In the Shadow of Wason. Checking the Correctness of Syllogism and the Use of Material Implication

The goal of this article is to continue the reflection, present for a long time in literature, on the formalisation of conditionals using implications functor. The starting point for discussion is the analysis of logical errors made by Jagiellonian University students in a logic exam. I am specifically interested in the task of monitoring the accuracy of the syllogism, requiring the application of a rule that has the form of logical implication. The outcome of the analysis is in line with the conclusions drawn from Wason selection task experiments.

About the Exception That Became a Rule

This paper will attempt to answer the question: Why has an exceptional situation become the norm in research on inference? The exception refers to deductive inference. We start with presenting the reasons why we believe that deductive reasoning should be regarded as an exception rather than a rule. Then we move on to a two-stage attempt to answer the main question of the paper. Firstly, we look into the practical application of deductive reasoning and non-deductive models. Then, we will look into the structure of these inferences searching for features which could result in the dominance of one of them. The work will be completed by a comparison of how our knowledge of the inference has changed and what has happened over the last few years in mathematics and physics. This refers to the revival of interest in deterministic chaos.

Anomalies as a Condition of Creative Communication

Anomalies in the colloquial meaning appear as a negative and undesirable phenomena. The situation is similar in science, where they oft en appear as ominous signs of incompleteness or inappropriateness of the scientific theory. Cybernetic analysis of interpersonal communication processes and information exchange enables a different kind of a view. In the field of cybernetics communication anomalies are perceived as factors necessary for development, growth and creative change within the modeled processes

Disease – Objective Disorder of the System or a Theoretical Construct?

In this paper I refer to discussion between objectivism and constructivism in relation to the concept of disease. I am presenting the highly objective position of Boorse, pointing to its weakness that generally affects all objectivist theories, especially a problem with an indication of an objective definition of normal body function. In the end – in line with the position of the constructivists – I am questioning the possibility of disease as an objective disorder of normal body function. In the final section I propose an approach to illness, considering it as a useful heuristic in medical practice, describing essentially repetitive state of the body, which is the result of biological processes.

The Relationship between the Characteristics of the Analyzed Text and the Specific Errors in Reasoning

This article describes the relationship between the characteristis of the analyzed text and the specific errors in reasoning. Two complementary systems responsible for reasoning are activated depending on the analyzed content. Referring to Frege’s distinction of sense and reference, there were highlighted aspects of concepts, that might decide to activate the respective systems. 42 people were examined in order to assess which of the characteristics of the material causes the appearance of a bias in reasoning. Th e results indicate the importance of reference.

On some Consequences of Some Inconsistencies: the Problem of the Translation of Specialist Terminology in John Lyons Lexical Semantics

The text relates to non-coherent conceptual apparatus used in Polish translations of John Lyons’s works – Introduction to Theoretical Linguistics (1969) and Semantics 1 (1993). In particular, I am pointing at the inconsistent use of two Polish terms: “kohiponim” and “współhiponim” (in English in both cases: “co-hyponym”), as well as “odwrotność” and “konwersywność” (in English: “conversesness”). I am also discussing the imprecise use of translated terms, such as: “hypernymy”, “hyponymy” and “superordinate”.

Moral Emotions as the Basis of Moral Sensitivity. Defects of Moral Sensitivity

It is shown that, contrary to the rationalist tradition which is prevalent in philosophical ethics and to the traditional views of moral psychology, research results in the field of neuroethics suggest that the basis for moral sensitivity is constituted by certain emotions such as: blame, mercy and compassion which are classified as a special class of moral emotions. In fact, they are mainly neurophysiological processes that are launched automatically. The existence of such emotions is proved by the results of brain imagining neuropsychological experiments performed on healthy subjects as well as on lesion patients.

Cognition Finted with Emotions as a Norm of Human Functioning

There is a widely spread belief that rationality is the distinguishing characteristic of man. This study was intended to investigate whether our everyday cognitive functioning is really free from the influence of irrational factors such as emotions. It begins with an overview of research findings in the field of neuroscience showing the primacy of affect over cognition in perception. Limitations concerning conscious analysis of various activities are discussed and the ways emotions modify our cognitive processing are shown. Attention is paid to the informative function of emotions and the fact that ignoring affects allows autistic individuals to make more rational choices in specific situations than do healthy individuals. Finally, the somatic marker hypothesis is characterised as a conception that offers a holistic approach to the collaborating cognitive and affective systems.

