This article presents the contemporary conception of “environmental pragmatism” as an alternative strategy, still little known in the Czech context, for the solution of the problem of the relation between nature and culture. The point of departure for this conception are the ideas of the classical pragmatists, especially the naturalism and ethics of John Dewey. This philosophy bears within it an immanent environmental direction and it issues in the “Third Way” in the ecological movement, finding a path between anthropocentrism and non-anthropocentrism; between individualism and holism; between instrumentalism and immanentism; between exploitation and preservation; between the dualisms of value and fact, aims and means, conservation and growth, and so on., Emil Višňovský., and Obsahuje poznámky a bibliografii
Prague is well known as political, economic and cultural centre of the country. In recent years, cities and regions are regarded and analyzed as knowledge-based economies. This paper tries to summarize selected data allowing the description of Prague as a knowledge-based regional economy and its development as such in the last decade. Presented are various available indicators together with findings of selected recent innovation-related analyses and data on financial support from EU Structural Funds. Furthermore, this paper introduces city development strategies and explains how they aspire to contribute to the development of the city as a knowledge-based economy. and Jakub Pechlát.
Článek podává přehled koncepcí, které v současné, převážně naturalisticky orientované, evoluční biologii rozšiřují či překračují tzv. moderní syntézu (v článku přibližně synonymní k „selekcionismu“), tj. hledisko, podle něhož je přírodní výběr zdaleka nejdůležitější příčinou evolučního procesu. Od 60. let 20. století vyvstal selekcionismu konkurent v tzv. neutrální teorii evoluce, podle níž jsou mnohé genetické mutace adaptivně neutrální a vystupují v genomu s frekvencemi, které jsou způsobovány spíš náhodou (genetickým posunem) než selekcí. Dnešní hlavní proud evoluční biologie směřuje k jistému kompromisu mezi těmito dvěma směry a odkazuje neutralismus na úroveň molekulárně genetickou a působení selekce na mutace, které se projeví na úrovni fenotypu. Možnost sekvenace celých genomů otevřela oblast srovnávací genomiky, která na jedné straně vedla k posílení neutralismu, zvláště u mnohobuněčných organismů (Michael Lynch), na druhé straně však i k poznání rozhodující úlohy horizontálního přenosu genů u mikrobů v tzv. předdarwinovské fázi evoluce (Carl Woese). Tato fáze je vykládána jako převážně neselekční, ne-li „lamarckistická“ a v každém případě znamená konec představy společného předka a evoluce po malých krocích. Další korigující směr zdůrazňuje, že selekce navazuje až na materiál připravený zdvojováním genů nebo celých genomů (Susumu Ohno). Mimo možnosti analytického zpracování v populační genetice zatím zůstává koncepce tzv. regulační evoluce (S. Carroll, E. Davidson), která v určitém bodě vyúsťuje až k popření možnosti evoluce drobnými kroky. Výrazně nové hledisko, často stavěné přímo do protikladu k dosavadnímu hlavnímu proudu evoluční biologie, představuje koncepce, která je vázána na formální teorii dynamických systémů a metodologicky na matematické modelování regulačních sítí, vystupující nejčastěji pod titulem teorie sebeorganizace nebo emergentismus. Aniž by se popírala důležitá úloha selekce, vyhrazují se jí meze (constraints) dané vnitřními organizačními principy živých bytostí, které však koneckonců pramení ze základních fyzikálních zákonitostí. Principy sebeorganizace naznačují jednu z cest, jak by mohlo v evoluci docházet ke zvyšování komplexnosti organismů a jejich komponent. - Selekcionismus je kromě tlaku těchto neortodoxních evolučních směrů konfrontován i s řadou vnitřních nezodpovězených otázek, zdůrazňovaných profesionálními evolucionisty samotnými (mezi jinými Lewontinem a Gouldem). Těžkou daní, která byla zaplacena za vznik teoretické páteře evoluční biologie - populační genetiky -, bylo rozštěpení jednotného organismu na genotyp a fenotyp a následná atomizace obou na izolované geny a jejich alely na jedné straně a izolované znaky fenotypu na straně druhé. Vyjdeme‑li z této výchozí pozice, pak se - podle mínění systémově orientovaných autorů - stává evoluční vznik organické mega-komplexnosti jako takové neřešitelným problémem (nemluvě o vzniku organické proto-subjektivity, která však už vybočuje z rámce tohoto přehledu). Ani dlouhodobé evoluční trendy nejsou podle mínění mnohých autorů uspokojivě vysvětleny. Selekcionismu se vytýká snadné vytváření „evolučních vyprávění“ bez možnosti je ověřovat. ouhrnně řečeno - (naturalistická) evoluční biologie dnes uznává tři hlavní evoluční „mechanismy“: selekci, genetický posun