One of the fundamental problems in the philosophy of psychology is to determine the relation between personal and subpersonal explanations of human behavior. The problem of determining the relation between the personal and subpersonal levels is called the “interface problem”. This paper has two goals. The first is to introduce the domestic reader to the interface problem from the perspective of the philosophy of psychology. The second goal is to show that insufficient focus on the interface problem and its potential (...) solutions can lead to uncritical and fallacious reasoning that can have significant consequences for particular debates in philosophy of medicine and philosophy of law. (shrink)

The article examines the encounter in philosophy as a topic of philosophy, i.e., as a specificity of human existence and as a milieu of pursuing philosophy. Starting from the properties of encounter, which philosophical texts, primarily Martin Buber’s dialogic, recognize and distinguish as those that belong to it in the real world, the paper analyses the changes of encounters in a virtual environment. Among several different changes, two stand out: (1) the reduced awareness of the real being in itself and (...) (2) the impaired ability to be present for other. (shrink)

The paper analyzes the acceleration of the history we are witnessing in our time, which is evident in a series of events and crises that mark the world we live in, especially after the start of the war in Ukraine, which have not occurred in such significant intensity and frequency since the end of the Second World War. Considering these events and crises, the paper discusses the thesis of a historian Eric Hobsbawm that the “short” 20th century that had lasted (...) as “the age of extremes” since the First World War ended with the fall of “communism” and the Berlin Wall, after which we in fact entered the 21st century. Contrary to this thesis and to the well-known thesis on the “end of history”, our paper presents the view that we are still “politically” in the 20th century, because in our time there are similar tensions between the great powers that marked the 20th century and which in general mark the modern world since Westphalian peace in the 17th century. This general thesis is explained by the observation of the most basic lines of the dialectics of modern European and world history. The paper concludes that we are not only “politically” living in the “long” 20th century, but we are still “politically” living in the “longest” classical Westphalian age, which has been lasting for three and a half centuries in the same dialectical contradictions of world politics. Ultimately, the paper also discusses the task of philosophy in the times of the so-called “acceleration of history”, such as ours, and concludes that philosophy as a discipline in these times is obligated to offer, with theoretical creativity, a fresh philosophy of history, explaining in wider perspective a series of actual international occurrences. (shrink)

In this paper, the phenomenon of the stranger is considered from a philosophical and theological point of view. In the introduction, a brief etymological analysis of the term stranger was made, after which it was pointed out that the term remains ambiguous in relation to others – strangers and beloved, but also in relation to ourselves and, finally, in relation to God. In the first part of the paper, we offer phenomenological and existential reflections on the structure of the encounter (...) with the stranger, primarily through the categories of place/space as the central determinant of the stranger’s identity, then through the phenomena of the fearful and the fascinating, of change and wonder, of face and fear. In the second part of the paper, we consider the concept of the stranger with the help of Pope Francis’ encyclical Fratelli tutti, which harmoniously draws on philosophical accents but also offers a theological extension of understanding the encounter with the stranger as an encounter with the neighbor. Finally, we present a synthesis of philosophical and theological understandings of the concept of the stranger. (shrink)

Das Ziel dieses Textes ist, die Aufmerksamkeit auf einige Voraussetzungen, die als wichtig für besseres Verständnis des Denkens scheinen, das zusätzlich als „kritisches“ bezeichnet wird, zu richten. Zuerst wird einleitend konstatiert, dass die Rede vom „kritischen“ Denken im Kontext der Ausbildung aufgetreten ist, und es wird daran erinnert, dass „Kritisches“ ein wesentlicher Bestandteil des Denkens überhaupt ist. Deshalb werden verschiedene Vernunfttypen vorgestellt, aus denen sich verschiedene Rationalitäts- und Denktypen entwickeln. Dabei wird an zeitgenössische Kritik an der Absolutierung der westlichen dihairetischen (...) Rationalität erinnert, wonach es gezeigt wird, wie sich aus der Einheit der Vernunft die Pluralität von Rationalitäten entwickelt hat. Im folgenden Abschnitt wird die ursprüngliche Vernunft als Einheit von Logos und Mythos dargestellt, fortgesetzt von der Thematisierung dessen, was aus der Perspektive der dihairetischen Rationalität nicht als der Vernunft Zugehöriges anerkannt wird – das Andere der Vernunft. Darauf folgt die Darstellung der Anerkennungsmöglichkeit der Rationalität des Anderen der Vernunft, welche sich in der Metapher und der analogischen Rationalität zeigt. Nächstes Kapitel diskutiert einige Folgemanifestierungen der dihairetischen Rationalität und mit diesen Folgen verbundene Schwierigkeiten in Bezug auf Voraussetzungen der Fähigkeitsentwicklung des kritischen Denkens. Zum Schluss werden einige Bedingungen für kritisches Denken dargestellt. (shrink)

