The Czech philosopher Jan Patocka (1907-1977), who studied with Husserl and Heidegger, is widely recognized as the most influential thinker to come from postwar Eastern Europe. Refusing to join the Communist party after World War II, he was banned from academia and publication for the rest of his life, except for a brief time following the liberalizations of the Prague spring of 1968. Joining Vaclav Havel and Jiri Hajek as a spokesman for the Chart 77 human-rights declaration of 1977, Patocka (...) was harassed by authorities, arrested, and finally died of a heart attack during prolonged interrogation. Plato and Europe, arguably Patocka’s most important book, consists of a series of lectures delivered in the homes of friends after his last banishment from the academy just three years before his death. Here, he presents his most mature ideas about the history of Western philosophy, arguing that the idea of the care of the soul is fundamental to the philosophical tradition beginning with the Greeks. Explaining how the care of the soul is elaborated as the problem of how human beings may make their world one of truth and justice, Patocka develops this thesis through a treatment of Plato, Democritus, and Aristotle, showing how considerations about the soul are of central importance in their writings. He demonstrates in vivid fashion how this idea forms the spiritual heritage of Europe. (shrink)

Tělo, společenství, jazyk, svět -- Problém přirozeného světa.

ABSTRACTThis study examined the performance of sixth graders in Hong Kong on a number sense three-tier test and identified their possible misconceptions about number sense. The NSTTT compri...

We present a Revised Projectivity Calculus that extends the scope of inclusion and exclusion inferences derivable under the Projectivity Calculus developed by Icard :705–725, 2012). After pointing out the inadequacies of C, we introduce four opposition properties which have been studied by Chow Proceedings of the 18th Amsterdam Colloquium, Springer, Berlin, 2012; Beziau, Georgiorgakis New dimensions of the square of opposition, Philosophia Verlag GmbH, München, 2017) and are more appropriate for the study of exclusion reasoning. Together with the monotonicity properties, (...) the OPs will form the basis of RC instead of the additive/multiplicative properties used in C. We also prove some important results of the OPs and their relation with the MPs. We then introduce a set of projectivity signatures together with the associated operations and conditions for valid inferences, and develop RC by inheriting the key features of C. We then show that under RC, we can derive some inferences that are not derivable under C. We finally discuss some properties of RC and point to possible directions of further studies. (shrink)

Dictionary of terminology of Yoga philosophy.

In the first half of this paper, we present a fragment of relational syllogisms named RELSYLL consisting of quantified statements with a special set of numerical quantifiers, and introduce a number of concepts that are useful for the later sections, including indirect reduction, quantifier transformations and equivalence of syllogisms. After determining the valid and invalid syllogisms in RELSYLL, we then introduce two Derivation Methods which can be used to derive valid relational syllogisms based on known valid simple syllogisms. We also (...) show that the two Methods are sound and complete for RELSYLL. In the second half of this paper, we discuss ways to extend the Derivation Methods, including the use of more valid syllogisms and the use of existential assumptions. In this way, we are able to derive more relational syllogisms that contain other types of non-classical quantifiers, including “only” and proportional quantifiers. Finally, we state and prove a proposition concerning the relationship between the two Methods. (shrink)

How do cognitive neuroscientists explain phenomena like memory or language processing? This book examines the different kinds of experiments and manipulative research strategies involved in understanding and eventually explaining such phenomena. Against this background, it evaluates contemporary accounts of scientific explanation, specifically the mechanistic and interventionist accounts, and finds them to be crucially incomplete. Besides, mechanisms and interventions cannot actually be combined in the way usually done in the literature. This book offers solutions to both these problems based on insights (...) from experimental practice. It defends a new reading of the interventionist account, highlights the importance of non-interventionist studies for scientific inquiry, and supplies a taxonomy of experiments that makes it easy to see how the gaps in contemporary accounts of scientific explanation can be filled. The book concludes that a truly empirically adequate philosophy of science must take into account a much wider range of experimental research than has been done to date. With the taxonomy provided, this book serves a stepping-stone leading into a new era of philosophy of science—for cognitive neuroscience and beyond. (shrink)

Exhaustive study on the philosophy of R̥gveda, Hindu canonical text.

Influential in shaping the practice of Chinese medicine, acupuncture is an ancient form of healing based on theories of traditional medicine. The clashes between western science and traditional knowledge have ushered Chinese medicine into a new era, so has acupuncture. The major challenges facing researchers are whether it is feasible to scientificize acupuncture and how to do so if feasible. Causing unprecedented responses at home and abroad, the publication of The New Acupuncture ( Xin zhenjiu xue ???? ) by Zhu (...) Lian (1909-1987) in 1951 dramatized the already heated discussion. This medical treatise was considered as the pioneer in scientification of acupuncture in mainland China since 1949. The purpose of this paper is to (1) put Zhu Lian’s The New Acupuncture and its relevant discussions back into the historical context of Chinese medicine in mainland China and Hong Kong in the 1950s, and (2) analyze the arguments set forth by her and other practitioners so as to get a clearer picture of how the issue on scientificizing acupuncture was being dealt with. (shrink)

Social theories are heavily context-embedded, and their creation is naturally interwoven with particular contexts. Once they are disseminated within a new societal landscape, adjustments and adaptation should be made. This paper investigates the entangled contexts of the social quality theory and its applicability to Asian societies. rough a comparative analysis of the key questions that this theory purports to answer, as well as its proposed answers and solutions, the study evaluates the purpose, features and functions of the theory. Moreover, in (...) relation to four sorts of 'conditional factors', this article also proposes extending social quality studies into four approaches that should lead the studies beyond the level of description into new forms of theory. The article also explores the theory's power to explain the Asian social quality systems and their implications for global social development. (shrink)

Interest in a hydrogen economy has grown significantly in the past decade. However, the success of old technologies that are being re-engineered to work on hydrogen, as well as the creation of new hydrogenbased technologies, hinges upon public interest in and demand for such technologies. With increasing investments in the research and development of hydrogen technologies, there exists a need to monitor public attitudes toward hydrogen to ensure its success as an alternative energy carrier. To address this need, two surveys (...) were conducted. The results of the first survey give insights about how colored information influences the public acceptance of hydrogen, and the results of the second survey elucidate what trade-offs the public is willing to accept during the transition to a hydrogen economy. Furthermore, the research highlights how hydrogen knowledge and acceptance differ among age, education, and gender groups. (shrink)

Judges were never bound by law to convict a defendant unless they considered him guilty. Yet, they could be prohibited by law from convicting a person they consider guilty due to the absence of legally prescribed or the presence of legally prohibited evidence.Evaluation of Evidence addresses the question: should the law restrict the freedom of judges in assessing the probative value of evidence in the criminal process? Tracing the treatment of evidence from pre-modern to modern times, Mirjan Damaška argues that (...) there has always been some understanding about rules regarding the use and treatment of evidence, and these rules should not be looked askance as a departure from ideal arrangements. In a time when science and technology have the ability to contribute to factual inquiry, there needs to be acceptance of rules that expand or corroborate evidence produced by our native sensory apparatus. (shrink)