a sebeorganizaci. Tato věda je však v prudkém vývoji a překvapivé „emergence“ v ní samé nejsou v budoucnu vůbec vyloučeny, spíš naopak. Rozhodně nelze doporučit filosofům, kteří tematicky vycházejí z evolučně biologické základny, aby všechno vsadili na přírodní výběr jako na jedinou rozhodující sílu organické evoluce; neodpovídalo by to rozsahu a významu změn, které evoluční biologie v posledních desetiletích prodělává., This article provides a survey of conceptions which, in contemporary, largely naturalistically-orientated, evolutionary biology, broaden or break free of the so-called modern synthesis (here roughly synonymous with “selectionism”) - that is the standpoint according to which natural selection is by far the most important cause of the evolutionary process. Since the 1960’s a competitor has arisen to selectionism in the shape of the so-called “neutral theory” of evolution, according to which many genetic mutations are adaptively neutral and appear in the genome with frequencies that should be put down to chance (genetic drift) rather than to selection. The main stream of evolutionary biology today is coming to a certain compromise between these two approaches: it tends to allow neutralism at the level of molecular evolution, but to recognise the action of selection on mutations evinced at the level of the phenotype. The possibility of the sequencing of whole genomes has opened up the area of comparative genomics which, on one hand, has led to the reinforcement of neutralism especially in multi-celled organisms (Michael Lynch) but, on the other hand, has led to the recognition of the decisive role of the horizontal transfer of genes in microbes in the so-called pre-Darwinian phase of evolution (Carl Woese). This phase is interpreted as mainly non-selective, if not “Lamarckian”, and in each case it certainly entails the demise of the idea of a common ancestor and of evolution by small steps. A further corrective has been the emphasis of the fact that selection draws on material prepared by the duplication of genes or of whole genomes (Susumu Ohno). Beyond any possibility of analytical elaboration in population genetics there still remains the conception of so-called regulatory evolution (S. Carroll, E. Davidson) which, at a certain point, even results in the denial of the possibility of evolution by small steps. A particularly new standpoint, often put forward in direct contradiction to the current mainstream of evolutionary biology, presents a conception which is bound to the formal theory of dynamic systems and methodologically to the mathematical modelling of regulatory networks. It most frequently goes by the name of self-organisation or emergentism. Without denying the important role of selection, it puts constraints on it by pointing to the inner-organisational principles of living beings which, however, ultimately arise from basic physical laws. The principles of self-organisation indicate one path by which greater complexity of organisms and their components may be achieved in evolution. - Selectionism is confronted not only by the pressure of these unorthodox evolutionary approaches, but also by several unanswered internal questions emphasised by professional evolutionists themselves (among them Lewontin and Gould). A heavy penalty has been paid for the constitution of the theoretical basis of evolutionary biology – population genetics, namely the splitting of the individual organism into a genotype and a phenotype and the subsequent atomisation of both into isolated genes and their alleles on the one hand, and the isolated characteristics of the phenotype on the other. From that point of departure - according to the system-oriented authors - the evolutionary emergence of organic mega-complexity as such is rendered an insoluble problem (let alone the emergence of organic proto-subjectivity which, however, is beyond the scope of this survey). Not even long-term evolutionary trends are satisfactorily explained, according to the opinion of many authors. Selectionism is criticised for its facile appeal to “evolutionary just-so stories” which elude all possibility of verification. Overall, (naturalistic) evolutionary biology today recognises three principle evolutionary “mechanisms”: selection, genetic drift and self-organisation. This science is, however, in a state of rapid development and unexpected “emergences” in its own future progress cannot be ruled out - on the contrary. It would be very unwise for philosophers, who thematically draw on an evolutionary-biological base, to put all their faith in natural selection as the single decisive force in organic evolution - that would be to ignore the range and importance of the changes which evolutionary biology has undergone in the last decades., and Jiří Vácha.
