E-LOGOS, 2009 (vol. 16), issue 1

Projective Modal Structures of Plato's Parmenides

Vyacheslav Moiseyev

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-20  

In the first part of the paper the hypothesis of existence of so called Lingua Philosophica is propounded. Lingua Philosophica is an authentic philosophical language, which basic structures still fail to be expressed strictly. The author suggests a version of axiomatic system (so called Projective Modal Ontology, further PMO), which from his point of view could serve as the first adequate formal system, by means of which Lingua Philosophica can be formalized. Explanations of the basic notions of PMO and their interpretation in various philosophical traditions are given. In the second part of the paper ideas of PMO are used to interpret...

Hegel on the 'Other': introducing the concept of recognition in Hegel's Phenomenology

Philip Tonner

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-14  

This paper introduces the notion of Recognition in the section of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit entitled 'A. INDEPENDENCE AND DEPENDENCE OF SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS: LORDSHIP AND BONDAGE' by way of a commentary. Hegel's view is that in order for any self-consciousness to obtain it must be acknowledged as such by another self-consciousness. For Hegel, acknowledgement emerges as a necessary condition for self-consciousness. As such, Hegel's account of self-consciousness raises the problem of intersubjectivity, or the account of the relation between more than one self-consciousness and I suggest, without attempting to establish, some intuitive lines of defence...

Pathos, Pleasure and the Ethical Life in Aristippus

Kristian Urstad

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-19  

For many of the ancient Greek philosophers, the ethical life was understood to be closely tied up with important notions like rational integrity, self-control, self-sufficiency, and so on. Because of this, feeling or passion (pathos), and in particular, pleasure, was viewed with suspicion. There was a general insistence on drawing up a sharp contrast between a life of virtue on the one hand and one of pleasure on the other. While virtue was regarded as rational and as integral to advancing one's well-being or happiness and safeguarding one's autonomy, pleasure was viewed as largely irrational and as something that usually undermines a life of reason,...

Marxovo pojetí mašinérie

Aleš Novák

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-19  

Marx's analysis of machinery anticipates the thoughts of 20. century's philosophers concerning technology, machines, and the human relation to them. The working process expresses the conversion of the material as well as the human sphere into the process of the machinery, which substitutes the traditionally metaphysical function of "the Being" granting the meaning to each and every single being (some-thing). Supposing that the metaphysical notion of "Being" has to demonstrate a temporal structure, the machinery itself must also indicate a realization of this structure. While Marx's notion of "Being" in the meaning of "work" is suggesting the main feature...

Systém kategorií u Aristotela

Miroslav Vacura

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-22  

The text known as Categories is a product of Aristotle's youth and the authenticity of some of its parts is discussed. Despite of it its interpretation presents many difficulties and its understanding is necessary prerequisite to accessing his later texts. This article tries to provide overview of structure of system of categories developed by Aristotle in this work and to point out the most important problems of interpretation and their possible solutions.

Is the Human Distinguishable from the Animal by being a Rational Animal?

Alexandra Dobra

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-9  

The present paper aims to proceed to a succinct analysis of Leibniz's Principles of Nature and Grace (section 5), by exploiting the cardinal arguments acquainted in it - namely, is he human distinguishable from the animal thanks to his capacity of being endowed with rationality? Henceforth, for answering this question, the herewith paper obeys to a linear analysis and presents a corpus structured in three main parts. The first two parts aims to highlight the text, through furnishing explanations on the main concepts and concerns, while the third part of the corpus offers at prima facie a criticism towards the Leibnizian principle - according to which...

VIS VIVA & VIS MORTUA

Ján Pavlík

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-63  

The results of cognitive biology and bioenergetics, as elaborated by Ladislav Kováč, its outstanding Slovak representative, clearly suggest that the material basis for consciousness (defined as an organized set of the perceptional and emotional qualia) can be found in energy dissipation processes which proceed at the chemical level of brain activities. Since there are strong arguments against Kováč's explanation of the relation between chemical processes and the qualia in terms of emergence (in strong sense), it is necessary to go to the Leibnizian origins of the modern conception of physical energy (both actual-kinetic and potential), and to its metaphysical...

Organický hybný činiteľ a racionalita konania

Ján Nikel

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-12  

Aristotle´s account of rational agent, choice, deliberation and action is based on his conceptions of motion and appetance. In Aristotle´s view a human being is a rational agent. Deliberation and activity of a person is guided by practical reason. Rational agent makes a decision. The correct decision requires deliberation. Good deliberation is ensured by prudence.

