Datum rođenja: 8. svibnja 1960.

Mjesto rođenja : Zagreb
Školovanje: osnovna škola, srednja škola: Zagreb

Studiji:

dodiplomski: Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, odsjek za filozofiju i sociologiju, od 1978. do 1983.
postdiplomski: Filozofski fakultet, Zagreb, filozofija od 1985.-1987.

Akademski stupnjevi i kvalifikacijski radovi

diploma (filozofija) 1983: Spoznajnoteorijske aporije Nikolaja Hartmanna, prof. dr. Danilo Pejović
magisterij (filozofija) 1989: Spoznajna teorija Nikolaja Hartmanna, prof. dr. Danilo Pejović (knjiga: Aporija realnog vidi bibliogr.)
doktorat (sociologija) 1993: Racionalizam i strogi program u sociologiji znanja, komisija: dr. O. Žunec, dr. I. Kuvačić, dr. V. Afrić, dr. S. Lelas (knjiga: Peta Kantova antinomija, vidi bibliogr.)
habilitacija, docentura (sociologija) 1994. Teorije i filozofije povijesti (na Kemijsko-tehnološkom fakultetu), komisija: dr. Vjeran Katunarić, dr. Milan Mesić, dr. Juraj Božičević.

Znanstveni stupnjevi:

asistent (1985)
znanstveni asistent (1989)
znanstvenik suradnik (1993)
viši znanstveni suradnik (1998)
znanstveni savjetnik (2004)

Nastavni stupnjevi:

naslovni predavač - docent 1995
docent 1997
izvanredni profesor 2003.
redovni profesor 2006.

Međunarodne stipendije i studijski boravci:

Heidelberg 1983. (DAAD Stipendium)
Graz 1991. (OAD Forschungsstipendium)
Blacksburg, VA, 1997.-1998. (Fulbright Scholarship)
Oxford University 2001. (Hospitality scheme scholarship)

Radna mjesta:

Filozofski fakultet, Zagreb (od 2006.)
Pravni fakultet, Zagreb (od 1998-2006)
Institut društvenih znanosti Ivo Pilar (Institut za primijenjena društvena istraživanja, Zagreb (od 1992)
Institut za Turizam (1984-85)
Filozofski fakultet, Zadar (1985/1992)
Friedrich Naumann Foundation, predstavnik za Hrvatsku (1993)
ADAC, representative for Croatia (1985)

Honorarna radna mjesta:

Fakultet Kemijske tehnologije i inžinjerstva, Zagreb, (od 1992) (Socijalna filozofija, Filozofija znanosti)
Glazbena akademija, Zagreb, (1992, 1993) (Sociologija umjetnosti)
Studia Croatica, Zagreb (od 1995.), (Sociologija znanosti, Socijalne teorije, Sociobiologija)
Pravni fakultet, Zagreb (1996.-1997), (Opća sociologija)
Filozofski fakultet (2004) (Sociologija)

. Objavljene knjige (vidi bibliografiju)

Aporija realnog, Zagreb, 1989
Peta Kantova antinomija, Zagreb, 1993
Sociologija znanosti (ur.), Rijeka, 1995
Rađanje nacije, 1997
Sociobiologija (ur.) 1997
Pokušaji i pogreške, 1997
Vidljiva i nevidljiva akademija, (ur.) 1998.
Društveni značaj genske tehnologije (ur.) 1999.
Zapisi iz treće kulture, 2003.

. Prevedene knjige:

T. Eagleton: Kraj Teorije, 2005
D. Morris: O sreći, 2005
M. Friedman: Svijet je ravna ploča (u tisku)
J. Surowiecki: Mudrost gomile (u tisku)
V. Zaslavski: Neostalinist State, 1985
N. Tolstoy: The Minister and the Massacres, 1992.
O. Sacks: The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, 1998.
R. Axelrod: The Evolution of Cooperation (neobjavljeno)

Članstvo u znanstvenim organizacijama:

High Level Expert Group, European Commission, Bruxelles 2003-2004. (Converging technologies)
Predsjednik Sociološkog ogranka Matice Hrvatske (2000-2004)
Predsjedništvo Hrvatskog filozofskog društva (1991)
Predsjedništvo Hrvatskog sociološkog društva (1992/1995)

. Članstvo u uredništvu časopisa:

Metodološki ogledi, Zagreb (1992-1993)
Društvena istraživanja, Zagreb (1994.-1996.)
Revija za sociologiju, Zagreb (1994.-1996)
Polemos (1998..)

