Войцех Джедушицький – львівський піонер сучасних досліджень когнітивної психології. (Wojciech Dzieduszycki – lviv pioneer of contemporary research on cognition.)

В. Дідушицький розглядав реальність світу як першопочаткову ідею для аналізу пізнання, і визначав пізнання як вторинне поле реальності. Він стверджував, що ми пізнаємо тільки явища речей - так звані сенсорні дані - через призму наших відчуттів. Він, однак, не заперечує існування базисних передумов цих явищ. Говорячи про реальність, він мав на увазі те, що зазвичай розуміється під цим терміном. Обмежуючи реалізм пізнання контекстом феноменалізму, В.Дідушицький визначав свою теорію пізнання у руслі непрямого реалізму, однак він не заперечував, що ми можемо здобувати елементарні та специфічні знання. Таким чином, він поєднав арістотелівський реалізм із сучасною критикою пізнання декартово-кантівськоїпарадигми. (W. Dzieduszycki accepted the reality of the world at the starting point for reflections on cognition, and recognised cognition as a field secondary to the reality. He claimed that we cognise only the phenomena of things - so called sensory data - through our sensation. He did not, however, deny the existence of the basis of these phenomena. Declared that speaking of reality he is referring to what is commonly meant by this term. Limiting the realism of cognition to phenomenalism, Dzieduszycki placed his theory of cognition in the sphere of indirect realism, he did not deny, however, the belief that we are able to acquire common and necessary knowledge. Thus he combined Aristotelian realism with modern criticism of cognition in the Cartesian-Kantian paradigm.

Young and Older Farmers’ Perception and Assessment of Government Agricultural Agencies in Poland

This article attempts to determine significance of differences among young and older farmers’ judgments on selected performance aspects of two EU paying agencies in Poland, namely Agency for Restructuring and Modernization of Agriculture (ARMA) and Agricultural Market Agency (AMA). The survey across Poland was conducted in late 2006 on a total of 194 respondents. The Likert-scale questionnaires were used to obtain data responses regarding the performance of the agencies. The sampling unit was the individual farm, the respondent being the person in charge of managing the farm and being customer of both agencies. The following hypotheses were set up for the study: 1. The young and older farmers’ perceptions of the government agencies impact on economic situation of agricultural holding are not significantly different; 2. The perceptions of young and older farmers of the government agencies’ role performance are not significantly different. These hypotheses have been empirically tested using the Z-test. Hypothesis no 2 was rejected for two agencies whereas Hypothesis no 1 was rejected for one agency (AMA). Study reveals that both young and older respondents are more familiar with ARMA (responsible, among others, for the direct payments to farmers) than with AMA (responsible for market measures). The overall results of the present study suggest that on average Polish young farmers are more knowledgeable about Government agencies and more critical of the agencies performance than older farmers. Consequently, policy makers, Government and its agencies should more carefully look into some problems facing young people in Polish farming.Government agencies, farmers, Poland, Agricultural and Food Policy,

Do Cooperative Banks Really Serve Agricultural Sector in Poland?

The aim of the paper is to assess the potential of cooperative banks for serving agricultural sector in Poland and to identify the areas with the most development potential. We discuss the transformation process in the cooperative banking system under market economy, and in particular investigate importance of cooperative banks for farms' financing on the basis of our survey of banks. Moreover, the role of cooperative banks in transmission of Government policy supporting farm sector in Poland is discussed. We find that despite growing competition from the commercial banking sector, farms and rural households in Poland are still of major importance for the cooperative banks in Poland.cooperative banks, agricultural sector, Poland, Agricultural Finance, G21, O18, Q14,

Information, consequentiality and credibility in stated preference surveys: A choice experiment on climate adaptation

Information provided in valuation surveys has been shown to afect stated preferences, which in turn may matter for the validity and reliability of survey-based value estimates. Although information efects are widely documented in stated preference studies, the reasons underlying the efects are less established. We focus on information about the policy context of the valuation scenario and examine two pathways which may help explain how including such information in a survey afects stated preferences. We hypothesize and empirically analyze whether the information efects on stated preferences can emerge as a result of changed perceptions about (1) the survey consequentiality and (2) the credibility of the valuation scenario upon facing the additional information. Our results confrm that the frequently found information efects can be present in the context of urban green and climate adaptation. The role of the additional information appears to be negligible for consequentiality perceptions. In contrast, the additional information strengthens the perceived credibility, and this may partially explain the information efects on stated preferences. We conclude that stated preference research may beneft from an increased attention to perceived credibility of the valuation scenario

