Studia Philosophica

Based on the reflection of the work of three authors from Brno (R. Těsnohlídek, J. Mahen, and J. Tomeček), the paper tries to defend the opinion about the cultural role of natural prose – in confrontation with the critical view of the philosopher J. Šmajs. This area of artis­tic creation represents one way how to face environmental grief. This is one of the signifi­cant characteristics of how people currently perceive the state of the world and the risks for future existential perspectives.

Článek se zabývá argumenty Roberta Filmera na obranu božského práva králů v knize Patriarcha aneb Přirozená moc králů. Filmer tvrdí, že lidé se nerodí přirozeně svobodní, a proto se od nich očekává, že budou krále poslouchat bez jakýchkoli výhrad z toho důvodu, že králům byly propůjčeny moc a božské právo. Tento Filmerem obhajovaný postoj je v rozporu s poje­tím přirozené svobody člověka, kterou hájil John Locke a další teoretici společenské smlouvy. Tento článek naznačuje, že Filmer moc králů přeceňuje. V článku chci kriticky prozkoumat Filmerovy argumenty, jimiž své tvrzení podporoval. Příspěvek polemizuje s Filmerovou tezí o božském právu monarchie z následujících důvodů: (i) teze postrádá racionální zdůvodnění, (ii) byla založena na nesprávném výkladu Písma a (iii) neřeší otázku ateistů. V závěru článek předkládá argument, že otázka vzájemné výlučnosti diskutovaných pojmů spočívá na zjevně nesprávné interpretaci božského práva a přirozené svobody člověka.

Old Brno Augustinian monastery was an important center of Moravian education and re­vivalist efforts. Some of its members, primarily F. M. Klácel and F. T. Bratránek, are often represented as followers of Hegel’s ideas in the history of philosophy. The aim of this paper is to determine the influence of Hegel’s ideas on the work of Augustinian thinkers and to characterize it.

The study deals with the utopian aspirations of the member of the Augustinian order in Brno František Matouš Klácel (1808–1882), with their sources and attempts to put them into practice, as well as with the possible reasons why he was unable to realise his visions as he intended. Klácel – in designing ideal communities (Svojanovs) – drew on the works of his predecessors, who had tried to formulate or put into practice the ideas of social utopia (Saint-Simon, Fourier, Unity of the Brethren, Comenius), but from the ontological point of view he relied on his concept of cosmopolitism (vesměrnost), which he pursued from the early 1840s until the end of his life.

The article falls into the thematic area of contemporary efforts to revive Aristotle‘s ethical theory. In a narrower demarcation, I am concerned with the topic of updating the concept of moral character (or moral virtue), which is associated with a findings of knowledge of psychological sciences. Here I pay key attention to the problem of the criteria according to which we can assess the adequacy of proposals for such an update. In addition to the commonly respected criteria of interdisciplinarity and empirical and normative adequacy, I present the criterion of function, which is the central concept of the article. The aim of the article is to formulate this criterion and, for its further clarification, to capture the function (simply put, usefulness or contribution) of Aristotle‘s ethical theory. Furthermore, it is my intention to use examples to present consequences of adopting this criterion (i.e. maintaining or increasing function) for assessing to adequacy of proposals to update Aristotle‘s concept of moral character. I consider the increase in our moral literacy to be the function of Aristotle‘s ethical theory, and I argue that this function stems from the key feature of Aristotle‘s work, rigorous anal­ysis, and the interrelationships between the concepts we associate with everyday morality and living a good and contented life. Using specific examples, I show how efforts to meet other criteria for adequate updating can lead to a conceptual reduction, an overload of irrele­vant information, or otherwise collide with the criterion of function. I illustrate the fulfillment of all the criteria presented here as the skill analogy presented by Julia Annas as an update.

The article presents the central theme of the controversy, which consisted mainly in the question of the meaning of the academic philosophy for modern Czech culture, and at the same time presents this dispute as a metaphilosophical discussion about the meaning and roles of philosophy in society in general. On the basis of Čupr’s comprehensive anthology and contemporary periodicals, the paper attempts to capture the development of the issue in all its complexity, namely from an initial philological point of view, when the inadequate linguistic apparatus of the Czech language is noted, through the subsequently discussed question of the form and inspirational influences of the emerging Czech philosophy, which finaly resulted in a dispute of the supporters of the school German philosophy with the util­itarian position of common sense.

The paper explores the concept of vulnerability in the context of critical and feminist political philosophy. In contemporary political philosophy, it is a concept that has been subjected to critique but also to attempts at rehabilitation. And it is the presentation of this critique and the arguments that respond to this critique that is the aim of my paper. This is reflected in the structure of my paper, as it is divided into two topical parts, the critical and the rehabilita­tive. The article is in some ways specific in that I complete the philosophical discussion with examples from real human rights practice where the concept of vulnerability is commonly used. In concrete, mainly the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights. These practical examples help to demonstrate not only the real problems of applying the theoreti­cal concept, but also, its promises for the future.