Are Empirical Proofs of Embodied Cognition Anomalies in the Context of Classical Models of Cognition?

The article disuccusses the role played by anomalies in Kuhn’s sense in the transition from the „classical model of cognition” to the „embodied paradigm” which can recently be observed in the field of the cognitive sciences. An example of the aforementioned problem is analysed in detail: the role of empirical evidence in the dispute about the nature of conceptual representation. It is shown that evidence in favour of the „embodied” theories of concepts are not entirely conclusive and are not at all inconsistent with more „classical” theories. This example shows that empirical anomalies seem to play a lesser role than one might think in at least some of the quasi-paradigmatic and paradigmatic changes in cognitive science.

The Cognitive Approach Towards Psychometric Scales: When Difficult is Easier than Easy

Psychometric scales are used in situations in which a certain feature of the tested person cannot be measured directly, but can be estimated (as a so-called hidden – or implicit – construct or variable) on the basis of the answers to the questions (items) on a scale. The cognitive approach enables us to have a more profound insight into the psychometric measurement process which is in fact a complex process of communication between people involved in the measurement. It does not require abandoning the standard statistical methods, including Rasch procedures based on the IRT psychometric measurement theory (Item Response Theory), but enables statistics to again perform its proper role of a tool used to confirm the validity of the conclusions of the psychological examination.

Phenomenon of Bistable Perception

The article aims to draw attention to bistable perception which turns out to be a very interesting subject of experimental and theoretical discussion. This term is understood as visual perception which involves at least two interpretations of what is perceived. Research into this phenomenon provides new facts and knowledge in the field of visual perception. It Indicates that volitional influence on the perception of ambiguous figures is possible, through the influence of top-down cognitive modulation in which mainly parietal and frontal areas of the brain are involved. The results of the study constitute an important argument in the ongoing discussion on the role of sensory data and knowledge in the process of visual perception.

In the Sea of Semantic Neologisms

The article is an analysis of semantic neologisms extracted from the Culture section of Przekrój weekly. Semantic neologisms have been confronted with the definitions derived from the dictionary of Polish language and defined using cognitive methods. Most space is devoted to the adjective/adverb korzenny/korzennie (“spicy”), representing the same semantic domain. In order to determine their meaning, a radial network of the noun korzeń (“root”) was used and a contextual analysis was conducted. The following findings were reported. Semantic neologisms constitute an indispensable component of the Polish vocabulary. They are understandable for the users through the context and through the semantic link to the radial network to which they belong.

Free Will: an Anomaly in Human Action

Free will has never been a particularly atractive notion, but currently it has found itself under a particularly vicious attack coming from the natural sciences’ camp. It is claimed that this attack could be prevented if we could reject the tacit assumption that free will is a common, everyday phenomenon. Four important components of the concept of free will are distinguished and it is argued that if we conceive of free will as of an anomaly, or even a kind of a “natural miracle,” it would become possible to defend it. In the process, we can also gain better insight into what free will in fact is.

Szereszewski – Mnemonic Genius

The article describes one of the most interesting cases of mnemonic genius, Salomon Szereszewski. He was endowed with photographic memory – visual memory, characterized with remarkable clarity and durability. In addition, Szereszewski also had vast synaesthetic capabilities, consisting in joining together various sensory impressions, which also strongly infl uences better memorizing. Being equipped with such perfect memory involves, however, many consequences hindering everyday functioning. Szereszewski had great diffi culties in remembering abstract words which cannot be translated into images, and struggled with the problem of having too big amounts of unnecessary information. Szereszewski tried to invent various ways of getting rid of useless data, but attempts at forgetting anything often failed.

Intrusive Thoughts in a Healthy Population – a Norm or an Exception

Intrusive thoughts, until recently, were considered to be a phenomenon present only in mental disorders. Beginning with the pioneering research by Stanley Rachman and Padmal de Silva in 1978, researchers have turned attention to the commonness of intrusions among healthy persons. Article takes up the issue of intrusive thoughts in a normal, healthy population. The occurrence and characteristic features of intrusive thoughts are analysed, as well as factors that can affect their appearance and severity. Differences between intrusions in healthy persons and those with mental disorders are also considered.

