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Self-Consciousness and Self-Knowledge. A Study on the Role of the Subject and the Awareness of Thought in Descartes' Philosophy
Kollert, Lukáš ; Karásek, Jindřich (advisor) ; Palkoska, Jan (referee)
The thesis aims at examining Descartes's so called cogito from a wider perspective, especially as regards to the role in the development of Meditationes de prima philosophia (1641) and in the context of other relevant texts. Being an attempt to give a broad account of Descartes's "first cognition" the study deals not only with the cogito itself, e.g. with its logical structure, but also with other key Cartesian doctrines, so that we can understand the cogito as an integral part of Descartes's philosophy. The thesis inquires for this reason into the question of meditator's identity, the methodological skepticism, the question whether logical principles are called into question in the First meditation, the problem of the Cartesian circle, the distinction between implicit and explicit knowledge, the doctrine of innate ideas and finally, the question how to explain, according to Descartes, the awareness of our thoughts. Sometimes the considerations become rather systematic and go beyond a mere exegesis of Descartes's philosophy, especially when they concern the problem with the presence of ego in cogito and the explanation of our self-consciousness. There are three competing approaches to the second issue mentioned that are introduced and assessed in the last chapter. I have chosen this way of...
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Modern Theories of Consciousness and the Elusiveness of Subjectivity
Košová, Michaela ; Hill, James (advisor) ; Karásek, Jindřich (referee)
This diploma thesis is concerned with the question of the right conceptual approach towards consciousness. It opens up with the thesis that the crucial characteristic of consciousness - its subjective aspect - is profoundly elusive. To understand the nature of this elusiveness we get a loose inspiration from Karl Jaspers (of the continental tradition) and his idea of "subject-object dichotomy" whose main point is a realisation that the conscious subject is in principle unobjectifiable and can never be properly grasped by objectifying thinking. This main idea is then applied to various modern theories of consciousness (coming from the analytical tradition) in order to explore and demonstrate to what extend each of the theories misses or acknowledges the specific irreducibility of consciousness to objectively describable phenomena. Thus we observe that J. J. C. Smart omits subjectivity from his identity theory altogether since he understands reality as objectively graspable in all its aspects. Colin McGinn comes with an interesting explanation of our problems with grasping consciousness as part of the physical world and asserts that we are "cognitively closed" with respect to the solution of the mind-body problem. However, he concludes that a possible solution delivered in objectifying terms exists...
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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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The Theory of Judgment in School of Brentano and in the Early Work of Husserl
Janoušek, Hynek ; Urban, Petr (advisor) ; Moural, Josef (referee) ; Šebestík, Jan (referee)
The submitted doctoral thesis is an attempt to describe the nature and of the development of Brentano's theory of judgment. This description is followed by an introduction to the further development of Brentano's theory in the work of Brentano's most distinguished students Kazimierz Twardowski (1866-1938), Alexius Meinong (1853-1920), Anton Marty (1843-1914) and Edmund Husserl (1859-1938). The thesis is divided into five parts: The first part is dedicated to the explanation of Brentano's theory of judgment and starts with an interpretation of Brentano's two early books on Aristotle - On the several senses of Being in Aristotle (1862) and The Psychology of Aristotle (1867). The thesis presents Brentano's understanding of "being" in the sense of truth, his interpretation of the Aristotelian categories, his theory of parts and wholes, and his theory of intentionality and self-consciousness. Our interpretation then proceeds to Brentano's most known work, i.e. to Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint (1874), and presents the basic concept of this book, the concept of psychical phenomena. The resulting classification of psychical phenomena into three kinds introduces judgments as a kind of psychical phenomenon whose main feature consists in existential affirmation or rejection of an intentional object....
