HEN577 Nature and Culture

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2010
Extent and Intensity
2/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
prof. PhDr. Ing. Josef Šmajs, CSc. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Bohuslav Binka, Ph.D.
Department of Environmental Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Ivona Tolarová
Timetable
Wed 12:00–13:30 U32
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 40 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/40, only registered: 0/40, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/40
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
At the end of this course, students will be able to characterize nature as a system with inner information; to characterize the cultural system and the role of its inner information - spiritual culture; to characterize possibilities and limits of ecological ethics and politics; to characterize the role of human beings in the time of ecological crisis.
The lecture offers the philosophical understanding of the body of ecological crisis as a conflict between the natural and the cultural evolution. It tries to make a new acknowledgement of a nature and natural and it shows the human culture as another type of physical orderliness of terrestrial reality. When seeking for the solution of present crisis it comes out from the new ontological picture of the world, but it prices at the same time the role of the cultural system at all, including the intermediary task of policy.
Syllabus
  • 1. The evolution ontology as a base of the ecology
  • 2. The man, the nature, and the culture
  • 3. The exceptionality of terrestrial nature
  • 4. The culture in danger
  • 5. The ecological side of technique
  • 6. The ecological education and etics
  • 7. The ecological policy
Literature
  • Král, M.: Kam směřuje civilizace? Praha 1998
  • Lem, S.: Summa technologiae. Praha 1995
  • ŠMAJS, Josef. Evolutionary Ontology. Reclaiming the Value of Nature by Transforming Culture. New York: Editions Rodopi B.V., Amsterdam - New York, 2008, 196 pp. Value Inquiry book series Volume 195. ISBN 978-90-420-2448-9. info
  • ŠMAJS, Josef. Filosofie - obrat k Zemi (Philosophy - turn-over towards the Earth). Praha: Nakladatelství Academia, 2008, 440 pp. 10460. ISBN 978-80-200-1639-3. info
  • ŠMAJS, Josef. Potřebujeme filosofii přežití? Úvahy o filosofii, kultuře, poznání, vzdělání, řeči a popularizaci vědy (Do we need Survival Philosophy?). Brno: Nakladatelství Doplněk, 2008, 99 pp. 332 publikace. ISBN 978-80-7239-221-6. info
  • ŠMAJS, Josef. Ohrozená kultúra : od evolučnej ontológie k ekologickej politike. Translated by Eva Kohutiarová. 1. slovenské upravené a ro. Banská Bystrica: PRO, 2006, 221 s. ISBN 8089057128. info
  • ŠMAJS, Josef. The threatened culture : from evolutionary ontology to ecological politics. Translated by Jiří Polák. [Prešov]: Dobromysl & Slovacontact, 1998, 220 stran. ISBN 806058915038. info
  • KOHÁK, Erazim. Zelená svatozář : kapitoly z ekologické etiky. Vyd. 1. Praha: Sociologické nakladatelství, 1998, 203 s. ISBN 80-85850-63-X. info
  • ŠMAJS, Josef. Ohrožená kultura :od evoluční ontologie k ekologické politice. Illustrated by Zdeněk Hajný. 2., rozš. vyd. Praha: Hynek, 1997, 205 s. ISBN 80-85906-53-8. info
  • JONAS, Hans. Princip odpovědnosti :pokus o etiku pro technologickou civilizaci. Translated by Břetislav Horyna - Zdeněk Bígl. Vyd. 1. Praha: Oikoymenh, 1997, 318 s. ISBN 80-86005-06-2. info
  • ŠMAJS, Josef. Kultura proti přírodě. Vyd. 2., rozš. České Budějovice: Dobromysl, 1996, 63 s. info
  • KELLER, Jan. Až na dno blahobytu. 2. vyd. Brno: Hnutí Duha, 1995, 143 s. info
  • WILSON, Edward O. Rozmanitost života :umožní poznání zákonů biodiverzity její záchranu? Translated by Antonín Hradilek. Praha: Nakladatelství Lidové noviny, 1995, 444 s. ISBN 80-7106-113-1. info
  • LIBROVÁ, Hana. Pestří a zelení :(kapitoly o dobrovolné skromnosti). Vyd. 1. Brno: Veronica, 1994, 218 s. ISBN 80-85368-18-8. info
  • GORE, Al. Země na misce vah. Edited by Jan Jařab - Josef Vavroušek - František Benda. 1. vyd. Praha: Argo, 1994, 372 s. ISBN 8085794217. info
Teaching methods
A combination of lectures, class discussions and individual literature study.
Assessment methods
Oral colloquium.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2009, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Autumn 2015.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2010, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/spring2010/HEN577