Abstract:This article presents a new interpretation of Wang Guowei's concept of jingjie understood as his creative response to Kant and European aesthetics addressing concerns recently elaborated also in Gernot Böhme's new aesthetic theory, based on a non-standard interpretation of Kant's aesthetic theory through his concept of atmosphere. The convergence of both authors is explored in their efforts to overcome the dualism of subject and object in their explorations of the aesthetic experience and response, further exemplified by means of another current (...) term, Bence Nanay's distributed attention. (shrink)

This article presents a general conception of aesthetic experience built on an analysis of the relationship between the narrative and the ambient dimensions of the aesthetic value of a natural environment, the forest. First of all, the two dimensions are presented with respect to the possibilities and problems raised by distinguishing between them. Next, the possibilities of their relationship are analysed and it is argued that they are strongly complementary. This complementarity becomes the core of the proposed conception of aesthetic (...) experience, which can explain the difference between the aesthetic and the non-aesthetic, and can also provide an answer to the question of the non-reductive differentiation between the aesthetic experience of nature and the experience of a work of art. The conclusion of the article is mainly concerned to eliminate one of the problems localized in presenting the ambient dimension (the ambience paradox), by means of Ricoeur’s conception of the relationship between time and narrative. (shrink)

Studie zkoumá Whiteheadovo pojetí rozumu jako regulativního faktoru v každém estetickém prožitku, spolu s Whiteheadovým názorem na základní estetickou povahu každého prožitku, každé zkušenosti. Tyto myšlenky jsou srovnávány se současnými nálezy neuroestetiky a recepční estetiky s cílem doložit stimulující povahu Whiteheadovy fi losofie i pro současnou estetiku.

The study analyses a narrative monologue, an inner monologue, and a monologue which includes a dialogue between the author and the reader/spectator, from the point of view of the recipient’s participation in the narrative. It employs Muka?ovský’s analysis of to what extent a monologue is present in every dialogue as well as latent and sometimes manifest dialogue features present in every monologue, along with the side-participation of hearer/spectator. The notion of side-participation is expanded on the triangular model of attention with (...) continual presence of ego-consciousness. Thus every monologue has a side-participant who consequently holds a conversation with himself, especially in the case of an aesthetic attitude. Each member of a communicative situation embodies three roles: those of a speaker, a hearer and a side-participant. (shrink)

A critical comment on Weed‘s Looking for Beauty in the Brain from Estetika 1/2008.

The article attempts to critically reconsider some of the central motives of Tomáš Kulka’s aesthetics, especially his use of the term Gestalt and his concept of versions and alterations. In addition to his own objections, the author focuses on criticism of the above-mentioned parts of Kulka’s theory from the perspective of Czech structuralism and phenomenology.

The article attempts to critically reconsider some of the central motives of Tomáš Kulka’s aesthetics, especially his use of the term Gestalt and his concept of versions and alterations. In addition to his own objections, the author focuses on criticism of the above-mentioned parts of Kulka’s theory from the perspective of Czech structuralism and phenomenology.

Professor Zdeněk Mathauser, Czech aesthetician and literary scholar, expert on Husserl’s phenomenology and French and Czech Structuralism, author of many publications, including Básnivé nápovědi Husserlovy fenomenologie.

A review of Steven Shaviro´s Without Criteria: Kant, Whitehead, Deleuze, and Aesthetics (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2009, xvi + 174 pp. ISBN 978-0-262-19576-8).

The paper offers a new model of genre. The model employs Deleuze and Guattari's concepts of plane of immanence, chaos, and, in particular, concepts and approaches of cognitive science. Genre in general and the film genre in particular are modelled as a multidimensional space with a network of vector sequences, as a plane of immanence with individual works in the role of concepts, as a cluster category without a centre. That genre model provides more explanatory power than the recent semantic-syntactical (...) one. (shrink)

Some recent approaches to narratology have presented the event as a basic constitutive element of narrativity. The event is considered either a primitive term or something that just happens or may happen, a change from one state to another. The underlying concepts are identity, state, and being. The article describes the event in general and the narrative event in particular from the perspective of the primacy of becoming, change, and flow, employing especially Whitehead’s philosophy of process and also certain concepts (...) developed by reception aesthetics. The narrative event is analyzed in the context of the following concatenation: the event -- interconnected events -- plot -- fictional world -- the real world and its potentiality. The aim is to understand a narrative event not as an interruption of the receptive flow, but as its change of course among levels of emergence. (shrink)

A review of the first Czech translation, published in 2007, of Nelson Goodman’s Languages of Art.

The article attempts to critically reconsider some of the central motives of Tomáš Kulka’s aesthetics, especially his use of the term Gestalt and his concept of versions and alterations. In addition to his own objections, the author focuses on criticism of the above-mentioned parts of Kulka’s theory from the perspective of Czech structuralism and phenomenology.

This article attempts to critically reconsider some of the central motives in Tomáš Kulka’s aesthetics, especially his use of the term Gestalt and his concept of versions and alterations. In addition to his own objections, the author focuses on criticism of the above-mentioned parts of Kulka’s theory from the perspective of Czech structuralism and phenomenology.

The article attempts to critically reconsider some of the central motives of Tomáš Kulka’s aesthetics, especially his use of the term Gestalt and his concept of versions and alterations. In addition to his own objections, the author focuses on criticism of the above-mentioned parts of Kulka’s theory from the perspective of Czech structuralism and phenomenology.

