Snapchat dysmorphia is a body dysmorphic disorder where a user of filtered selfies becomes dissatisfied with his or her “natural” appearance and seeks surgical procedures in order to look like in the filtered selfies. This study presents the current discussions of Snapchat dysmorphia and proposes to further analyse the phenomenon against the backdrop of the concepts of hyperreality and simulacra. The critique of Snapchat dysmorphia is fuelled by the implicit dualism of “natural” vs. “artificial”, “real” vs. “fake” and takes place in the context of an unacknowledged effort to defend the inviolability and sanctity of human nature. In order to overcome the binarity and normativeness of understanding Snapchat dysmorphia as an “unnatural” phenomenon, this study proposes to view it as an instance of “second nature”. It is a habitualised practice, an attempt to appropriate, to manifest the already accustomed image of the self on the corporeal level. In this analysis, the phenomenon of Snapchat dysmorphia becomes a case study of the limits of our views of the relationship between selfhood and corporeality.
The study deals with the political-philosophical standpoints of Edvard Beneš. The thesis of the study is that Beneš’s declared political principles stem directly from his philosophical views, which he already partially formulated in the period prior to the First World War, especially in his dissertation thesis titled The Origin and Development of Modern Political Individualism (Původ a vývoj moderního politického individualismu). The study shows that the formulation of Beneš’s political stances was strongly influenced by his analysis of the modern understanding of individualism. Beneš sides with 18th century contractualism, especially appreciating Locke. The study understands Beneš as a thinker and politician who reacted to the moral crisis of the first half of the 20th century, and who attempts to implement a renewal or educational process for the creation of a new Europeanhood. Beneš conceived his politics as an attempt to actualise ideas in a particular social situation.
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