Poznań Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities – serie

This book is a collection of essays whose topics center around relations between analytic metaphysics and modern physical theories. The contributions to the volume cover a broad spectrum of issues, ranging from metaphysical implications of selected physical theories (quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, general relativity, string theory etc.), to specific problems in scientifically-oriented analytic metaphysics, such as the problem of emergence and reduction, the part-whole relation, and the question of objecthood, properties and individuality on the fundamental level of reality. The authors of the contributions are philosophers of science, physicists and metaphysicians of international renown, and their work represents the cutting edge in modern metaphysics of physical sciences.Contributors are: Tomasz Bigaj, Jessica Bloom, Nazim Bouatta, Jeremy Butterfield, Adam Caulton, Dennis Dieks, Mauro Dorato, Michael Esfeld, Steven French, Andreas Hüttemann, Marek Kuś, Douglas Kutach, Vincent Lam, Olimpia Lombardi, Kerry McKenzie, Thomas Møller-Nielsen, Matteo Morganti, Ioan Muntean, Dean Rickles, Antonio Vassallo, Jessica Wilson, Christian Wüthrich

The problem of the limits of science is twofold. First, there is the problem of demarcation, i.e., the boundaries or “barriers” between what is science and what is not science. Second, there is the problem of the ceiling of scientific activity, which leads to the “confines” of this human enterprise. These two faces of the problem of the limits — the “barriers” and the “confines” of science — require a new analysis, which is the task of this book. The authors take into account the Kantian roots but they are focused on the current stage of the philosophical and methodological analyses of science. This vision looks to supersede the Kantian approach in order to reach a richer conception of science.

This book highlights the legacy of the Lvov-Warsaw School in broadly understood contemporary philosophy of language. Fundamental methodological issues, important topics in syntax, semantics and pragmatics (such as modern Categorial Grammar, theories of truth, game-theoretical semantics, and argumentation theory) are tracked down to their origins in the Lvov-Warsaw School, and – the other way round – modern renderings of the ideas expressed by Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz, Tadeusz Kotarbiński, Stanisław Leśniewski, Jan Łukasiewicz, Alfred Tarski, Kazimierz Twardowski, and other members of the School are presented. Among contributors there are philosophers, logicians, formal linguists and other specialists from France, Italy, Poland, and Spain.

Philosophy was always outstretched between mythos and logos. In different historical periods the proportions between these two constituents of philosophical thought were shaped differently. Papers gathered in this book examine these two poles of philosophical thinking treated not in oppositional, but in supplementary way.This volume explores the dynamic interplay between rational inquiry and mythical imagination in the philosophical thought of Francesco Coniglione. It presents a collection of essays that engage directly with his ideas by expanding and reinterpreting them in creative ways. Drawing on traditions from Plato to Popper and from Cassirer to Fleck, contributors examine how philosophical knowledge is shaped not only by explicit concepts and theories but also by semiotic structures, such as myths, metaphors, and parables, that underlie human understanding. The volume is structured around two complementary poles: the rational foundations of philosophy and its mythic dimensions. Some essays engage with critical realism, idealisation, and the epistemological legacy of the Milan School, while others wrestle with the social and institutional milieux of science including reflections on artificial intelligence and academic culture. It is through this rich dialogue that the book’s contributions reveal how Coniglione’s work bridges analytic rigor with cultural depth to offer a holistic vision of knowledge. This volume is essential reading for scholars interested in the intersection of philosophy, science, and society, and for those seeking to understand how myth and reason continue to shape our intellectual ecosystem. – Joseph Ulatowski, University of Waikato, New Zealand

Philosophical work can be analyzed from two points of view, the historical and the systematic one. Papers gathered in this book examine the work of Francesco Coniglione from these two poles of philosophical analysis. From the historical point of view, the contributors ask what Coniglione meant when he made certain statements. From the systematic point of view, a given statement is ascribed a particular meaning because it provides the answer to the interpreter’s questions, which are culturally significant for the interpreter himself and the society he is living in.This volume gathers work that highlights the interpretive dimensions of philosophical inquiry by focusing on historical and systematic interpretation in the corpus of Francesco Coniglione. While historical interpretation seeks to reconstruct an author’s original intent within its biographical and cultural context, systematic interpretation reconfigures philosophical ideas in light of contemporary concerns, thereby emphasising logical coherence and relevance over fidelity to historical events. Through this lens, the volume examines enduring debates and illustrates how divergent interpretive approaches yield contrasting philosophical insights. The essays are organised into two parts. In the first part, contributions address the historical contexts of philosophy, and in the second contributors show how cultural and social frameworks shape philosophical reflection. Coniglione’s work, as you may expect, remains a guiding presence, and his works inspire discussions across epistemology, ontology, science studies, and the history of Polish analytic philosophy. This volume – which also contains a rich and analytical discussion by Francesco Coniglione of the included contributions, which deepens and further enriches the framework of his thought – invites readers to consider how interpretation itself becomes a philosophical act, one that bridges past and present, author and reader, reason and myth. It is an essential companion for scholars interested in the evolving methods of philosophical analysis and the cultural embeddedness of philosophical thought. – Joseph Ulatowski, University of Waikato, New Zealand

