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The Wonders of the World and the Wonder of Man: Sophocles’ Ode to Man in Hegel, Heidegger, and Jonas
(Wydział Filozoficzny UAM, 2024-12-21) Wilford, Paul; Anderson, Nicholas; Loebs, John
This article brings Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Martin Heidegger, and Hans Jonas into conversation about man’s relationship to nature on the basis of their references to the “Ode to Man” from Sophocles’ Antigone. Hegel’s reference to the ode in his Naturphilosophie highlights the violence of man’s practical relation to nature even as it also points beyond all opposition to a philosophic relation that discerns man’s underlying unity with nature. By stressing that the ode’s evocation of man’s violence against nature is undergirded by the overwhelming violence that nature perpetrates upon man, Heidegger’s Introduction to Metaphysics raises the possibility that Hegel’s “higher” relation to nature is an outgrowth of Western history’s oblivion of man’s essentially violent exposedness to being. Jonas concurs with a version of Heidegger’s concern in his Imperative of Responsibility and asserts that man’s violent mastery of nature has reached an uncanny excess that renders the ode almost quaint, but he insists above all that man must now assume the degree of responsibility that accords with his vast powers. Insofar as his exhortation to responsibility drives Jonas to a partial renewal of metaphysics, his position could be considered a retrieval of the Hegelian standpoint.
Why Turn to Hegel Today? An Introduction
(Wydział Filozoficzny UAM, 2024-12-21) Battistoni, Giulia
This brief introduction sets the stage for the central aim of this issue of Ethics in Progress devoted to Hegel: to underscore the enduring relevance of his thought, in particular his Philosophy of Nature and his Realphilosophie, in addressing contemporary challenges. While Hegel may appear to some as an abstract thinker, seemingly surpassed by the demands of our era, the core elements of his philosophy – particularly the dialectical method, his reflections on the complex relationship between Natur (nature) and Geist (spirit), and key concepts such as Anerkennung (recognition) and Wille (will) – continue to provide a vital conceptual framework for addressing pressing issues of our time. These include the environmental crisis and the evolving dynamics between humanity, nature, and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence. Consequently, this issue strives to approach Hegel through the lens of our contemporary experience, not to distort or “denaturalize” his thought, nor to fall into the trap of anachronism, but to breathe new life into the concept. By doing so, it invites the reader to listen anew to what Hegel’s philosophy might still teach us today.
Hegel on Human Ways of Considering Nature
(Wydział Filozoficzny UAM, 2024-12-21) Palombelli, Marco
In this article I aim to show the limits of certain "ways of considering" nature, as well as the intrinsic contradictions in their modus operandi, following Hegel's analysis in the Introductions to the Encyclopaedic Naturphilosophie and the Berlin Lectures on the Philosophy of Nature. After framing the problem within the broader theme - already explored in Jena - of the relationship between nature and spirit, I will show that both the practical and the theoretical, insofar as they are founded in an original separation between man and nature, result in a subjection of the natural being to man. In order for this to be redeemed from one-sided conduct towards it, it is necessary to access through living intuition a philosophical consideration – both of the living being and of nature as a whole –, the activity of which Hegel understands as a rediscovery of the rationality of nature and its "liberation”.
Life as Paradigm of Knowledge. What Use of Hegel in the Age of the Environmental Crisis?
(Wydział Filozoficzny UAM, 2025-12-21) Achella, Stefania
This paper aims to show to what extent the normativity of organic life that emerged from the natural sciences of Hegel’s time influenced the structuring of his speculative approach. In the first part, the eighteenth-century paradigm shift in the natural sciences is investigated as marking the transition from a physics-based worldview to a biology-based one. This shift argues strongly against the reduction of nature to mechanism and provides an adequate model for analysing the functioning of all other complex systems and, above all, the functioning of reason. In the second part, the consequences of such a shift are evaluated with respect to Hegel’s idealism, especially in relation to the categories of organism and purpose. They are the core elements for understanding not only the mode of living but also that of thinking. In the last part, we identify Hegel’s philosophy as a “living ontology,” an ontology that keeps pace with reality by modifying its categories accordingly. From this point of view, Hegel’s idealism can be compatible with a new idea of the relationship between human beings and the environment, in the direction of a relational ontology. The paper then focuses on the legacy of this re-reading of Hegel’s philosophy in the contemporary debate on ecological thinking that attempts to answer the question raised in the discussion on the environmental crisis and Anthropocene.
Is a Contemporary Hegelian Philosophy of Nature Possible?
