Spor o univerzálie a nominalistická revoluce 14. století, spjata se jménem Viléma Ockhama, ovlivnila zrod anglického empirismu, po té i německého protestantismu. Ideje výlučnosti reálné existence jednotlivce, jeho svobody, odvozenosti všech obecných společenských kategorií, induktivní aposteriorní myšlení, to vše v průběhu staletí zbořilo starý svět metafyziky a transcendence.Nominalismus přitom není přímým „otcem“ moderní demokracie, nominalismus zrodil typ myšlení, jež v toku dějin vedlo ke zrodu
jejího konceptu. V průběhu 19. a na počátku 20. století se tudíž koncept svobodného a rovnoprávného individua, jakož i koncept reprezentace ve formě americké dělby moci či anglického parlamentarismu, propojil s konceptem společenské smlouvy, suverenity lidu, všeobecným volebním právem a pluralitním a otevřeným systémem politických stran.Ve stejném období se tomuto dějinně novému modelu uspořádání státu dostalo i nového označení – demokracie. and The dispute about universality in philosophy and nominalist revolution of the 14th century, commonly associated with the name of William Ockham, influenced the genesis of English empiricism, even after German Protestantism. The ideas of exclusivity of the real existence of the individual, his freedom, the derivative character of the general social categories, a posteriori inductive reasoning, all this demolished the centuries old world of metaphysics and transcendence. Modern democracy however was not born out of nominalistic way of thinking; rather it spurned a process which, in the course of history, has led to the emergence of the concept. During the 19th
and early 20th century, therefore, the concept of free and equal individuals, as well as the concept of representation in the form of the American separation of powers or the English parliamentary system, linked with the concept of the social contract, popular sovereignty, universal suffrage, and
an open and pluralistic system of political parties. In the same period, this historically new model of organization of the state also received a new designation – democracy.
The essay summarizes crucial propositions of John Searle’s approach to fiction and extends the analysis to other genres, specifically to drama, photograph and film. For Searle, novelists pretend to make assertions, because they need to make use the effect inherent in this sort of speech acts - to represent a state of affairs. We believe that all fictions arise as imitations of authentic representation: a fictional photograph imitates a documentary photograph that is the image captured with the help of photographic film or digital media. A fictional film imitates real people and real events recorded on a camera. Fictional film characters only exist, because the film-makers pretend that they have documented them. Fictions are a part of the social universe: we treat fiction according to the rules and habits we have acquired as members of the society. Fictions are also capable of imitating the effect of authentic representations: novels and films achieve to provoke real emotions., Esej shrnuje klíčové výroky přístupu Johna Searla k beletrii a rozšiřuje analýzu na další žánry, konkrétně na drama, fotografii a film. Pro Searle, romanopisci předstírají, že dělají tvrzení, protože oni potřebují používat účinek inherentní tomuto druhu řečových aktů - reprezentovat stav věcí. Věříme, že všechny fikce vznikají jako napodobeniny autentické reprezentace: fiktivní fotografie napodobuje dokumentární fotografii, která je obrazem zachyceným pomocí fotografického filmu nebo digitálních médií. Fikční film napodobuje skutečné lidi a skutečné události zaznamenané na kameře. Fiktivní filmové postavy existují jen proto, že filmoví tvůrci předstírají, že je zdokumentovali. Fikce jsou součástí sociálního vesmíru: s fikcí zacházíme podle pravidel a zvyklostí, které jsme získali jako členové společnosti., and Jiří Koten
Transport and communication are phenomena which are based on significant human needs and which play a serious role in human life. The theme was also accepted in the course of research conducted for the needs of the Polish Ethnographic Atlas. Fieldwork made it possible to gather large source materials which were analysed using the ethnographical method. The display of information gained from memories registered on the maps of ethnographic fragments created (re)constructions of the former reality. (Re)constructions that did not take into account the context of common or individual involvement of the users. Such a picture of the past does not make a multi-dimensional view of the phenomena concerned. The application of new interpreting methods offers new knowledge to the researchers.
While in the past customs and rituals formed completely natural part of people’s lives, as the old social structure fell apart, the original groups of bearers of community customs (young people working on the farms, recruits, etc.) disappeared and had to be replaced by organized bodies such as voluntary fire brigades. When some of the old traditions vanished, the need arose for new cultural elements to be created. thus organizations inspired by the legacy of
their ancestors started their activities focused on saving residues of local traditional culture. Folk culture has a unique ability to represent people. This happens on three levels: communal, club and individual. Communities use traditional culture to express their uniqueness and belonging to an ethnographic region. The second level relates first of all to voluntary fire brigades for whom traditional events mean chances to take active part in the retention of annual customs, to show themselves in the most festive manner, and to raise money for their own activities as well as for public purposes.
Individual efforts to keep traditions and to participate in creation of local identity constitute the third level. What makes people retain and renew old customs is the need to socialize, to share community values that distinguish them from other groups.
Traditional culture is a source of self-identification and representation.
The paper sketches and defends two instances of the strategy Let N’s be whatever they have to be to explain our knowledge of them—one in which N’s are natural numbers and one in which N’s are propositions. The former, which makes heavy use of Hume’s principle and plural quantification, grounds our initial knowledge of number in (a) our identification of objects as falling under various types, (b) our ability to count (i.e. to pair memorized numerals with individuated objects of one’s attention), (c) our (initially perceptual) recognition of plural properties (e.g. being three in number), and (d) our predication of those properties of pluralities that possess them (even though no individuals in the pluralities do). Given this foundation, one can use Fregean techniques to non-paradoxically generate more extensive arithmetical knowledge. The second instance of my metaphysics-in-the-service-of-epistemology identifies propositions (i.e. semantic contents of some sentences, objects of the attitudes, and bearers of truth, falsity, necessity, contingency, and apriority) with certain kinds of purely representational cognitive acts, operations, or states. In addition to providing natural solutions to traditionally un-addressed epistemic problems involving linguistic cognition and language use, I argue that this metaphysical conception of propositions expands the solution spaces of many of the most recalcitrant and long-standing problems in natural-language semantics and the philosophy of language.