Analysis of Chinese landscape design offered a challenge to test the concepts of environmental aesthetics developed in the West. With comparative approach we improved our understanding of art and environment, and of different strategies in designing forms of Chinese gardens. In order to describe the "hidden" symbohsm of Chinese landscape design we applied various concepts and metaphors: completeness, large and small, mirror and mirroring, garden as entrance and separate reality, disclosure and concealment, and returning to the source.

Razlicite ideje o tome kako se vasiona pojavila i kako se razvija, bile su u indijskoj tradiciji povezane sa mitskim, religijskim i filozofskim idejama i kontekstima, a razvijale su se u rasponu od oko 2.500 g. - od 15. v. st. e., do 16. v. - tj. od vremena veda, do purana. Kad je rec o nastanku vasione, dve glavne ideje su prisutne. Po jednoj koncepciji vasiona se samopostala, a bogovi su eventualno bili prva bica u sledu daljeg razvoja. Po (...) drugom shvatanju, vasiona je bozanska tvorevina, koje je nekad nastalo u mukotrpnom procesu, ili kao emanacija u bozanskoj igri. Indijska tradicija je poznavala i razlicite kritike mitskih i religijskih shvatanja, koji su davali prednost naturalistickim i materijalistickim objasnjenjima nastanka i razvoja univerzuma. Jedna od specificnosti indijskih kosmogonija i kosmologija je bilo i operisanje sa velikim vremenskim rasponima, sto su im omogucili indijski brojevi koje je u 13. v. u Evropu uveo Fibonaci. (shrink)

This article is devoted to the interplay between forcing with fusion and combinatorial covering properties. We illustrate this interplay by proving that in the Laver model for the consistency of the Borel’s conjecture, the product of any two metrizable spaces with the Hurewicz property has the Menger property.

Cieľom, ktorý premýšľa táto štúdia, je zápas o zmysel (deštrukcie) dejín metafyziky odohrávajúci sa na pozadí reflexie filozofického odkazu Parmenida. Leitmotív problému sa spája so zmyslom (deštrukcie) dejín metafyziky ako západnej ontológie (Heideggerova pozícia); identifikáciou platonskej (metafyzickej) tradície ako falošného vedenia nazerajúceho v pravde existujúce jestvujúcno, ktoré sa vo svetle tézy o neexistencii absolútnej pravdy a jej explikáciou stáva konkrétnym výkonom časového a konečného ľudského bytia (pozícia Nietzscheho). Nietzsche a Heidegger poukazujú na to, že prvým momentom, ktorý si musíme uvedomiť (...) je, naša (metafyzická) schopnosť teoreticky fundovať zmysel sveta. Na tejto ambícii je následne vybudovaná celá naša duchovná tradícia. Nietzscheho kritika Parmenidovho spôsobu myslenia znamená skôr kritiku domyslenia jeho základných predpokladov v platonskom variante metafyziky. Takto koncipovaná kritika je prijateľná rovnako pre Heideggera. Spor nastane až vo finálnom zmysle dejín metafyziky – zatiaľ čo Nietzsche ich vidí ako zavŕšenie morálneho videnia sveta a teda ako problém kritiky metafyzikou maskovaného nihilistického rozmeru morálky, Heidegger vidí zavŕšenie dejín metafyziky ako bytostné zabudnutie (doslova zakrývanie) otázky bytia, teda ako problém ontologický. Čo ale Heidegger odmieta doviesť do dôsledkov, sú nihilistické konzekvencie svojej ontológie, odhalené a tematizované práve prostredníctvom Nietzscheho kritiky morálky, v ktorej je práve zabudnutosť bytia demaskovaná vo svojom (konečnom) nihilistickom rozmere. (shrink)

In this paper, I examine the views of contemporary aesthetician of music Stephen Davies about musical transcriptions as special forms of classical music and try to apply his theoretical views to remixing as a musical practice that is primarily related to contemporary electronic music. Using the theoretical approaches of Davies’ aesthetics of music, I point out the similarities between the creative attitudes of a musician in transcribing and remixing, similarities that can be found in the way these musical forms relate (...) to the original composition on which transcriptions or remixes are based. Comparisons between transcription and remix are further investigated by considering the various roles that these musical practices fulfil in various cultural contexts. (shrink)

The view of American industrial research from the perspective of the general public, the practicing scientist as professor or teacher or university researcher is very fuzzy. But in general it may be perceived as quite successful. Quite the contrary, as the recent wholesale cuts in industrial research have shown, the track record of communicating discoveries into technologies, the cost efficiency is dismal. The problem is that the cost efficiency of research based on the average cost per project tells nothing about (...) the enormous differences in the success rate that exist among various laboratories. Based on the experiences of one laboratory, some general observations are made about the multiplicity of factors that can cause a development effort to fail and suggestions are made how the research efficiency could be improved. (shrink)