(Wydział Filozoficzny UAM, 2024-12-21) Arredondo, Xavier Aranda
Hegel’s philosophy of nature (Naturphilosophie) is impossible to separate from the rest of his system, in which nature is shown as a reflection of the idea (Idee) as presented in the logic (in the Enzyklopädie der philosophischen Wissenschaften). The system composed by logic, nature, and spirit, represents a dialectical relation in which logic as the universal, nature as the particular, and spirit as the singular, mediate through one another and develop as immanent and constitutive parts of the system as a whole. Yet, the goal of the philosophy of nature is not unrelated to a philosophy of science in the contemporary sense. The latter aims to solve (among other problems) the problem of dualism between the conceptual scheme/the world and the demarcation of science (and knowledge), where the crucial difference is that the Hegelian philosophy of nature benefits from having an answer to these in the form of the absolute idea (die absolute Idee). In a contemporary sense, the constitution of these problematics would follow an abductive reasoning where the Hegelian idea (Idee) would solve these crucial problems for philosophy of science. The following paper will attempt to provide some guiding points for such a project and suggest the assumptions necessary for its development, with the sole purpose of underscoring the similarities and differences between the Hegelian philosophy of nature and a contemporary philosophy of science.
Natural Becoming: From Bad Infinity Towards an Open Dialectic? Contemporary Issues Moving From Hegel’s Philosophy of Nature
(Wydział Filozoficzny UAM, 2024-12-21) Erle, Giorgio
In Hegel’s Philosophy, natural time is the engine of bad infinity, presenting itself through disappearance. Nevertheless, as one proceeds towards the higher levels of the realm of exteriority, this force from abstract becomes increasingly real until it becomes part of vital processes in the organized subjectivity, such as that of the living organism that “knows” and uses this becoming as a force to its advantage, e.g., in the forms of metabolism. This effective meaning of natural becoming seems to us to have been particularly highlighted in the 20th–century in the “Philosophical Biology” of Hans Jonas, whereby even the elements of failure (e.g., in the animal’s procurement of food) are grasped as expressions of a distinctive trait of the subject, namely its capacity to bear the negative and with this to establish mediation. Even the mortal limit, which is what leads to the conclusion of the Naturphilosophie requiring the elevation to the Philosophy of Spirit in Hegel, according to Jonas, takes on, within the human awareness, a renewed ontological value that allows life to flourish again and with this makes human beings able to ask themselves what kind of world they want to hand over (also with environmental regard) to future generations. If this is the case, then a role for Naturphilosophie becomes highly topical about producing an “open dialectic” invoked many times in the philosophical paths of the 20th century.
Towards (Unilateral) Recognition of “the Technological Other” – Vulnerability, Resistance and Adequate Regard
(Wydział Filozoficzny UAM, 2024-12-21) Juchniewicz, Natalia
The aim of the article is to answer the question of whether the theory of recognition can be applied to research on the human-technology relationship and, if so, to what extent. The article assumes that the theory of recognition is a normative theory, and therefore, its moral consequences can certainly be applied to human persons. To use this theory for studying the relationship between humans and technology, shifts in the theory are necessary. These shifts have been reduced to the concept of solidarity with technological artifacts (especially with robots). However, the article constructs an argument that the concepts of vulnerability and resistance may be helpful in justifying the development of recognition in the relationship between humans and technology. The model of recognition discussed in this case is not, however, a model based on mutual relations but rather on unilateral recognition, which is introduced into the theory through the concept of adequate regard.
Intelligent Will, Causality, and Action in Hegel’s Jenaer Realphilosophie 1805/06
(Wydział Filozoficzny UAM, 2024-12-21) Tereshchenko, Yuliia
This paper introduces foundational claims originating from Hegel’s Jenaer Realphilosophie 1805/6 to Hegel’s action studies. It focuses on the concept of the minded subject whose intelligent will [als Wille, der Intelligenz ist] is essential for approaching the effective agency capable of action [das Tun; die Tätigkeit] and labor [Arbeiten]. In this work, agency is initially conceptualized in terms of its self-actualization and self-objectification in external achievements. It shows that, unlike in certain neo-Hegelian considerations, the emergence of agency and the ability to act [Handlung] freely, deliberately, purposefully, and intentionally is determined by the development of the individual human mind and its explanation does not need the entire complex socio-economic apparatus related to labor [Arbeit].
