Katarzyna Gan-Krzywoszynska

The aim of our paper is twofold. Firstly, very original approach to the question of victims elaborated very thoroughly by Reyes Mate is presented. Unfortunately, his conceptualization of victimology is relatively little known outside Spanish and Latin American culture. It is meant as a basis for adequate theory of injustice and justice. Secondly, comprehensive and detailed metaethical analyses of fundamental concepts used by Reyes Mate are developed here by means of standard methods, i.e. triangle, hexagon, and octagon of logical oppositions.

The aim of the article is to present Reyes Mate’s project for a culture of memory. Western culture/tradition tends to erase and blur the traces of crimes in order to achieve/restore peace; however, at the same time, this leads to ignoring the victim’s suffering and, in consequence, helps the wrongdoer. Following Reyes Mate, we argue that a memory of past injustices must constitute an integral part of the present and is the only means to prevent the hermeneutic death of victims. Any project for justice must put victims at the center of reflection. Memory is the beginning of the process that leads to reconciliation, for it makes it possible to redress both the victim and society. Moreover, it enables us to reclaim both the victim and wrongdoer as members of society. A culture of memory would also be a response to the failure of knowledge. Cases of extreme violence elude and transcend cognition; they are not only unthought but also unthinkable. Therefore, memory is a consequence not of discovering but of revealing the past: it follows from the fact that unthought exists and the unthinkable happened, which proves that our knowledge is limited and that we are able [and eager] to “invisibilize” victims’ suffering and depriving injustices of meaning. This is why memory should be the starting point for reflection on a new philosophical program against lassitude and oblivion, as well as on idealistic/anti-realistic and Enlightenment ideas. Memory reveals hidden aspects/dimensions of our reality and becomes at the same time an epistemic imperative and fundamental philosophical category.

The aim of our paper is to present a project within the dynamics of knowledge as an extension of Roman Suszko’s diachronic logic. A hierarchical system of knowledge can be seen as a toolkit for philosophical study in some aspects of the dynamics of knowledge, especially scientific knowledge. They can also be considered as models of rationality – they help to describe and analyze historical and sociological aspects of the dynamics of knowledge by means of formal methods. The project shares some connections with the following conceptions: the semantic epistemology of Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz, the diachronic logic of Roman Suszko, and the historical epistemology of Jerzy Kmita. Three main situations are investigated – a perfectly normal situation, the situation of constraint, and that of exasperation. These situations were introduced by Leszek Nowak in the framework of non-Marxian historical materialism. Our approach results in models for such fundamental processes as innovation, development, and advancement as composed of three strictly axiological concepts. Also, we consider going beyond rationality and rational values. Therefore, we are interested particularly in the irrationality and counterrationality of scientific change. Finally, through a pragmatist approach, we can cope with responsibility within social structures.