challenged by boundary situations, he unsuccessfully attempts to find consolation in the Upanishads, Stoicism, or the wisdom of Chasidism. His attitude towards the modern philosophy of nature as well as to the relative motion theory is that of a sceptic; he juxtaposes them with Aristotle’s Logic. The propensity of contemporary Western civilization to follow magic or gnosis is perceived by him as a sign of self-delusion, or even self-destruction.

Senses as a frame. Smell and post-sightedness introduction

This article is an attempt to reflect on the issue of how the senses can constitute a kind of frame for the interpretation of reality, as well as an introduction to the concept of post-sightedness, related to the redirection of vision to other senses.

Reference frameworks in transactional analysis

The presence of reference frameworks in psychology is complemented by the existence of this concept in transactional analysis. In their current understanding, they are the structure of interrelated responses from the integrated ego-state to specific stimuli. Reference frameworks provide an individual with the opportunity to develop a general perceptual, intellectual and emotional system that influences his behaviour. They constitute a system used to define oneself, other people and the world. The system of reference is present in the individual’s script, his psychological games and transactions. As far as transactions are concerned, they are often tangential, blocking, or refracted. Apart from individual reference frameworks, transactional analysis is interested in their broader social and cultural contexts, which constitute their subsystem functioning as a source of identity. It reveals itself during intercultural exchanges or confrontations. Reference frameworks, being a kind of a window to the world, influence interpersonal relations and the links that exist within them

The frame thinking, i.e. the individual – but generalized – thought experiment supported by participant observation

The essay presents an outline of the arguments for relativistic theses. Theses: about the theoretical incommensurability and undetermined translation interpreted in ethnic languages (Polish and Swahili). I justify the statement that the conceptual framework of individual languages – by analogy – to the analysed examples are mutually and fundamentally untranslatable. Untranslatable, at least concerning the fundamentally different cultural traditions characterizing the civilization of writing versus oral culture. I also indirectly justify the legitimacy of questioning the linear concept of development based on the involuntary acceptance in the humanities and social sciences of Euclidean geometry. Consequently, the article is part of a series of publications in which I argue for the need to reconstruct fundamental epistemological categories.

Between the novel’s frame and the novel of the frame

The definition of the novel's frame has been familiar to literary researchers since the appearance structural theory. They are defined by the compositional norm or form of expression or the boundaries in which the plot is located. In all these approaches, the frame is only a reference point for artistic expression. At the same time, since the 1970s, there has been a clear turn towards autothematicism in literature, accompanied by a postmodern type of narrative, focusing on this context. The narrative itself and the narrator's self-awareness play a kind of game with the reader. From the theoretical point of view, it is the frame on which the recipient focuses. On the example of Łukasz Orbitowski's book Cult, the article shows this mechanism of shifting attention to the frame of expression.

The role of memory in human life. On the basis of the ideas of the twentieth century philosophers and thinkers

In The Sound and the Fury William Faulkner writes: “Time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops, does time come to life.” The following words relate to the role of memory frames in human life. They also begin the analysis of the ideas of twentieth and twenty-first century philosophers such as Henri Bergson, Martin Heidegger, Paul Ricoeur and David Farrell Krell. Even though there is a strict reference to the Modernist thinkers, the author goes slightly deeper, reminding earlier concepts of Plato, Socrates, Aristotle and Protagoras. The second part of the article has been devoted to the notions connected with time frames and memory such as experiencing of the passage of time, reminding, forgetting, forgiving as well as postmemory.