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"Back to the rough ground": application of late Wittgenstein's philosophy in the methodology of anthropology and social sciences
Vejnbender, Kristina ; Novák, Aleš (advisor) ; Beran, Ondřej (referee) ; Hvorecký, Juraj (referee)
The objective of the dissertation is to analyze the late philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein in order to show its possible application in the methodology of anthropology and social sciences. The thesis deals with the analysis of several key concepts of the late Wittgenstein, among which are language game, form of life, family resemblance, criteria of meaningfulness and the notion of skepticism. The research is based on Wittgenstein's antifundamentalist notion of meaning as use and recapitulates the debate over the consequences that follow from his theory. My analysis suggests that features of Wittgenstein-inspired methodology may include the following characteristics: preference for practice over theory, emphasis on a variety of examples, and research into the ordinary language. The last tool for examining criteria of understanding is the emphasis on the flip side of the certainty of the form of life, that is skepticism, which makes it possible to make visible the dynamic meanings contained in linguistic and social practice. The mentioned requirements are met by the ethnographic work of Veena Das, which I address in the final chapter.
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Semiotics of Schizophrenia
Pudlák, Štěpán ; Hvorecký, Juraj (advisor) ; Višňovský, Emil (referee) ; Horáček, Jiří (referee)
Dissertation thesis Semiotics of schizophrenia aims to analyse manifestations of the symptoms of schizophrenia from the point of view of semiotics. The goal is to find common features of otherwise heterogeneous manifestations of schizophrenia and the features that make them abnormal. The method of the thesis is semiotic reduction, i.e. approach to phenomena as to sings and significations, which approach is based on the semiotic theory of Charles Peirce. The proposed thesis characterises symptoms of schizophrenia as a disorder of indexical relation between a sign-object and the group of signs of the Self. An object can be a voice or an image in the case of hallucinations, a proposition in the case of delusions, a rule of communication in the case of disorganization of speech or behaviour or a habitus in the case of negative symptoms. Abnormality of the manifestations of schizophrenia is due to a disorder of indexical relation between signs of the Self, which have features as indisprovability or basis for interpreting the world, and these objects. The author compares conclusions of the thesis with clinical studies and so called unifying theories of schizophrenia.
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The concept of silence in Ludwig Wittgenstein's early work
Veinbender, Kristina ; Ivan, Michal (advisor) ; Hvorecký, Juraj (referee)
The concept of silence in Ludwig Wittgenstein's early work Abstract The work deals with the concept of silence in the early work of Ludwig Wittgenstein (Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus). The aim is to explore the dichotomy of being silent-speaking and describe cases that fall into each category. Work will concentrate on the criteria of meaningfulness and meaninglessness, according to which the individual sentences classified in one category or the other. The work also offers a comparison of the reference theory in Tractatus and cognitive realism proposed by G. Lakoff and on their background shows the role and importance of silence in shaping the semantic theory of language.
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Consciousness in Nature. A Russellian Approach
Mihálik, Jakub ; Hill, James (advisor) ; Hvorecký, Juraj (referee) ; Coleman, Sam (referee)
Jakub Mihálik: Consciousness in Nature. A Russellian Approach Abstract: This thesis attempts to provide a philosophical answer to the question of how phenomenal consciousness, or experience, can exist in the physical world, i.e. in the world as it is described by science. The thesis has three parts: In the first part (chapter 1) I explicate the concept of phenomenal consciousness and contrast it with other concepts of consciousness common in the literature. Moreover, I suggest that the project pursued in this thesis can be naturally viewed as a part of the more general project of trying to find a stereoscopic view of man, taken by Wilfrid Sellars to be a crucial task for contemporary philosophy. In the second part of the thesis (chapters 2 to 4) I offer a detailed evaluation of the attempts at a materialist reduction of consciousness. While in chapter 2 I explore and critique the approach of apriori physicalism (Dennett, Lewis, Rey, etc.), in chapters 3 and 4, I focus on the more recent doctrine of a posteriori physicalism and especially its most prominent variety called the phenomenal concept strategy (Loar, Papineau, Levin, Schroer, etc.). One problem with a posteriori physicalism is that, as Nida-Rümelin, Goff and others argue, the view cannot make sense of the plausible thesis that our phenomenal...
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Semiotics of Schizophrenia
Pudlák, Štěpán ; Hvorecký, Juraj (advisor) ; Višňovský, Emil (referee) ; Horáček, Jiří (referee)
Dissertation thesis Semiotics of schizophrenia aims to analyse manifestations of the symptoms of schizophrenia from the point of view of semiotics. The goal is to find common features of otherwise heterogeneous manifestations of schizophrenia and the features that make them abnormal. The method of the thesis is semiotic reduction, i.e. approach to phenomena as to sings and significations, which approach is based on the semiotic theory of Charles Peirce. The proposed thesis characterises symptoms of schizophrenia as a disorder of indexical relation between a sign-object and the group of signs of the Self. An object can be a voice or an image in the case of hallucinations, a proposition in the case of delusions, a rule of communication in the case of disorganization of speech or behaviour or a habitus in the case of negative symptoms. Abnormality of the manifestations of schizophrenia is due to a disorder of indexical relation between signs of the Self, which have features as indisprovability or basis for interpreting the world, and these objects. The author compares conclusions of the thesis with clinical studies and so called unifying theories of schizophrenia.
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Darwin's Ontology (The Consequences of Reciprocity)
Ostdiek, Gerald Robert ; Koubová, Alice (advisor) ; Markoš, Anton (referee) ; Hvorecký, Juraj (referee)
This essay follows a path laid down by the collaboration of Charles Darwin with Chauncey Wright, so as to explore the niche subsequently developed by Wright's closest friends, especially William James and Charles Peirce. Charles Darwin offered us no definition of life, and certainly no definition of being; he seems never to have been particularly interested in either his theological studies or any of the philosophy that happened his way. However by definition, he did operate by means of - and through the agency therein - a specific ontological set. His was one wherein the quickening of life is reciprocal becoming. Despite the obvious efficacy and élan this set has offered and vast libraries devoted to the man, Darwin's Ontology remains woefully under studied. And yet Darwin did specifically engage Wright to develop philosophical considerations of his science, a study which came to demand a redefinition of thinking itself, of sapience, and of the consequences of rationality which include the various constructions we call science and religion, knowing and believing, culture and self, but also cause and effect, existence and being, and more. We will follow the various streams of influence and chart some of the confluences therein, primarily through the immediate encounter of Wright with Darwin, and then on to...
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