Between Linguistic Relativism and Linguistic Universalism

The aim of this paper is to analyze two seemingly contradictory theories, namely: linguistic universalism and linguistic relativism. Undoubtedly, the variety of cultures is associated with the variety of perspectives and ways of perceiving the reality. The question that arises here, is: do we live in totally different worlds, or maybe it is justifi ed to speak about “entities” universal for each and every language? And if the answer for the second question is positive, what can we say about those universals? How do they appear? Are they a part of human mind? One of the possible solutions of this problem is based on the theory of Anna Wierzbicka, who claims that without tertium comperationis (language primitives, which are said to be universal), it would be impossible to communicate with people living in other countries. Wierzbicka’s theory seems to be the perfect compromise between the two views in question.

Hyperpolyglotes – Anomality or Effect of Hard Work – What Makes Language Geniuses so Unique?

What are the characteristic features and capabilities of hyperglots – people who speak more than six languages – that allow them to learn dozens of new languages so quickly and efficiently? Methods of learning, personality traits as well as possible neural correlates of multilingualism are compared and discussed. The main subjects of the analysis are fi ve polyglots whose biographies are fairly well-known: Jean-Francois Champollion (1790–1832), Heinrich Schliemann (1822–1890), Emil Krebs (1867–1930), Andrzej Gawronski (1885–1927) and Robert Stiller (born 1928).

Rationality as a Source of Uncertainty. On Consequences of Taking Magical Thinking as “Abnormal”

Rational thinking is limiting the scope of causal reasoning to physical reality. Magical thinking allows for the existence of causal relationships between objects of empirical experience and phenomena which cannot be known in an empirical way. In some primitive cultures as well as in childhood, rational and magical thinking coexist. One of the consequences of the currently dominant scientifi c paradigm and of the secularization of culture is that rationality is valued way higher and that magical thinking is treated as an anomaly. In the article, research results are presented that show that in eff ect, in situations of great importance, if no clear explanation can be off ered, we may experience emotional and cognitive uncertainty.

Prolegomena to the Phenomenology of Anomalies

Nowadays, phenomenology presents one of the paradigmatic ways of conducting research in the cognitive sciences. Referring to these studies and to considerations of Husserl and Merleau-Ponty, this paper makes attempts to formulate the methodological foundations for the inquiry of anomalies. Phenomenological apprehension of anomaly does not only present it as a deviation from the norm, but – highlighting the roots of anomalies in the body of the acting subject – it considers anomaly in the context of experience, world and intersubjectivity as an optimum. Thus, phenomenology allows to inquire anomalies as the „other” normality.

Absolute Pitch – Cognitive Anomaly, Exceptional Music Ability or Adaptation?

Perfect pitch is one of the most mysterious human capacities. Unfortunately, the mechanisms that allow its development are still not satisfactorily understood. For years, the perfect pitch has been considered a unique musical ability and the main causes of its inception were sought in musical activity. It has been explained by either inheritance or early learning process. Currently, when the „nature-education” problem has lost its sharpness, the interest of researchers is focusing on the problem of rare occurrence of the perfect pitch, and the observed disproportion between the incidence of this capacity in the Western and Asian populations. Th ese phenomena can be explained by the hereby proposed hypothesis of the perfect pitch as an adaptation that is related not to musicality, but to existence of a particular form of proto-language.

Mentalizing Ability and Its Relation to Schizotypy

The aim of presented study was to investigate the relationship between the schizotypal types and mentalizing ability (that is, the ability to attribute mental states to other people in order to explain and predict their behaviours). According to the previous research, both people softer from schizophrenia and high schizotypol subjects have diffi culties in mentalizing. In this study the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences and the Strange Story Test were used. Obtained results, indicating that there is no relation between schizotypal type and mentalizing are discussed in the context of the results of past research.

The Change in the Perception of Art and Architecture as a Result of Avant-garde Movement

The paper’s aim is to draw attention to perception of art and architecture in history. The quoted publications show the biological evolution and social development as the cause of change in the „visual awareness”. Th e most important stages in the development of artistic activity in the past and now highlight a departure from the classical notion of art and architectural object. Consequently, besides vision, other senses had to be involved in reading space. Selected examples of buildings represent an innovative approach of their authors, who try to aff ect the senses of the recipient in various ways. Th e paper also refers to the issue of creating descriptive models of perception for architecture, regarding the changes occurring in the latter.

Feeling of Warmth” – What Is It, Where does It Come from and Is It Worth Studying?

