Interrogating the austerity measures introduced by the Czech government under the Prime Ministry of Petr Nečas (2010–2013), this essay wishes to highlight the importance of the translations of the political into the registry of morality, which Chantal Mouffe identifies as features of post-politics, for (re)establishment of social hierarchies and inequalities based in difference. In particular, I demonstrate the strategic importance of “disability” and the racialised concept of “maladaptation” for such post-political reformulations of the political and normative outlines of abled citizenship. After mapping out the ideological deployment of the idea of crisis for the ethics of austerity, the essay concludes by posing questions about possible limits and drawbacks of relying upon crisis as a trope of intersectional feminist critique., Kateřína Kolářová., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The text refers to Peter Sloterdijk's maybe most famous book which entails a long chapter about the Weimar Republic. This short time period of German history is seen as an exemplary historical example for a situation in which cynical thinking becomes general. In his first prominent book, he changed the leftist images and the narratives of Weimar Republic after 1968 as a laboratory for modernism and of a tragic end of revolutionary efforts. Instead the first democracy was presented as an apocalyptical period in which cold intellectual affirmation was dominant. As the text argues, Sloterdijk widens the concept of cynical thinking in a way that seems to be problematic. His argumentation discusses melancholy, nihilism, social and cultural discontent under the terminological umbrella of the "cynic".
The article treats of the discussion of democracy in the Czech intellectual context of the first half of the 20th century. Its starting point is the thesis that the nature of this discussion is determined by two clearly defined types of approach. One of them understood democracy as the concerning the general level which alone enabled free discussion and the dignified life of citizens (E. Beneš, E. Rádl, F. X. Šalda, F. Peroutka, K. Čapek and others). The second approach is an attempt to found democratic social-political practice on reflected philosophical theory. This conception is represented by T.G. Masaryk and J.L. Fischer. Masaryk is the “ontotheologian” of democracy which is, for him, an expression of the active presence of Providence in history. J. L. Fischer is the “onto-epistemologist” of democracy. He understands democracy as the realisation of the hierarchical Order of Reality, interpreted along the lines of structural functionalism. For Masaryk a crisis of democracy is ex definitione impossible, for Fischer it is a real threat because “pathological structures”. In both cases, however, there is an attempt to legitimise everyday reality by Transcendence.
Czechoslovak republic was founded and grew as a parliamentary demo¬cracy whose theoretical ideological conception was Masaryk’s idea of democracy. Masaryk was convinced that democracy, expressing the meaning of modern Western humanity, could not find itself in a crisis as such. Only democrats could fail. However, the factual development of the Czechoslovak state in the 1920’s and 1930’s manifested signs of a crisis. The question thus became one of sustainability of Masaryk’s ideas. One of the serious attempts at their critical reflection is the structurally functionalist conception of crisis of democracy offered by Josef Ludvík Fischer, a sociologist and a philosopher, who saw the root of the problem in a structural pathology, not an individual failure. The crisis can be resolved, according to Fischer, by constituting a “composable society” which respects the order of reality. Masaryk and Fisher agree that democracy needs be built on a global understanding of what there is as a whole.
The article continues the ongoing debate about a “pre-state” tribal society and the nature of its transformation into an early medieval “state” (regnum). The methodological approach is to understand this transformation as an institutional crisis within the tribal society. The opportunities to detect the key moments of this process are tested on the narrative strategies of medieval chroniclers based on the expectation that creating Christian monarchic power took place under the control of the church that tried to influence its form to correspond to the characteristics of the given patrician tradition. It also benefits from the reality that the authors of these texts were clergymen for whom this idea was natural. Using comparative examination, it seeks out typical testimonies that can be considered traditional locations of literary memory of communication between the sovereign and the tribe. In this way, the study attempts to define the basic strategy the sovereign employed to subjugate “their” people within the framework of Christian ethical discourse.
Príspevok analyzuje stav literárnej komparatistiky vo vzťahu k všeobecným tendenciám vo vývine literárnej vedy v druhej polovici 20. storočia a na začiatku 21. storočia. Poukazuje na prirodzenú zviazanosť porovnávacieho skúmania literatúry s niečím, čo presahuje zameranie sa len na texty, či už v podobe národného, etnického, politického alebo ideologického princípu. Ideologické prístupy k literatúre sa prejavujú najmä v americkom ponímaní porovnávacej literárnej vedy, ako je to vyjadrené v posledných správach Americkej asociácie porovnávacej literatúry ACLA. Perspektívu do budúcnosti pre porovnávaciu literatúru autor vidí v príklone k estetickej jednote všeľudskej humanity vyjadrenej naprieč heterogénnym kultúrnym spektrom. and The paper is an analysis of the state of comparative literature with regard to general tendencies in literary scholarship in the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. It points to natural relatedness of comparative literary studies with something that exceeds preoccupation only with the texts, either in the form of the national, ethnic, political or ideological principle. Ideological approaches to literature are manifested especially in the American understanding of comparative literary studies, as expressed in the last ACLA State of the Discipline Reports. The author sees the future perspective for comparative literature in the shift towards aesthetic unity of universal humanity expressed across heterogeneous cultural spectrum.
