Australian philosopher Freya Mathews is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Philosophy at La Trobe University in Melbourne and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Humanities. Mathews' philosophy is rooted in panpsychism, an approach that sees mentality in the natural world as fundamental. Her main interests include the development of ecological civilization, Australian and Chinese indigenous views of "sustainability," and how these might be…
Archives: Our activities
From the Anthropocene to the Symbiocene, or the path to a civilization that supports life
“An ecological civilization would be based primarily on an all-encompassing symbiosis between human society and nature. Human activity would not be organized solely to prevent damage to the living Earth, but to actively restore and maintain its health. As such, an ecological civilization could guide humanity and nonhuman nature into an infinitely long period of flourishing—the symbiocene.” Jeremy…
To Rip!
"The Vltava is more than a water stream. It is the axis of Bohemia and perhaps the mother of Prague, ... It is a great wealth of the Czech land." Václav Cílek We will set off on a journey from Prague along the Vltava to Říp immediately after the end of our August seminar "From the Anthropocene to the Symbiocene ..." in Toulcov dvůr (August 12-18), at which we will, among other things, deal with the relationship between the Vltava and Prague, ...
May journey through the Elbe landscape of the Bohemian Central Mountains from Lovosice along the Elbe to Ústí nad Labem
“Life in us is like water in a river.” Henry David Thoreau Two of our pilgrimages this year are dedicated to the two largest Czech rivers. In May we will set off on a journey along the Elbe from Lovosice to Ústí nad Labem, and in August we will set off from Prague Troja along the Vltava to Nelahozeves and Mlčechvostů and from there to Říp. The Elbe, which is one of the largest European rivers, originates…
Hiking from Horní Maršov across the Krkonoše Mountains to the Labské and Pančavské waterfalls
“I come,” replies the Wanderer, “from my birth. But where I actually set out from, I do not know. I came from my parents, my grandfathers, from a nameless line of ancestors. … I certainly came from the organic, which wants the organic, from nature, which wants life to continue. And I undoubtedly also came from the universe, from which everything that is comes. But where it is from is not…
Andreas Weber's lecture and workshop program
“Community of Subjects”: Nature as Alive, Responsive, and Communicative Tuesday, August 8 – Wednesday, August 9 In the Anthropocene, our scientific understanding of life is changing rapidly. While in past centuries science considered humans to be the only actors in an otherwise mute and objective universe (including other species), the ecological crisis of the current epoch shows the profound interconnectedness of humans with all processes of the biosphere, both material and psychological. Humans…
Anima Animalia Program and the Rights of Nature
Day 1 ∙ Monday, August 7th from 7:00 PM Seminar opening Introduction of the seminar program and its lecturers, especially our special guest, the German biologist and philosopher Andreas Weber. – Horní Maršov is the historical center of the Eastern Krkonoše Mountains and the gateway to the Krkonoše National Park. The House of Renewal of Traditions, Ecology and Culture (DOTEK) in Horní Maršov is a unique educational center for ecological and environmental education…
Artists and Pilgrims or Dancing with Uncertainty
“Time is urgent, let’s slow down…” Bayo Akomolafe Our civilization is in deep crisis today. We feel that we need to respond to this crisis in a more creative way than we have been doing so far. In the subtext of the paintings and drawings of the four artists represented in this exhibition – Jan Pražan, Roman Hudziec, Mark Rohel and Jakub Doubrava – we encounter a countercultural pilgrim attitude,…
Anima Animalia and the rights of nature
The main cause of today's tragic devastation of the planet - the climate crisis, the biodiversity crisis, the dying forests, the destruction of agricultural land, the extinction of species - is our anthropocentric view of the world, the idea that we are superior to the natural world, that everything in nature is our property, and that the goal, even the meaning of our life, is constant economic growth. This has led us to mistakenly reduce the biosphere to...
May journey through the landscape of Lower Poohří following the footsteps of painters Emil Filla and Zdeněk Sýkora
"Recently, I have fallen in love with the Louny hills with the sacred mountain Oblík – at least that's what I think was said about Oblík before..." Emil Filla (August 1951) If last year we set out on a May journey across the Bohemian Central Mountains from Teplice in the footsteps of the German romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich, this year we will set off to the Bohemian Central Mountains from another important cultural…