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Measuring Czechoslovaks. Czech Society of Biotypology and Constitutional Medicine in Czechoslovakia 1937-1959
Musil, Jan ; Hermann, Tomáš (advisor) ; Šimůnek, Michal (referee) ; Svobodný, Petr (referee)
This doctoral thesis describes the formation, activities and dissolution of the Czech Society of Biotypology (1937-1959), herein used as an example of impact of the constitutional typology (human typology science) on the Czechoslovak medicine. Human constitution science (in French and Romance languages called biotypology) classifies individual human beings on the base of morphological and physiological characteristics, with particular emphasis on forecast of future trends. The core of the science focuses on correlation between the physical appearance of a person and his/her mental characteristics. The Czech Society of Biotypology (Česká společnost biotypologická - ČSB) was founded with ambitions not only to study human beings, but also to increase their potential. The whole movement was therefore conceived as an example of a sanitation scientific program in accordance with the governmental interest in rationalization of population care. The methodology of the thesis is based on Foucault's concept of biopower - change of power strategies and their constitutive influence on the development and change of social relations, values and individual strategies of persons. The story of formation and dissolution of ČSB is interpreted as a consequence of these changes. The core of the thesis consists of a...
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Scientific and Institutional Activities of Bohumil Němec at Charles University
Loginov, Ivan ; Hermann, Tomáš (advisor) ; Žárský, Viktor (referee)
Bohumil Němec ranks among the most remarkable figures of Czech science. At the beginning of the 20th century he made a significant contribution to the explanation of plant gravitropism and to the establishment of the Institute for plant physiology at the Faculty of Science at Charles University. Besides that he also studied plant regeneration, fertilization and nuclear division. In my thesis I processed scientific and popular scientific articles by Němec and used secondary sources to analyze his overall activity at the university in historical context. Thesis output is structured overview of Bohumil Němec's activities which can be used for the follow-up research.
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Selected Chapters of Electrical Engineering
FABIÁN, Ivan
The aim of this thesis is to create supplementary educational material for educational courses related to electricity and magnetism at high schools and grammar schools. It aims by illuminating the life stories of inventors in attractive form to bring closer technical knowledge and bare facts of discoveries to high school students.
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Medieval Art in the Bohemian Lands Through the Lens of Catholic History
Šmied, Miroslav ; Kuthan, Jiří (advisor) ; Čechura, Jaroslav (referee) ; Daniel, Ladislav (referee)
This paper deals with the history of the study and discipline called "History of Christian Art". It attempts to find the roots of the interest in history, sacred monuments, and national monuments of the past in the spiritual environment of the Czech lands, and its subsequent inclusion in the context of contemporary European developments of interest in art and its study. Beginning with the oldest hagiographic texts, which are not only records of literary history, but in many cases are important in terms of references to building monuments and artworks, among which Kristian's legend is dominant, through the texts of medieval chroniclers, Kosmas, his followers, the Chronicle of Zbraslav Monastery and chronicles from the reign of Charles IV., across the historiography of the Baroque period, which is without a doubt dominated by the work of Bohuslav Balbín and Thomas Pešina of Čechorod, and the period of national awakening, through a boom industry in the nineteenth century, when Ferdinand Josef Lehner made history with his founding work, to the culmination in the activities of representatives of the field the first half of the twentieth century, when it was represented by personalities such as Antonin Podlaha, Eduard Sittler, and Josef Cibulka. Based on the recapitulation and subsequent description of...
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Jiřina Popelová and Modern Czech Comeniologica Studies
Hajíček, Jakub ; Beneš, Zdeněk (advisor) ; Koťa, Jaroslav (referee) ; Jiroušek, Bohumil (referee)
Jakub Hajíček The abstract of dissertation thesis Jirina Popelova and Modern Czech Comeniological Studies This dissertation thesis describes the history of Czech and English comeniological studies i.e. the interdisciplinary studies of life, works and legacy of Jan Amos Komensky. The thesis starts with the real beginning of the studies in the 18th century and depicts the history until the Second World War. There is a specific focus on the second half of the 20th century in which the gradual transition to modern comeniological studies takes place - in previous researches Komensky was understood as a great teacher and also as an author of language textbooks. On the other hand, modern comeniological studies interpret him primarily as an original philosopher and theologian whose pedagogical thinking arises from philosophy. Czech-Slovak perspective is consistently applied, and different accents, approaches and also the value of Czech and Slovak comeniological studies are shown in an interesting way. The emphasis is also put on important personalities who were working in the field of comeniological studies e.g. Ján Kvačala, the founder of comeniological studies as a scientific discipline, Josef Hendrich, the most important Czech researcher of the first half of the 20th century, or also on selected personalities...
