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The Reign of Marcus Aurelius: Stoicism in Political Decisions
Vošček, Lukáš ; Halamka, Tomáš (advisor) ; Franěk, Jakub (referee)
The bachelor thesis focuses on the philosophy and government of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius. The thesis aims to find out how Stoic philosophy influenced Marcus Aurelius and his political decisions. Although he is generally regarded as a representative of Stoicism, the first section of the thesis examines to what extent, or whether at all, he truly was a Stoic. This part begins with a description of Stoicism in general, followed by an introduction of two representatives of the Late Stoa, Seneca and Epictetus, whose thoughts the thesis draws on in the following sections. Their Stoic ideas are compared with the philosophical reflections of Marcus Aurelius, which are contained in his only philosophical book - Meditations. The thesis analyses the thoughts of the book in detail using qualitative content analysis. Based on this section dealing solely with philosophy, the first research question can be answered, i.e., to what extent Marcus Aurelius was a Stoic. In the second section, the thesis traces the important and controversial political decisions that Marcus Aurelius made during his reign. The insights gained from historical literature are enriched with the author's interpretation of the interconnectedness with Stoicism, which forms the basis for answering the second research question, i.e., to...
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Political Philosophy of Almoravid and Almohad Period in Iberian Peninsula
Buryšová, Jana ; Kučera, Jan (advisor) ; Franěk, Jakub (referee)
The bachelor thesis presents the work of the political philosophy in al - Andalus, today's Iberian Peninsula. The main topic of the work is the disquisition on the publications of Ibn Rushd and Ibn Bajjah in the field of the political philosophy. Concerning Ibn Bajjah's work, the interpretation is focused on his main tract "Governance of the Solitary", and regarding Ibn Rushd's work, the study is based on his writings "Exposition of Plato's Republic" and "Decisive Treatise on the Relation between Philosophy and Religion." Political thought of these authors is first presented in the historical context, afterwards the political thought of each author is discussed individually, and at the end, the theses of Ibn Rushd and Ibn Bajjah are compared together. In this comparison, the work focuses on the relation between the individual and the society and the role of a philosopher in society. The work also studies the views of the authors on a perfect state and an imperfect state, whose classification is taken over from Plato by both thinkers. The last part focuses on the followers of Ibn Rushd and Ibn Bajjah. Mainly, there is explained a political thought of Ibn Tufail, who bases his work "Alive, son of Awake" on the Ibn Bajjah's tract "Governance of the Solitary". The aim of the thesis is to give an...
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Robert Kagan - The Life and Work
Škvorová, Sára ; Charvát, Jan (advisor) ; Franěk, Jakub (referee)
This thesis deals primarily with the work of Robert Kagan. Using discourse analysis it seeks the views of the U. S. position in the world and the role which the U. S. should play in the international field. Simultaneously it handles his view of the current world order and its possible alternatives. It examines the views and opinions of Kagan to the objectives of U. S. foreign policy, develops means to achieve those objectives as well as the obstacles that hinder the achievement of these goals. It also focuses on the relationship between Europe and the USA. It examines the causes and consequences of differences in the way Americans and Europeans perceive the use of power and foreign policy. To achieve a holistic view on the issue, the views of Kagan's critics are included.
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The concept of consciousness its components and functions in the process of system functioning in the understanding of Karl Wolfgang Deutsch
Pulicar, Miroslav ; Váňa, Tomáš (advisor) ; Franěk, Jakub (referee)
This bachelor thesis deals with the concept of political consciousness in the understanding of the German political scientist and international relations theorist Karl Wolfgang Deutsch. In the first, theoretical section it introduces some existing approaches and conceptualizations of consciousness in political science. Consequently, it provides an essential introduction to Deutsch's communications theory, its basic points and some crucial concepts, such as information, feedback, memory, or will. The aim of this section is to outline the specifics of Deutsch's communication-based approach to the analysis of political systems and provide context for the main subject of this thesis. After general introduction it deals with the very concept of consciousness. Through the analysis of Deutsch's pivotal work The Nerves of Government it outlines theoretical foundations of his concept, defines its functions and significance within the political system, connects it with other concepts of Deutsch's theory and marks some differences compared to approaches of other political scientists. In the second, practical section theoretical considerations developed in the previous section are on the basis of qualitative research applied on the specific political system. The aim of the research is to explain some of the...
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Violence as a Philosophical Problem
Garrett, Erin ; Salamon, Janusz (advisor) ; Franěk, Jakub (referee)
Liberal democracies sit on a foundation of popular sovereignty and the values of equality, liberty, and fairness. While some coercion by the state is necessary in order to maintain state sovereignty and provide a stable government, and excessive use of state coercion violates the liberty of its citizens. The harm and offense principles provide the boundaries of acceptable state coercion, but if these laws are unfairly enforced by police as the domestic arm of state authority, then the equality of liberty has been violated. United States' law enforcement has unfairly enforced just laws against black Americans, resulting in black Americans' overrepresentation in police brutality and killings. The implicit threat of police brutality against black Americans limits their liberty below that defined by the harm and offense principles. The unequal liberty between black and white Americans causes a potential lack of equal participation in political life, furthering an imbalance between races. Therefore American law enforcement should be considered a threatening obstacle to maintaining a healthy liberal democracy in the United States. Keywords: liberal democracy, liberty, state coercion, police, United States Range of thesis: 90,458 characters
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Dialogue Rádl versus Hejdánek
Doležal, Kryštof ; Kučera, Jan (advisor) ; Franěk, Jakub (referee)
The problem of nation and nationalism is the subject of reflections in Czech political thought from the late 19th century; broader problem with definition of nation and its meaning constitutes more than centennial polemic called "the Czech question". This bachelor thesis inquiries chapter of this controversy, the works of two Protestant philosophers: Emanuel Rádl and Ladislav Hejdánek. The aim of this bachelor thesis is to compare concepts of these authors that are related to the nation, nationalism and philosophy of history. Furthermore, this bachelor thesis discloses continuity of certain idealistic-theological tradition, whose roots are discoverable (according to one interpretation) in ancient Israel. For Rádl and Hejdánek nation is a moral category, which is why the ethic aspects are central motive for their analysis of nation.
