Projects / Programmes
FILOZOFSKE RAZISKAVE/PHILOSOPHY RESEARCH
January 1, 2004
- December 31, 2008
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.10.00 |
Humanities |
Philosophy |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H120 |
Humanities |
Systematic philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, epistemology, ideology |
Ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, epistemology, history of philosophy, social philosophy, hermeneutics, phenomenology, structuralism, theoretic psychoanalysis, subject, being, language, history, philosophy of religion, philosophy of sport, philosophy of science
Researchers (33)
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The aim of the research program Philosophy Research is to carry out research work in the field of philosophy. With a broad program group which represents almost all schools of thought in Slovenia and covers a large field of philosophical issues, the program on the one side draws continual attention to and provides further elaborations of the achievements in philosophy and its history around the world, while on the other side, in tackling the paradoxes of contemporary social and technological development, it develops conceptual tools for exploring and recognizing the structure of contemporary world with the ever present possibility of appropriate encroachments upon it. The first complex represents members of the research program who do fundamental methodological research work within the framework of hermeneutical, phenomenological, analytical and structuralist strands. In view of the topical questions and trends of development, every field is supposed to preserve and raise the philosophical discourse in Slovenia and thereby establish the genuineness of philosophy. Special attention is devoted to the research on Aristotelianism and hermeneutical interpretation of philosophical tradition, to the soul and body relationship by rationalists and materialists, to the issue of language from the phenomenological and analytical standpoint, to the role of the particular in scientific discourse and social formation of scientific discourse itself, to the concept of historicality and culture, especially in relation to the phenomenon of "Europeanness", to its meaning for the formation of identity in contemporary world, to the adequacy of concepts of classical social philosophy in describing contemporary social phenomena, to the concept of immortality or philosophy of religion, to reflections on social practices, such as sport, to the mutations of the beautiful under the influence of technological innovations and to the role of art as the institutionalized practice within other social practices in general, and last but not least to the wide array of ethical issues. The issue of ethics, understood in the inclusive meaning of both descriptive and normative theory of praxis, which is also determined from the outside, is approached in the research program from various aspects, from fundamental-analytical, through diaphorical and analytical to psychoanalytical and that of morals. The main stress of the second complex (given that both are closely intertwined and complementary) is on the research of the structure of subjectivity within the postmodern or post-capitalist society. The main issue here is the nature of economical, social and ideological presuppositions as the ground and possibility of democracy, which today so self-evidently, although indeterminately appears as the ultimate horizon of social being. The research program endeavors to determine to what extent the antinomies of the postmodern world and its supposed deviations are the very foundation of contemporaneity itself, methodologically relying particularly on the insights of theoretical psychoanalysis, hermeneutics and re-actualization of sociocritical philosophical strand.
The program Philosophy Research applies the methods characteristic of main philosophical strands represented in the program (hermeneutic-phenomenological, analytical, structuralist and sociocritical). Despite their uncontested differences, what the methods of philosophical research have in common is the conceptual analysis and implementation of conceptual relations, identification and qualitative definition of the phenomena, as well as invention of new concept and systematic tools for understanding traditional and primarily topical issues. The research method in the field of philosophy could be termed philosophical reflection, which always involves the questioning of extant conceptual systems, takes into account the achievements of other sciences, both theoretical and empirical...