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Science of Science in Poland and Czechoslovakia 1962-1989
Kůželová, Michaela ; Vykoukal, Jiří (advisor) ; Kunštát, Miroslav (referee) ; Franc, Martin (referee)
This dissertation deals with the Czechoslovak and Polish community of "scientists of science" (mainly historians, philosophers, and methodologists of science) from 1962 to 1989. It focuses not only on the inner evolution of this community (scientists, their works, scientific institutions etc.), but it also examines how was this community formed by the tradition of scientific thought on the one hand, and by the contemporary political and ideological context (Soviet influences, Marxism-Leninism, monopoly of the communist party) on the other. It focuses also on the ability of the scientific community to accept or reflect influences from the Western Europe or United States - which means from the so-called "capitalist countries". Two spheres are analysed to clarify dispositions of Polish and Czechoslovak "scientists of science" to foreign transfers: first, scientists' possibilities to travel to Western countries (research stays, participations at congresses etc.), and second, accessibility to foreign (mainly Western) scientific literature. Functioning of Western concepts in the community of Polish and Czechoslovak "scientists of science" is illustrated by an example of the reception of Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions from 1962. This dissertation shows that the role of scientific...
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The Aesthetic Aspect of Knowledge Acquisition in the European Renaissance and Early Modern Period
Avxentevskaya, Maria ; Procházka, Martin (advisor) ; Pfister, Manfred (referee) ; Vermeir, Koen (referee)
Maria Avxentevskaya How to discover things with words? John Wilkins: from inventio to invention Abstract in English My doctoral thesis explores the functions of rhetorical and dialectical devices in the argumentative style of John Wilkins (1614−1672). My study traces the development of his discursive techniques in scientific narratives, theological writings, and linguistic treatises, with the aim to examine how the interplay between cognitive and performative language enhanced early-modern practices of knowledge-making. I argue that the procedures of dialectical rhetoric, apart from being popular perlocutionary tools, were effective as heuristic instruments. Language was one of the important agents in the performing of science, and my study employs the concept of "performative knowing" as a key to Wilkins's dialectical and scientific inventions. The idea of performative knowing straddles several constituents derived from the analytic philosophy and speech act theory. From this perspective, Wilkins's undertakings appear as a coherent exercise in the art of making knowledge through persuasive communication. My thesis explores how Wilkins's argumentative method departs from baroque rhetorical flair of The Discovery of a World in the Moone (1638), explores the capacity of rhetoric to impart scientific...
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Contemporary forms of scientific realism
Zach, Martin ; Kvasz, Ladislav (advisor) ; Kunca, Tomáš (referee)
The topic of this diploma thesis is the position of scientific realism presented in the framework of naturalized philosophy of science. The aim is to clarify this position and to show that if one denies realism, scientific practice does not make sense. For this purpose main focus is first devoted to the key parts (metaphysical realism, semantic realism, and epistemological realism) which constitute the scientific realism. Next, a detailed analysis of the arguments against and in favor of realism is offered, and concrete examples taken from the sciences are used to illustrate key points. Space is also devoted to the analysis of a physical theory of heat of the 18th and 19th centuries in connection with an antirealist argument directed at the history of science. Also, one of the few fully elaborated antirealist positions, constructive empiricism, is presented and critically evaluated. In a similar fashion, this thesis pays attention to a specific form of realism, called entity realism. Though the resulting image is a thoroughly realist position, this position strives to accurately capture the numerous nuances of the scientific practice, offering a fresh perspective on some of the traditional views.
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The history of science in the seventeenth century: Science, Religion and Priest Valentim Estancel S.J.
Rego Monturil, Frederico Guilherme ; Binková, Simona (advisor) ; Štěpánek, Pavel (referee) ; Klíma, Jan (referee)
This thesis aims to discuss the History of Science in the Modern Age. It is a historical- philosophical reflection on the relationship between Science and Religion in the seventeenth century through the trip, works and life of the Czech mathematician, astronomer and Jesuit priest Valentin Stancel in Moravia, Bohemia, Italy, Portugal and Brazil . This study seeks to redimension the participation of the priests of the Society of Jesus in the development of the modern era by higlighting the activity of the Jesuit priests in the political-religious and scientific transformations that occurred in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Europe, in the Orient and in Portuguese America. The present study aims to reflect on the scientific discoveries of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, especially in the fields of mathematics and astronomy; the new conception of man and world that springs from the political and religious transformations of reformist thought and cultural renaissance; the shock of the new scientific theories and experiences with the Sacred Scriptures and consequently with Christian-Aristotelian scholastic theology; besides contesting the lack of participation of priests, or even religion, in contributing for the development of science. The timeframe of the work takes place primarily...
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