This study aims to highlight the role of education in a democratic society in the political philosophy of Nicolas de Condorcet. Condorcet refuted legitimising political power on the idea of general will and postulated to replace it with the notion of reason and probability of truth. This assumption tightly linked the wellbeing of democracy with a public education system which, on the one hand, was to prepare citizens to take an active role in the public sphere, and on the other, allow them to improve the political system in which they function in accordance with the progress of the human spirit. ; This study aims to highlight the role of education in a democratic society in the political philosophy of Nicolas de Condorcet. Condorcet refuted legitimising political power on the idea of general will and postulated to replace it with the notion of reason and probability of truth. This assumption tightly linked the wellbeing of democracy with a public education system which, on the one hand, was to prepare citizens to take an active role in the public sphere, and on the other, allow them to improve the political system in which they function in accordance with the progress of the human spirit.
The popularisation of code elaboration addressed to various social groups is one of the features of the modern world. However, among researchers of this phenomenon a full consensus on the moral validity and usefulness of this activity does not exist. The article closely reviews the literature with regard to the reasons for the creation of a moderate position on the codification of ethical standards. The essay brings closer the main concepts of ethical codes and positions for their adoption and rejection. Attention is paid to ways of increasing the effectiveness of codes and the ethical decision-making procedure in a manner that undermines supporters and opponents of codification approaches.
The author of this article aims at presenting a particular aspect of the political philosophy of Hans-Hermann Hoppe, an Austrian school economist and anarchocapitalist philosopher. The purpose of this article is to present and analyse the part of his thinking concerning a ruler, as known as "caretaker" and "trustee". The critique of democratic ruler is one of the most important, or even the most important part in the Hoppe's critique of democracy. It is mostly based on a comparison of an essence of a democratic caretaker and a private ruler – a classical monarch. The author presents an intellectual profile of Hoppe, being a German who decided to emigrate to United States of America. In the USA he used to work as a scientist and studied along with Murray Rothbard – one of the leaders of Austrian school economists and libertarian. The author also presents the methodological view of Hoppe, which is based on an a priori knowledge. The Hoppe's critique of democratic caretaker consists of two ways of argumentation. The first one is based on the critique of public ruler per se. Hoppe states that a private-owned government is better than a publicowned one. To prove this statement, Hoppe uses an apparatus of economics. He proves that a democratic caretaker has a higher time preference than a king. It has a bad influence on the ruled people. According to Hoppe, public ruler must to concentrate on consuming and not taking care about a capital values of the resources of the government. The only thing which is profitable for him is to be taking care about current income of the government. The author of this article states such an apriorical portrait of a public ruler is not valid and presents arguments on his point of view. The most important part of the author's argumentation is that the Hoppe's view is correct only on a condition that a basic purpose of a democratic ruler is to get rich. When it is not valid, Hoppean deductive portrait becomes useless. The second line of Hoppe's argumentation is based on bad effects of general election. As the philosopher claims, it causes that the highest political function can be held practically only by bad persons who inter alia desire the property of others. The author of this article claims that this sort of critique is less radical, but a better one. The critique of democratic ruler in political philosophy of Hoppe seems to be a substantialistical one, when the thinker bases on an apriorical essence of caretaker. However, the philosopher approaches to accidental sort of critique, as he stays in a field of his second way of argumentation.
