The doctoral thesis tries to reflect the collaboration of Catholic priest with the State Security Service (ŠtB). This is done in two steps. The first part illustrates the historical background based on research of archive materials and testimony of living priests - agents. Results of historical research tell us that it is not possible to assess the collaboration across the board just on the registration of agents in secret police register. Core of historical part is a typology of collaboration. It serves as a base for input to the second ethical part of doctoral thesis. The main goal of ethical part is to find objective criterions for answerable and ethical way out from moral dilemmas. Core of this part is theory about ethical compromise with two normative principles - principle of small evil and principle of double effect. The analysis of small evil didn't get a satisfy way out from the situation of blackmail: in the concrete situation it didn't tell us, which evil is smaller and which is bigger. The principle of double effect showed us, that the collaboration in blackmail situation is without proportionate cause, in other words, is counterproductive to their value in universal perspective. The priests hadn't any guaranty, that after consent with collaboration in blackmail, the damage on their side but...

Introduction: The aim of this paper is to discuss the phenomenon of the Shoah from most angles and sides to avoid simplification and generalization. The result is the creation of activities for pupils outlining the Holocaust, the Shoah. I want to combine eyewitness testimony uměleckoliterárním rendition of the theme of the Shoah. For greater expertise as a starting point of my work I choose: I. general characteristics of totalitarianism or the system that gave rise to the Shoah, II. insight into historical context, as my activity is usable in more subjects: literature, civics and history is necessary for me this season prepared and factually. III. The art of literature related to the topic of the Shoah affected by the "wine", I will try to demonstrate the immanence of the destruction of human society, which is also what should be heard even at the end of my activities. IV. The final activity will be articulated eyewitness testimony and artistic text (which process the same historical events) will be outlined their educational use in the subjects: civics, history and literature. Target activity will be interdisciplinary, as it is mainly designed for the needs of secondary schools, for the interconnection of multiple information sources and their mutual confrontation, which leads to less distortion of...

This master thesis deals with the topic of temptation in three Czech Theatrical Dramas of the 1970's and 1980's, inspired by the legend of Faust. These dramatic works represent different model approaches of dealing with such a topic. Thesis focuses on the principle of evil and its functioning. The temptation by Devil is therefore defined as Mephistophelian seduction, which occurs in drama plays selected as a subject of this thesis. The thesis analyzes and describes Mephistophelian seduction and its realization in theatrical dramas. Thesis elaborates the mechanism of evil principle and examines how the main protagonists are influenced in their acting and behaviour by this power. This thesis brings the power of evil into the wider context of "higher power" and describes relations between the power of evil and totalitarian power. On this base the historical and political context of the lives of the authors is considered as an important element. Based on comparison of all these aspects the principle of Mephistophelian seduction is reflected within its existential dimension. KEYWORDS Temptation, Devil, Mephistophelian seduction, protagonist, evil principle, drama, Faust, Mephistopheles, Václav Havel, Oldřich Daněk, Jiří Suchý

The thesis deals with the interpretation of Series of Unfortunate Events written by an American author Lemony Snicket and Joanne K. Rowling´s story about Harry Potter. The analysis is focused on the moral and ethical aspects of individual motifs and symbols, as well as on the importance of human values in the behaviour of main characters. Some of the main protagonist were analysed according to their ability to spread good or evil, and therefore their influence on the young reader. The most important aspect was the good will of characters according to the principles of Lévinas' ethics while the self-sacrifice of the heroes is considered the highest moral value.

Alone in a Crowd: Charles Baudelaire and 20th-Century and Contemporary Art The dissertation called Alone in a Crowd explores the influence of the poet Charles Baudelaire's personality and work on 20th-century and contemporary art. Due to the field of study, the main focus is on the visual arts, but literature, music, philosophy, and film are also included to a large extent. This dissertation is divided into four substantive chapters. The first chapter, The Inner Message, introduces the poet's life, his family and acquaintances, as well as Baudelaire's poetry collection The Flowers of Evil. Themes of evil, ugliness, fear, death, and even a relationship to their mother, father and women are common for 20th-century and contemporary artists. This chapter presents Félicien Rops, James Ensor, Edvard Munch, Hans Bellmer, Francis Bacon, Joel-Peter Witkin, Kurt Cobain, members of the Young British Artists group, Lars von Trier, and others. The second chapter pursues the correspondence theory. The character of the Swedish philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg and his successor, William Blake, is followed by Baudelaire's understanding of sensual and spiritual correspondences, as his principles are adopted by modern artists in a distinct manner. The third chapter called "On the Edge of Society" covers the curse...

This dissertation deals with the notion of centration in the work of Teilhard de Chardin, the notion being examined with regard to two related aims: 1) to illustrate the logical structure of Teilhard's Christian theory of evolution, and 2) to explain the relation between centration carried out by created beings and centration assigned to God as the focal point of evolution. In other words: to explore the connection between fundamental freedom attributed by Teilhard to created beings and culminating in human beings according to him, and God's freedom demonstrating itself in controlling the universe and directing it to a goal being the fullness of being (pleroma). The first part presents Teilhard's life and the contexts of his work. The second part explains the main notions of Teilhard's theory and metaphysics, such as "consciousness", "spirit", "energy", "centro-complexity", and "matter", and relates them to the notion of centration. Centration is presented here as an activity of the consciousness consisting in the unifying formation of multitude by its interconnection with different types of relations around one centre. In such unification, the main law of evolution manifests itself - the Law of Differentiating Unity. This means that parts unified in such way start differentiating again. What is...