This contribution deals with identity as it is specifically defined by Taylor as a dialogical entity, and with the inadequate conditions that are provided in liberal societies for its formation, and of the indispensable presence of significant others in this process. The second part is devoted to the analysis of a the characteristic features of liberal societies. In the third part the author turns to the disharmonies between the demands on the creation of identity and the conditions provided by liberal areas. Demonstrations are provided at the universal level as well as at the level of concrete problems - individualism, moral relativism, the dominance of instrumental reason, the lack of respect. In conclusion the author summarises her findings and confirms the stated hypothesis on the contemporary conditions of liberal societies which hinders the formation of the modern identity of man., Bojana Ladrová., and Obsahuje poznámky a bibliografii
The author defends the idea of the ontological founding of environmental ethics. He recognises the need for a new morality that can foreshadow the biophile transformation of culture, but at the same time he knows that this morality may actually develop during the course of the transformation itself. He presents the view that the relation of man to nature is mediated not only by the relevant culture, but also by its hidden spiritual grounding, which determines the character of culture, both spiritual and material. Today’s culture finds itself in crisis because its predatory spiritual grounding is leading it to its own ruin. A biophile change in this grounding is therefore the condition for the emergence of a more sustained biophile culture. However, even if we recognise the ontological grounding of ethics, this does not necessarily mean that we fully understand the superior subjectivity of nature, nor that we recognise the higher moral principle in the relation of culture to the Earth. The Author therefore, albeit schematically, presents his evolutionarily-ontological concept of man, nature and culture., Josef Šmajs., and Obsahuje poznámky a bibliografii
In this article I attempt to reply to the question of whether, in the framework of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, reasons and arguments are given which might plausibly motivate the claim - made by Wittgenstein himself - that atomic propositions and their correlates (states of affairs) are mutually independent. My first step is to make clear that an answer to this question demands a detailed interpretation of Tractarian objects and, specifically, whether they are only particulars, or properties and relations too. After sketching the evidential support for both interpretations, I incline to a reading that takes properties and relations to be objects. In the context of the narrower and broader conceptions of objects, I then give a detailed analysis of the metaphor “the space of states of affairs” and “logical space”, which I consider to be the principal guide in our understanding the reasons for the independence of states of affairs and thus, more generally, of atomic propositions too., Zuzana Daňková., and Obsahuje poznámky a bibliografii
Text se věnuje nutnosti jednoznačného vymezení pojmů v souvislosti s eutanazií, zabývá se lékařskou etikou a tradicí, na níž je postavena (tato etika nemůže být vydána zcela na pospas aktuálně panujícím myšlenkovým proudům ve filosofii), rozebírá uvažování některých sekulárních bioetiků, kteří pošlapávají důstojnost člověka. Zdůvodňuje také, proč je třeba právě dnes připomínat akci eutanazie za nacismu, a zdůrazňuje nezbytnost širokého pohledu na celou problematiku, která nemůže být vyřešena pouhým sterilním racionálním uvažováním. Podrobně se zabývá historií holandského modelu eutanazie od jeho počátku až do dnešních dnů a upozorňuje na evidentní kluzký svah. (Jsou zde uvedeny i poznámky k citovanému článku dr. Hříbka v daných souvislostech.), The text focuses on the need for a straightforward defining of concepts in connection with euthanasia; it concerns itself with medical ethics and the tradition on which it is built (such ethics cannot be left to the tender mercies of the dominant currents of thought in contemporary philosophy); it examines the reflections of certain secular bio-ethicists who ride roughshod over the dignity of man; it demonstrates why it is necessary, particularly today, to remind ourselves of the practice of euthanasia during Nazism; and it emphasises the indispensability of a broad view of the whole question, which cannot be resolved by mere sterile rational reflection. It looks in detail at the history of the Dutch model of euthanasia from its beginning to the present, and it draws attention to the self-evident slippery slope. (Remarks are made here on an article by Dr. Hříbek, cited in the given context.), and Marta Munzarová.
The author focuses on the role of propositions and images in the constitution of the fictional world of a narrative literary work. He critically examines Martínez-Bonati's idea of the "alienation" of sentence-meanings in images, based on Husserl's notion of fulfillment (Erfüllung). In particular: 1. He points out that not only expressed propositions, but also other (emotional and style-determining) parameters of sentence-meanings and even failures or disturbances in expressing propositions can participate in generating acts of imagination with mimetic functions. 2. He argues that the notion of fulfillment (as applied to sentence meanings) should be extended so as to include all experiences with mimetic function: visual images should be approached as one of the variety of kinds of (literarily-productive) imaginative fulfillment. 3. He rejects the interpretation of fulfillment as alienation (or dissolution) of meanings in images: among other things, he argues that this would eliminate the communicative scheme within which the interpretation of a text of narrative fiction takes place., Petr Koťátko., and Obsahuje poznámky a bibliografii