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The void in the Epicureism
Tříletý, Petr ; Thein, Karel (advisor) ; Jirsa, Jakub (referee)
The essay deals with the role of void in the Epicurean physics and asks two fundamental questions: What was void for Epicurus and why had he thought it must exist. As a reply to the first question two conceptions are possible - that the void means emptiness betweeen atoms and that it means the space in general. Arguments are given for the claim that Epicurus operated both these concepts. The first one, an empty interval, is necessary for the possibility of motion in atomism and a wider notion of the space, among other reasons, seems to be too important for speaking about the first one. The second question focuses on reasons for existence of the void. Atomists were convinced that it is necessary condition of possibility of locomotion. But why? There clearly is another possible explanation - motion could be enabled by fluid, matter the speciality of which is ability to change shape. However, examination of fluidity shows that it is provided by infinite divisibility of matter. The atomists' rejection of infinite divisibility then can be understood as their reason for rejecting possibility of fluid matter and thus for needing the void to explain motion.
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Sound
Foltinová, Daniela ; Thein, Karel (advisor) ; Petříček, Miroslav (referee)
This diploma thesis is concerned with the philosophical inquiry of sound. The crucial problem of the thesis is the perception of sound and the description of perceived sound. The assumption is that we don't perceive sounds necessarilly as meaningful. A starting point is the analysis of two basic ways of our contact with sound - produced and received sound that are followed by the inquiring of the role of perception of voice as for its corporality; the possibility of hearing the "sound space" and its analysis; and of the way how the body is concerned with the sound perception. On the basis of these analyses that benefit from the philosophical texts and poems analyses in the conclusion of the thesis is being shown that sound is a special entity of reality since we perceive it simultaneously as a concrete and capturable (through word and corporality) and non-concrete, as for neither word meaning nor bodily contact can provide us with the adequate - "sound-based" description of the sound perceived.
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Sweet innocence - Sextus Empiricus on human happiness
Krása, Ondřej ; Thein, Karel (referee) ; Karfík, Filip (advisor)
In the present thesis I tried to approach the philosophy of Sextus Empiricus from the ethical perspective. I introduced the most prevalent current of interpretation of Sextus Empiricus' work first and later, on the basis of identification of several shortcomings in this "epistemological" interpretation, I developed such a view on scepticism that pivots on the conviction that all reasoning is the very source of unhappiness. For those who hold any opinion whatsoever pursue some things and avoid others and are therefore perpetually troubled and unhappy. Suspension of judgement, epoch, brings about tranquillity, and sceptical arguments are so designed as to lead to the suspension of judgement. According to this "ethical" interpretation, scepticism questions central position of reasoning in accomplishing human end and challenges two basic maxims of ancient ethics: "Know thyself!" and "Cognize the world!" In the critical part of this study I tried to call in question the sceptical ideal of life without reason with regard to its priority in happiness and with regard to its sufficiency in defining goal of human life.
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Thomas Bernhard: To think
Foltinová, Daniela ; Petříček, Miroslav (referee) ; Thein, Karel (advisor)
In the thesis it is being dealt with the philosophical aspect of Thomas Bernhard's novels, concerning the problem of thinking. The interpretation that is gained through the thorough analysis of the novels Gehen, Holzfällen and Alte Meister shows that although there is no argumental clearness in what Bernhard is writing, original philosophical thoughts are developed. There are three interpretations of thinking in the thesis. In the first we reveal thinking as a "state of chaos" revolving itself in the mind of a madman. Second interpretation, as an outcome of reconsidering the first one, leads to the concept of reflective thinking of an observer. In the first and second interpretation we only find the negative thinking as not-thinking. Only in the third interpretation we meet the "real thinker", a storyteller who motivates us to consider thinking as an activity that necessarilly involves the process of it's actual happening, if to be acknowledged as a "real thinking". This leads to the search for the thinking in the literary form of Bernhard's novels.
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Walter Benjamin's philosophy of language
Ritter, Martin ; Petříček, Miroslav (advisor) ; Thein, Karel (referee) ; Stromšík, Jiří (referee)
The work analyzes Walter Benjamin's philosophy oflanguage presenting it as an ontological and cognitive basis ofhis early thought (1916-1925). The investigation starts from a detailed study of an unpublished reflection On language as Such and on the Language of Man. The analysis of the text contrasts its metaphysical interpretation with its deconstructive reading opting for a hermeneutical approach. Benjamin's philosophy of language is presented as a theory in which all being is conceived as language. Benjamin not only constructs a metaphysical conception according to which all human beings express themselves to God by naming existing things, but simultaneously defines constitutive property of (all) language, namely its "immediacy", i.e. the fact that language is primarily not a medium of communication. However, the text On language describes also a (biblical) fall which causes a loss of immediacy and a rise of the multiplicity of languages. The area of (fallen) plurality of languages is investigated in the The Tas k of the Translator, which focuses on the relation and kinship of languages. This kinship is based on the fact that alllanguages want to say the same thing, namely the "pure language". The analysis of The Task of the Translator stresses the semantic and, in this sense, conceptual aspect of...
