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The Novelist as a Moral Physician: Fielding, Hume and the Moral Sense School of Thought
Lelek, Jaromír ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Hill, James (referee)
Tom Jones was one of the seminal texts of fiction to come out of the eighteenth century that helped to build the English novel and to disseminate some of the philosophical tenets most significantly articulated by David Hume in his An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals and A Treatise of Human Nature. This work does not posit that Hume was the chief philosophical inspiration for Fielding; rather, the reason behind focus on Hume is that in his works we find the philosophy of the moral sense elaborated and articulated better than in any other moral philosopher of the eighteenth century, with the exception of Adam Smith. The aim of this thesis is to pursue the questions of ethics and sensibility as played out in Fielding's masterpiece, Tom Jones. The thesis opens with an account of Fielding's background and divine, philosophical and literary influences. The development and mainly characteristics of the novel of sentiment (1740s to 1750s) and sensibility (60s-70s) will be discussed. The notion of moral sense and the merger of ethics with aesthetics will be tracked in the history of philosophy, with a special focus on the Scottish Enlightenment with its main proponents Anthony Ashley Cooper, the Earl of Shaftesbury, Francis Hutcheson, David Hume and Adam Smith. The next chapter comprises close...
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A defence of Mill's principle of liberty in terms of utilitarianism
Nečas, Michael ; Hill, James (advisor) ; Cíbik, Matej (referee)
A defence of Mill's principle of liberty in terms of utilitarianism Michael Nečas Abstract The main focus of this Bachelor thesis is the problem of Mill's principle of liberty in terms of his utilitarianism. The thesis introduces Mill's utilitarianism and his teachigs about liberty. The aim of this thesis is to present an argument, that Mill's principle of liberty is not contradictory to principle of utility, as the author defines it in his utilitarianism. The aim is to show, that the principle of liberty, as Mill describes it in his work On liberty, is an indispensable element in the utilitarian theory of achieving greatest possible good in society. The thesis also explores counterarguments to this idea. Keywords: Mill, Utilitarianism, On Liberty, principle of utility, principle of liberty, freedom of action, pleasure
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Subjective character of experience: What is it like to be a conscious agent?
Kožíšek, Jakub ; Hill, James (advisor) ; Palkoska, Jan (referee)
In his article What is it like to be a bat? Thomas Nagel defines consciousness by subjective character of experience. An organism is conscious if there is something that it is like to be that organism. Science describes the world objectively, from the third person perspective. That is the reason why it fails to cope with consciousness - it misses the subjective character of experience. In spite of that, Nagel proposes a new method for studying subjectivity of consciousness, which he calls "objective phenomenology". In my thesis, I want to find out if Daniel Dennett's heterophenomenology is or could be that method. Key words: Nagel, Dennett, consciousness, subjective character of experience, heterophenomenology.
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Structure and Simplicity in Leibniz
Veselský, Matěj ; Palkoska, Jan (advisor) ; Hill, James (referee)
The thesis aims to present Leibniz's monadic system as the simplest conceivable structure. To this end, the thesis employs both contemporary literature concerned with formal ontology and its logic, semantics and the nature of reference; and Leibniz's own writings coupled with correspondent commentaries, including articles transcending selected interpretive issues into present-day discussions on actualised versions of one of the essential Leibnizian principles: the identity of indiscernibles. The exposition proceeds in three steps: (i) developing concepts of structure, determination and reference in critical confrontation with contemporary approaches, then (ii) applying those concepts to the interpretation of Leibniz's principle of identity of indiscenibles and illuminating therewith links between ontology and semantics, and eventually (iii) utilizing those findings in clarifying the mirroring relation constitutive of the monadic structure as represented a) in Leibniz's own spatiotemporal illustrations and b) in formal models in secondary literature. Acknowledging that the simplest conceivable structure, which is the monadic structure, can neither be satisfactorily expressed by spatiotemporal illustrations, nor can it be represented in formal system, itself forming the limit of extrinsic...
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Deism in England: Matthew Tindal's Christianity As Old As the Creation
Šolcová, Ludmila ; Hill, James (advisor) ; Palkoska, Jan (referee)
This bachelor thesis deals with the phenomenon of English deism at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries from the perspective of its rejection of the authority of external revelation. Deism can be briefly defined as an attempt to base religion only on the internal revelation, i.e. the rational knowledge. This thesis firstly presents the historical circumstances of this movement; further it gives an analysis of the relation between internal and external revelation as offered in Matthew Tindal's Christianity as old as the creation (1730) External revelation, according to Tindal, should be subjected to the internal revelation, i. e. the rational knowledge. Tindal derives this view from the perfection of his Religion of Nature, to which nothing needs to be added. Finally, Tindal's argumentation is questioned, and it is shown that it requires an essential revision.
