The paper is focused on the question whether a human person should be treated as a rational animal or an embodied spirit. The first definition of a human being goes back to Aristotle. In his conception human being is the highest animal, i.e. he is on the top of the hierarchy of material beings. The second definition shows human being on the lowest position in the realm of spirits. Here human being is the lowest and the least perfect among spiritual (...) beings, the only spirit who is submerged into material world. The paper presents and discusses the ideas of W. Norris Clarke, who was influenced by James Etzwiller. (shrink)

The article deals with the conception of backward causation, i.e. with the question whether an effect can precede its cause. It analyses some arguments for possibility of backward causation. It is especially Dummett’s theory of quasi-causation that is a moderate form of backward causation concept. The article refuses the arguments for possibility of backward causation as unconvincing of false.

The article deals with the concepts of matter and form. These concepts belong to the Aristotelian theory of hylomorphism which was very influential in the Middle-Ages and in the early modern second-scholastic cosmology. At present, this theory is discussed by authors of both scholastic and analytical backgrounds. The article presents and discusses some of the recent commentaries on this topic.

This paper deals with the virtue of prudence in the thinking of Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure. It compares the two different approaches of Dominican and Franciscan High Medieval Scholasticism concerning the virtue of prudence, which is an intellectual virtue but one that is closely related to human acts and consequently to the final end of human life.

One of the frequently commented-upon texts of Aquinas was and still is the first question of Summa theologiae. It is usually the question of whether theology is scientific knowledge that attracts the attention of readers or commentators. This study, however, deals with the question from the sixth article, regarding whether theology is wisdom. It investigates the commentaries of famous authors of Second Scholasticism, who comment on and explain this text of Aquinas. Although this question does not appear to be very (...) controversial, some interesting developments and commentaries can be found even in this topic. The most interesting theme is the question of how theology can be both wisdom and science, i.e., two intellectual virtues. Moreover, there is a need for the interpretation of the texts of Aristotle and Aquinas holding that wisdom is a compound of scientific knowledge and intellectual intuition. (shrink)

This paper is a review of the book 'Potřebujeme filosofii přežití? Úvahy o filosofii, kultuře, poznání, vzdělání, řeči a popularizaci vědy' by Josef Smajs.