Institute of Philosophy SAS

The Institute of Philosophy was founded in 1946 as a part of Slovak Academy of Sciences and Arts. In 1953 it became a part of Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS). In 1975 the Institute was merged with the Institute of Sociology under the title Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of Slovak Academy of Sciences. In 1990, when both institutes again became independent, the Institute returned to its original name.

The Institute of Philosophy SAS focuses on basic research in the field of logic and methodology of science, social and political philosophy, phenomenology, and history of political and philosophical thinking in Slovakia. Research is carried out on departments through the solving the grant tasks. The subject of the exploration is the development of logic and methodology of science in Slovakia, the current issues of social knowledge, with emphasis on the nature of social fact and metaphysics of action, and the methodology of social sciences with emphasis on the analysis of place and functions of practical logic in explaining and understanding a human action. It also explores the problems of analytical philosophy, philosophy of language, philosophy and methodology of natural sciences and philosophy of mind.

Within the long-term research of philosophical aspects of transformation processes, it analyses the change of forms of integration and differentiation of contemporary societies, including a socio-historical background of forms of legitimacy and a reflection of these changes in the political sphere and its forms, including the Slovak context. It also analyses the relationship of Heidegger and Kant as key thinkers in terms of examination of legal normative principles on the basis of which a community of people is formed and maintained.

A constant area of its research programme is ethics. Attention is paid to ethics of virtue as a momentum of moral choice and action. The issue of ecophilosophy is systematically mapped.

The research into political and philosophical thinking in Slovakia deepens and extends. Attention is focused on innovative elements in the thinking of the 1960s, as well as on shaping the institutional base of philosophising in those years. So-called education philosophy in the territory of Slovakia before 1918 is under examination. Part of its historical research into philosophical thinking in Slovakia is also a refinement of conceptual apparatus.

The Institute pays constant attention to science education. One of the main pillars of the Institute's activities is postgraduate study. Graduates of philosophy and politics have still a big interest in this form of study. The Institute closely co-operates with the Department of Philosophy and History of Comenius Univesity in the implementation of postgraduate study.

The Institute of Philosophy develops co-operation not only with domestic but also with foreign institutions, for example, with the Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Science or Institute of Philosophy of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas in Madrid. Institute staff are involved in the tasks of the state programme of science and research within the Sixth Framework Program and within the European Science Foundation.