News and Articles

In March, the Institute of Philosophy will welcome the American medievalist Christopher M. Bellitto, Ph.D., Professor of History at Kean University in New Jersey. Bellitto specializes in medieval history, church history, and reform thought. He is the author of ten books and more than thirty studies and book chapters published in the United States and Europe, including Humility: The Secret History of a Lost Virtue (2023), The General Councils, and Renewing Christianity. He also serves as editor-in-chief of the series Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradition and as an editor at Paulist Press.

Christopher Bellitto is an experienced university teacher and a prominent voice in public debate on church history and contemporary Catholicism. Each year, he gives numerous public lectures, collaborates with the media, and has repeatedly received support from the American grant agency National Endowment for the Humanities. In the past, he also served as a Fulbright Specialist at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and as a Visiting Scholar at Princeton Theological Seminary.

During his March stay in Prague and other cities, he will offer a program for both specialist audiences and the wider public. He will appear, for example, as part of the inter-institutional research seminar Quaestiones Pragenses at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences, at a workshop focused on professional development and academic publishing at the Faculty of Humanities of Charles University, deliver public lectures at Café Na Boršově in Prague, and take part in scholarly events organized by the Centre for Medieval Studies and the Institute of Czech Literature of the Czech Academy of Sciences. In his presentations, he will address, among other topics, the relationship between politics and religion in the Middle Ages and today, figures of medieval reformers, the history of myths and the representation of women in faith and culture from the Middle Ages to the present, as well as church reform.

Admission to the lectures is free.

For details, see the Events Calendar.

The digitized collection includes drafts of Bolzano’s works, his sermons, mathematical, philosophical, and theological notebooks, as well as correspondence, lecture notes, and a range of official documents. These include, for example, university certificates, materials relating to his dismissal from the position of Professor of Religious Studies, documents connected with ecclesiastical proceedings, and his last will and testament.

The fate of this written estate after Bolzano’s death in 1848 was exceptionally complex. In accordance with his wishes, the papers were entrusted to acquaintances who could make use of his manuscripts, publish them, or complete them. A crucial role was played by his friend and student Michael Josef Fesl, who gathered a large portion of the materials and bequeathed them to the Museum of the Kingdom of Bohemia. After his death in 1864, Bolzano’s papers thus returned to Prague. The collection was then gradually expanded by what is today the National Museum and, from 1964 onward, also by the Literary Archive of the Museum of Czech Literature.

The current digitization was made possible through close cooperation with the Literary Archive of the Museum of Czech Literature. The emerging archive will be made available to the public gradually in several waves and will be accessible in open access under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license. Long-term preservation and data security are ensured through an agreement with CESNET, while data management will be handled by members of the PragMatika team.

The aim of the project is not only to preserve these unique documents, but also to make Bolzano’s legacy accessible to contemporary research and to the wider public. In addition to digitized manuscripts, the archive will also offer Bolzano’s published works, related secondary literature, historical maps of the Czech lands, and 3D models of places where this Prague polymath was active. In the coming years, it is expected to become an important resource for the study of the history of science, philosophy, and Czech cultural heritage.

Bolzano’s written estate will be made available in open access under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license. The first part will be available to interested users by the end of this year.

More about the PragMatika project

The ethical impacts of modern technologies and the ethics of our relationship to the environment are explored in a new podcast by the Centre for Environmental and Technology Ethics – Prague (CETE-P) at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. It looks, for example, at the use of robots in social services, the societal impacts of artificial intelligence, the limits of biotechnology, questions of coexisting with other species on the same planet, and the possibilities of technology in helping nature. Hosted by Martina Spěváčková.

Episodes to listen to

We shall address Alphonso Lingis’s philosophical opera and approach it in terms of its uniqueness, peculiarity, and irreducible singularity. Lingis’s phenomenological work is genuinely fascinating because, following Deleuze, he urges his readers to discover how to speak in their own distinctive manner, to find a singular and unmistakable voice. What, then, does it mean to speak in one’s own name, and how do we accomplish that, and how do we find the courage for it? How do we cultivate such a voice?

The task of finding one’s voice should, we believe, befit a conference devoted to the unique phenomenological philosophy of Alphonso Lingis. We therefore propose a gathering on idiosyncrasy, the idiosyncrasy of thought, as we want to compare this to the demoralizing and even disastrous emergence of idiomsynchrony, which we take to signify a kind of linguistic entropy or exhaustion of idiomatic expression, brought about by our growing dependence on, and uncritical enthusiasm for, artificial intelligence.

We are thus interested in critiquing idiomsynchrony, which we understand as a threat to stylistic and expressive particularity, largely produced by the linguistic entropy generated by large language models (LLMs). There is, we believe, a devastating levelling of expression that we are now witnessing, and philosophy is uniquely positioned to offer a countervailing way of speaking and doing, an uncanny and provocative mode of comprehension that resists the idiomatic homogenization produced through the synchronization of styles and utterances of AI calculation.

We therefore propose that we treat philosophy itself as an idiom, a peculiar and inventive mode of expression, and that we each return to Lingis’s work to consider the unique ways of speaking and writing that we find there. We should each seek out a different temperament, a different krasis - composition of forces, affects, and dispositions - from that idiocrāia we encounter in Ancient Greece thought. Our intention is that we examine Alphonso Lingis’s oeuvre as a pre-individual singularity, and idiosyncratic practice of philosophy, a thisness of thought. We should explore the opera of his work, celebrate its eccentricity and particularity, and reflect on our own modes of articulation, to meditate on our own idiosyncrasy, and to propose new modalities of thought that move against the prevailing tide of linguistic repetition without difference.