Significance for science
The influence and the importance for the development of science on the national and international level of the programme “Philosophical Investigations” can be summarized in four points: - Although research investigations call for a fundamental grounding, a characteristic advantage of the Ljubljana Lacanian School is exactly its ability of interdisciplinary cooperation, which includes and links all sciences, from sociology, psychology, psychoanalysis to law and economy, and also natural sciences, with physics, biology and medicine at the forefront; - Research investigations cover all crucial periods from the history of philosophy and are grounded in the interconnection and dialogue with philosophical conceptions of antiquity, middle ages, early modern philosophy, German Idealism, phenomenology and modern analytical philosophy. It is within this framework that the programme researchers provided within this five-year period translations of key works of philosophical tradition (Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Heidegger), thus laying the grounds of scientific literature in Slovenia. At the same time, Slovenia has been witness to a continual process of translation of authors which are unknown to Slovene readership; - improvement of the scientific terminology, applicable to other, not only scientific, but wider areas of knowledge society. The researchers performed an unification, and classification of scientific terminology in all fields of philosophical investigations; - grounding a Slovene line of theory, a world-renowned scientific achievement, Ljubljana’s Lacanian School; - original investigations on a world level which enables a dialogue with the most important achievements of recent philosophy, be it analytic theory of consciousness (Churchland, Fodor), paradoxes of late capitalism (Beck, Honneth), theory of subjectivity and philosophy which emphatically reflects contemporaneity (Badiou), phenomenological horizons of meaning (Held, Waldenfels), or postmodern thought (Vattimo); In connection with the Department of Philosophy of Ljubljana Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, the programme “Philosophical Investigations” is actively involved in numerous international links and projects. The team researchers are authors of scientific articles and authors or co-authors of scientific monographs in foreign scientific publishing houses. They cooperate with numerous researchers and research institutes in the United States of America, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, France, Switzerland, Canada, Czech Republic and Croatia. The programme is interdisciplinary in its nature, being actively involved primarily in the research work on national heritage, the place of Slovenia in Europe and the world, democracy, the issue of humaneness, intercultural dialogue and Women’s Studies, as can be gathered from the following titles of research projects: “Phenomenology of Understanding Democracy and Statehood in Slovenia and Europe” (J6-7240), “Analysis of Partial Intercultural Values as a Factor in Democratic Governance and Decision-Making” (L6-9486), “Question of Humaneness from the Perspective of Cultural, Scientific and Social Development of Slovenia and the Necessity of Humanistic Discussion” (V6-0278), “Ethical-philosophical Aspects of Contemporary Democracy and Controversies of Global Society” (M6-0191), “Socialism and Democracy in Slovenia in Word and Picture” (J6-9613), “Methodological Aspects of the Investigation of Cognitive Processes – Learning and Deciding” (J7-9792). The researchers are also actively involved in the following international EU research projects: “Enlargement, Gender, and Governance«, »Meta-Analysis of Gender and Science« and »EU Framework 6, Project No. SAS6-CT-2004-003582«. They are also actively involved in the European science network: »ATHENA - Advanced Thematic Network in European Women's Studies, Socrates Programme, European Commission«.
Significance for the country
The necessity of and need for basic philosophical investigations stems from the fact that philosophy is one of the disciplines which exercise an essential influence on the formation of national, cultural and political identity of the community. In this sense, the task of the research programme “Philosophical investigations” in past five years has been double in its nature: we both brought attention to the development of world philosophy as well as strived for our own independent production and creativity on the global level. The programme “Philosophical Investigations” thus on the one hand served to encourage the transfer of foreign compendia of knowledge, theoretical achievements of the global knowledge society into Slovenian space, and on the other hand affirmed and consolidated Slovene philosophy in its global recognition. Both tasks have been quite successfully fulfilled, since the Department of Philosophy of the Faculty of Arts of the Ljubljana University proves to be one of the largest and most recognizable humanistic study programmes in Slovenia, with a long and well-nourished tradition of excellence and a high level of scientific research; most importantly, however, among various sciences in the Slovene university and research sphere, there is most probably no science other than Slovene philosophy, which would gain such prominent global recognition; particularly bearing in mind the interdisciplinary fruitful relationship between philosophy and psychoanalysis, an original Slovene project as the innovation of the Ljubljana Lacanian School (S. Žižek, M. Dolar). Research investigation was grounded in the understanding of the situation it stems from, on the reflection of the situation in Slovenia in its transition from one social system into another, i.e. from a federal state to an independent state and still further to a member of European Union; on the reflection of national identity in a number of identification points: Slovene, Central-European, European and global consciousness. Research investigation paid particular attention to global democratic processes, to the involvement of Slovenia in these processes as well as to the process of democratization in recent Slovene history. Scientific thoroughness and public commitment of the researchers provided for objective criticism of existing social conditions in Slovenia and around the world. In view of the fact that, in both size and extent, the “Philosophical Investigations” team holds a unique position in relation to comparable research teams in Slovenia, it saw its primary task in representing the broadest possible palette of relevant world philosophical schools and orientations. Its broad material and formal constitution helped include young researchers into its working field, as well as enable those most gifted young researchers with an expired research status to remain active within the scientific field. The programme team has been active since 2004, when it was established after the inclusion into the five-year period funding system. Since then, its members have actively participated in numerous projects, at congresses and seminars, with certain members having published monographs at most prominent international academic publishing houses, as well as articles in peer-reviewed academic journals. According to the ISI Web of Science, in the period 2004-2008, programme team members have accrued about 750 citations in the databases of SCI, SSCI and A&HCI, with the programme team leader himself owning about 680 citations.
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