The face is undoubtedly one of the key concepts in the thought of Emmanuel Lévinas. Given that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought several aspects of the face into crisis, the article explores the possibilities of a pandemic interpretation of Lévinas’ understanding of the concept of the face. By placing the well-known Lévinas’ statement of the primacy of ethics over ontology in the context of his critique of Buber’s personalism, Lévinas’ understanding of the transcendence of the Other opens up a wide (...) space for a pandemic interpretation of his thought. This context affirms the possibility of a reversal in the understanding of the role of the protective face mask. That mask becomes a visible sign of the transcendence of the Other’s face. Therefore, the pandemic distance from the face of the Other does not change the ontology of the face, but actually deepens it. A similar conclusion can be drawn from Lévinas’ commentary on the prohibition of the visibility of the face of God in the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament. (shrink)

Critical thinking is important for each individual and for society: in the context of gaining knowledge, using the obtained knowledge, and in the context of preserving mental health. This makes it clear that the issue of critical thinking is complex and should be viewed multi-dimensionally and interdisciplinary. Therefore, this research (1) establishes the fundamental characteristics of critical thinking, that is, it talks about the nature of critical thinking. Then, (2) it explores the possibilities or the so-called strategies for the development (...) of critical thinking, and (3) looks at the development of critical thinking in relation to the real aspects of human development. The aim of this paper is to help conceptually resolve controversial issues that concern the nature of critical thinking and its development to, in the end, improve the level of asset and use of obtained knowledge, and to improve the preservation of the mental health of individuals and communities. (shrink)

The aim of this paper is primarily to consider some basic concepts and their meanings related to contemporary social interactions, starting from the classical sociological concepts of social relationship and social interaction, and to see what is changing and what remains the same in the age of networking and “moving” to virtual space. In other words, we want to re-examine their form and content in an age without the necessity of the spatial dimension for a relationship, in which new forms (...) and concepts occur, such as network, networking, virtuality, etc. The first chapter will show the meaning of social relations and social interaction, which imply those social relations in which contact/encounter or communication is present and which leads us to the concept of social interaction in the same space and at the same time. The topic of the second chapter is social interaction at the same time without space, when, with the application of information technology, individuals and societies enter the cyberspace of a new virtual reality. This leads us to the development of various forms of interaction on social networks, which is the topic of the third chapter. The fourth chapter discusses some of the risks and positive possibilities of virtual interactions over real ones. (shrink)

Environmental issues are very relevant today, so this Paper analyses the very beginning of the formation of environmental awareness, questioning its basic determinants – both in time and space and in the causes and consequences of human action on the environment as one of the fundamental elements for any historical research. The paper also offers a brief comparative review of the situation in the Republic of Croatia and finally opens ground for future discussions primarily in the evaluation of progress and (...) development of environmental events in relation to those that this study detected as initial. (shrink)

In this paper, through the analysis of the division of different scientific fields, we deal with the nature of mathematics as a scientific discipline. Through the historical analysis of the division of science, but also the analysis of the nature of mathematics and the ontological status of the objects that mathematics deals with, we show that the now-established divisions among scientific fields are the result of social circumstances and that mathematics itself is closer to the humanities than the natural sciences.

This paper investigates the assumptions and ways of understanding the idea of European identity on a spiritual basis, or more specifically, the conditions of possibility for the interpretation of European identity in the context of studying the common cultural history of the European nations. Since our source of interpretation of European history is the principle of the spirit, which in the historical sphere is primarily embodied in the domain of that which is cultural, whose representation is the life of the (...) spirit in art, but primarily in philosophy and religion, we chose the work of British philosopher and cultural historian Christopher Dawson, who demonstrates, in an exemplary way, what we care about most in this paper. Taking into account the hierarchy of degrees of reality – spirit, culture, religion – Dawson constructs the concept of European identity, by definition already common to all European nations as historical creations, interpreting European culture as an expression of the organic. That is exactly why we can talk about the roots of European identity. In terms of all the above said, a common European identity, based on European culture, has its roots in the Christian philosophy and religion, which, according to Dawson, is not a mere idealistic fact, but an expression of historical, political, social, and legal reality. (shrink)

In many ways, questionable epidemiological measures by which the authorities restricted civic and private life during the COVID-19 pandemic have challenged many implied notions of the inviolability of citizens’ rights and freedoms, as well as obedience to state authority. It is a problem of the incommensurability between freedom and law seen through the conflict between personal rights and the demands of the common good. This article examines how a state of emergency, such as a pandemic, affects the perception of the (...) legitimacy of the State. In this, it relies on some key concepts from Carl Schmitt’s political theology, such as the “exception”, “the sociology of legal concepts”, the “nature of sovereignty”, the formal criterion of the political as a specific way of thinking, and acting and “stasiological” nature of the political. (shrink)