Poprawność motywacyjna w metodach wyceny opartych na preferencjach deklarowanych

Rozprawa składa się z ośmiu artykułów naukowych poświęconych tematyce ujawniania prawdziwych preferencji w ankietach wyceny stosujących metody preferencji deklarowanych. Zaprezentowane artykuły wykorzystują szerokie spektrum podejść badawczych w celu analizy zagadnienia. Obejmują one dogłębny przegląd literatury empirycznie weryfikującej poprawność oszacowań pochodzących z metod preferencji deklarowanych, model teoretyczny obrazujący znaczenie warunku konsekwencyjności, a także badania laboratoryjne i terenowe, które skupiają się na poszczególnych aspektach poprawności motywacyjnej ankiet. Pierwsze cztery artykuły koncentrują się wokół kwestii konsekwencyjności. Kolejne cztery dotyczą formatu pytań wykorzystywanych do zbierania informacji o preferencjach respondentów. Główne pytanie badawcze, leżące u podstaw każdego z artykułów, to, czy, a jeśli tak, to w jaki sposób, metody oparte na preferencjach deklarowanych mogą dawać prawidłowe oszacowania faktycznych wartości dóbr nierynkowych

Wychowanie oparte na wartościach chrześcijańskich jako odpowiedź na poczucie kryzysu sensu we współczesnym świecie

There is an increasing sense of the loss of any meaning, including its most dangerous (from the individual and social point of view) form – the loss of sense of meaning of the individual life. The goal of this article is to indicate the pedagogical concept, practical application of which in the upbringing of young people would prevent certain individual from the loss of the meaning of life and to indicate to others the infallible path towards rediscovery of such a meaning. Such pedagogy is built upon the philosophy of man as a person i.e. the physical – spiritual being. Such a being in its essence is a being asking about the meaning of itself and its proper actions. It is also a being, which ontological structure is not satisfied with temporary (horizontal) meanings and goals but is searching for the meaning transcending its accidental nature. It is searching for the transcendental meaningfulness. Such meaningfulness can be provided only by such a being in which the accidental nature of the human being is anchored i.e. the absolute Being – God. Thanks to the integral concept of the meaning of life in Christianity, the upbringing based on the values embedded in this religion, it does not stop at indicating the absolute meaning of life but it connects it with the ethically just meanings – purposes realized in everyday life.We współczesnym świecie coraz bardziej powszechne staje się poczucie utraty wszelkiego sensu, w tym najgroźniejsze dla życia indywidualnego i społecznego – poczucie utraty sensu własnego życia. Celem artykułu jest wskazanie, według jakiej koncepcji pedagogicznej należałoby wychowywać młodych ludzi, aby jednych powstrzymać od utraty żywionego przez nich sensu życia na ludzką miarę, a innym wskazać niezawodną drogę do odnalezienia tego sensu. Taka pedagogika powinna być nabudowana na filozofii człowieka jako bytu osobowego, a więc cielesno-duchowego. Taki byt ze swej istoty jest bytem pytającym o sens siebie i sens swoich działań. Jednocześnie jest bytem, którego struktura ontyczna nie zadowala się sensami–celami doraźnymi (horyzontalnymi), lecz poszukuje sensu przekraczającego jego przygodność bytową. Poszukuje sensu transcendentnego. Taki sens może zapewnić tylko taki byt, w którym została zakotwiczona przygodność bytowa człowieka, czyli Byt absolutny – Bóg. Dzięki integralnemu pojmowaniu sensu życia przez chrześcijaństwo, w wychowaniu opartym na wartościach zakotwiczonych w tej religii nie poprzestaje się na wskazywaniu absolutnego sensu życia, lecz łączy się go z godziwymi etycznie celami–sensami realizowanymi w życiu codziennym

Will a government find it financially easier to neutralize a looming protest if more groups are involved?

We study a policy response to an increase in post-merger social stress. If a merger of groups of people is viewed as a revision of their social space, then the merger alters people’s comparators and increases social stress: the social stress of a merged population is greater than the sum of the levels of social stress of the constituent populations when apart. We use social stress as a proxy measure for looming social protest. As a response to the post-merger increase in social stress, we consider a policy aimed at reversing the negative effect of the merger by bringing the social stress of the merged population back to the sum of the pre- merger levels of social stress of the constituent populations when apart. We present, in the form of an algorithm, a cost-effective policy response which is publicly financed and does not reduce the incomes of the members of the merged population. We then compare the financial cost of implementing such a policy when the merger involves more or fewer groups. We show that the cost may fall as the number of merging groups rises

Gender differentiation in risk-taking behavior: On the relative risk aversion of single men and single women

We relate an observed difference between single men (SM) and single women (SW) in attitudes towards risk to the higher value assigned to social status by SM than by SW. In the marriage market, low status carries a harsher penalty for SM than for SW because when selecting a partner, the social status of a man is more important to a woman than the social status of a woman is to a man. Correlating social status with relative wealth, we show how intensified distaste at experiencing low relative wealth reduces relative risk aversion