Publication details
Primáti a filosofové aneb ‚Harry, jdu do baráku!' (Hranice filozofie, hranice vědy, 12. 4. 2013, Olomouc)
| Title in English | Primates and Philosophers or 'Harry! I'm comin' in!' |
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| Year of publication | 2013 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | In my area of specialization the boundaries between philosophy and science are quite permeable and that is the reason why I choose to focus in my presentation rather on their relationship and the possibility of mutually beneficial influence, dialogue and close collaboration. It seems that ideal starting point for such presentation is the situation when philosopher and scientist collaborate over some project that is of interest to both of them. First, I will very briefly introduce one example of such collaboration – the book Primates and Philosophers which is collective work of primatologist Frans de Waal, journalist Robert Wright and philosophers Peter Singer, Philip Kitcher and Christine Korsgaard. Next, I will focus on one interesting passage in the text from Philip Kitcher. This passage contains the typology of psychological altruism used by Kitcher to distinguish four dimensions of this phenomenon. This refinement of the concept of altruistic behavior then serves Kitcher to show that altruism is not one thing – it exists in many flavors. In turn, it enables Kitcher to doubt the claim “Some non-human animals show the signs of altruistic behavior” and to demand specification of what kind of altruism is in question. This typology seems like a promising way to grasp a phenomenon related to the concept of altruism – the concept of empathy. That is the reason why I will apply it on empathy and I will keep in mind similar goal as Kitcher had – to show that, despite appearances, empathy is not a one “thing”. It is multilayered and rather complex mechanism. This application of Kitcher’s typology constitutes the main part of the presentation – however, my aim is not only to give audience a taste from the diverse spectrum of contemporary research of empathy, but to show the inherent interdisciplinary nature of such a venture and the role of philosophy in it as well. |
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