The author will look at aspects of thinking about the idea of Europe at the crossroads of the digital and post-digital epochs – through Edgar Morin’s text Thinking Europe and Guy Debord’s Comments on the Society of the Spectacle, published in the late 1980s, in an attempt to understand their fundamental positions and implicit views on how to approach and pursue something like the political and supranational union of European countries in parallel with the rapid development of digital technologies and (...) new media, which fundamentally change our experience of the world. The very idea of a united Europe appears here as a Kantian “suspicious pleonasm”, whose value is questioned today, especially with the development of new global policies and post-cultural virtual environments that make – notions such as Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Western world – only artifacts of decadent Occidental cultures whose real ruins are overshadowed by an overly real spectacle of virtual abundance. (shrink)

In the context of European integration, the great French Christian philosopher Jacques Maritain and his influence on the European project in the mid-20th century are mentioned very rarely. This paper seeks to shed some light on his somehow hidden role in this context, especially given the central role of freedom of conscience within the personalist philosophical heritage to which Maritain belonged and the political philosophy he shaped, which had a key impact on the European project and its basic documents. Freedom (...) of conscience is seen here as the cornerstone of all human freedoms despite all the risks and complications that this entails. In all conflicts between the State and the conscience, it is necessary and desirable to always go in favour of the conscience or at least to lean towards political solutions that respect or at least do not despise the conscience of the person. Whenever we face seemingly unsolvable problems in such conflicts, dialogue and negotiation should always be chosen instead of violence and imposition. (shrink)

In this paper, the author considers five basic understandings of metaphysics as a philosophical discipline that 1) studies the most general characteristics of everything that is, 2) investigates beings as beings, 3) considers what goes beyond the framework of experience, 4) analyses the most general terms and 5) provides an explanatory theory. In addition, the author considers a number of relevant ideas and distinctions, the distinction between reality and appearance, the distinction between the apparent and scientific picture of the world (...) (Wilfrid Sellars), the idea that philosophy is the queen of science (Moritz Schlick), the distinction between descriptive and revisionist metaphysics (Peter Frederick Strawson), the synoptic view, the idea of naturalised metaphysics, etc. The author accepts the first point of view, the one according to which metaphysics is understood as a philosophical discipline that studies the most general characteristics of everything that is, and accordingly believes that categorical ontology best fits into that picture. After that, the author briefly presents the most famous criticisms of metaphysics (David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and logical positivists), as well as the positions that led to the formation of modern metametaphysics (Rudolf Carnap and Willard Van Orman Quine). Finally, the author considers verbalism and trivialism and tries to determine whether these two positions can represent a basis for the elimination of metaphysics. The author tries to show that these positions do not eliminate metaphysics, but rather set the framework for contemporary metaphysical discussions. (shrink)

The paper analyses John Stuart Mill’s harm principle and its proper application in the process of drafting and evaluating laws, political decisions, and measures used to prevent the spread of contagious diseases. By interpreting Mill as an epistemic democrat and an epistemic liberal, the paper focuses on Mill’s thoughts regarding the decision-making procedures appropriate for legislation in a pandemic. Additionally, it discusses the proper division of epistemic and political labor, one of the most important mechanisms Mill uses to filter the (...) public will, and demonstrates how Mill’s arguments can help us balance between epistemic and moral virtues, i.e. between democratic and expert-oriented decision-making. (shrink)

The author analyses the second phase of the development of Husserl’s phenomenological egology and the transition from nonegological to egological phenomenology. Accepting the necessity of the pure I as a phenomenological residue of the transcendental epoché, a non-constituted transcendence in immanence and the source of the evidence of the ‘I am’, it is analysed in its main aspects – such as, among others, the I-pole and I-substrate of habitualities – and in its traits and roles it plays in the stream (...) of lived experiences of pure consciousness. Thus formulated, pure I will be incorporated into the late concepts of transcendental ego and transcendental intersubjectivity. The shortcomings of such an egological conception of consciousness will also be examined, to which the nonegological theories of Husserl’s followers will not offer an adequate solution, making the debate of the egological character of consciousness present also in contemporary philosophy. (shrink)

The article analyses and interprets the critique of the special dharmic theory of the early Buddhist school of sarvāstivāda-vaibhāṣika undertaken by the school of sautrāntika. Special attention is paid to the critique of the theory of the existence of dharmas, elementary psycho-physical data, in all three time periods. At the beginning, a general Buddhist theory of two truths is presented, which tries to legitimize the so-called philosophy of abhidharma as a “higher teaching” regarding reality (dharma theory) which is only rudimentarily (...) present in the Buddha’s discourses. Then we turn to a concise presentation and analysis of the key ontological concepts of sarvāstivāda-vaibhāṣika, and then to the critique of the same undertaken by the school of sautrāntika. It is concluded that sautrāntika, with its critique, “returned” Buddhist philosophy on the path of pure phenomenology after the sarvāstivada-vaibhāṣika’s attempt to interpret the Buddha’s teaching in line with a realistic reductive ontology. (shrink)