Tematy dotyczące robotyki topologicznej: o złożoności topologicznej przestrzeni Eilenberga-MacLane’a i efektywnej złożoności topologicznej
(2025) Espinosa Baro, Arturo; Marzantowicz, Wacław Bolesław. Promotor; Błaszczyk, Zbigniew. Promotor pomocniczy
W przedstawionej rozprawie doktorskiej omawiany kilka dotyczących relacji pomiędzy złożonością topologiczną, kategorią sekcyjną i grupami. Merytorycznie treść pracy podzielona jest na dwa główne nurty tematyczne. W pierwszej części dysertacji, badamy zagadnienia związane z opisem złożoności topologicznej, oznaczanej przez TC, przestrzeni Eilenberga-MacLane’a. Po pierwsze wprowadzamy pojęcie kategorii sekcyjnej monomorfizmów grup jako ogólne narzędzie do badań, które pozwala też opisać postawiony pierwotnie problem. Następnie uzyskujemy uogólnienie charakteryzacji Farbera, Grant, Luptona i Oprei TC grupy w terminach odwzorowań współzmienniczych do przestrzeni klasyfikujących pełne rodziny podgrup. Używając wprowadzonych pojęć określamy kanoniczną relatywną klasę i badamy jej własności. Dodatkowo pokazujemy, że do badania secat(H -> G) można wykorzystać pojęcie kohomologii Adamsona. Kolejno, uogólniamy określenie pojęcia istotnych klas kohomologii do przypadku dowolnych monomorfizmów grup, i konstruujemy bardziej ogólną wersję ciągu spektralnego Farbera-Meschera. To ostatnie pozwala uzyskać nowe ograniczenie na secat(H -> G), które wykorzystujemy aby otrzymać nowe ograniczenie dolne na ciągową i włóknistą złożoność topologiczną. Na koniec tej części podajemy charakteryzację TC grupy G w terminach A-genusu w sensie Clapp i Puppe. W drugiej części przedstawiamy pewne własności efektywnej topologicznej złożoności w sensie Błaszczyka i Kaluby dla przestrzeni z działaniem grupy. Po pierwsze wprowadzamy pojęcie efektywnej LS-kategorii, a następnie opisujemy związki pomiędzy efektywną złożonością topologiczną, kategorią i odwzorowaniem rzutowania na przestrzeń orbit w wybranych przypadkach podając obliczenia i przykłady. Na zakończenie podajemy warunki kohomologiczne pozwalające określić w jakich przypadkach efektywna złożoność topologiczna jest niezerowa w wymiarze dwa.
In this dissertation we work on several problems concerning the relationship between topological complexity and sectional category, and groups. The work presented here can be divided in two main branches. In the first part of the thesis, we investigate topics related with the description of the topological complexity of Eilenberg-MacLane spaces. First we develop the notion of sectional category of group monomorphisms, as a more general framework of study and which contains the original problem, and we provide a generalization of a characterization from Farber, Grant, Lupton and Oprea of TC of a group in terms equivariant maps to the classifying space of full families of subgroups. We also develop a relative canonical class in this setting, and study its properties. Additionally, we introduce the notion of Adamson cohomology theory into the study of secat(H ->G). We will proceed as well to generalize the notion of essential cohomology classes to arbitrary group monomorphisms, and to build a more general version of the Farber-Mescher spectral sequence in order to get a new bound for secat(H -> G), which we will specialize to obtain new lower bounds of sequential and fiberwise TC. To finish this first part, we provide a characterization of TC of a group G in terms of the A-genus in the sense of Clapp and Puppe. In the second part, we switch our point of view, and consider, instead of K(G,1)-spaces, actions of groups over spaces, and so we investigate some properties of the effective topological complexity of Błaszczyk and Kaluba. First we develop a notion of effective LS-category, and then we observe the relationship between the effective TC and cat and the orbit map with respect to the action in some situations, giving several computations and examples. We will finish by providing cohomological arguments to determine cases in which such effective TC is non-zero in dimension two.
The role of noun termination in grammatical gender assignment in Polish: A psycholinguistic study
(Harrassowitz Verlag, 2023-12-20) Długosz, Kamil
Previous research has shown that speakers of a variety of languages benefit from formal gender cues, e.g. word ending, when assigning grammatical gender to nouns. However, the extent to which Polish speakers compute gender based on such cues has not yet been examined. Therefore, the goal of this study was to investigate the role of noun termination in gender assignment in Polish on psycholinguistic grounds. The paper reports on a timed Gender Decision Task which was carried out with 24 adult native speakers of Polish. Participants responded significantly faster to gender-transparent than to gender-opaque feminine nouns. However, no effect of noun termination was observed for masculine and neuter nouns. The results provide psycholinguistic evidence that the ending -a constitutes the strongest gender cue that Polish speakers can depend on when assigning gender to nouns, arguably because it is the only noun ending that shows high availability and reliability in parallel.