O niektorých problémoch vzniku apriórnych súvzťažností myslenia a ich riešení prostredníctvom nomotvorného charakteru myslenia

Matúš Pošvanc

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-28  

The basic aim of this paper is to point out to some problems which are, in my opinion, presented in Jan Pavlik´s argumentation about the genesis of apriory relations on thinking. These problems can be revealed by the presentation of his paper concerned with apriory knowledge on "Austrian Economics and the Problems of Apriorism," and also of his papers concerned with the evolution of conscious human being "On Patocka´s Conception of the "Ideal Genesis "of Language", "In defense of (not so extreme) apriorism" and others as "On the Spontaneous Emergence of the Norms of Distributive Justice and the Catallactic Rules." I will try to find the solution of...

Vlastníctvo ako inherentná súčasť spoločenských vzťahov

Matúš Pošvanc

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-23  

The private property rights are the basis of every society organization. The property rights are considered to be a sociable construct which is supported by a quiet consensus of men. They were violated many times during the whole history of mankind. The basic question I try to answer in this paper is, if we could consider the ownership principle as an inherent component of the human thinking. The argumentation presented in this paper will try to show that the ownership principle is the inherent part to any mind of human who lives in the society because it is derived from the structure of human actions within the society. This ownership conception personifies...

Aristotelian Train of Thought in BioCosmology

Stephen M. Modell

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-16  

Konstantin Khroutski envisions a new medical era or episteme in which health care will be devoted to the realization of each patient's whole-person needs, from biological to social, ultimately leading to their actualization as a human being. Commentator Anna Makolkin has pointed out that the transformation in medical culture is best addressed through an examination of the Greek concept of nous - mind and intellect. Aristotle's train of thought in his Physics, Metaphysics, and Generation of Animals, especially his analysis of the active and passive intellect, sheds light on the shifting modes of medical reasoning. Philosopher-physician Maimonides' medical...

Human Enhancement Technologies, Transhumanism and Religion

Arthur Saniotis

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-10  

The advent of new bio-technologies has heralded the growth of the philosophy called transhumanism. Transhumanism is a school of thought which contends that future humans will be radically different due to technological forays into the human body and brain. However, transhumanism has yet to answer human rights concerns by ethicists and philosophers. To what extent will the emergence of human enhancement technologies change human societies and the way in which we define our humanity? On what grounds does the development of human enhancement technologies pose a threat to human rights? Such questions demand the emergence of a wisdom ethic which will hopefully...

Mosaic structures - a working hypothesis for the complexity of living organisms

Georges Chapouthier

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-11  

The present argument, compatible with Darwin's theory of evolution, explores the development of living species and the shift to ever increasing complexity. Two basic phenomena provide the keys to evolution towards complexity: juxtaposition and integration. These operations produce structures following the mosaic principle, i.e. juxtaposition, accumulating identical units, and integration, developing into a more sophisticated version with the original units then becoming component parts. Examples cited are from genetics, anatomy and human society. The human brain and mental operations, including memory and language, are analysed as mosaic structures....

Reason and Nature: McDowell, Kant and Peacocke on Perception

O. R. Calle

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1)

The paper contrasts to completely different approaches on the relations of reason and nature: the one assumed in the context of the studies on 'bounded rationality' and the one proposed in McDowell's Mind and World. As a result of this contrast two different models of the relation of reason and nature appear: what may be called respectively a top-down and a botton-up model. Drawing on Kant's own proposals in his 'Schematism of Pure Reason' I will develop some criticism of McDowell's bottom up approach, defending the need of a normative non-conceptual level on which basis the conceptual would be developed. I will draw some connections between these...

Realism and Self-Awareness. Might they be connected?

Uwe Saint-Mont

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-12  

For centuries philosophers have wondered why it is so difficult to found realistic positions in epistemology: although nobody in everyday life would deny the existence of an outside world, in theory it is very difficult to grasp it. Since the days of Kant this has been called the "scandal of philosophy". On first sight, this enigma doesn't seem to be related to the fundamental problem of self-awareness, investigated by the cognitive sciences and the philosophy of mind. Nevertheless, contemporary philosophy is looking for connections. We will argue that both problems are linked tightly, for a clear-cut distinction between reality "out there" and a subject...

