Lukáš Arthur Švihura

This article is motivated by a reading of J.J. Abrams’ proceedings Shusterman’s Somaesthetics: From Hip Hop Philosophy to Politics and Performance Art. Of the diverse range of essays in the proceedings, I concentrate my attention primarily on those aspects of the texts that highlight Richard Shusterman’s practical somaesthetics, and in which their authors focus on the more personal aspects of Shusterman’s philosophical-artistic experimentation, as captured in The Adventures of the Man in Gold: Paths Between Art and Life, A Philosophical Tale. Through references to Foucault’s notion of care of the self and the aesthetics of existence, the article demonstrates that the individual level of Shusterman’s practical somaesthetics is not separable from the social-ethical level. This is matched by the conclusion of the text, which points out that Shusterman’s practical somaesthetics overcomes the dichotomy of private and public in Richard Rorty’s pragmatism.

The study has the character of a critical reflection of the assumed combination of cognitive and affective goals of teaching philosophy in the environment of higher secondary education. Official state documents work with this connection as unproblematic, but the author tries to problematize this link between cognitive and affective and focuses on the current deficits in achieving affective goals in the teaching of philosophy. The article finds its inspiration for a different approach to achieving them in the pragmatism of Richard Rorty and Richard Shusterman.

The beginning of higher education in Prešov is associated with the Lutheran College of Prešov, which showed interested in Kantian philosophy already in late 18th century. This is also reflected in the book Elements of Philosophical Ethics, written by the rector of the College, Andrej Vandrák. The study presents a comparative analysis of Kant›s ethical works and Vandrák’s textbooks and concludes that although Vandrák’s ethics was strongly influenced by Kant, he had no ambition to become his passive epigon, but that he rather attempted to actively think along with him. As the author emphasized, it is merely an intellectual tradition, to which the current research of the Institute of Philosophy of the Prešov University in Prešov is a follow-up.

Academic capitalism, which has become part of the higher education ideology, emphasizes scientific activity as a means of generating profits at the expense of pedagogical activity. The article is a philosophical reflection of this issue, especially in the humanities. The author reflects on the philosophical characteristic of the personality of a young scientist as a pedagogue, who, besides the scientometric requirements, should also fulfill the more elementary social role, namely to educate and inspire students of humanities as members of the humanist society of liberal democracy.

The article updates the work of an important Prešov philosopher and educator Andrej Vandrák The Elements of Philosophical Ethics, which shows that scientific personalities of 19th century Prešov were intellectually close to European thought schools. Apart from Kant and Fries Vandrák’s works were also influenced by European philosophy as a whole, thus influencing Vandrák’s perception of inter alia, good and beautiful and the connection between ethical and aesthetic. These thought in Vandrák’s works show known European tendency and the topic which, albeit in a different sense than in his works, became central in the philosophy especially in the second half of the 20th century and is still up-to-date now – aesthetization of ethics. The analyses of aesthetization of ethics in fact prove to be promising in times of rejection of ethical universalism and anthropological essentialism. In this context, some of Vandrák’s works are in this context quite inspirational. Nevertheless, Vandrák shows that also our perception of philosophy is closely related to the European cultural and philosophical traditions and the current philosophical thinking, which should be extremely emphasized in these days.

The article is a philosophical reflection of the current status of the humanities in Slovakia. In many areas of our society there is an evident deficit in humanities-science knowledge, reflected also in parliamentary election results in 2016 and having serious consequences on our society. The article therefore suggests the possibility of transposing the knowledge of the humanities, particularly philosophy, in the educational process appropriate to the character of a pluralistic liberal democracy in the 21st century.

The article is a philosophical reflection of the current status of the humanities in Slovakia. In many areas of our society there is an evident deficit in humanities-science knowledge, reflected also in parliamentary election results in 2016 and having serious consequences on our society. The article therefore suggests the possibility of transposing knowledge of the humanities, particularly philosophy, in the educational process appropriate to the character of a pluralistic liberal democracy in the 21st century.