This volume rethinks debates about reason's universality and relativity by foregrounding its inherent locality. Rather than seeing reason as either universally valid or irreducibly relative, the book explores how rationality is always shaped by different contexts, drawing on vast research from metaphysics to economy. Through diverse case studies and theoretical analyses, the contributors argue that understanding reason’s localized forms reveals new possibilities for philosophy, challenging traditional dichotomies and opening paths toward a more nuanced conception of rationality.

The aim of this book is to present essays centered upon the subjects of Formal Ontology and Logical Philosophy. The idea of investigating philosophical problems by means of logical methods was intensively promoted in Torun by the Department of Logic of Nicolaus Copernicus University during last decade. Another aim of this book is to present to the philosophical and logical audience the activities of the Torunian Department of Logic during this decade. The papers in this volume contain the results concerning Logic and Logical Philosophy, obtained within the confines of the projects initiated by the Department of Logic and other research projects in which the Torunian Department of Logic took part.

Epistemology had to come to terms with “the social” on two different occasions. The first was represented by the dispute about the epistemological status of the “social” sciences, and in this case the already well established epistemology of the natural sciences seemed to have the right to dictate the conditions for a discipline to be a science. But the social sciences could successfully vindicate the legitimacy of their specific criteria for scientificity. More recently, the impact of social factors on the construction of our knowledge (including scientific knowledge) has reversed, in a certain sense, the old position and promoted social inquiry to the role of a criterion for evaluating the purport of cognitive (including scientific) statements. But this has undermined the traditional characteristics of objectivity and rigor that seem constitutive of science. Moreover, in order to establish the real extent to which social conditionings have an impact on scientific knowledge one must credit sociology with a sound ground of reliability, and this is not possible without a preliminary “epistemological” assessment. These are some of the topics discussed in this book, both theoretically and with reference to concrete cases.

The book is a collection of the author’s selected works in the philosophy and history of logic and mathematics. Papers in Part I include both general surveys of contemporary philosophy of mathematics as well as studies devoted to specialized topics, like Cantor's philosophy of set theory, the Church thesis and its epistemological status, the history of the philosophical background of the concept of number, the structuralist epistemology of mathematics and the phenomenological philosophy of mathematics. Part II contains essays in the history of logic and mathematics. They address such issues as the philosophical background of the development of symbolism in mathematical logic, Giuseppe Peano and his role in the creation of contemporary logical symbolism, Emil L. Post's works in mathematical logic and recursion theory, the formalist school in the foundations of mathematics and the algebra of logic in England in the 19th century. The history of mathematics and logic in Poland is also considered.This volume is of interest to historians and philosophers of science and mathematics as well as to logicians and mathematicians interested in the philosophy and history of their fields.

Philip Kitcher is among the key philosophers of science of our times. This volume offers an up to date analysis of his philosophical perspective taking into account his views on scientific realism and democratic society. The contributors to the volume focus on four different aspects of Kitcher’s thought: the evolution of his philosophy, his present views on scientific realism, the epistemological analysis of his modest (“real” or “piecemeal”) realism, and his conception of scientific practice. In the final chapter, the philosopher replies to his critics. The volume will be of interest to philosophers as well as anyone interested in the relation between science and society.

The volume addresses a problem rarely discussed by philosophers – the question of provincialism in science (in the broadest sense of the term). There are only a few great centers of science, which attract funding and provide almost ideal opportunities for research and development. They also attract some of the best researchers. Some – but not all. For a variety of reasons, some of the best researchers, or ones who have that potential, may do science outside these centers, in the provinces. The volume is devoted to the problems they face. What is an intellectual province? Who are the provincial thinkers? What is the mark of provincialism? Do provincial (or central) thinkers have any special duties? Are there ways of overcoming one’s own provincialism? The authors address these questions across different disciplines, cultures, locations and time periods.