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Václav Havel, Politician and Intellectual: The Idea of Non-Political Politics
Jelínek, Jiří ; Franěk, Jakub (advisor) ; Švec, Kamil (referee)
Non-political politics, ergo an alternative approach to the classical politics of power engineering, is one of the major philosophical themes of Václav Havel. Havel is placing this concept against the communist post-totalitarian regime, which forces the society to live in ideological lies. This post- totalitarian regime claims the absolute control over the society, its behavior and thinking, by which it suppresses natural identity of every man. Solution to this situation is the life in truth, integral part of the non-political politics. The life in truth is a defence against lies of the regime and it allows people to preserve their identity. Post-totalitarian regime in its core seek to control everything and cannot ignore such existential mutiny. It attempts to suppress it and thus making dissidents its political oposition. Dissidents only declare truth by which they obtain respect of western countries and consequently some influence over the communist regime. Havel is further developping this concept since 70's into separate approach to the politics in general, which makes it still current even nowadays. Although the possible naivety, this concept definitely played its role as we can see on Charter 77, which became the first swallow of freedom in the normalization Czechoslovakia.
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Civil Religion. Audit and Update
Jüptner, Jan ; Kučera, Rudolf (advisor) ; Franěk, Jakub (referee) ; Hrubec, Marek (referee)
PhD thesis assesses the history of the idea of civil religion and proposes a theoretical interface encompassing all its conceptualisations encountered to date (Rousseau, Bellah, Cristi, Parsons, Luhmann, and Lübbe). Civil religion is understood here as a system of reference points through which society, in the process of self-description, projects into the peripheries its autopoietic realities (of the past, future and eternality) so as to lend stability and import to its existence. By relating to these references, a discourse originates which, being characteristic of the presence of thick and comprehensive meanings, enables the society to communicate about its origins, ends and purpose. In its civil configuration this discourse is pluralist and the involvement of its actors is quite restrained. The model allows for an analysis of the entire serious symbol-based communication of the actors (weighty words, religious symbols, nationalism, conspiracy theories and political correctness) within a single context, as well as of preconditions for such communication. The crisis discourse opened in the USA after 9/11 and aspects of Czech life and institutions are also analysed. In the Czech Republic we identify a minority civil religion discourse, concentrated around semi-secularised references on truth and...
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The Globalization and the Cosmopolitan Theory of Democracy
Vařeková, Petra ; Šimsa, Martin (advisor) ; Franěk, Jakub (referee)
This thesis is concerned with possibility of a cosmopolitan approach to democracy in the world changed by processes of globalization. The issue of globalization is analyzed from the perspective of three contemporary sociologists - Ulrich Beck, Anthony Giddens and Jan Keller. It will be shown in which way economic, cultural and political globalization changes rules of world politics. A modern concept of democracy traditionally assumed the nation-state framework, however nation-states are no longer able to react adequately to the global dimension of contemporary world issues. This fact allows thesis to open up a concept of cosmopolitanism that has ambitions to expand democratic governance at the global level. First this thesis will introduce Kant's cosmopolitan proposition of international legal order - a voluntary league of states. According to Kant, a perpetual peace can be achieved through realization of three spheres of public law: constitutional law, international law and cosmopolitan law. Many authors responded to Kant's position, each of them in a quite different way. In The Law of Peoples John Rawls proposes a political conception of right and justice that applies strictly to the principles and norms of international law. On the other hand, cosmopolitan authors like David Held and Daniele Archibugi...
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Does Popper's critique of Plato stand up against other interpretations?
Pokorný, Pavel ; Šimsa, Martin (advisor) ; Franěk, Jakub (referee)
The main goal of this thesis is to answer following question: Does Popper's critique of Plato stand up against other interpretations? This question is answered by author that he clarifies Popper's assumptions, and then he compares it with Plato's primary texts as well as with secondary sources of other interpreters (Gadamer, Reale, Graeser, Patočka, and Strauss). To answer the main question the author proceeds with this method: In the first chapter he focuses on the context of Popper's evaluation of Plato and clarifies the difference between terms of the open and closed society. He uses moments of Popper's life too. In the second chapter author clarifies Plato's political philosophy on the basis of analysis Leges a Respublica, which are texts that formulates the main ideas of Plato's philosophy and are the main source of Popper's criticism. In the third chapter author presents an explanation of Popper's criticism from the first volume of Open society and its enemies, while he mostly focuses on Popper's formulation of "law of revolution", which is based on assumption of validity of historicism in Plato's explanation of society development and an accusation of Plato's racism. In the last chapter author analyzes Popper's critical statements formulated against Plato and confronts it with other...
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