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"A focus on constructive cooperation takes us much further."

An interview with Geoffrey Dierckxsens, head of the Interdisciplinary Research Lab for Bioethics (IRLaB) at the Department of Applied Philosophy and Ethics in the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Prague and president of the Society for Ricoeur Studies for his alma mater University of Antwerp.

Information on possibilities of participation in the postdocs support program at the Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences

The Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences regularly applies for the support of young researchers within the Programme of Promotion of Prospective Human Resources – Wage Support for Postdocs at the Czech Academy of Sciences´ institutes. The competition is open to all institutes of the Academy of Sciences and takes place twice a year – in spring and autumn. The current deadline for the submission of project proposals in the 22nd round of the competition is set for 30 August 2023. Detailed information. 

Martin Šorm, winner of the CEFRES Platform Award 2023

We are happy to announce Martin Šorm (Centre for Medieval Studies FLÚ AV ČR & FF UK) the winner of the CEFRES Platform Award 2023 for best article in social sciences and humanities in an international peer-reviewed journal. His article "Conflicting Popular Culture – Populism and Public History. Vlastimil Vondruška and the Instrumentalization of the Middle Ages" highlights the success of the populist presentation of the Middle Ages associated in contemporary Czech culture with the political extreme right. 


 

 

Otto Wichterle Award for Lukáš Lička

The Otto Wichterle Award will support 24 talented young scientists. Among them Lukáš Lička, a historian of philosophy and science at the Institute of Philosophy of the CAS. He is interested in the cultural transfer of philosophical ideas, texts, and manuscripts from Western European centres of university education (Paris and Oxford) to Central Europe (especially Prague and Vienna) and in the ways in which philosophical and natural science issues are transferred from university lectures into discursive practice. More.

AI is why we should NOT set aside human judgement

Elon Musk and others are calling on humanity to put a brake on the development of artificial intelligence. Other experts disagree with them, pointing more to the specific risks, but also the benefits of AI. They include Mark Coeckelbergh of the Center for Environmental and Technological Ethics - Prague at the Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences. "Banning or suspending is too crude a measure," he told Czech Radio. Full interview

DOAJ Seal Award for the Journal Theory of Science

The journal Theory of Science / Theory of Science ranked among about 10% of the journals of the Directory of Open Access database that received the DOAJ Seal award recognizing the best practices in the field of open access publishing! More about the award. 

Czech Academy of Sciences awards French expert on medieval philosophy

Medieval logic, metaphysics, epistemology and philosophical theology are the main areas of research of the French expert Alain de Libera. For his contribution to world philosophy, the Czech Academy of Sciences awarded him on April 19, 2023 with the Josef Dobrovsky Medal for Merit in Philological and Philosophical Sciences.

International Research Center Focused on Environmental and Technology Ethics will be Established in the Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic, there is lack of systematic research on ethical problems related to climate change and the so-called emerging technologies. The situation is about to change thanks to the newly forming international research Center of Environmental and Technology Ethics – Prague (CETE-P) at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Thanks to a prestigious European grant awarded to the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Mark Coeckelbergh from the University of Vienna will participate in its establishment and development.

The new research institute will offer, for example, expert advice to the Czech state administration and help with the development of the necessary public policies in the abovementioned areas. Its aim will also be to contribute to an informed public debate and draw citizens more into it.

“A special Department of Applied Philosophy and Ethics started working at the Institute of Philosophy this year. We responded to the need to tackle the ethical problems of current public interest,” says Ondřej Ševeček, director of the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences. The establishment of a Center for Environmental and Technology Ethics – Prague brings these efforts to an international standard. It offers a unique opportunity, especially for the region of Central and Eastern Europe, where institutions of a similar nature are still only about to be formed. “For us, this means strengthening the position of our Institute as a national leader and respected international partner. At the same time, we promise to attract top foreign researchers,” adds Ševeček.

Establishment of the centre will help develop long-term cooperation with other, similarly oriented institutions abroad as well as between the universities and research institutes of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.

Artificial intelligence versus personal data

“The new research centre will be launched in January 2023 and its team will be assembled under the leadership of one of the most respected experts in the field of philosophy of technology, Mark Coeckelbergh,” explains the project coordinator, philosopher Petr Urban. “Communication technologies, biotechnology, or artificial intelligence have fundamentally transformed our world and the consequences of this development are irreversible. We see, for example, how artificial intelligence enables the collection of vast amounts of data about each of us, which can be used to promote various economic and political interests at the expense of our rights and freedoms. How should we distinguish between ethically acceptable and unacceptable ways of using new technologies? And how should we correctly set the rules that are supposed to regulate the development and use of artificial intelligence in our society? This is an example of topics which research by the newly emerging international team at the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences will try to address,” adds Petr Urban.

The Center for Environmental and Technology Ethics – Prague (CETE-P) is being established thanks to the success of the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences in the ERA Chairs grant call, which is part of the prestigious European Horizon Europe programme focused on funding research and innovation. In the European competition of 88 projects, the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences received support as one of four Czech institutions together with the Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Masaryk University in Brno, and Palacký University in Olomouc. The Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences contributed to preparation of the successful project.

Press release in pdf