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Cynism and Diogenes of Sinope
Šenovský, Jakub ; Jirsa, Jakub (referee) ; Thein, Karel (advisor)
In my thesis I was examining Cynicism and especially Diogenes of Sinope as its most important representant. I used the figure of Diogenes in order to explain the teachings and characteristics of this ancient movement. Regarding the teachings I mainly investigated the cynic concept of virtue and nature. I tried to show that Cynicism was not an immoral and purely destructive movement, but rather one which pursued a truly Socratic virtue and freedom, the so called parrhesia or freedom of speech, which should arouse other people and move them to think about validity of their values and attitudes. To this virtue connects the cynic behavior in Greek poleis, which is distinguished by the often offensive jesting aimed at ridiculing all that was generally considered sacred and undoubtedly valid.
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Spinoza's ontology of power
Bartošek, Pavel ; Thein, Karel (advisor) ; Benyovszky, Ladislav (referee) ; Palkoska, Jan (referee)
The subject of this thesis is late Spinoza. It is necessary to consider the period around the year 1665 as a turning point in Spinoza's life (1632-1677). In this period he stops referring to his chef-d'oeuvre as the Philosophy and begins to name it Ethics. He also interrupts his work on the Ethics for five years in 1665 and composes the Theologico- Political Treatise, a democratic manifesto. In his early writings he devalorises the body and considers it as a passive principle. But in the Theologico-Political Treatise he shows that the bodily imagination and affects are the constitutive elements of human society. After 1665, he takes the body, and not the conscience or the cogito, as a model for conceiving what talking and acting means. The notion of a striving (conatus) and his distinction between activity and passivity replaces the traditional metaphysical theory of subject and subjectivity, which, according to Spinoza, succumbs to the psychological illusion of freedom and the theological illusion of finalism. Late Spinoza elaborated a very remarkable ontology of power, according to which power is active productivity. In the first part of the Ethics, Spinoza undertakes a thorough destruction of metaphysics, which leaves no room for any history of being. Causa sui cannot be an external justification of...
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Idea and phenomenon
Říha, Cyril ; Petříček, Miroslav (advisor) ; Thein, Karel (referee) ; Zervan, Marian (referee)
Název této části pochází z jednoho Patočkova rukopisu, konkrétně rukopisu se signaturou 3000/331 a názvem "Leonardo, Michelangelo". Tento manuskript patří do tzv. strahovské pozůstalosti a dosud nebyl - podobně jako téměř všechnl jemu příbuzné- uveřejněn. Patočka jej psal někdy v průběhu druhé světové války jako jednu ze součásti své plánované knihy o filosofii dějin. Celý rukopis, obsahujid hotové, souvislé úvahy, ale též kusé poznámky a výpisky, se rozkládá na 36 rukou psaných stranách formátu A5. To je však pouze hrubý, často velmi fragmentární text, a proto bude místy nezbytné sáhnout po jeho bezprostředním kontextu, tedy po dílech, na které Patočka v tomto svém rukopise výslovně odkazuje. Jde především o Leonardovu knihu O maliřstvi, sbírku jeho zlomků od M. Herzfeldové, Panofského studii Idea a Vasariho Životy. 7 Takto rozšířený text bude tvořit rámec pro naši důkladnou četbu. Zajímat nás na něm budou některé jeho zvláštní momenty - "vnější" překvapení (pro čtenáře přicházejícího k němu z vnějšku) a "vnitřní" pokušení (obsažená přímo uvnitř tohoto textu). A začněme hned prvním překvapením. Teoretické malířství je zde postaveno proti maliřstvi výkonnému. Toto děleni má dle Patočky svůj původ v protikladu vita contemplativa a activa: " ... jest aplikaci dualismu života kontemplativního a praktického na...
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Aristotle on dreams
Dekarli, Martin ; Špinka, Štěpán (referee) ; Thein, Karel (advisor)
The thesis deals with the Aristotle concept oť dreams. In introduction we outline a certain tradition ol' discourse about dreams before Aristotle and put foward our main proposition - sensory perception is kind ofthe material change. Within the framework oftradition, Aristotle develops his own concept of dreams and dreaming. Dreams are something deamonic; kind of phantasma, which occurs during the sleep. They are caused by residual movements from sensory perception. Phantasia is the faculty which give rise to dreaming phantasma. The first chapter is dedicated to the analysis of Aristotle's notions ofthe soul and iťs capacities. Mainly we outline the description of senseory perception, phantasia, intelect, cognition and thought. The second chapter, which is for our purpose the main chapter, deals with intimate analysis of Aristotle's concepts of sleep and waking, dreams, divination from dreams and the interpretation of dreams. The sleep and waking are the opposite states of koine aisthesis. During the sleep nutritive part ofthe soul is most active (owing to heart, blood, pneuma). Ďivination from dreams come follow out from dream phantasmata. The interpretation of dreams is based upon perceiving of resemblances between dreaming phantasmata and sensual data. The conclusion summarizes the thesis sensory...
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