This book provides for the first time a complete history of the doctrine of the transcendentals and shows its importance for the understanding of philosophy in the Middle Ages.

Autor článku se snaží dokázat, že při formulaci vhodných kritérií je možné (a užitečné) provést komparaci a hierarchizaci kultur. Práce se opírá o teoreticko-historickou metodu (Smith, Hume) i o metodologické přínosy Hayeka (kompozitivní metoda). V souladu s konceptem svobody, který je rozvíjen u Kanta, Hegela, Černého, Patočky, je v návaznosti na Fukuyamu koncipován "ideální typ" konce-vrcholu dějin. Je jím kombinace klasické liberální demokracie a kapitalismu volné tržní soutěže. Jak ukazuje historická evidence, směřování k tomuto vrcholu je inherentní tendencí samotného dějinného (...) pohybu. Pouze klasická liberální demokracie spojená s kapitalismem laissez-faire umožňuje v nejvyšší možné míře uspokojovat lidské potřeby a rozvíjet lidskou přirozenost; tento systém poskytuje prostor pro vrcholný stupeň individuální svobody, totožné se zákonem a zahrnující odpovědnost za právní a politický řád, který umožňuje spontánní fungování volné tržní soutěže. Takto formulovanou svobodu nalézáme pouze v západní kultuře. Na závěr práce je argumentována problematičnost integrace příslušníků kultury s nižší mírou svobody. (shrink)

No detailed description available for "Theory of the Linguistic Sign".

Aquinas presents his most complete exposition of the transcendentals inDe veritate 1, 1, that deals with the question What is truth?. The thesis of this paper is that the question of truth is essential for the understanding of his doctrine of the transcendentals.The first part of the paper (sections 1–4) analyzes Thomas''s conception of truth. Two approaches to truth can be found in his work. The first approach, based on Aristotle''s claim that truth is not in things but in the (...) mind, leads to the idea that the proper place of truth is in the intellect. The second approach is ontological: Thomas also acknowledges that there is truth in every being. The famous definition of truth as adequation of thing and intellect enables him to integrate the two approaches. Truth is a relation between two terms, both of which can be called true because both are essential for the conformity between thing and intellect. (shrink)

Completing the translation of Derrida's monumental work _Right to Philosophy_, _Eyes of the University_ brings together many of the philosopher's most important texts on the university and, more broadly, on the languages and institutions of philosophy. In addition to considerations of the implications for literature and philosophy of French becoming a state language, of Descartes' writing of the _Discourse on Method_ in French, and of Kant's and Schelling's philosophies of the university, the volume reflects on the current state of research (...) and teaching in philosophy and on the question of what Derrida calls a "university responsibility." Examining the political and institutional conditions of philosophy, the essays collected here question the growing tendency to orient research and teaching towards a programmable and profitable end. The volume is therefore invaluable for the light it throws upon an underappreciated aspect of Derrida's own engagement, both philosophical and political, in struggles against the stifling of philosophical research and teaching. As a founding member of the Research Group on the Teaching of Philosophy and as one of the conveners of the Estates General of Philosophy, Derrida was at the forefront of the struggle to preserve and extend the teaching of philosophy as a distinct discipline, in secondary education and beyond, in the face of conservative government education reforms in France. As one of the founders of the Collège International de Philosophie, he worked to provide a space for research in and around philosophy that was not accepted or legitimated in other institutions. Documenting and reflecting upon these engagements, _Eyes of the University_ brings together some of the most important and incisive of Derrida's works. (shrink)

The Belgian Presidency is generally seen as being a success. On many difficult questions, the Belgians succeeded in forging compromises between the member states. There is a risk however, that the apparent successes of this Presidency will lead to an over-estimation of the role which a EU-president can play. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to its limits and possibilities. It can help to relativize the Belgian presidency and to improve insights into the potential role of EU-presidents within the (...) decision-making of the European Union. (shrink)

The paper here presented deals with ethical signifying as happening in corporeity. The starting point is a provisional definition of ethical signifying as a process and a relation to the other. In the first part I attempt to describe precisely this process and distinguish two aspects: concretization and hyperbole. In the second and main part I try to outline concretization and hyperbole in the corporeal relation to the other. The modalities of ethical signifying are caress, vulnerability, maternity and last but (...) not least the voice of the self. (shrink)

History is hardly ever classified not as the science about the past of the human race. Meanwhile, fairly big part of it is due to nonhumanistic sciences like paleontology, geology or cosmogony. Thus, it would be reasonable to classify history by methodology rather, common to the mentioned sciences, that allows to reconstruct the past on the grounds of various kinds of traces.