V rámci řešení nejrůznějších psychosociálních problémů, které výrazně zasahují do života dětí a mládeže, se stále více zdůrazňuje nutnost interdisciplinárního přístupu. Krizové situace jako je šikana, rozvod rodičů nebo násilí v rodině vyžadují spolupráci pedagogů se specialisty, nikoli jejich izolovaný, intuitivní přístup. Cílem článku je nastínit smysl krizových situací v životě člověka a nutnost mezioborové spolupráce např. při řešení domácího násilí, respektive syndromu CAN. Aby se dítěti dostalo specializované pomoci např. v dětském krizovém centru, musí se nejprve setkat s tzv. odborníkem prvního kontaktu, v jehož kompetenci není problém zcela vyřešit, ale rozpoznat jej. Tímto odborníkem je většinou pedagog nebo lékař. Následuje komplexní péče odborného týmu, jehož důležitými členy zůstávají oba odborníci prvního kontaktu. Jak ale v praxi tato spolupráce probíhá, jaké překážky a nedostatky zde mohou existovat? Jaké jsou kompetence a povinnosti pedagogů, pokud podobnou situaci řeší? Formou teoreticko-kritické studie se pokusím nastínit možné odpovědi. Lze konstatovat, že řešení psychosociálních problémů dětí a mládeže má svá "bílá místa" a jedním z nich je i nedostatečná sociální komunikace mezi jednotlivými účastníky "léčebného procesu". Do tohoto procesu neodmyslitelně patří právě pedagogičtí pracovníci, neboť vstupují s ohroženými žáky do každodenního kontaktu. and Face to face with the variety of psychosocial problems which impact lives of children and the young, it is the need for interdisciplinary approach which is increasingly emphasized. Crisis situations such as bullying, parental divorce or violence in the family require that teachers cooperate with professionals rather than deal with the situation in isolation and intuitively. It is the aim of the paper to outline the import of situations of crisis in lives of people and the need for interdisciplinary cooperation for instance in cases of home violence or the CAN syndrome. To receive professional help, such as in a crisis centre providing help for children, the student must first get in touch with a so-called first-contact professional, who cannot deal with the problem in its entirety but can identify it. First-contact professionals are mostly teachers or physicians. Comprehensive care of a team of professionals is what the child receives then, the two first-contact professionals being its important members. What does this cooperation look like in practice? Which obstacles and hindrances may occur? Which are the competencies and obligations of teachers dealing with situations of this kind? The theoretical-critical study outlines the possible answers. It may be said that dealing with psychosocial problems of children and the young has its "blind spots", the insufficient social communication between the individual participants of the "therapeutic process" being among them. The process inevitably includes teaching staff, who are in everyday contact with the pupils and students at risk.
Článek se zaměřuje na debaty o vztahu teorie, metody a praxe v meziválečné americké sociologii. Toto období je často vnímáno jako "zlatý“ věk empirického zkoumání, během něhož bylo zformováno mnoho metodologických přístupů. Na druhé straně, jak naznačuje zde rozpracovaná argumentace, požadavky profesionalizace a specializace vytvořily výzkumný model, jenž sice úspěšně analyzoval specifické problémy, současně však selhal v kontextu kkrize“ a "rozvratu“ americké společnosti, kdy se projevilo, že vědění, jež americká sociologie produkuje, je irelevatní ve vztahu k obecnému problému logiky vývoje společnosti., The article provides a historical contextualization of the debates on theory and method within interwar American sociology. This period is often portrayed as the “golden” age of empirical inquiry resulting in proliferation of methodological orientations. It is argued that the demands of professionalization and specialization within the discipline produced a research model which succeeded in analyzing specific issues, but failed to find (in the context of the “crisis” and “disruption” of American society) a convincing answer to the general question of the logic of society’s development., and Jan Balon.
This text is an attempt to reflect on some of the morally relevant issues raised by the current pandemic crisis. The specificity of this situation is also defined by comparison with the AIDS pandemic. The topicality of the current crisis is an obstacle to a more systematic analysis and formulation of more coherent conclusions. This is the reason why the text outlines those aspects that can now be formulated as possible starting points for discourse on the moral dimension of the pandemic. These mainly include the problem of responsibility (individual, social and professional) at a time of escalating risk situation. Other problems are briefly outlined according to the basic areas of bioethics – human bioethics, environmental ethics, and animal ethics.
The importance of the institution of family in housing practices has deep historical roots in Greece, and families tend to follow certain housing strategies such as late emancipation from the parental home, intergenerational house transfers and financial support for housing. Providing and maintaining a housing solution for young members is one of the top worries in this geographical region, and it is relieved via intergenerational micro-solidarities. Moreover, today’s crisis and austerity are threatening, through indirect budgetary cuts and rising taxation, the housing well-being of the citizenry which is supported only by family welfare. Nonetheless, the family still constitutes the main shock absorber of social and economic turbulence, but at what price?