Studia Philosophica

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.

The aim of the paper is rethinking the activity of one of the most famous ancient women philosophers, Hipparchia of Maroneia and showing why she – compared to other women of Antiquity – became so significant in development of women’s emancipation. The main testimony for us is the fragment SSR V I 1 by Diogenes Laertius, which we put in context with other ancient reports concerning Antisthenes and early Cynics. The two main themes of Diogenes’ testimony are Crates’ “marriage” to Hipparchia, and the controversy of Hipparchia with Theodorus. We reveal the aspect of Hipparchia’s personality, which could be inspiring for modern era, as well.

The paper presents Čapek’s conception of truth from the point of view of philosophy and standard epistemology. Based on Čapek’s theoretical and artistic texts, the paper tries to find an answer to the question “what is truth” and subordinate it to the correspondence theory of truth.