We welcome your participation and look forward to your contributions. Papers should not extend over 30 minutes. Additional Q & A are 15 minutes. To submit a presentation proposal send an abstract of 200-300 words by January 15, 2026 to both emails: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (notification of acceptance will be sent by January 31, 2026).

There is no conference fee. Alas, organizers cannot assist with accommodations and travel.

We are extending the call for papers for the conference Foucault at 100: Echoes and Encounters in Central and Eastern Europe, which will be held in Prague (1–2 June 2026) and Warsaw (4–5 June 2026). The 100th anniversary of Foucault’s birth offers a unique opportunity to reflect on past contributions, current developments, and future directions of Foucauldian approaches to CEE issues. The deadline for proposals is 31 December 2025. 

The first two days will take place in Prague, followed by a break before continuing in Warsaw. Prague will host participants presenting papers on epistemology, philosophy, gender, and aesthetics, while Warsaw will focus on discussions surrounding power, governmentality, and ethics. Detailed information.

Deadline for proposals is 31 December 2025.

Host Institutions
The Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
Centre français de recherche en sciences sociales en Prague
Centre de civilisation française et d'études francophones en Pologne (CCFEF)

Organizing Committee
Mateusz Chmurski, Isabel Jacobs, Jiří Růžička, Radosław Szymański, Laurent Tatarenko

Contact Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

A new monitoring method based on radio holography will aid patients receiving in-home palliative care. It will provide an overview of patient activity, such as whether they are getting out of bed or need assistance, while also ensuring greater autonomy for patients and their families without intruding on privacy. Pioneers in testing radio holography in palliative care are researchers from the Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory for Bioethics (IRLab) at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Their task is to ensure an ethically acceptable way to use this technology.

The Czechs are the first in the world to test ethical-by-design radio holography with in-home palliative care patients. This technology is used for non-invasive monitoring of patients in their home environment. By using radio waves, it creates three-dimensional images or maps of the surroundings, allowing the monitoring of patient movements and gestures. This method of monitoring aims to simultaneously improve their independence, safety, and quality of care.

Monitoring, Privacy, and Sensitive Approach Together

The goal of the researchers within the pilot project is to understand the transparency and information needs that individuals expect and require from the technology. These findings will inform how to design the use of this technology in an ethically acceptable way to benefit individuals and enable its use in broader healthcare settings. The expected outcome is the improvement of patient experiences during difficult periods of illness and managing terminal conditions.

While the technology is being tested and will be applied in the Czech Republic, the insights gained may be used to develop sensitive and privacy-respecting radio holographic technology for healthcare in Europe and beyond.

Palliative care is specialized medical care focused on providing relief from pain and other symptoms of patients suffering from severe illness. Its goal is not to cure the illness itself but to improve the quality of life for patients and their families. It often focuses on patients with

terminal conditions, such as cancer or other serious chronic diseases, where the care is aimed at symptom relief, comfort improvement, and meeting individual needs and wishes.

The unique pilot project named Holden-Care launched in the Czech Republic this year will last for 16 months. The research team, led by Dr Geoffrey Dierckxsens, consists of experts in ethics, law, and medicine.

The Holden-Care project is part of the European "Hop On" scheme, which allows new partners to join ongoing research and innovation projects under the Horizon Europe program. The inclusion of the Interdisciplinary Research Laboratory for Bioethics (IRLab) as a Czech partner into the already active HOLDEN innovative project was approved by the consortium of research institutions including Aalto University (FI), Consiglio Nazionale Delle Ricerche (IT), Politecnico di Milano (IT), Adant SRL (IT), Technische Universität München (GM), University of Twente (NL).

More about the project: Holden-project, https://www.irlab.cz/

PRESS RELEASE to download

In a wide-ranging interview for Radio Prague International, the philosopher says disinfo isn’t focused only on deceiving people but is also about “boring” them into losing interest in certain issues entirely. But, he argues, it is possible to combat it. The interview was conducted in connection with the recent publication of the book Disinformation and Hate Speech from the Perspectives of Philosophy, Law and Security, which he co-authored...

The Department of Analytic Philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences is contributing to the organization of the major international conference PSA Around the World 2025, which focuses on current topics in the philosophy of science, with an emphasis on the Eastern and Central European region. The conference will take place online via Zoom on November 6, 14, and 22, in the afternoon hours, and will feature more than eighty presentations. Registration is still open.

This conference format was first introduced in 2023, when it showcased major trends in the philosophy of science in South and Southeast Asia. The initiative, launched by the Philosophy of Science Association (PSA)—the world’s largest organization dedicated to the philosophy of science—aims to highlight the diversity of the field beyond the main Anglophone tradition. The main organizer of this year’s conference is the East European Network for Philosophy of Science (EENPS). The program committee is co-chaired by Tomáš Marvan, head of our Department of Analytic Philosophy, together with Magdalena Małecka from the University of Copenhagen.

The conference will include three thematic panels focusing on regional traditions of the philosophy of science in Eastern and Central Europe. Participation is open to all who register and are members of the PSA.

For further information, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..