Sybren Heyndels: Modality and Normativity
Sybren Heyndels (Univerzita Karlova) Modality and Normativity ABSTRACT: Modal normativism is the philosophical position that the central function of modal vocabulary is to convey norms of reasoning. This view is significant in at least two ways. First, it supports a broadly pragmatist, anti-metaphysical approach that aims to demystify philosophical discussions surrounding the metaphysics of modality and the status of heavyweight metaphysics more generally. Secondly, it examines the intricate relationship between alethic modal and deontic normative vocabularies to shed light on the concept of intentionality, the hallmark of human consciousness. In this talk, I will (1) explore the history of modal normativism, (2) criticize aspects of contemporary modal normativism, and (3) propose some ways to address these issues. The first part of the talk will provide an overview of the development from Carnap’s syntactical account of modality to Sellars’ analysis, leading to the contemporary theories of Robert Brandom and Amie Thomasson. In the second part of the talk, I will raise several challenges for Thomasson’s modal normativism. Specifically, I will argue that Thomasson’s theory does not sufficiently clarify (1) the precise sense in which modal statements are said to ‘convey’ normative propositions, (2) what types of normative propositions are […]
Read More ›
Anna Michalík Kvíčalová: Uncertain Sounds: Audio forensics and science in the courtroom in Cold-War Czechoslovakia
Anna Michalík Kvíčalová (Univerzita Karlova) Uncertain Sounds: Audio forensics and science in the courtroom in Cold-War Czechoslovakia ABSTRAKT: Wiretapping telephone lines, bugging hotel rooms, and eavesdropping on private conversations, were all part and parcel of the Cold War surveillance practices. However, to find out whose voices they were monitoring, to identify anonymous speakers in distorted recordings, and provide insights about the surroundings where a phone call took place, a different kind of sound analysis required. The talk will introduce a specialized audio forensic department established at the Prague Institute of Criminalistics in 1975 to examine the spectrographic, linguistic, and auditory means of sound analysis for forensic purposes. What must be done with sonic traces to translate them into different kinds of legal and criminalistic evidence, and how listening becomes a tool of objective knowledge in the sciences? I will show that the contested nature of sound-based objectivity, pertaining to the inconclusiveness of the spectrographic images of the voice and a continuous reliance on professional audition in sound analysis, directly contributed to the rise of probabilistic claims in forensic science, both in the Eastern Bloc countries and in the West. I will argue that the probability scale introduced elements […]
Read More ›
Martin Paleček: Ohlasy dezinformací: Kultura, kognice a intelektuální ctnosti v dynamice informační společnosti
Martin Paleček (Univerzita Hradec Králové) Ohlasy dezinformací: Kultura, kognice a intelektuální ctnosti v dynamice informační společnosti V této přednášce se zaměříme na složitý vztah mezi kulturou, kognicí a intelektuálními ctnostmi v kontextu šíření dezinformací. Prozkoumáme, jak se polarizované vnímání dezinformací liší v závislosti na kulturním kontextu a jak kulturní úzkost ovlivňuje naši vnímavost vůči falešným informacím. Analýzou historických paralel, například vlivu objevu knihtisku a dnešních sociálních médií, ukážeme, jaké faktory přispívají k zesílení dezinformací. Dále se zaměříme na roli intelektuálních ctností, jako jsou kritické myšlení a vyvážený skepticismus, které mohou napomoci stabilizaci kulturního prostředí. Přednáška nabídne kritický pohled na současné alarmující i zlehčující narativy a poskytne podněty k diskuzi o tom, jak efektivně řídit dynamiku dezinformací ve společnosti.
Read More ›
Ladislav Koreň: Transformative Theory of Rationality: A Critique
Ladislav Koreň (Univerzita Hradec Králové) Transformative Theory of Rationality: A Critique ABSTRAKT: In my talk I will focus on a recent elaboration of the venerable view of humans as rational animals. On that elaboration, called Transformative Theory of Rationality (TT), basic animal powers for perception, desire, belief or volition can be realized in a rational or non-rational manner (McDowell, 1994, Boyle 2016, Marcus 2022). In rational animals, such powers are informed by rationality, properly understood. So, we can say that rationality transforms them. In non-rational animals, such powers are not informed by rationality. Put differently: there are two kinds of minds: rational and non-rational. Mathew Boyle (2016), following John McDowell (1994), proposes that, properly developed, TT is an attractive account of human rationality. He proceeds via a critique of so-called Additive Theories of Rationality (AT). According to them, we are rational because we possess special rational powers in addition to non-rational mental powers that we share, in basically the same form, with other animals. Boyle argues that AT faces serious problems, whereas TT does not. This demonstrates the promise of TT. Having introduced the debate and Boyle‘s critique of AT – focusing on so-called problems of Interaction and […]
Read More ›
ROBERT ZÁRUBA: SPORT A POLITIKA
Robert Záruba Šéfredaktor Redakce sportu České televize Sport a politika Abstrakt: Globální sportovní organizace se staví jako nepolitické. Mezinárodní olympijský výbor, Světová fotbalová federace, Světová atletika a další subjekty vytváří kolbiště pro soupeře ze zcela odlišných politických uspořádání. V minulosti řešily mnoho příkladů a podob pronikání politiky ve všech jejích projevech do sportovní soutěže. Po mnoha historických zkušenostech čelí v poslední době znovu období válečných konfliktů. Ruská agrese na Ukrajině vyřadila sportovní velmoc z mezinárodního soupeření. A jsou nebezpečnější sportující politici nebo političtí sportovci?
