CONTENTS - VOL. 14, NUMBER 1, JUNE 2004

SYMPOSIUM

THE NATURE OF HUMAN NATURE: ETHICAL ISSUES

EMIL VIŠŇOVSKÝ: Introduction

TEODOR MÜNZ: What are We Seeking in Cognition?
SAMI PIHLSTRÖM: Wonder and Trust (Rearticulating the Ethical Structure of "Human Nature" through a Transcendental Philosophy of Childhood)
IGOR KIŠŠ: Bioethics and Human Embryos from the Standpoint of a Protestant Theologian
MARTINA HŘEBÍČKOVÁ: Biological and Social Determinants of Personality: "Nature versus Nurture" in the Five-Factor Model of Personality

ARTICLES

JÁN BAKOŠ: Metamorphoses of Ownership and Dilemmas of Communist Monument Protection
ANDREJ ROZEMBERG: The Trouble with the Other

NEWS

MARINA ČARNOGURSKÁ: Does the World Philosophy Enter a New Historical Period of "Transmodernism"?

NEW BOOKS

WHAT ARE WE SEEKING IN COGNITION?
TEODOR MÜNZ

Humans are both seekers and creators. Human creation is primarily based on human cognition. It is in cognition where we look for reality as it is in itself. However, this task has not been fulfilled so far, and despite it has not been given up, it may be seen as problematic. This does not mean that our knowledge is futile and has no meaning and purpose at all. Even our errors have a meaning. Taking into account the crucial role of experience, the author goes on in his search for the meaning of knowledge pointing out that epistemological reality is not sharply divided from ethical and aesthetical realities.

pp. 5-20

WONDER AND TRUST
(Rearticulating the Ethical Structure of "Human Nature" through a Transcendental Philosophy of Childhood)
SAMI PIHLSTRÖM

E-mail: sami.pihlstrom@helsinki.fi

This essay reconsiders the concept of human nature by criticizing theoretical attempts to capture the essence of human nature in a metaphysical theory. Against such attempts, an ethically responsible account of human existence may be formulated in terms of the concepts of wonder and trust. Answers to the existentially most significant questions troubling humankind, such as the problem of why there is something rather than nothing, should not, then, be sought in an explanatory manner; on the contrary, such questions show the need for an ethically serious engagement with the basic human attitudes of wonder and trust, to be illuminated in terms of a "philosophy of childhood".

pp. 21-36

BIOETHICS AND HUMAN EMBRYOS FROM THE STANDPOINT OF A PROTESTANT THEOLOGIAN
IGOR KIŠŠ

kiss@fevth.uniba.sk

The question of using embryos has become one of the most controversial issues in modern bioethics. Numerous Christians and Christian denominations consider these methods to be unjustifiable. However some theologians, mostly Protestant, defend this practice. There exist serious theological and ethical reasons for embryo research. The author of this article finds such reasons in the ideas of Thomas Aquinas and also Jesus Christ. The church's strict adherence to the rigorous application of otherwise correct moral rules, without considering the law of love and the need for necessary exceptions, can harm the proclamation of the gospel. The church's negative attitude in the area of bioethics would lead to widespread disillusionment with the church.

pp.37-44

BIOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF PERSONALITY: "NATURE VERSUS NURTURE" IN THE FIVE-FACTOR MODEL OF PERSONALITY
MARTINA HŘEBÍČKOVÁ

martina@psu.cas.cz

This review article presents the solution to the issues of heritability and the environment in different theoretical approaches to the five-factor model of personality (lexical, questionnaire-NEO model, evolutionary, socioanalytic and dyadic-interactional). While the authors of the five-factor model of personality and of the NEO model McCrae and Costa are convinced of the biological basis of personality characteristics and their independence of environmental influences, the evolutionary and socioanalytic approaches take into account the interaction of biological and social determinants in creating personality characteristics. Although supporters of the five-factor model of personality agree that the personality is best characterized by Neuroticism (Emotional Stability), Extraversion, Openness to Experience (Intellect), Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, their opinions differ in whether personality characteristics are created independently of environmental effects or in the interaction between the environment and innate factors.

pp. 45-56

METAMORPHOSES OF OWNERSHIP AND DILEMMAS OF COMMUNIST MONUMENT PROTECTION
JÁN BAKOŠ

dejubaja@savba.sk

French Revolution represented and enormous transfer of property and nationalization of history. Due to that, historical monuments were used as ideological instruments (and justifications) for the political restoration. The state monument protection came into existence. The situation in the Habsburg monarchy was a particular one. The establishment of the monument protection institution by the state followed the French model and was motivated by a very similar purpose. The growth of economic power of the bourgeoisie at the end of the 19th century and its utilitarian, exploiting and profit oriented mentality influenced the development of monument protection policy of the Habsburg Monarchy. In contrast to the 19th century historical revivals of Socialist Realism was no retrospectivism. On the contrary, it represented the cult of the present interpreted as ever lasting and eternal. That is the explanation of the paradox that the revival of historical forms in Socialist Realist art was accompanied by the indifference or even iconoclasm concerning historical monuments. The implicit antinomy of the communist relation to the past, i.e. iconoclasm versus the idea of communism as a true protector of the human cultural heritage appeared in a new shape: Ignorants and pragmatists concluded a silent agreement on the control over historical monuments. Very typical for the monument protection practice in the communist era is the case of Bratislava Castle.

pp. 57-70

THE TROUBLE WITH THE OTHER
ANDREJ ROZEMBERG

gowinda@post.sk

We are aware of a special ability of the mind to regard a small fraction of reality as reality and to understand the rest as a sort of residue. What we shall try to show in this paper is not merely a close relationship between thinking and pleasure (or even between pleasure and the demand of autonomy (independence)). We shall try to reveal several visible and less visible forms of appropriation of the other, which is ignored and drowned by the preclusive intents of theoretical or practical subjects, by the assimilating light of the idea, and simultaneously to outline the mode of how to "reply" to the demand of the other, which has become a never-ending challenge to human thought. Real heteronomy breaks the dialectics of pleasure. It seemingly leads to autonomy, which does not gradate power and the rule of the subject but it means his rediscovery in humility.

pp.71-84

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