I conceive the Trinity doctrine as the proposition that there are three persons each of whom is God but just one being which is God. In two papers by Peter van Inwagen I distinguish three potential candidates for a reason that the Trinity doctrine is logically possible. First, a particular conjunction entailing the Trinity doctrine is formally consistent in relative identity logic. Second, the conjunction is formally consistent in the standard logic. Third, the conjunction shares a form in relative identity (...) logic with another logically possible conjunction. I explain how all these three reasons fail because of the distinction between logical possibility and formal consistency. In contrast to previous critiques, I dispense with epistemological and metaphysical assumptions about absolute and relative identity. Instead, I employ modal distinctions endorsed even by the inspirer of van Inwagen’s relative identity of the Trinity — the pioneering analytic scholastic Peter Geach. (shrink)

Although material value-ethics was introduced into philosophy at least a century ago, confusion still persists as to what it implies. This article offers some clarification. It states how material value-ethics stands opposed to formalistic ethics, commonly – though perhaps wrongly – attributed to Kant. The resulting analysis allows us to establish a combination of features that give material value-ethics an advantage over deontological, consequentialist and other perspectives, regardless of the hermeneutics issue.

Social networking sites allow politicians to reach followers directly and offer citizens platforms to express their opinions. However, online discussions often lack civility, leading to increased polarization. Although existing research has brought important insights into populist effects on political trust, attitudes, or electoral behavior, we know less about how populism’s use of divisive rhetoric and identity-based appeals contribute to the confrontational responses of social media users. To address this gap, we investigate the relationship between the use of populist communication in (...) migration-related social media posts by populist and non-populist political actors and the use of uncivil and intolerant rhetoric by social media users. Focusing on the case of the Czech Republic between 2013 and 2020, we conducted a quantitative content analysis of Facebook posts about the contentious issue of migration created by political parties and comments under those posts published by social media users. Our results indicate that while different elements of populist communication bring mixed results to the responses in online discussions, the social media posts created by populist political parties are positively associated with increased online incivility and intolerance. These findings have significant implications for understanding the potential influence of populist messages on social media and its consequences for democratic societies, highlighting their relevance in addressing and mitigating crises beyond the migration crisis, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and other emergencies. (shrink)

There is little doubt in the current comparative politics literature about the importance of political parties in modern democracies, nor is there any doubt about the centrality of political parties in the democratic transitions in Central and Eastern Europe after the fall of communism. This holds true for the Czech Republic as well. However, the three most recent general elections in the Czech Republic have shaken the country. Electoral earthquakes are becoming common in the region, and it seems that the (...) Czech Republic is being affected by what has been described in the literature as the decline of political parties. The main aim of the article is to explore sources of public anti-party sentiment in the Czech Republic. The analysis of data from a public opinion survey shows that public anti-partyism can be explained by a perceived lack of political representation that stems from both economic conditions and a feeling of low political efficacy. (shrink)

I discuss Josef Seifert, a realist phenomenologist, and David Oderberg, an Aristotelian. Both endorse essences, understood as objective quiddities. Both argue that no law of nature is strongly necessary: i.e. true in every possible world. But they disagree about weak necessity of laws: Seifert argues that no law is true in every possible world in which its referring expressions are non-empty, while Oderberg argues that some is. I restate, relate, and review reasons of both authors for each of those theses. (...) Seifert’s reasons include God’s ability to do miracles, conceivability of counterinstances to laws, and many others. Oderberg’s reasons include dependence of laws on particulars, depiction of laws as truths about properties necessarily connected with essences, and explanation of persistent regularities by means of that necessary connection. I argue that no reason of either Seifert or Oderberg is convincing, as its stands. But I also argue that given God and his ability to do miracles, the idea of “meaningful” but non-necessary connection between essences — an idea endorsed but insuffi ciently utilized by Seifert — is a better essentialist explanation of persistent regularities. This explanation implies that no law is necessary, be it weakly or strongly. (shrink)

V. Hösle’s most important philosophical contribution is in his systematic attempt at grasping the philosophical problems, especially ontological, axiological and ecological ones, as one whole. The author examines several of these problems, especially with regard to the universalistic conception of ethics and the relationship between nature and spirit as manifested in the particular spheres of Hösles’s philosophical concern: his conception of the ecological crisis as a metaphysical one, the meaning of natural law, the question of collective indentities etc. In conclusion (...) the author outlines his vision of an ethics for the 21st century including its political dimension. (shrink)

I discuss Dietrich von Hildebrand, a realist phenomenologist, and Louis Groarke, an Aristotelian. They are close in epistemology and modal metaphysics, but divided about the metaphysical necessity of standard lawlike propositions – i.e., standard natural laws and standard truths about natural kinds. I extract and undermine the reasons of both authors. Hildebrand claims that no standard lawlike proposition is metaphysically necessary, since none is in principle knowable solely by considering essences. I undermine this when I argue that the explanation of (...) positive instances of at least some standard lawlike propositions by the metaphysical necessity of these propositions is quite plausibly true. Groarke claims that some standard lawlike propositions are metaphysically necessary, since their positive instances exemplify natural kinds that make all their members necessarily similar in relevant ways. I undermine this, too, as I point out the obscurity of relevant similarity. Finally I argue against Groarke’s suggestion that an appeal to relevant similarity is presupposed in all acceptable inductive arguments from samples. (shrink)

This is an article in the philosophy of happiness — but one with an untypical focus. It clarifies the claim of the phenomenologist Dietrich von Hildebrand that high happiness comes especially from loving others, and compares it with the apparently rival Aristotelian claim that high happiness comes especially from contemplating God. The former claim is understood to be about felt love. Both claims are understood to be about felt happiness. The article argues that, in fact, the two claims are not (...) rival but mutually consistent, since the beloved person can be God, and the contemplation can be a loving one. Both claims are also consistent with scientific evidence, although it is tangential and tentative. Moreover, both claims are plausible, since both are backed up by intuitive explanations of why they should be regarded as true. However, both are in need of a further philosophical or scientific research that could confirm them even more. (shrink)