Read More ›
Dagmar Pichová: Émilie Du Châtelet and the Role of Epistemic Authority in Early Modern Scientific Debates
Dagmar Pichová (Masarykova univerzita) Émilie Du Châtelet and the Role of Epistemic Authority in Early Modern Scientific Debates Přednáška proběhne v anglickém jazyce. ABSTRACT: The work of French philosopher and scientist Émilie Du Châtelet has been intensively studied in recent decades, following the growing interest in rediscovering women scholars in the history of philosophy and science. In my lecture, I propose to analyze the role of epistemic authority in the texts of Émilie Du Châtelet and the epistolary debates she was involved with. I will also focus on the tension between Du Châtelet’s (self)representation as a female epistemic authority, a femme savante aspiring to achieve a position in the scientific community, and a femme du monde, a high-ranking aristocratic woman who respects the roles attributed by traditional galanterie.
Read More ›
Tomáš Koblížek: The impact of populist hate speech and misinformation: Insights from the analytic philosophy of language and cognitive science
Tomáš Koblížek (FLÚ AVČR) https://dap.flu.cas.cz/cz/lide/tomas-koblizek The impact of populist hate speech and misinformation: Insights from the analytic philosophy of language and cognitive science Přednáška proběhne v anglickém jazyce. ABSTRACT: The conventional view of the effects of hate speech and misinformation, as employed in political populism, focuses exclusively on the direct effects of this type of speech: the spread of hate and the propagation of false beliefs. In this talk, I will focus on the so far underexplored side effects of the populist discourse, which I will divide into two types: linguistic and cognitive. These are cognitive harms (disinterest in politics, impaired attention, cognitive biases, weakened tendency to verify facts, etc.) and linguistic harms (normalisation of lies, hate speech, conspiratorial discourse). I will show why the side effects of populism must be taken into account if we want to investigate the severity of this phenomenon.
Read More ›
Richard Moore: Social Attention in Humans and Great Apes: A Key Difference and its Possible Origins
Richard Moore (University of Warwick) Social Attention in Humans and Great Apes: A Key Difference and its Possible Origins Přednáška proběhne v anglickém jazyce. ABSTRACT: In this talk I argue for a small but fundamental difference between humans and other great ape species: our willingness to use others as sources of information about the world. I will argue that this difference explains both our capacity for high fidelity information, and our superior understanding of informative pointing. I then consider the possible origins of this difference. I start this talk by considering the question of when it is appropriate to assume that uniquely human cognitive traits are a product of adaptations in the hominin lineage, and when alternative, non-adaptationist explanations should preferred. I’ll argue that while adaptationism is a highly successful explanatory strategy in the biological sciences, often this strategy has been abused in studies of cognitive development. When this happens, appeals to adaptation are often less a way of explaining human origins than they are of avoiding giving explanations of cognitive development. I illustrate my case with reference to two skills identified as central to human cognitive uniqueness – pointing and imitation, which are sometimes argued to […]
Read More ›
Marc Slors: Collective intentionality, large-group collaboration and embodied we-feeling
Marc Slors (Radboud University) Collective intentionality, large-group collaboration and embodied we-feeling Přednáška proběhne v anglickém jazyce. ABSTRACT: Collective intentionality is influentially employed to explain the emergence of large-scale collaboration by Tomasello and his followers. In this talk I will criticize this explanation and draw some philosophical conclusions from this critique. Crudely put, Tomasello considers the adoption of norms, conventions, and institutions to be motivated by the shared belief that these are beneficial to the group’s thriving and surviving. I will argue that in the case of societies larger than hunter-gatherer groups this collective version of a Humean belief-desire psychology is an implausible overintellectualization, as the required global group-level motivations are much too complex to entertain. As an alternative, I propose to explain at least very many norms, conventions and institutions in terms of psychological tendencies—such as strong reciprocity, basic trust, and overimitation—that are the product of group-level natural and cultural selection. On this alternative explanation, large-scale collaboration is the product of local concerns on the one hand, and norms, conventions and even institutions that are grounded in collective embodied habits on the other. I will highlight two philosophical consequences of this view: (i) collective intentionality is a description of the resulting […]
Read More ›
Tomáš Etzler: Čína císaře Si
Tomáš Etzler Čína císaře Si ABSTRAKT: Čínský prezident Si Ťin-pching nastoupil k moci v Říši středu před dvanácti lety. Jak nástup nejmocnějšího čínského vůdce od dob Mao Ce-Tunga zemi změnil? Jak změnil práci zahraničních novinářů? Stane se Čína skutečně supervelmocí 21. století? O těchto i jiných otázkách bude debatovat na půdě Filozofické Fakulty Univerzity Hradec Králové Tomáš Etzler.
Read More ›
