We would not expect any near End of Science. Examples from quantum mechanics, elementary particles, cosmology, all them teach us that a particular method can reach the end of its productivity and/or utility but at the same time (or with some delay) complementary methods are invented, lifting our knowledge by another step. Further, we should be prepared that less and less of Science can be directly understood by us: we must believe that artifacts created by us (mathematical description, computers) do the job of explaining Science correctly.

In the article I claim that both the described by Plato in Dialogue and the present in Aristotle’s letters χώρα are terms indicating, in principle, the identical phenomenon. The main point is the simplest, the most basic shape of materiality, which is detached from any sensual qualities and is even prior to four elements. Additionally, because of the prime nature, it was named by Aristotle: “prime matter”. In the article I advance the thesis that existence, in the area of Aristotelian philosophy, so called “prime matter” is problematic and not quite consistent with other ideas (claims) of The Philosopher. It is possible to have impression that Aristotle accuses Plato of accepting detached from sensual things, intangible ideas, whereas Aristotle himself adopts the separated from sensory matters, “immaterial” prime matter.

In the paper the subject matter and methodological status of philosophy against the background of the natural science is considered. At the point of departure, Moritz Schlick’s early account of the relation between philosophy and science is put to analysis, in which science and philosophy are rendered distinct, but reciprocally supportive domains of intellectual activity. It is argued that, if properly construed, this view is most promising and fruitful both for science and philosophy as it restores the necessary balance between science and philosophy that has been shaken as a result of the resolutions made in the most influential contemporary conceptions of science.

The main problem discussed by the author concerns a certain kind of philosophical enunciations about the role of Christian religion in European culture. The enunciations in question, though uttered by nonbelievers, consider Christian religion to be an essential and valuable element of European culture. The author tries to say whether such a view is a consistent one. He criticizes some attemps at showing its consistency and proposes an answer of his own. It reduces to accepting the moral message of Christianity and to interpreting the presence of religion in a culture not as a belief in its dogmas, but as a mere knowledge of their contents.

There are two parts in this essay - preliminary and doctrinal. In the first one, as usually, I am elaborating the crucial concepts employed in the second part: the concept of admissible action, of morally admissible action, the concept of morality. Morality, conceived in naturalistic Humean manner, is described in its three aspects - material, formal and pragmatic. This part culminates in my belief that there are no ethical universals. Sociologically: for every action there is somebody who accepts it.

In this article I try to deliberate a problem of political transformation in Poland and its present structure. My conclusion is as follows: not successes but collapseds and defeats determine the life level of every person in society, first of all. That conclusion is not a new one, but often is forgotten.

This paper is paraphrase of a classic Marx’s text. The main aim of this arcticle is to show a very basic moments in development of the thought of young Marx’s which were fundamental in forming his antiindividual and anti-liberal standpoint. I will try to explain the ways and reasons that had impact on Marx’s concept of a state in his thought and later, in 11 political philosophy of marxism.

In 2009 in nr 47 of “Edukacja Filozoficzna” was published the author’s article titled Błędność ontologiczna samobójstwa {Ontological mistake of suicide'). In the next number of the periodical Andrzej Stępnik published polemics. In the present article the author replies to the objections. The basic theses from the first article go as follows: 1. When a being does not exist, the fulfillment of its needs is indefinable. So annihilation may not be a way to improve the state of a being. 2. An improvement may be obtained only if the being exist. So any action which effect is to be useful after a being’s death may not fulfill the being’s needs. The most important Stępnik’s argument contains the example of a man that feels pleasure when he decides to commit suicide. The example forces the author to specify the thesis. He finds a difference between objectual and subjectual rationality. A decision is rational in the objectual sense when the purpose of it fulfills a being’s needs. A decision is rational in the subjectual sense when the act of making it is useful to fulfill the being’s needs even if the purpose is neutral. Finally the author claims that suicide is objectually irrational but may be rational subjectually.

The methods of the Workshops in Philosophical Investigations are often identified with the Socratic Method. It is a plausible comparison but only up to a certain point. Its plausibility is the topic of this paper. I analyse both methods in the light of their relationship to dialogue, and I show the differences between them. The Socratic conversation is not fully dialogical. The leader of the philosophical workshop does not enter into dialogue with the participants. His or her task is to create good conditions for bringing about dialogue. However, Workshops in Philosophical Investigations and the Socratic Method have the same purpose, namely to encourage the participants to undertake profound reflection that will induce intellectual and moral independence. Also they possess common means for achieving this purpose, i.e., raising questions.

The mystical writings of saint Bonaventure are didactic texts. What is more, the author uses in them profusely mnemotechnical tricks. In my article I show examples of the use by him of this art, such as schemes orders, mental images, “hooks” and stories. At the end I suggest some conclusions about the meaning and use of mnemotech- nique in didactics within the philosophical education.

Philosophy is no quiet wisdom, but arouses strong emotions and divides into opposing camps. In history there have been major philosophical schools, but great friendships between philosophers have been rare. Jaspers and Heidegger met in 1920 at Husserl’s and for several years were friends and nurtured hopes of a cooperative of the philosophy. Despite the diversity of their ways of thinking, the relationship lasted until 1933 and fell apart when Heidegger turns to the natiobal socialism. In all these years Jaspers perceived Heidegger more and more as a philosophical opponent and had subjected his personality and his way of thinking of a sharp criticism. This ctiticism, in cluded in Notizen zu Martin Heidegger, was released 1978, only after the death of both of them, could be summarized as “uncommunicative, unworldly, godless”. Despite the negative assessment of his thought Jaspers felt a deep connection with Heidegger, almost an admiration for him, whom he regarded as one of the greatest contemporary philosophers.

In The Second Sex Simone de Beauvoir outlines the historical, social and biological picture of the contemporary woman on the basis of sartrean existentialism. Based on the number of historical and literary sources, the author presents an ontological and social situation of women. She also shows women's involvement in the relationships with others, especially with men. In order to do so she uses sartrean category of Other and Hegel's category of master-slave relationship. According to Beauvoir woman is the Absolute Other, who. agreed to her supine position in relation with Self. At the same time Beauvoir indicates the chance to form an equal relationship between the sexes. She shows the way out of sartrean solipsism, gives a chance for love and freedom in relationships between individuals. Author's writings are to be recognized directly inspired by Sartre's ontology. But the author proposes a number of new, specific solutions. What is more Sartre's philosophy has evolved under the influence of Beauvoir's conceptions. Their conceptions should not be considered in isolation because these are the complementary concepts

The essay Heideggerean inspirations in the Existential Analysis of Ludwig Binswanger is the attempt to investigate the influence of Heidegger’s thought on Binswanger’s work. When we consider terms used by Heidegger in Being and Time and the same terms applied by Binswanger in his works, it becomes clear that very often they have utterly different, sometimes even opposite meanings. It seems that Binswanger either didn’t understand Heidegger, or intentionally used his conceptual framework for his own purposes. Binswanger is thought of as the pioneer of existential psychiatry based of Existential Analysis of Heidegger. However, even without knowing Binswanger’s writings, we may expect that applying Heidegger’s thought to any of psychiatric theories must prove impossible. The two conceptual horizons are incompatible in various ways. Enough to say that what psychiatry defines as coexisting with others in the social world, mentally healthy person, for Heidegger is nothing but fallen “toward the world”, existing in an inauthentic mode of being, Dasein.

Przełożył: Sławomir Stasikowski