Platónův Faidros

Václav Řezníček

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-9  

Nebezpečí kýče

Jakub Černý

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-14  

I demonstrate in this work that we can equate successfully some styles of human behaviour with influences of kitsch in the fine art on us. And we have not any reasons to separate the kitsch in the fine art and these styles of the human behaviour. The influences of the kitsch in the human behaviour can be (and often are) very dangerous. I should like to demonstrate to what measure can be dangerous that behaviour with its influence on the thinking of collectivity. And we can be sure, if the people can not recognise easier sort of kitsch in the art, they do not recognise the latent kitsch in the calculated human act either. I compare an encyclopedic definition...

Esej k metodologii ekonomie

Tomáš Jelínek

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-13  

This paper deals with methodology of economics. It is discussing a historical development of economics into a relatively broadly accepted science. It presents main economic paradigm. It mentions disparities between scientific and engineering route of contemporary Macroeconomics.

Principy Darwinovy teorie evoluce v aplikacích umělé inteligence

David Čunek

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-12  

The goal of this work is to verify the conformity of Darwin's theory of evolution with models known from Artificial Intelligence. Cellular Automata were chosen as a suitable model, because its purpose is simulation of live. The first question to answer was, where the life comes from. There was found a relation between complexity and order and emergency of life. After initial period of chaos the order emerges in complex systems due to self-organization. This doesn't show any signs of instability, because it tends to reorganize after it is disorganized. The emergency of species is possible only behind the particular volume of complexity of the system....

Proměny přirozeného světa. Husserl, Patočka a dál?

Petr Špecián

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-23  

The paper deals with a problem of the lifeworld (Lebeswelt). Lifeworld is an important topic in the late philosophy of Edmund Husserl especially as a motive of a struggle against the alienation created (in Husserl's opinion) by the modern tech-science and its mechanistic metaphysics. Further substantial development of the theme is observed in Patočka's works. Beside a critical excursus into Husserl's own thoughts, this paper concentrates especially on Patočka's approach to the lifeworld including the consequences which may stem from the doubts upon the pretentions of modern science to achieve objective truth and from the efforts to vindicate the lifeworld....

Zkoumání neuchopitelnosti informace

Pavel Trejbal

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-18  

The aim of this paper is to explore intangibility of the concept of information, and consider the consequences which spring from the intangibility. In the introductory part, there is thematised the relation between two different modes of consciousness, which were identified by Bergson in Time and Free Will. The paper analyses the aspects of consciousness that are related to verbal representation, and to discrete, quantitative and formally-analytical way of thinking. In addition, there are also discussed the aspects that corresponds to the qualitative experience of our subjectivity. Analogically with both modes of consciousness, there are deduced two...

Několik úvah o Hegelově estetice

Martina Veverková

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-25  

The work is not only about Hegel's aesthetics but mainly searching for the roots of an art in his theory. As a part of searching for the substance of art the work showing mistakes about classifying Hegel as a predecessor of formalism in the art. The first part is devoted to the general interpretation of Hegel's aesthetics. The second one is defending abstract painting (not pure formalistic abstract painting) which is critising so many times today. The final part of the work is presenting Hegel's aesthetics as complex conception and forming the ground for reflextion about current art scene.

Aristotelian Cultural Universals and Contemporary Cultural Conflicts

Anna Makolkin

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-14  

This paper makes a recourse to the much quoted Aristotle's Metaphysics and Politics, as well as to the seldom or less popular works, such as Constitution of Athens, Rhetorics to Alexander or On Generation and Corruption, aiming at deconstruction of the post-modern secular and religious beliefs, mythologies, misinterpretations of the cultural cataclysms. Employing the basic semiotics as a heuristic device and relying on the Aristotelian theory of universals, it deals with the most controversial economy of Belief in the most possibly neutral manner. This essay makes an attempt to demystify and lay bare the current geopolitical and economic mythologies,...

Preestablished Harmony Revisited: Generalised Entanglement is a Modern Version of Preestablished Harmony

Harald Walach, Nikolaus von Stillfried, Hartmann Römer

E-LOGOS 2009, 16(1):1-30  

Leibniz' notion of "pre-established harmony" is one of the central notions of his philosophy. It is the conceptual hinge which allows all monads to be interrelated and coordinated yet not influenced by each other through causal interactions, allowing Leibniz to construct a model of the world where moral justice can be philosophically incorporated. This concept has been viewed with some misgivings during the history of philosophy, finally being dismantled during the post-modern turn. We suggest its revival, based on the concept of a weak or generalised quantum theory, an axiomatic, systems theoretical approach, modelled along the same lines as the algebraic...