This paper outlines the key points of the debate concerning theoretical perspectives on knowledge which had unfolded in the time of the most prominent epicurean and skeptical thinkers. The research begins with a few historical indications about Epicurusʼ contribution to the establishment of the aforementioned disputes and his motivation to assign crucial importance to the problem of the criteria of knowledge. At the same time, to some extent, it will become clear how a rival, skeptical school of thought developed under (...) the influence of that teaching. The intention is not to depict these two philosophical approaches in full, nor to capture their main features, but to offer some insight into specific areas of their mutual influence that have contributed to their unexpected convergence. As a result, we will see that, although quite diverse, these two Hellenistic positions reflect certain similarities, above all when it comes to the understanding of the nature and goal of philosophical research, the illustration of a happy life, as well as the answer to the question of what criteria we should follow in order to lead such a life. (shrink)

This paper is concerned with the characteristics of the conceptuality of fundamental ontology, which are presented through an analysis of existentials as the concepts typical of this philosophical position. The analysis first presents the meaning and role of existentials in relation to the main ideas of fundamental ontology as well as Heidegger’s critique of the categories. The second part of the paper then presents the conceptual character of the existentials through the analysis of the concept of the world and in (...) terms of the conceptual relations they form. The analysis draws on Heidegger’s early ideas about the essential relation between thinking and language in philosophy, according to which the language of philosophy emerges from and indicates how a particular philosopher thinks. (shrink)

In this paper we have looked at some of the fundamental issues in computer ethics and the characteristics and specific problems of its constitution as a discipline. One of the important issues we have analysed is the problem of access (methods) to a number of new phenomena that have emerged as a result of the wider application of computer technology. Among other things, we pointed out the need to respect the ethical heritage and approach – as a basis for a (...) better understanding of the many problems that this technology has created. In the second part of the paper, we looked at issues such as privacy protection, moral dignity, discrimination, hacking, property rights and the impact of computer technology on modern education. (shrink)

The problem of the fictional truthfulness of deviant evaluations is a description of a paradox that has become the subject of debate in the philosophy of literature of the analytical tradition in the last thirty years. Philosophers such as Walton, Tanner, Moran, Gendler, and others have constructed “mini-stories” in order to show that the authors of fiction, regardless of the almost unlimited powers of what they can make true in their fictional storyworlds cannot successfully construct a fiction in which an (...) objectively false evaluation would nevertheless be fictionally true in the story. For example, someone comes up with a fictional account in which a brutal unmotivated murder takes place. The author merely postulates such an event, and then readers accept it as true in the story. But let us imagine that the description of the murder also contains the evaluation of such an act as a morally right thing to do. We do not accept an evaluation that we consider “deviant” in relation to our current (moral) beliefs as an integral part of the fictional world, even though the author asks us to do so. The paradox is that it seems to be a basic convention of fiction that all third-person narrative statements that cannot be attributed to fictional characters are always fictionally true. This seems to constitute a major restriction to the narratorial authority prompting us to question our usual understanding of the phenomenon of fiction. However, by analysing specific “mini-fictions”, the article argues that (i) there is no good reason to assume that deviant evaluations in these mini-stories are uttered by some thirdperson narratorial voice that cannot be identified with a fictional character; (ii) that deviant evaluations must always be voiced by a personal narrator; (iii) that such personal narrators are never sensu stricto “omniscient” and that we do not need to trust them unquestioningly when, for example, they evaluate a murder as “the right thing to do”. The whole paradox, we claim, is just a pseudo-problem generated by ignoring concrete reading practices and a simplified understanding of narrative conventions. (shrink)

This paper discusses the contribution of Hegel’s first biographer to the overall understanding of his work through the elaboration and analysis of theses and remarks related to the earliest roots of Hegel’s speculation in his youth, i.e. pre-Jena period and certainly the most problematic and least known phase of his philosophical worldview and written expression. The aim of this contribution is, on the one hand, to point out the inestimable importance of the content presented in this biographical overview, as well (...) as the significance of the material consulted, on which the biography is based and which has survived only in a deficiently fragmented form. On the other hand, an important part of the research presented here consists of highlighting and correct historical and critical contextualization of certain inconsistencies and interpretive shortcomings, present in this first-ever written biography of Hegel, which had a significant impact on the subsequent understanding of the origin of the system and the dialectic in Hegel’s later and more mature speculation. (shrink)