Our ability to rapidly distinguish new from already stored information is important for behavior and decision making, but the underlying processes remain unclear. Here, we tested the hypothesis that contextual cues lead to a preselection of information and, therefore, faster recognition. Specifically, on the basis of previous modeling work, we hypothesized that recognition time depends on the amount of relevant content stored in long-term memory, i.e., set size, and we explored possible age-related changes of this relationship in older humans. In (...) our paradigm, subjects learned by heart four different word lists written in different colors. On the day of testing, a color cue indicated with a probability of 50% that a subsequent word might be from the corresponding list or from a list of new words. The old/new status of the word had to be distinguished via button press. As a main finding, we can show in a sample of n = 49 subjects, including 26 younger and 23 older humans, that response times increased linearly and logarithmically as a function of set size in both age groups. Conversely, corrected hit rates decreased as a function of set size with no statistically significant differences between both age groups. As such, our findings provide empirical evidence that contextual information can lead to a preselection of relevant information stored in long-term memory to promote efficient recognition, possibly by cyclical top-down and bottom-up processing. (shrink)

Modernities are a theme of our times. Recognizing that modernities are multiple and diverse and transcending ideal-type modernity and its Eurocentric legacy, acknowledges the multi­polar realities of twenty-first century globalization and the ‘rise of the rest’. Real-existing modernities are mixed social formations in that they straddle past and present and import and translate styles and customs from other cultures. In addition, modernities are layered—some components are shared among all modern societies and make up transnational modernity while other components differ according (...) to historical and cultural circumstances. The third section reflects on East Asia as an alternative modernity and sketches its main features. Leaving modernity as utopia behind, for a grounded modernity opens the possibility of coming to terms with the dilemmas that real modernities face. (shrink)

Die Rede über Begriffe ist keine Rede über Wörter, sondern über Regeln, die unser Handeln bestimmen. Für die Philosophie ist eine Explikation der Begriffsrede sowie von Verfahren der Analyse und Bildung von Begriffen ein grundlegendes Anliegen. Es wird dafür argumentiert, dass die sprachtheoretische Tradition das Begriffliche zu einseitig betrachtet. Kontrastierend werden aus der philosophischen Tradition diejenigen ideengeschichtlichen Linien herausgearbeitet (von Platon über Kant bis zu Wittgenstein, Dingler und Lorenzen), in welchen die Begriffe und das Begreifen als eine Sache des Handelns (...) und wechselweise das Handeln als eine begriffliche Sache betrachtet werden. Der Begriff der Regel erweist sich dabei als für das Handeln wesentlich. Hinsichtlich der Begriffsbildungsverfahren wird daraufhin als methodisch zentrale Frage erarbeitet, wie Systeme von Regeln im Rahmen einer Praxis strukturiert sind bzw. sein sollten"--Page 4 of cover. (shrink)

The Czech Republic today belongs to the minority of European republics whose presidents are elected indirectly. It is a paradox that, even when direct election of the President has stable support not only of the majority of Czech society but also of the majority of parliamentary parties, this issue is constantly only discussed. Should direct election gain passage in the Czech Republic, there are formally better preconditions for this than there were in the past. With regard to the fact that (...) a change in the manner of the election of the Head of State hides in itself the potential to impact the functioning of the whole constitutional system, it is worth it to follow how this problem conceived in the Czech Republic. This article is devoted to the standing of the President of the Republic in the contemporary Czech constitutional system and to considerations about direct election from the year 1918 to the present. Attention is also devoted to the difficulties which it is necessary to come to terms with during a potential change in the manner of the election of the President if the current balance of powers between the constitutional organs is to remain preserved. (shrink)

The paper is a critique of Professor Anna Jedynak's claim, propounded in her article "The structure of scientific theories and value systems" (Filozofia Nauki, no. 31-32/2000, pp. 31-44), that there exist some significant analogies between scientific theories perceived from the viewpoint of various scientific methodologies and systems of normative ethics considered from the perspectives of various metaethical theories. The authors attempt to justify the thesis that principal structural similarities postulated by Professor Jedynak are questionable, thus challenging her proposition that metaethics (...) can incorporate into its domain a number of problems which were hitherto seen as specific to the philosophy of science. (shrink)