We feature an interview with Prof. Miroslav Verner, who is a world-known Czech Egyptologist. His book The Pyramids was translated into several languages. For seventeen years, he was the director of the Czech Institute of Egyptology and led Czech excavations at Abusir. He has also been associated with the Universities of Vienna and Hamburg as well as Charles University in Prague and the American University in Cairo. and Sylva Daníčková.
gazykem Latinskym od K. Bartoloměge Bitnera wěrného Krystowa Služebnjka w Koruně Polské wydaná: Nynj pak do Česstiny přeľožená od J. C. [= Jan Cyrill]., Mnoho nepotištěných listů před i za tištěným textem s rkp textem., and K01152
The article introduces a special themed issue of Theory of Science on epistemologies of spaces and places. It provides a disciplinary context of the theme and reviews some of the key arguments that led to the so-called spatial turn in social sciences and the humanities. Science studies in the broad sense (including social studies of science and technology, history and philosophy of science) have also been affected by this shift of research interest to spatial aspects of science at both micro- and macro-levels. Scientific knowledge has been subject to analyses that stress its local contingencies, mobility and dependencies on spatial arrangements. The ensuing new epistemologies require novel concepts or reconsideration of the older terms, such as universality or objectivity., Tento článek uvozuje zvláštní tematické číslo Teorie vědy věnované epistemologiím prostorů a míst. Článek představuje oborový kontext tématu a poskytuje přehled některých klíčových argumentů, jež vedly k takzvanému prostorovému obratu v sociálních a humanitních vědách. Výzkumy vědy v širokém smyslu (zahrnujícím sociální výzkumy vědy a techniky, dějiny a filosofii vědy) byly také ovlivněny tímto přesunem badatelských zájmů k jejím prostorovým aspektům na mikro i makro úrovni. Vědecké vědění je podrobováno analýzám, které zdůrazňují jeho místní nahodilosti, mobilitu a závislost na prostorových uspořádáních. Následné nové epistemologie vyžadují nové koncepty či přehodnocení starších termínů, jako univerzalita a objektvita., and Radim Hladík.
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