The current condition of philosophy as a discipline is quite problematic, in particular if we consider its relationship to other human sciences and to other disciplines in general. The philosophical debate appears fragmented, and philosophy itself has lost any specific role in the present scientific landscape. This situation determines a sort of “identity crisis”, whose main consequence is the coexistence of antinomical views about philosophy in the contemporary scientific and public discourse. Starting from this context, the paper aims at providing a description of philosophy as “theory of mediation”. This description does not want to be ‘original’, but rather tries to emphasize an element that is always been rooted in the very essence of philosophy, but that has also often been neglected. Philosophy has always pointed out the necessity to think the in-between of things, their relation and the passage from one to another, rather than just offering a taxonomy or a factual description of the world. In order to prove this point, the paper offers an analysis of some classical texts, in particular of some fragments by Heraclitus and of a passage taken from Hegel’s early writings. A view that rethinks philosophy as “mediology” allows a rehabilitation of philosophy as a specific discipline and as a systematic enterprise, at the same time providing a new framework for the understanding of the relationship between philosophy and other sciences.
The article speaks about the depiction of the basilisk found in St. Isidore’s of Seville Etymologies. The surviving description greatly influenced the information on this snake found in mediaeval bestiaries and encyclopaedias. The portrayal is a remarkable example of the gradual mythicisation of the basilisk’s features. The process was partly caused by misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the source material. The article shows how the compilation of many different sources, from many historical periods, can create an extraordinary depiction of a creature that in its early descriptions was devoid of almost all of its fantastical characteristics.
The paper aims at reviewing remarks that refer to language, being contained in the Informacya matematyczna by Wojciech Bystrzonowski. The Informacya was a popular compendium focused on dissemination of traditional natural, mathematical and technical knowledge. Nevertheless, Bystrzonowski took a keen interest in linguistic problems and therefore there are some observations in the text of his encyclopaedia on: etymology of selected toponyms, anthroponyms and appellatives, sources of borrowings, functional differentiation of the Polish language, and linguistic custom.
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