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Functions of Consciousness in Psychoanalysis and Analytical Psychology
Malimánek, Karel ; Kebza, Vladimír (advisor) ; Šípek, Jiří (referee)
Analysis of the most important functions of consciousness, considering its relations with unconsciousness in psychoanalysis and analytical psychology, is the goal of this thesis. The sources of the thesis are the tophographic and structural models of Sigmund Freud. These models enable analysing the functions of consciousness in the context of psyche structure from the psychoanalytical and psychodynamic point of view. Afterwards the thesis focuses on the extension and the functional autonomy of Ego within the structural subject theory known from authors like A. Freud, Hartmann, Brunner and others. These are the concepts of adaptation and Ego defensive functions especially. Carl Gustav Jung and his concept of the fully antonomous Ego is presented in the end of the theoretical part. The research project, that si being proposed in the very end of this thesis, deals with one of the Ego defense mechanisms - the repression. Keywords psychoanalysis, consciousness, ego, adaptation, defense mechanisms
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Mystic of Eckhart Tolle
Všetečka, Jan ; Vogel, Jiří (advisor) ; Kolář, Pavel (referee)
This work brings the mysticism of Eckhart Tolle, spiritual teacher who combines his teaching various spiritual movements and religions. Tolle 's non-denominational teachings addressed to anyone looking for a way to break free from the drawbacks that entails today's way of life . Includes biography Eckhart Tolle . There are Tolle explains the main concepts of mind as mind , consciousness , being, ego , emotional body ( pain ), presence , silence, space , acceptance , surrender, awakening and liberation. The work shows Tolle confrontation to Christianity , Vedic teachings , Buddhism, Taoism, gnosis , Islam , and European philosophy and thinking. Critical responses to Tolle teachings are mostly positive. Tolle's non-dogmatic attitude precedes negative criticism . Briefly mentioned last Tolle 's actions concerning the school website for the book A New Earth Oprah Winfrey moderated . The like-minded personalities are exploring our spirituality detailed description of Edward Thomas as an important representative of Czech spiritual connection with yogic philosophy and practice, Jill Bolte Taylor, neuro ananatomist whose research activities and conclusions drawn from it , have a remarkable conformity with the teachings of Tolle . In conclusion, pointing to Eckhart Tolle as an important teacher of conscious...
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Altered States of Consciousness
Křečanová, Alena ; Hnilica, Karel (referee) ; Kebza, Vladimír (referee)
This theoretical study contains a systematic analysis of altered states of consciousness. The study is based on a reflection of the qualitative altered states of consciousness, that offers some potential and attempts to describe altered states of consciousness in their complexity as well as to map all their aspects in a structured. It utilises the notion of consciousness to define the altered states of consciousness. The chosen method is to work with literary sources where an emphasis is placed on an interdisciplinary approach. The structure of the thesis is divided into three chapters. The key topic of the first chapter is an examination of the phenomenon of consciousness and interdisciplinary theories of consciousness. The second chapter is focused on the description and analysis of altered states of consciousness, concentrates on the history and methods of research of altered states of consciousness and delineates their basic characteristic and their functions. The last chapter divides the altered states of consciousness into categories and gives them a detailed description. The thesis ends with a final conclusion which brings an integration of the findings above mentioned with the focused on the second chapter. Keywords: consciousness, altered states of consciousness, sleep and dreaming, near...
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Kant and Husserl on Transcendental Character of Experience
Trnka, Jakub ; Moural, Josef (advisor) ; Karásek, Jindřich (referee) ; Novotný, Karel (referee)
The aim of the thesis is to examine both Husserl's and Kant's transcendentalism in a way that would avoid the tendency to put the main accent on Husserl, which is an approach common to almost all literature dealing with this topic so far. Since it is for the most part Husserl's own critique of Kant that inspires such ongoing underestimation of Kant in comparison to Husserl, this work focuss on the question of the legitimacy of this critique. The core of the thesis is an original interpretation of Kant's transcendental philosophy which, instead of taking for granted the phenomenological point of view, attempts to describe Kant's philosophical enterprise from its own perspective and in its own right. In its second part, the thesis provides a brief description of how Husserl, starting initially from the position of descriptive psychology, arrives at a transcendental dimension. When so put side by side, it becomes evident that the two transcendental positions are in fact very different. Husserl's critique of Kant then appears as unjustified, even though quite understandable as an attempt to draw back from certain immature motives of his own philosophy.
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Reality as Self, Thing and Their Relation
Jahoda, Lukáš ; Hill, James (advisor) ; Karásek, Jindřich (referee)
The meaning of this work is to grasp the development of early-modern philosophy into "modern" philosophy on the basis of the subject-object issue, which is considered and demonstrated as ontologically entirely fundamental. The expression of this development is illustrated for reason of deeper clarification of the sense and meaning of modern philosophy. The ontology of early-modern philosophy is essentially determined through the categories of subject and object, self and thing. The most universal nature of this ontology is based on object of reality fixation which is self, thing, or both. The notions of self and thing are in this work introduced in their totality through the extreme positions of two early-modern philosophers. The demonstration of the extreme philosophy of the subject is Berkeley. The demonstration of the extreme philosophy of the object is Spinoza. On the basis of explication of their ontology is explicated the universal nature of early-modern ontology. The end of early-modern ontology and its transition into "modern" ontology happens through the reconstruction of the subject-object figure. The author of this reconstruction is Hegel. Reality is now placed neither into the subject neither into the object, but into their mutual relation.
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