Projects / Programmes
FILOZOFSKE RAZISKAVE/PHILOSOPHY RESEARCH
January 1, 2009
- December 31, 2014
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.10.00 |
Humanities |
Philosophy |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H120 |
Humanities |
Systematic philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, metaphysics, epistemology, ideology |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 6.03 |
Humanities |
Philosophy, Ethics and Religion |
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 (28)
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 funding of the research programme enabled the team to secure research continuity in the field of philosophy. The team research work actually evinced a variety of different methodological engagements and stating points, according to the variety of philosophical orientations. However, the latter were still compatible and adequately mirror the present situation of philosophical investigation within a specific area of global research, be it analytic theory of consciousness (Churchland, Fodor), paradoxes of late capitalism (Beck, Honneth), theory of subjectivity and philosophy which emphatically reflects contemporaneity (Badiou, Žižek), social epistemology and analysis of scientific cognition, problem of interpassivity (Pfaller), phenomenological horizons of meaning (Held, Waldenfels), or postmodern thought (Vattimo). As the bibliography of researches shows, certain team members are listed among top philosophers of the world, which in itself makes the research programme a constitutive part of global development of philosophy. 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 to affirm and consolidate Slovene philosophy in its global recognition. As far as the contents are concerned, the programme performed the analysis of contemporaneity in all its facets and phenomena in accordance with the critical theory of society; reflection on the processes of democratization and globalization as the constitution of a new type of subjectivity; analytic examination of the problem of consciousness and free will, as well as hermeneutic and phenomenological exploration of the phenomena of being-with, alterity and homeliness and the importance of the preservation of the national language for the national identity. Although research investigations called 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 covered all crucial periods from the history of philosophy and were 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 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 witnessed a continual process of translation of authors which are unknown to Slovene readership and were thus rewardingly introduced by the programme team into Slovene cultural space.
Significance for the country
The research group offered the strongest combination of scientific excellence and its fruitful relationship with various non-philosophical fields of knowledge and social life: the relationship between philosophy and sport having been tackled by Lev Kreft, between philosophy and economy by Zdravko Kobe, between philosophy and Non-European spiritual traditions by Maja Milčinski, between philosophy and materialism Enlightenment and atheism by Miran Božovič, between human and animal mind by Borut Cerkovnik, between philosophy and ecology and bioethics by Igor Pribac and Luka Omladič, between philosophy and neuroscience by Andrej Ule and Olga Markič, between philosophy and cosmology and modern physics by Marko Uršič, between philosophy and philology by Valentin Kalan and Franci Zore, who simultaneously also covered the ling between the conceps of ohilosophy and music, between philosophy and literature by Janko Lozar Mrevlje, between philosophy and women studies by Eva Dolar Bahovec, and between philosophy and scientific realism by as well as the status of science by Jure Simoniti. 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 federative 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 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. The direct effects of the research work in the Slovenian social space could be summarized under the following points: 1. Inclusion of the research in the pedagogical process Because the members of the programme are employed as lecturers in the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, the research results were directly involved in the pedagogical process throughout the five-year period, i.e., in all the lectures performed at the Depratment of Philosophy. 2. Transfer of the research results to the public space Throughout the five-year period, the researchers were deeply involved in cultural, spiritual, scientific, and political events in Slovenia, where their contributions and public appearances met with a wide response. Particularly four members of the group, Slavoj Žižek, Mladen Dolar, Igor Pribac, and Luka Omladič, distinguished themselves in the period as important participants and agents of public opinion in the debates on social justice, broader social movements, family legislation, and social tolerance. 3. Translating and editing work The researchers either acted as translators or as editors of the key works of the philosophical tradition, thus laying the grounds of scientific literature in Slovenia. Four examples could be listed as the most relevant: At the renowned publisher Verso, the researcher Miran Božovič acted as an editor of a highly prolific anf much-noticed international anthology of Bentham's papers The Panopticon writings. At the publisher Krtina, the researcher Jure Simoniti edited and wrote a preface to the translation of the classic of 20th century philosophy, Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations. The member of the group Zdravko Kobe added to his previous translations the third and the fourth quarter of the Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant, published at DTP – Analecta, thus finishing with the translation of one of the greatest books of philosophy of all times. In addition, Zdravko Kobe translated, edited and added a preface to Hegel's ground work Elements of Philosophy of Right, published at Krtina.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2009,
2010,
2011,
2012,
2013,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2009,
2010,
2011,
2012,
2013,
final report,
complete report on dLib.si