The author of this article aims at presenting a particular aspect of the political philosophy of Hans-Hermann Hoppe, an Austrian school economist and anarchocapitalist philosopher. The purpose of this article is to present and analyse the part of his thinking concerning a ruler, as known as "caretaker" and "trustee". The critique of democratic ruler is one of the most important, or even the most important part in the Hoppe's critique of democracy. It is mostly based on a comparison of an essence of a democratic caretaker and a private ruler – a classical monarch. The author presents an intellectual profile of Hoppe, being a German who decided to emigrate to United States of America. In the USA he used to work as a scientist and studied along with Murray Rothbard – one of the leaders of Austrian school economists and libertarian. The author also presents the methodological view of Hoppe, which is based on an a priori knowledge. The Hoppe's critique of democratic caretaker consists of two ways of argumentation. The first one is based on the critique of public ruler per se. Hoppe states that a private-owned government is better than a publicowned one. To prove this statement, Hoppe uses an apparatus of economics. He proves that a democratic caretaker has a higher time preference than a king. It has a bad influence on the ruled people. According to Hoppe, public ruler must to concentrate on consuming and not taking care about a capital values of the resources of the government. The only thing which is profitable for him is to be taking care about current income of the government. The author of this article states such an apriorical portrait of a public ruler is not valid and presents arguments on his point of view. The most important part of the author's argumentation is that the Hoppe's view is correct only on a condition that a basic purpose of a democratic ruler is to get rich. When it is not valid, Hoppean deductive portrait becomes useless. The second line of Hoppe's argumentation is based on bad effects of general election. As the philosopher claims, it causes that the highest political function can be held practically only by bad persons who inter alia desire the property of others. The author of this article claims that this sort of critique is less radical, but a better one. The critique of democratic ruler in political philosophy of Hoppe seems to be a substantialistical one, when the thinker bases on an apriorical essence of caretaker. However, the philosopher approaches to accidental sort of critique, as he stays in a field of his second way of argumentation.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The scientific goal of the article is to analyze traffic safety policy, in a problem-chronological perspective, as part of the Swedish "welfare state" model, with particular emphasis on internal political and social factors.THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: In exploring the issues of road safety in Sweden, the author used a functionalist approach to examine the relationship of political forces affecting their shape. The genetic method has allowed to mention qualitative factors that are the foundations of Swedish policy. Institutional and normative approach with regard to the characteristics of decision-making processes, law-making processes resulted in a system analysis in line with the theoretical model proposed by David Easton. Each stage of the legislative process has been followed – from the change initiative to the entry intoforce of the "Vision Zero". The method of content analysis and the institutional and legal method served to illustrate the role that it has for Sweden for 20 years.THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: Ensuring broadly understood, multi-tasked road traffic safety is today a prerequisite for harmonious economic and social development of the country (for example, due to the cost of treatment of accident victims, but also the legitimacy of authority, whose task is to ensure safety).RESEARCH RESULTS: The necessity of introducing a nationwide road safety strategy was convinced by all the groups that sat in the Swedish parliament in 1997 (as evidenced by its voting through acclamation). The consolidation attitude of many social groups, institutions and individual road users, promoted by the Vision Zero, resulted in considerable successes. First of all, the number of fatalities in road accidents in 1997-2012 dropped by 48%. At the same time, the number of people who suffered minor injuries in the same period as a result of road accidents has increased. This testifies to the correct decisions of Swedish strategists who were already well aware in 1997 that it is impossible to eliminate accidents as such (which is why they focused on reducing the most tragic effects).CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The Vision of Zero, which is now a general philosophy of approach to road safety issues in Sweden, thanks to its efficiency and effectiveness has become not only a source of pride on the part of the Swedes themselves. Few (Sweden's population for the first time reached a ceiling of 10 million inhabitants in January 2017), although the very innovative Swedish society developed an innovative model of cooperation between private and public sector entities as well as every single user of transport infrastructure that contributed to the radical decline the number of accidents resulting in death or serious injury. Thus, once again, the descendants of the Vikings became a role model for other nations – both among European Union countries and on a global scale.
