This article concentrates on development of the mutual relations between ethics of technology (taken as a philosophical discipline) and so called technology assessment (as a branch dealing with multi- and transdisciplinary socio-scientific issues). It shows both identical and different signs of the interactions on examples taken from Germany and from the Czech Republic. Discussion on technology in Germany is noted for its strong moral charge - we can find here both enthusiasm for technology as well as very clean cut anti-technology attitudes. As for the Czech environment, there comes to mutual mixing of various attitudes - we can trace here inspiration taken from other countries - for example from France. The original contribution of the Czech way of thinking in the field of philosophy on technology in relation to ethics represents also so called conception of laboretism. Globally said, it appears that disputes over technology have their cause in various ethical attitudes of interested stakeholders. But different conceptions of what is and/or what is not ethical can be and should be analysed by rational means. Various practical objectives of the social technology assessment should not displace ethics in technology as a methodology of discursive management of technology conflicts. Scientific consultancy has to comprise both its descriptive and prescriptive aspects. It gives a new sense to interdisciplinary co-operation among various scientific disciplines and science and technology ethics. and Petr Machleidt.
The well-known book by Peter Singer The Liberation of Animals has not only inspired a series of texts defending the rights and interests of animals, but has also provoked a discussion about what humanity is, what meaning can our belonging to the human kind have for us, and whether Singer’ critique of the “human prejudice” is justified. The paper considers two important defenders of “human prejudice”, B. A. O. Williams and C. Diamond, who both claim the concept of human being to be a basic ethical concept. In the first part, we will present Williams’s argument that solidarity and identity with one’s species doesn’t have the structure of a blameworthy privilege similar to sexism and racism. In the second part, we will proceed to Diamond’s conception of human being that is founded in relations and responses towards the other. Just as our treatment of a human being depends on whether we see this person as our fellow, so our treatment of an animal depends on how we see it. In the last part, we will consider Diamond’s illustration of how it is possible to change our perception of an animal and thus to change our treatment of it., Kamila Pacovská., and Obsahuje poznámky a bibliografii
The paper deals with the ethics of biotechnological enhancement of human qualities such as intelligence, health and lifespan. In contemporary bioethics three views have emerged concerning the moral permissibility of such a biotechnological enhancement of humans. While bioconservatives reject it as morally impermissible and dangerous, bioradicals welcome it as permissible and desirable. Between these two extremes we find bioliberals who admit some types of enhancement, under certain conditions. These debates are still overshadowed by fear of bioethics, but this discredited term needs to be rehabilitated because it turns out that there are both desirable and undesirable forms of eugenics., Tomáš Hříbek., and Obsahuje poznámky a bibliografii
It is often supposed that linguistic, conceptual and, perhaps, other kinds of intuitions are one of the most important tools used to test theories in analytical philosophy. On this view, intuitions thought to be rich enough to be applicable to all the data the philosopher has used in formulating and testing her theory; but specific enough to enable one to choose between competing theories; and transparent enough to be clearly relevant for the theory. In the light of certain examples from epistemology and philosophy of language, it is claimed here that these requirements are not met. Consequently, evaluation of philosophical theories on the basis of intuitions leads to unreliable and problematic results., Marián Zouhar., and Obsahuje poznámky a bibliografii
This article examines Taylor’s approach to the conception of civil society and attempts to interpret the relation of this approach to contemporary debates on the forming of European civil society. By way of introduction, Taylor’s interpretation of the medieval socio-political assumptions for the creation of the extra-political public sphere is presented. Next, there is a discussion of Taylor’s interpretational conception of the two most significant traditions of civil society which take their rise from a confrontation with European enlightenment absolutism - the traditions of Locke and Montesquieu. The author attempts to make sense of the way in which Taylor’s approach resonates with the concept of civil society in discussions about the presuppositions and forms of the creation of the European public sphere and trans-national (European) identities as two key forms of European civil society. In conclusion, the concept of the active border is presented as a key matrix of the conceptual constellation of the public sphere, identity and Europeanisation., Karel B. Müller., and Obsahuje poznámky a bibliografii
Článek reflektuje Hayekovy výklady o povaze pravidel. Ukazuje, že jeho pojetí pravidel je extrémně široké a vazba mezi pravidly a pravidelnostmi je nepřijatelně úzká. Následně je nastíněno alternativní - užší - vymezení pojmu pravidla. Nakonec je podrobeno kritice Hayekovo příliš úzké chápání pojmu normativních pravidel a je navrženo jeho širší vymezení., The article reflects on Hayek's expositions concerning the nature of rules. It shows that his conception of rules is extremely wide, and that the bond between rules and regularities is too tight. Subsequently an alternative - narrower - delineation of the concept of rule is proposed. In the last part of the paper Hayek's too narrow a conception of normative rules is subjected to criticism and a broader conception is proposed., and Vladimír Svoboda.
This review study analyses Martin Nitsche’s monograph devoted to Heidegger’s Contributions to philosophy (Beiträge zur Philosophie), primarily addressing the question of whether Nitsche succeeds in displaying the phenomenological character of the Contributions. It identifies a key step in Nitsche’s interpretation; that is, Heidegger’s shift from emphasising the specific entity of Dasein to emphasising the distinctive “phenomenological” or “relational field”, which is understood as an “ontological locality”. The study focuses on the question of whether it is possible, subsequent to this shift, to preserve the phenomenological character of (Heidegger’s) thought, and it arrives at a negative conclusion in this regard: Heidegger does not offer a phenomenological description - nay, he presents a conceptual, or perhaps even narrative, structure, in which he lays claim to the possibility of speaking from a principled position of (the experienced) “enowning”., Martin Ritter., and Obsahuje poznámky a bibliografii