The results of the first European elections reflect the general distribution of the European electorate slightly center-right oriented, even if the abstentionism of almost 40 % caused some distorsions as in the case of United Kingdom. After the comparison of the results, state by state, it appears globally that the socialists and liberals regressed, the gaullists and their allies suffered a serious defeat, white the christian democrats and the communists progressed and some minor parties entered the European Parliament.The second part (...) contains a portrait of the new European Parliament which is younger than its predecessor, has more women including its president and has many high personnalities. As in the past, the political groupsplay a central and dynamic role. The question is to know if they will be capable of maintaining their cohesion. The examined cases give no evidence of the existence of the center-right majority in front of the left opposition. In fact, there were changing coalitions and voting constellations according to different problems, ideological options or concrete choices. The recent vote rejecting the proposed budget expresses a will of the European Parliament to impose its style and its democratic control on the European Community. (shrink)

Tento článok si kladie za cieľ preskúmať možnú nadväznosť medzi Aristotelovými úvahami o polis a Marxovou filozofiou v prípade pojmu zóon politikon. Na to, aby sme tento problém mohli objasniť, tak bude nutné si položiť dve otázky: 1) Je skutočne možné doložiť, že Marx tento termín reflektoval či sa ním inšpiroval? 2) Sú v tomto prípade tvrdenia moderných bádateľov opodstatnené, pokiaľ ide o vplyv Aristotela na Marxa? Na prvú otázku odpoviem kladne, avšak v odpovedi na tú druhú vyjadrím značné pochybnosti, (...) ktoré budú založené na analýze primárnych textov. Dospejem tak k zisteniu, že niektorí bádatelia sa snažia za každú cenu nájsť aristotelské motívy u Marxa aj tam, kde to nie je jednoznačne preukázateľné. (shrink)

We give topological characterizations of filters${\cal F}$onωsuch that the Mathias forcing${M_{\cal F}}$adds no dominating reals or preserves ground model unbounded families. This allows us to answer some questions of Brendle, Guzmán, Hrušák, Martínez, Minami, and Tsaban.

By setting the relationship between human and divine reality in a whole new way, Christian anthropology has provided an authoritative framework for understanding and valuing the dynamics of human life as moving “from the old to the new man”, according to the famous phrase of the apostle Paul. Other great European humanistic traditions with their ideas of man and visions of his progress can be placed in the critical perspective of this Pauline anthropological formula. One of those traditions that relatively (...) recently entered the stage of European intellectual culture is the so-called “Transhumanism”. In this article, a contrast is made between Paul’s understanding of the dynamics of human life and the _human enhan­cement_ with the help of technology in transhumanism. (shrink)

Studie pojednv o vznamu a smyslu idovskho abatu pro hospodskou spolenost, kter ztrc vdom sounleitosti lovka se svtem a prodou. Mylenkov potencil abatu nabz jedno z podstatnch ozdravnch vchodisek pro odcizen lovka a jeho prce. Filozofick hledn smyslu prce a volnho asu nachz odpov v rmcovm pojet smyslu lidsk innosti, pravidelnho odpoinku a hodnoty asu. abat obsahuje poselstv pro vnmn svta jako hodnotnho prostoru pro ivot a odpovdnou prci s perspektivou minulosti, ptomnosti a budoucnosti.

We introduce a class of proper posets which is preserved under countable support iterations, includes \(\omega ^\omega \) -bounding, Cohen, Miller, and Mathias posets associated to filters with the Hurewicz covering properties, and has the property that the ground model reals remain splitting and unbounded in corresponding extensions. Our results may be considered as a possible path towards solving variations of the famous Roitman problem.

We report a study examining the role of linguistic context in modulating the influences of individual differences in fluid and crystalized intelligence on comprehension of literary metaphors. Three...

This paper compares Harold Garfinkel’s phenomenologically informed “radical” ethnomethodology and Emanuel Schegloff’s “classical” Conversation Analysis, by focusing on their treatments of a ringing telephone as a summons. In their diverging accounts, Garfinkel and Schegloff use similar yet different terminologies in relation to the action of hearing. Garfinkel speaks of the “hearability” of the ringing phone, while Schegloff speaks of a recipient’s “hearership”. This lexical distinction is not irrelevant. “Hearership” stresses the obligations of parties to a phone call to speak and (...) listen to each other while co-producing conversation. In contrast, for Garfinkel an analysis limited only to the parties’ work of speaking and listening to each other from within the hearable world glosses over the pervasive presence of the “hearability-structures” of the ordinary world. His “radical” version is predicated on the claim that the ordinary world is a hearable world. Accordingly, a phone summons is a familiar sound in which “hearability” is inseparable from the “hearability-structures” endogenous to the Lebenswelt. (shrink)

