About us: The Department of the Theory of Cognition and Philosophy of Science implements a multi-year research program entitled Philosophy of the Foundations of Science.  Its strategic, long-term goal is to develop theoretical and metatheoretical foundations in the form of models (partial, due to the scope of the problem field) of cognition, in particular scientific cognition. The research also aims at presenting those aspects of cognition (or, speaking precisely, interpretations of cognition), especially in science, which are currently emerging as a result of the reconstruction of the social world. The Department also initiates and implements other research projects.

Team:

Małgorzata Czarnocka, full professor of philosophy

Research fields: philosophy of science, sociology of science, general epistemology,  among others theory of truth, of anthropology, theory of dialogue — its nature, scope and importance, epistemic and social attributes.

The main objects of the research: theory of experience in science, correspondence theory of truth, the problem of cognitive subject, reason in science and beyond it, new epistemic phenomena in today’s lifeworld, especially post-truths, ontological and related problems of virtuality.  Recent research is devoted to reason in science and beyond it.

Anna Martin, professor of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Human rationality has been the primary area of interest. Initially, it was concerned with rationality as it had been conceptualized within philosophy of science, with study of models of the development of science and the problem of the status of methodological norms and standards. Over the years, the scope of research has broadened to include all types of regulated thought and behavior. In line with a conviction that rationality does not presuppose rationalism, i.e., cannot be reduced to reasoning, deductive faculties, this has involved use of the framework of communicative rationality (Jürgen Habermas, Karl-Otto Apel), broadly conceived, and dynamic system thinking qua the so-called regulatory theory, to examine topics such as selfhood, relationality, individual and shared agency, joint action/collaboration.

Prof. Martin is willing to supervise doctoral students.

Mariusz Mazurek, dr., adjunct

The research covers two fields: (1) models and the problem of representation within the broadly understood philosophy of science, which goes beyond analytical philosophy, and (2) the philosophy of computer science, particularly artificial intelligence, virtual objects and worlds, and the era of computerization.

In the first area, the research focuses on the analysis of the representational relationship between knowledge and reality in empirical, technical, and computer sciences. It examines the differences between “imaging” the existing reality in knowledge and creating objects tailored to our cognitive images.

In the second area, the research concerns the philosophical aspects of computer science, including the ontology of virtual objects and virtual reality. Particular attention is paid to understanding how artificial intelligence and virtual technologies redefine the concepts of existence and being, as well as the ontological consequences of creating and interacting with virtual worlds and entities.

Dr Mazurek is willing to act as support supervisor for doctoral students.