Jan Motal

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at Masaryk University

span lang="EN-GB">One of the key obstacles to the normative development of post-socialist media systems, in general, and the Czech Republic in particular, is the deferral of the thoughtful reflection and critical examination of the evolution of the media industry by academics and professionals. In the early years of post-socialist development, ther...

This article explores the concept of public service and public interest. Drawing on the philosophies of Martha Nussbaum, Virginia Held, and Nancy Fraser, the presented text contests traditional political-economic and cultivation theories that emphasize efficiency, performance, and perfection. Instead, it posits an approach that integrates human vul...

The article presents an analysis of the news broadcast on Czech public television during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. Based on the concept of post-politics, the analysis illustrates how Czech Television created consensus, naturalized the measures adopted by the government, and transformed a potentially political space into...

The article presents the basic elements of Gustav Landauer’s and Martin Buber’s thinking on theatre and drama. It shows they are rooted in the late 19th-century critique of language (Sprachkritik), trying to overcome the representational function of language. The author searches for shared elements in both thinkers’ philosophies: an integral idea o...

The essay accompanies the first Czech translation of Martin Buber's text "Brother Body" (1914) and interprets it critically in relation to the tradition of reading Buber's in Czech theatre. Emphasis is placed on the political dimension of Buber's philosophy, criticizing depoliticization and turning attention to his cultural-critical texts in which...

The essay presents the thesis that despite their activist tradition, Czech theatres abandoned any social criticism during the COVID-19 pandemic because they were unable to speak publicly about the structural conditions of the crisis (overtourism, mobility, etc.) and possibilities for change. The author argues that it is because the language of thea...

The presented article is a polemic with Alain Badiou’s concept of theatre-politics isomorphism. The author adapts the basic elements of Badiou’s philosophy (event, void Ø, truth etc.), provides an interpretation of his theory of theatre and presents crucial critical arguments to reveal the reductionism of Badiou’s philosophy. Subsequently, the auth...

The article combines both philosophical and psychological approaches to argue that art and theatre performance especially can be grasped as a revelation of the universal and basic human concern, which is existential anxiety. The author presents an opinion, that via performative acts on stage, spectators and performers/actors are interconnected in h...

The paper outlines selected ethical aspects of interactivity as a principle. It applies content from Philippe Breton’s perspective of the theory of democratic competence in the transformation of technology and contemporary television broadcasting. In terms of the moral philosophy of media, the author views interactivity as a claim on acting and dis...

The article aims to introduce an interpretation of Gaston Bachelard's phenomenology of imagination as a phenomenological reduction sui generis. The autor of the article presents daydreaming (rêverie) as a process of regression to the naïve primordial consciousness reaching a state of childness. Childness provides a harmonisation of subject–object r...

The article presents cognitive phenomenology as a new methodological possibility for the humanities, and especially theatre studies, avoiding communication theory reductionism. The author adapts the perspective of amalgamated mind (ROWLANDS 2010), and elaborates its usefulness for the study of art. The article also interprets Aristotle’s practical...

The book presents a work of art as an event in which it opens for dialogue. The author argues that if we perceive the concept of art representation (mimesis) as a moment of shaping the experience of human existence and not only the imitation of reality, every work of art is a potential place for understanding both man alone and people among themsel...

Through an analysis of selected articles, the study demonstrates the dehumanization as a discursive strategy which may lead to moral disengagement. The presented analysis shows how particular discursive strategies in analysed text support the process of moral disengagement in the society and potentially may lead to a justification of reprehensible...

Tuto studii zadal týmu Masarykovy univerzity Státní fond kinematografie s cílem prozkoumat „aspekty vývoje literárního scénáře i vývoje (tzv. developmentu) z ekonomických i kulturních perspektiv“, a zajistit si tak empirické podklady pro hlubší poznání reálné praxe vývoje kinematografického díla a pro optimalizaci systému veřejné podpory v této oblas...

This project was commissioned to the Masaryk University team by the Czech Film Fund (CFF, Státní fond kinematografie) with the goal to examine aspects of screenplay and film project development with regard to economic and cultural perspectives and to thereby provide an empirical foundation for better understanding of film development’s actual pract...

The lecture slides of my lecture on hermeneutics of art at Prešov University in Prešov, Slovakia (March 2015).

The lecture slides of my lecture on hermeneutics of art at Prešov University in Prešov, Slovakia (March 2015).

This paper reveals transhumanism as a secularisation of Christian theosis (deification) with a special focus on a role of human knowledge (science and technology) in this process of transformation. The transhumanism brings an idea of a radical human body and mind enhancement. As this paper argues, the importance of the enhancement is in transhumani...

The publication theoretically defines dramaturgical analysis as a type of audio-visual art interpretation based on the philosophical hermeneutics inspired by Hans-Georg Gadamer‘s tradition. This method is then applied in order to reach analytical understanding of the conception of beauty in selected films by Jan Špáta. The detailed analysis of the...

This article argues that professional dignity is based on moral autonomy of a professional. Meaning that ethical codes and norms, including unwritten routines, are mandatory only when they are not contradictory to the conscience of the professional. The argument is based on Immanuel Kant's practical philosophy and his analysis of human dignity and...

The article analyses concept of individual's autonomy in media ethics, focusing on documentary filmmaking. On the basis of director's and social actor's autonomy it reveals possible moral conflicts and presents informed consent as a plausible instrument for resovling them.

This paper is a case study of transhumanism, a contemporary international movement and a science-based philosophy. The transhumanism carries many signs of what we often designate as religion: believing in immortality, expectations of an end of this world and a beginning of a new age etc. This paper reveals the transhumanism as a case of a new relig...

The article interprets Carlo Ginzburg's conjectural paradigm from a hermeneutical point of view. The crucial distinction between galilean science and conjectural method is explained with a focus on its hermeneutical aspects. The study tries to understand historiography as a science, critically discussing Popper's discourse. The main question of thi...

The article aims to define a social framework used by Czech society for an interpretation of Vatican state, pope's office and catholicism. Based on a qualitative analyse of Czech news in print media during the papal vote in 2013 and involving an interpretation of the topics and values presented in the news, it argues that the social framework of ca...

The book analyses historicity in Chris Marker's and Karel Vachek's films. The theoretical framework defines the scope of understanding based on philosophical hermeneutics and the concept of mimesis by Paul Ricoeur. The publication interprets Heidegger's analysis of temporality of being-there as well. The research aims to evaluate the concepts of un...

The article aims to analyse four periodic religious programmes in the Czech television broadcasting. Results of the analyses are interpreted as the dichotomy in forms of religiosity representation in the broadcasting: in the case of the public service institution (Czech television) and the community oriented television (TV Noe) the religiosity is r...