W artykule przedstawiono jakościową metodę śledzenia procesu (process tracing) i jej przykładowe wykorzystanie w badaniu stosunków międzynarodowych. Po pierwsze, dokonano ogólnej charakterystyki metody. Po drugie, przedstawiono debatę toczoną w naukach społecznych na temat rozumienia mechanizmów przyczynowych i przyczynowego wnioskowania oraz użyteczności metody śledzenia procesu do testowania hipotez. Po trzecie, omówiono różnego rodzaju dyrektywy kierujące postępowaniem badawczym w ramach metody śledzenia procesu. Po czwarte, w końcowej części artykułu zademonstrowano implementację metody w nauce o stosunkach międzynarodowych na przykładzie analizy zakończenia zimnej wojny. W końcu sformułowano pewne wątpliwości związane z metodą. Celem artykułu jest wprowadzenie do polskiej nauki o stosunkach międzynarodowych jakościowej metody badawczej, która nie jest wykorzystywana przez polskich badaczy, chociaż większość z nich określa swoje stanowisko metodologiczne jako jakościowe. Autor w szczególności uzasadnia i ilustruje przekonanie, że metoda śledzenia procesu może stanowić mocną propozycję w rozwiązywaniu problemów związanych z rozpoznawaniem stosunków przyczynowych w nauce o stosunkach międzynarodowych. Autor posługuje się w artykule metodą analizy treści. Metoda śledzenia procesu została przedstawiona w oparciu o analizę tekstów uznanych zwolenników metody w filozofii nauki i nauce o stosunkach międzynarodowych oraz prac poświęconych problemom stosunków międzynarodowych badanych przy zastosowaniu tej metody. Wyniki przeprowadzonej analizy pozwalają na sformułowanie rekomendacji do stosowania metody do badania stosunków międzynarodowych. Autor przedstawia również słabe strony metody, których istnienia powinien być świadomy każdy z niej korzystający. ; The article presents a qualitative method known as process tracing and exemplifies its use in the study of international relations. Firstly, the general characteristics of process tracing are shown. Secondly, the debate in social sciences on the understanding of causal mechanisms and causal inference is discussed, and whether process tracing is useful in testing hypotheses. Thirdly, different types of directives that guide the research procedure within the framework of process tracing are presented. Fourthly, the final part of the article demonstrates the implementation of process tracing in International Relations on the example of the analysis of the end of the Cold War. The article is concluded with a few doubts the method raises. The aim of the article is to introduce a qualitative research method to the Polish studies of International Relations. This method has not been used by Polish researchers, although most of them declare their methodological standpoint as a qualitative approach. The author justifies and illustrates the belief that the method of process tracing can be strongly recommended in solving problems related to the identification of causal relations in International Relations. The author uses the content analysis method in the article. The method of process tracing is presented based on the analysis of the texts of renowned supporters of the method in the Philosophy of Science and International Relations and of works dedicated to the problems of international relations studied using this method. The results of the analysis make it possible to formulate recommendations for the application of the method to study international relations. The author also presents the weaknesses of this method, which every scholar employing it should be aware of.
The article presents a qualitative method known as process tracing and exemplifies its use in the study of international relations. Firstly, the general characteristics of process tracing are shown. Secondly, the debate in social sciences on the understanding of causal mechanisms and causal inference is discussed, and whether process tracing is useful in testing hypotheses. Thirdly, different types of directives that guide the research procedure within the framework of process tracing are presented. Fourthly, the final part of the article demonstrates the implementation of process tracing in International Relations on the example of the analysis of the end of the Cold War. The article is concluded with a few doubts the method raises. The aim of the article is to introduce a qualitative research method to the Polish studies of International Relations. This method has not been used by Polish researchers, although most of them declare their methodological standpoint as a qualitative approach. The author justifies and illustrates the belief that the method of process tracing can be strongly recommended in solving problems related to the identification of causal relations in International Relations. The author uses the content analysis method in the article. The method of process tracing is presented based on the analysis of the texts of renowned supporters of the method in the Philosophy of Science and International Relations and of works dedicated to the problems of international relations studied using this method. The results of the analysis make it possible to formulate recommendations for the application of the method to study international relations. The author also presents the weaknesses of this method, which every scholar employing it should be aware of. ; W artykule przedstawiono jakościową metodę śledzenia procesu (process tracing) i jej przykładowe wykorzystanie w badaniu stosunków międzynarodowych. Po pierwsze, dokonano ogólnej charakterystyki metody. Po drugie, przedstawiono debatę toczoną w naukach społecznych na temat rozumienia mechanizmów przyczynowych i przyczynowego wnioskowania oraz użyteczności metody śledzenia procesu do testowania hipotez. Po trzecie, omówiono różnego rodzaju dyrektywy kierujące postępowaniem badawczym w ramach metody śledzenia procesu. Po czwarte, w końcowej części artykułu zademonstrowano implementację metody w nauce o stosunkach międzynarodowych na przykładzie analizy zakończenia zimnej wojny. W końcu sformułowano pewne wątpliwości związane z metodą. Celem artykułu jest wprowadzenie do polskiej nauki o stosunkach międzynarodowych jakościowej metody badawczej, która nie jest wykorzystywana przez polskich badaczy, chociaż większość z nich określa swoje stanowisko metodologiczne jako jakościowe. Autor w szczególności uzasadnia i ilustruje przekonanie, że metoda śledzenia procesu może stanowić mocną propozycję w rozwiązywaniu problemów związanych z rozpoznawaniem stosunków przyczynowych w nauce o stosunkach międzynarodowych. Autor posługuje się w artykule metodą analizy treści. Metoda śledzenia procesu została przedstawiona w oparciu o analizę tekstów uznanych zwolenników metody w filozofii nauki i nauce o stosunkach międzynarodowych oraz prac poświęconych problemom stosunków międzynarodowych badanych przy zastosowaniu tej metody. Wyniki przeprowadzonej analizy pozwalają na sformułowanie rekomendacji do stosowania metody do badania stosunków międzynarodowych. Autor przedstawia również słabe strony metody, których istnienia powinien być świadomy każdy z niej korzystający.