The goal of this article was to present the „feeling of warmth” phenomenon. It is a feeling accompanying cognitive activity which indicates that a person is making the right decision or is moving in the right direction during problem solving. Th is experience might be considered as a result of intuition as well as a special form of metacognition that enables access to implicit knowledge. Th e paper presents possible cognitive and aff ective mechanisms of “feeling of warmth” and problems connected to their interpretation and measurem

The Metaphysical Bare Substratum Theory and Investigations Concerning Visual Perception (Based on MOT Experiment in the Zenon Pylyshyn's Interpretation)

Th e paper juxtaposes the metaphysical theory of bare substrate (which is a theory of an individual object) with the results of research on visual perception – the MOT experiment and the FINST concept, by Zenon Pylyshyn, related to the experiment. Th e author points out the similarities between the theory of bare substrate and the FINST idea and then presents to what extent the MOT result might be an argument for the adequacy of the theory of bare substrate as a theory of individual object. Moreover, taking the above concepts as an example, it will be shown how metaphysical theories can be justifi ed by results of empirical research (in order to do this, some falsifi able hypotheses will be inferred from the theory of bare substrate) and how metaphysical theories can be used to interpret test results

Art(ifice) of Mind. Why Cognitive Scientists Should Consider Art?

Th e aim of this article is to present a cognitive approach towards art – from evolutional and neurobiological points of view. Th ere are described some interpretations of art: as a special kind of perception, as an adaptation and as the result of brain activity. Th is article is based on the work of Allan Snyder, Geoff rey Miller, Semir Zeki, John Tooby & Leda Cosmides. Th e core of this article is a neuroaestetics and its future implications for understanding art and creative  processes. Th ere will be also drawn some conclusions concerning an impact of sciences of art, that can be useful for mind sciences – as a multidimentional product of the brain, art can lead to better understanding of cognitive processes. Art is no longer treated (as it was in the past) as an anomaly – as a by-product of evolution. It is a way of expression of diff erent human abilities, which can serve both his and his descendants’ life. In this sense, art became something more precious than it was before. It is not only a unique creation of human, but also a key for understanding both artists and perceivers of a masterpieces.

Are Exceptionally Fragile Bones less Normal than Exceptionally Helpful Neighbour – What does it Mean To Be Normal?

Th is article presents the results of research on the concept of normality. Th e goal of the research is to identify factors aff ecting the process of classifi cation of human behaviour or features as normal. Th e collected data indicates that – in addition to the frequency of occurrence – rating the phenomenon as positive or negative is responsible for considering it as a normal or abnormal. In this article we will also show possible philosophical implications of the results. Th e study was conducted in compliance with methods of experimental philosophy.

Relational Description of Data – Study of Anomalies

This article presents the idea of a semantic dictionary and concentrates on the problem of anomalies which might appear in it. Th e existence of anomalies indicates the points of potential errors in the semantic network, thus the implementation and consequent application of an anomalies discovery algorithm, should have a positive impact on the quality of the semantic network. Th e presented problem and its solution are general, and might be applied to any knowledge source, but this work concentrates on the Polish Semantic Dictionary developed in the Computational Linguistics Department at the Jagiellonian University.

Ricoeur's “Narrative Identity” as a Medium between the Concept and the Experience of Self

By showing the inconsistencies that appear in diff erent ideas of personal identity, I would like to point out that these theories have one common denominator – they were focused on fi nding the invariable element conditioning the possibility of the concept of identity. Th is view of identity, trying to locate its base in this immutable rule can cause disagreement as how do we determine ourselfs. If we confront essentialist view of identity with variability and development of the subject, thus and therefore with the aspects of existence, such as timeliness and freedom, then  the gap between our mental representation and our real comprehention is emphasized. I call this situation a disorder coming into existence at the meeting of the objective concept and the subjective experience of self. An attempt to remove the outlined problem will be carried out by the implementation of Ricoeur’s idea of narrative identity, which might turn out to be a remedy for these discrepancies.

Grapheme-color Synesthesia – a Case Study Report

Synaesthesia had been described as early as in 1883 by Francis Galton, but until recently it was perceived merely as a subjective phenomenon impossible to study using objective methods. Th e development of neuroscience and the consciousness studies created the possibility of scientific study of this phenomenon. At present many types of synesthesia are known, and there are many theories trying to explain its mechanisms. Understanding the answer to the question of the nature of synesthesia may be faciliated by a standarized method of Synesthesia Batter Test developed by David Eagleman and his colleagues, which allows to explore synesthetic experience and compare reliable data from diff erent laboratories. Th is paper presents this method and a case of EW, experiencing the most common type of synesthesia, grapheme-color. Th is means, that when EW sees letters or numbers, she has an experience of color.