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Wittgenstein's Perspicuous Representations
Suchý, Jindřich ; Kolman, Vojtěch (advisor) ; Hill, James (referee)
The aim of my thesis is to present Wittgenstein's late philosophical concept of perspicuous representations as a tool to "dissolve" philosophical problems. According to Wittgenstein, the problems of philosophy are to be understood as conceptual confusions, or misunderstandings. The role of philosophy consists of dissolving them by presenting connections between concepts. The philosophy is thus conceived as a therapy consisting both of the negative task (of dissolving philosophical problems) and the positive task (of clarifying the norms of representation). The thesis starts with description of Wittgenstein's concept of philosophical problem and of its methodological base. After that, the influence of the important figures such as Hertz, Boltzmann and Goethe is discussed with particular focus on the color-octahedron which represents the only Wittgenstein's systematically developed example of the perspicuous representation. Perspicuous representations are thus presented as an instrument used to represent the preconditions of human understanding of the world.
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Epistemology of Late Wittgenstein
Rozen, David ; Kolman, Vojtěch (advisor) ; Hill, James (referee)
The aim of this paper is to interpret epistemology of late Wittgenstein. For this purpose I will begin in the first part by introducing background and key moments of Wittgenstein's late conception of philosophy in the context of his early work, and so I will define the framework in which the following interpretation of his late epistemology will operate, which, as it turns out, can not be understood as the theory of knowledge in the traditional sense. Therefore, in the second part of my work, I will present Wittgenstein's late epistemology through two perspicuous representations - (1) perspicuous representation of grammar of expression 'to know' and (2) perspicuous representation of forms of life, as transcendental conditions of knowledge - in order we can see the connections between the different aspects of his late thinking and clarify the character of human knowledge, which turns out to be a social status anchored in the language, acting and mythology of particular culture.
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Human Corporeality in the Philosophy of George Berkeley
Špinka, František ; Hill, James (advisor) ; Palkoska, Jan (referee)
George Berkeley is an immaterialist. He conceives the material substance as an unnecessary and internally contradictory concept. Therefore, he posits monism of the spiritual substance. Nevertheless, he does not deny that the physical world, and the human body with it, is in some sense real and existing. It is not a mere illusion. This thesis attempts to show two things. First, that Berkeley believes the human body is real and that it is an idea or, more precisely, a collection of ideas which is, with its existence, dependent on the activity of spiritual substances. Secondly, that Berkeley differentiates this body from other ideas and objects in the physical world by connecting it more intimately to the human nature, which is primarily constituted by the finite spiritual substantiality. This thesis, however, also reveals that the topic of the human corporeality, especially in regard to his spiritual monism, is insufficiently thought through by Berkeley. Keywords: George Berkeley, immaterialism, human corporeality, human body, limited spiritual substances
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Resemblance, Imagination and Pleasure
Hanzal, Tomáš ; Thein, Karel (advisor) ; Hill, James (referee)
This thesis deals with David Hume's conception of resemblance, chiefly in the context of his theory of association of ideas. There, resemblance has a great theoretical significance for explanation of, besides other things, general ideas (or concepts). With connection to them the principal problem dealt with in this thesis shows itself best: If we interpret resemblance as sharing of properties, then by using it in explanation of concepts (that means properties as well) we are begging the question. One of the claims of this thesis is that Hume understands resemblance neither solely, nor primarily as sharing of properties but he regards it as a primitive relation, whose place is mainly in the imagination. It is therefore "perceived" resemblance. Hume's theory of association consequently presupposes "form" of the given, one aspect of which is resemblance (or similarity) in the abstract which is a "condition of possibility" of perceived resemblances. Particular resemblances fill this form with various content, which means that resemblance is in this sense relative (different individuals can perceive the resemblance between the same things differently). It appears that Hume's conception of resemblance is, according to this interpretation, basically in agreement with Nelson Goodman's conception of similarity, in...
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The Evolution of the notion of a World Soul in Henry More
Joseph, Jacques ; Hladký, Vojtěch (advisor) ; Nejeschleba, Tomáš (referee) ; Hill, James (referee)
The main goal of this thesis is to describe the evolution of the concept of a world soul in the thought of Cambridge Platonist Henry More (1614-1687). However, this topic is discussed within the broader context of early modern philosophy and the birth of modern science. The philosophy of Henry More presents a very interesting confrontation between Renaissance Neo-Platonism and Cartesianism, early modern mechanicism and the newest scientific discoveries of his age, the notion of a world soul being exactly the point where all these thought currents meet. The classical conception of a platonic world soul in More's early thought later becomes the Spirit of Nature, a principle complimentary to mechanicism (and at the same time acting as its metaphysical foundation). Yet in order for the regularity of such phenomena as gravitation to be guaranteed, the Spirit of Nature has to be rid of any conscience and will of its own. However, besides this tendency to "strip" the world soul of its personal aspects, leading ultimately to the notion of a completely impersonal natural law, a deeper analysis of certain aspects of More's philosophical system shows also a determination to preserve the broader connections that tie the classical notion of a world soul to a specific world picture that does not necessarily fit...
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