This article attempts to summarize some of the experiences and methodological insights gained from research on non-traditional religious groups that the author has conducted over the last twenty years, primarily in Czech society. The starting point for these studies is respect for the principle that it is not possible to approach the study of religious pluralism and diversity from a single predetermined conceptual framework-religious diversity requires diverse approaches. However, within the diversity approach there exist some common principles such as respect (...) for the religious beliefs of respondents and the elimination of personal stereotypes and ethnocentrism. (shrink)

The aim of the paper is to give a description of the development of understanding scientific method in the history of science and philosophy of science. The thesis is defended that crucial changes in understanding scientific method had fundamental consequences for the development in scientific knowledge, for the position of science in the system of knowledge and for its role in human culture. Basic attitudes to scientific method in contemporary philosophy and philosophy of science are shortly outlined and the rationality (...) of scientific method is defended. (shrink)

In this paper, I consider several issues related to the concept of identity—the concept that is in many ways related to Heda Festini’s early philosophical interests. I specifically focus on discussion of the issues in Frege, Russell, and Wittgenstein. I contrast two competing conceptions of identity—the objectual (according to which identity is a relation in which every object stands only to itself) and the metalinguistic (according to which identity is a relation between coreferential names)—and consider reasons these authors had for (...) accepting or discarding one or the other. In addition, I consider how issues concerning identity relate to issues concerning identity statements. (shrink)

In 1919, when his Logisch-Philosophische Abhandlung (Tractatus Logico-Phi-losophicus), was finished but still unpublished, Wittgenstein sent the manuscript to Frege, and, as a consequence of that, they exchanged several fairly polemic letters in 1919 – 1920. Only Frege’s letters were preserved. The letters are highly compressed in content, and offer an interesting insight in how, mostly critically, one of the authors of whom Wittgenstein held highest esteem, thought about the content, style, and organisation of the manuscript. At the same time, we (...) can get some impression from Frege’s letters how Wittgenstein reacted to his initial letter addressing the Tractatus, and how the subsequent exchange went. In this paper, I offer several observations concerning their exchange, and I compare it to the parallel exchange on the same matter between Wittgenstein and Russell. (shrink)

The theory of beauty plays an important role in Plotinus’s philosophy. It has metaphysical, psychological, ethical, as well as aesthetical dimension. It is also inseparable from the spiritual ascent and mysticism. For Plotinus, the role of beauty is to recall to us a knowledge of forms. Thus, soul ascends to the true beauty through the practice of virtues and its purification. His aesthetic theory searches for a way to the ultimate principle in terms of beauty, and by doing that it (...) seeks to identify a soul with it. This is why Plotinus’ theory of beauty is as important as his ontology, and why he significantly extends the meaning of the beautiful and refers to it in several books of his Enneads. (shrink)

This paper deals with an aspect of John Philoponus’ psychology, a 6th century Byzantine writer, which marks the early phase of his philosophical career. It is the ochēma/pneûma theory, which in Philoponus’ case represents an unusual fusion of Aristotelian, Platonic, and Stoic philosophy with Galenic physiology and anatomy. In this paper, we examine how this Christian Neoplatonist attempts to assimilate elements of two ancient traditions – philosophical and medical – into a peculiar psychological concept.

Following the recent wave of globalization, the possession of different types of knowledge became even more important for economic development than the possession of physical resources. The ability of a society to adopt existing and create new knowledge thus gained fundamental importance for its wellbeing. In this paper, we identify important aspects of the relationship between education, creation of knowledge, economic growth, as well as both material and immate?rial wellbeing of a society. We describe potential problems that prevent societies from (...) maximizing the benefit from the effort its members invest in acquiring knowledge. The problems of failure of the national markets for education as well as the global migrations which lead to drain of knowledge towards economically highly developed countries are especially analyzed. In the long run, they lead to a decline in both national competitiveness and different aspects of the immate?rial wellbeing. As the basis for solving these problems we propose a combination of economic theory and the concept of solidarity between more and less devel?oped countries, individuals and societies of their origin, respecting the free will of individuals. nema. (shrink)

In this paper, I examine the extent to which the theoretical procedures for interpreting works of visual art, which Gotthold Ephraim Lessing describes in his famous book Laocoon: An Essay Upon the Limits of Painting and Poetry, are comparable to various methods of interpretation from the tradition of hermeneutics. To achieve this, I analyse how Robert S. Leventhal and Frederick Burwick approached Lessing’s interpretation techniques and try to expand their views and apply them to Lessing’s thoughts in Laocoon. I will (...) focus on the idea that Lessing’s procedures for interpreting works of visual art depend, to a certain extend, on his methods for analysing literature. Even though these authors did not link Lessing’s thoughts to the hermeneutical theory of Friedrich Schleiermacher, I will also explore whether there are certain similarities in their views on the main constituents of the process of interpretation. (shrink)