Projects / Programmes
Conditions and Problems of Contemporary Philosophy
January 1, 2004
- December 31, 2008
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.10.00 |
Humanities |
Philosophy |
|
philosophy, political philosophy, philosophy of history, history of philosophy, philosophy of culture, philosophical anthropology, ethics, aesthetics, ontology, epistemology, psichoanalisys, history of political thought, subject
Researchers (17)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The »Conditions and Problems of Contemporary Philosophy« program is continuing its hitherto research work at the Institute of Philosophy, and thus in the five year period from 2004 to 2008 it will be focused on three main themes:
1) Investigation of the transformation of traditional philosophical categories (being, truth, subject, object, will, man, life, etc.) in postmodern philosophical thought. The research work will try to situate the conceptual transformation in postmodern philosophical thought and the rise of the new problematic within the wider frame of philosophical, scientific, epistemological, cultural, as well as politico-economic processes in the contemporary world, including Slovenia. The aim of the research work is to elaborate an answer to the question whether and in what way, under the conditions of a globalized world, philosophy as a field of pure thought is still possible today. Special emphasis will be placed on: the conceptual and methodological connections of postmodern philosophy with contemporary social and human sciences, particularly the conditions and results of the encounter with the psychoanalysis of Freud and Lacan, as well as with linguistics, epistemology, jurisprudence, history and anthropology; an analysis of separating the problematics of subject and subjectivization in postmodern philosophy (Badiou, Lyotard, Foucault, Negri, Agamben, Derrida, Habermas, etc.); rethinking of the status of ethics and of ethical discourses in philosophy and the connection of philosophy with the contemporary sciences; a new consideration of the political as a consequence of the breakdown of classic notions of universality, of the social link and of community; rethinking new technologies, cyberspace and the virtualization of space itself; a critical reconsideration of vitalistic and neo-darwinist currents in contemporary philosophy, biophilosophy and biotechnology, ethology, new conceptions of body and life, etc.
2) An inquiry into the philosophically relevant history of political thought and research on the history of the philosophical and scientific formation of the modern world. In investigating the history of political thought, special emphasis will be placed on the conceptualization of power in the tradition of Western thought, the articulation of the concept of state and hitherto poorly investigated connections between sovereignty, religion, and the rise of trade, economy, and world war. A particular part of the research work consists of the deconstruction of historiographic revisions of the memory of the Nazi and fascist occupation of Slovenia (1941-45), the partisan resistance movement, collaboration activities and post-war mass killings, and an analysis of the interpretation of history as trauma. The aim of the research work is to contribute to a clarification of various problems: historical memory and historical trauma, civil and religious war, the formation of a political space and the rise of representative democracy, European colonial and society-forming projects, and the formation of an interstate system and supranational identities (Empire, Europe). The basic departure point for the investigation of the philosophical and scientific history of the formation of the modern world will be that philosophical and purely scientific viewpoints regarding this process are inseparable, and that medieval philosophy presents an intersection point of the ancient episteme and modern philosophy. Within this framework, special emphasis will be placed on the relationship between philosophy, theology, and science on one hand, and the epistemological, philosophical, and scientific transformations of the high medieval age, renaissance, and early modern age, on the other. The aim of the scientific research work is to expose those epistemological elements which separate modern from pre-modern philosophy and science.
3)An investigation of philosophical aesthetics and the philosophical problematic of visuality and t
Significance for science
The issues elaborated by the program “Conditions and Issues in Contemporary Philosophy” lie at the very center of international philosophical discussion on the conditions for contemporary philosophy and the transformation of its fundamental concepts. The research proceeded from an assumption being increasingly more forcefully put forward in international philosophical and epistemological discussion: that mutations and renewals of old forms of knowledge, arts, and techniques, and the emergence of new, as yet undefined theoretical approaches also require an appropriate renewal of philosophical reflection and its conceptual and methodological creativity. This work was therefore a part of efforts in continental philosophy that seek to shape philosophy as a practice thought that will be able to participate in experiences of thought in the conditions of a globalized world, as these are being engendered in various areas of knowledge and human culture in the broadest sense of the word. The research program sought to elaborate the conceptual and theoretical models that are not only important for renewal and the continued development of philosophy and broader humanities and social sciences, but are also important for comprehending the broad nexus of the issues of today’s globalized world and its economic, political, scientific, and cultural interactions and processes, which are mutually dependent on one another. The program was participating in contemporary currents, in particular those focusing on the issues of the subject and subjectivation resulting from the encounter between philosophy and the psychoanalysis of Freud and Lacan; those currents centered around the relationship between contemporary philosophy and the contemporary humanities and social sciences; those contemporary theorisations elaborating the new status of ethics and ethical discourses; those that inquire into the new technologies of cyberspace and space virtualization; those approaches that elaborate the history of the philosophical and scientific shaping of the modern world; those theories that analyze the relationship between early modern and modern political thought, with special regard to shaping the state, the issue of republicanism and democracy, and shaping the historical identity of the European and Western world; and, finally, those currents that analyze the role of historical memory and forgetting.
Significance for the country
The program set out from the assumption that it is necessary to consider the development of contemporary Slovenian philosophical thought and its inclusion in international philosophical discussion as a necessary condition for Slovenia being able to take its place in scientific and research policy, as an active and responsible agency of European and global integration processes. Developed contemporary philosophical thought, which can creatively respond to the challenges of today’s world, can contribute to Slovenia achieving a level of cultural and political autonomy and national identity so as to enable it to assert its own cultural and political interests and perspectives, even under the circumstances of continually greater globalization and multiculturalism. Moreover, the development of philosophical thought at the level of the practical and theoretical demands of its time is also an indispensable factor in the development of today’s nexus of humanities and social sciences. The purpose of the program was to familiarize those in charge of research policy and well as the general cultural community with contemporary currents of thought, thereby contributing to introducing the achievements of contemporary thought into cultural and political practice in Slovenia on the one hand, and, on the other hand, including Slovenia in cultural and intellectual activities in today’s world. The program was dedicated to an inquiry into the political, social, and cultural currents that are either constitutive of Slovenian cultural identity and heritage, or that shape or at least help shape Slovenian identity (and thereby the heritage of future generations) in the conditions of today’s world. Through critical philosophical reflection on scientific, cultural, and political processes in the world and on processes of shaping individual and collective identities, this program sought to contribute to a better understanding of the similarity, difference, and interaction between Slovenia and its cultural heritage, as well as its narrower and broader cultural space. The starting assumption of the research program was that research results could be applied outside of philosophy and science, also to the development of modern civil democratic political culture, thereby consolidating Slovenia as an autonomous political and cultural entity.
Most important scientific results
Final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Final report,
complete report on dLib.si
