The article treats of the discussion of democracy in the Czech intellectual context of the first half of the 20th century. Its starting point is the thesis that the nature of this discussion is determined by two clearly defined types of approach. One of them understood democracy as the concerning the general level which alone enabled free discussion and the dignified life of citizens (E. Beneš, E. Rádl, F. X. Šalda, F. Peroutka, K. Čapek and others). The second approach is an attempt to found democratic social-political practice on reflected philosophical theory. This conception is represented by T.G. Masaryk and J.L. Fischer. Masaryk is the “ontotheologian” of democracy which is, for him, an expression of the active presence of Providence in history. J. L. Fischer is the “onto-epistemologist” of democracy. He understands democracy as the realisation of the hierarchical Order of Reality, interpreted along the lines of structural functionalism. For Masaryk a crisis of democracy is ex definitione impossible, for Fischer it is a real threat because “pathological structures”. In both cases, however, there is an attempt to legitimise everyday reality by Transcendence.
Feichtingerova kniha náleží do oblasti kulturně-politických dějin vědy a sleduje v časovém rozmezí téměř celého století jistou linii, jež tvoří jeden z podstatných rysů „rakouského“ (v teritoriálním významu habsburské monarchie) myšlení a kultury. Touto linií - a také přístupem, s nímž se autor názorově ztotožňuje - je antiesencialismus ve smyslu skepse vůči myšlenkovým konstruktům vydávaným za uchopení podstaty určitých jevů. Klíčovou tezí, kterou se pak autor snaží prokázat, je afinita mezi tímto filozoficko-vědeckým postojem a demokratickým smýšlením i praxí. Toto sepětí dokládá u význačných osobností, jako je právní historik a teroretik Hans Kelsen, zakladatel psychoanalýzy Sigmund Freud, filozofové Ludwig Wittgenstein a Ernst Mach nebo historik umění Alois Riegl. Recenzent formuluje námitky vůči příliš jednoznačné interpretaci této teze (autor například ignoruje Tomáše Garrigua Masaryka, který do jeho schématu nezapadá), monografii však hodnotí jako obdivuhodný pokus tematizovat a interpretačně zvládnout obrovské množství různorodého materiálu, který může být inspirativní i tím, jak integruje české myšlení do širšího transnacionálního kontextu., The book under review, a cultural-political history of science and scholarship, covers almost a century of a line that constitutes one of the fundamental features of ‘Austrian’ ideas and culture (meaning those originating in the territory of the Habsburg Monarchy). This line - and also the approach that the author himself identifies with - is anti-essentialism in the sense of scepticism towards mental constructs that are presented as having captured the essence of certain phenomena. A key argument that the author then seeks to demonstrate is the affinity between this philosophical-scientific attitude and democratic thought and practice. He demonstrates this affinity in important figures, such as the jurist, legal philosopher, and political philosopher Hans Kelsen, the neurologist and father of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud, the philosophers Ludwig Wittgenstein and Ernst Mach, and the art historian Alois Riegl. The reviewer objects to what he sees as an overly clear-cut interpretation of this idea (the author fails to mention, for example, Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, for he does not fit into this scheme), but he praises the book as an admirable attempt to thematize and interpret a vast amount of diverse material, and it may therefore be an inspiration for the way it integrates Czech ideas into the broader transnational context., [autor recenze] Vlastimil Hála., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Následující text prezentuje některé poznatky o občanské kultuře v České republice učiněné na základě speciálního šetření uskutečněného v srpnu 2009 jako součást mezinárodního komparativního výzkumu u příležitosti 50. výročí realizace původního výzkumu G. A. Almonda a S. Verby a následného vydání jejich známé knihy The Civic Culture: Attitudes and Perception of Democracy in Five Nations. Kromě toho se s využitím dat z předchozích dlouhodobých kontinuálních výzkumů veřejného mínění pokouší o stručný nástin vývoje občanské kultury v českých zemích v průběhu uplynulých dvaceti let po pádu komunistického režimu v roce 1989., Following text presents some findings concerning the civic culture in the Czech Republic based on results of a special survey conducted in August of 2009 as a part of international comparative research project commemorating the 50th anniversary of realization of G. A. Almond’s and S. Verba’s original survey and their classic study The Civic Culture: Attitudes and Perception of Democracy in Five Nations. Using data from continuous public opinion surveys the text also tries briefly to outline the development of civic culture in Czech countries during last two decades after fall of communist regime in 1989., and Jan Červenka.
The fact that recent demographic data have been pointing to gradual but consistent dying out of Europe has become the key point of strong philosophical, political and other clashes in the last years. Most discussions focus especially on the issues related to the causes of this situation, thus rather omitting the real consequences on everyday lives of Europeans in the upcoming decades. Namely the economic and sociological impacts. The structure of population change in terms of nationality is the second important process in today’s Europe: The majority population comprising original nationalities on whose basis the state composition of Europe had been formed is gradually losing its dominance. Conversely, immigrants (particularly Muslims) and their children are gaining more and more influence on the structure of society. Various kinds of economic pressure are related to these processes, which in the future will inevitably grow into the shape of events completely changing the society and its economic system. I assume that in order to maintain its economic power, traditional European population will go through a process, during which some usual democratic principles and traditions will be put aside, for example the attitude towards the right to vote will change. That is because despite many complications, traditional European society will behave quite economically by keeping its political power as a guarantee of its economic power, and particularly as a guarantee that the standards of living and thus the possibility of satisfying one’s needs - manifesting itself through life style, among other things - will be preserved., Luboš Smrčka., and Obsahuje seznam literatury