Daniela Foltinová: Constantly Think: A Philosophical Interpretation of Thinking in Thomas Bernhard and Friedrich Nietzsche The thesis presents a philosophical interpretation on the problem of thinking acquired through the thorough analysis of Thomas Bernhards' novels Gehen, Verstörung and Alte Meister and an interpretation of knowledge, fallacy and thinking in the works of Friedrich Nietzsches' Menschliches, Allzumenschliches and Fröhliche Wissenschaft. The focal question of the thesis is: What does it mean to think? Interpretations of Bernhard held in three lines are always connected with the character in the novel. The fourth interpretation focuses solely on Nietzsches' thinking. There are four interpretations of thinking then. The first one characterizes thinking as a state of chaos taking place in the madmans' mind. The second one leads to the conception of reflective thinking of an observer. Both of them present a negative way of treating thinking as non-thinking. The third one with a storyteller taking thinkers' position shows procesual part of thinking: it is necessarily an activity with no further need for reflecttion or conceptualization. Therefore, it is to be found in the literary form of the novels. The analysis of Nietzsches' thinking emphasizes the need to dispute over the conceptual...

Pendant presque un demi-siècle, entre la proclamation de 1871 et la défaite de 1918, l’Empire allemand a soumis trois départements français annexés et l’ancien Grand- Duché de Pologne ou Poznanie, déjà sous domination prussienne, à de vigoureuses campagnes de germanisation dont le principal vecteur a été l’école allemande. De cette empreinte germanique témoignent des manuels scolaires, des écrits fictionnels ou mémoriels peu connus de la recherche et qui permettent d’apprécier l’incidence du phénomène à court et à long terme dans les deux provinces concernées. Un siècle après, les témoignages rassemblés autour de cet objet éveillent l’intérêt du culturaliste. En quoi le concept de colonisation s’applique-t-il à la germanisation par l’école? Les politiques scolaires appliquées à l’Ouest et à l’Est sont-elles similaires, sont-elles comparables à celles pratiquées outre-mer ? Quelle a été l’emprise de l’école prussienne sur une jeunesse appelée à connaître, quelquefois sur plusieurs générations, un déchirement entre son appartenance nationale et son identité culturelle ? Peut-on un siècle plus tard assimiler ce phénomène à un syndrome post colonial ? / Over a period of nearly five hundred years , i.e. between the proclamation of the German Empire in 1871 and the defeat in 1918, 3 French annexed départements and the Grand Duchy of Poland (also called Posen) - itself under Prussian domination-, have been submitted to hard campaigns of germanization. School was the main vector. In addition to school books, a number of fictional writings or written memories helped to mark that German print in the minds, but researchers know little about this literature though it helps to appreciate the importance of the phenomenon in the short but also in the long run when a comparison is made between the two provinces concerned. A century later, the culturalists' interest is aroused by the testimonies gathered on this subject in its historical context. This work aims at presenting in what way the concept of colonisation can be applied to germanization, particularly regarding the germanization of the school. We will also examine whether the school politics applied in the west and the east of Europe are similar and if they can be compared to those applied abroad. What was the outcome for the youth in the populations concerned, for those who attended the Prussian educational system facing the possible risk of being torn apart between a sense of national allegiance and their cultural identity? Can this feeling be assimilated to a post colonial syndrome?

Emmanuel Levinas on human freedom and relation to the other Ján Hreško ABSTRACT This dissertation deals with the philosophical problem of human freedom from an intersubjective and ethical point of view. It interprets and elaborates Emmanuel Levinas' understanding of freedom and shows that he paid considerable attention to this issue in his works. The thesis is based primarily on the formulation of this problem in his main post-war works but makes its thematic elaboration. It shows what role freedom plays within his ethics and its key ideas. The research follows the constitution of freedom of the corporal and economic being. It explains the criticism of freedom, the argument of justifying freedom and finally its investiture. Separately it focuses on the question of human position in history. Finally, it clarifies Levinas' main claim that responsibility precedes freedom. At the same time, it asks: In what sense did Levinas understand the ambiguous concept of freedom? Are there more notions of freedom? What is the relationship between my freedom and the freedom of the other? What does it mean that acceptance of ethical demand does not depend on my will or choice? And what is the positive significance of responsibility for the other? The main thesis of this work can be expressed as follows: according to...

This diploma thesis "The Place of Truth by Ernest Gellner and Eric Voegelin" compares two major thinkers in the field of discourses of truth, faith, modernity, and democracy. Eric Voegelin represents unorthodox conservative views of the abstract place of truth, which is in close connection with the existence of individuals and with close relation to transcendent basis of being. Liberal thinker Ernest André Gellner is an advocate of individualism and rationalism, which significantly impact the very concept of truth. Attention is mainly focused on how these two different points of view define relation between domain of truth to modern democracy and totalitarian movements represented by ideologies, which were hegemonizing sphere of truth in society.