. Voditeljstvo međunarodnih skupova:

Sociology of the Sciences, IUC Dubrovnik, 1996.- 2007.
Science and Technology in Transitional Countries (2003.)

Voditeljstvo domaćih skupova:

Mogućnosti društvene procjene znanosti i tehnologije, IPDI, lipanj 1997.
Društveno vrednovanje genske tehnologije, IPDI, siječanj 1999.
Evolucija društvenosti (2003.)

Sudjelovanje na međunarodnim skupovima s prezentiranim člankom: (nepotpuno)

Dubrovnik (IUC) 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1995., 1996-2004. (Social philosophy, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Science, Sociology of Science, Sociology of the Sciences)
Cres (Croatia) 1991. Philosophy of Science
Ljubljana (Slovenia) 1990. Philosophy of Science
Santiago de Compostela: First Phenomenological Congress 1989.
Berlin 1985. Bildungsakademie, Global Education.
Mohonk (New York) 1986. Global Education
Upsalla 1992. International Congress of Logic, Meth. and Philosophy of Science
Zagreb 1991. Zagreb/Augsburger Gespraeche (Ontology)
Augsburg 1993. Zagreb/Augsburger Gespraeche (Philosophy of History)
Graz 1991. War in Croatia
Alpbach 1993. Identity and Difference (Social Philosophy)
Sofia 1993. Prospects of Liberalism
Sintra 1992. Transformations to Democracy in Eastern Europe
Budapest 1995. Popper Spring Seminar
Budapest 1995. European Sociological Association Congress
Budapest 1996. Popper Winter Seminar
London (London School of Economics) 1996. Popper Annual Conference
Blacksburg, VA. 1997. "Two ways to deal with scientific fraud", Virginia Tech. – pozvano predavanje
Blacksburg, VA. 1998. "Selenium and the ambiguities in science", Virginia Tech- pozvano predavanje
Bratislava, 1998. UNESCO II Social Science Conference
Graz. 1998. Fraud in Science (Sokal Hoax) – pozvano predavanje Sv. u Grazu.
Bruxelles. 2003. "NBIC i Converging technologies", HLEG

Bruxelles. 2004. "Converging technologies and education", HLEG:

Pozvana predavanja (uz spomenute pod sudioništvo na međunarodnim kongresima - nepotpuno)

"Ansichten eines Krieges", OCV Verein, Wien 1991.
"Der Krieg in Kroatien: Ursachen und Aussichten", Graz, 1991.
"Sokal's Hoax", Karl-Franzens Universitaet Graz. 1998.
“Popper on War”, Uppsalla 1991, 7. Congress for Phil. of Science.
“Ignorance Claim and Objective Knowledge”, Budapest, CEUniversity 1995.
“Priorities of Transition. The Croatian Case”, Budapest, II Congress of European Sociological Associacion, 1995.
“Methodological Individualism”, Budapest 1996.
"Methodological Individualism," Popper Conference, London School of Economics
"Differential approach of EC towards East European Countries", UNESCO, Bratislava, June 1998.

. Sudjelovanje na domaćim skupovima (nepotpuno)

Zagreb, 2001. Hrvatska u 2010. godini, Friedrich Naumann Stiftung
Zagreb, 2001. Dijalog katolika i liberala, Friedrich Naumann Stiftung
Opatija, 2003. "Katolizismus und liberalismus", Religion und Globalisierung – pozvano predavanje
Lošinj. 2003. Treći dani bioetike, "Sloboda kloniranja"
Zagreb, 2004. Ekonomski fakultet, Stanje visokog školstva u Hrvatskoj.
Zagreb, 2004. "Priključenje Hrvatske EU", IJF-MH
Gradac 1989. Philosopy of History

. Predavanja na postdiplomskim studijima:

Forenzična patologija 1997. (voditelj dr. Goreta) Sveučilište u Zagrebu
Medicina 2000. (voditelj prof. dr. Lacković) Sveučilište u Zagrebu
medicina 2001. (voditelj prof. dr. Lacković) Sveučilište u Zagrebu
sociologija 2004. (voditelj prof. dr. Skledar) Sveučilište u Zadru

. Voditelj socioloških istraživanja:

1996-2000. Društveno vrednovanje znanosti i tehnologije
2000-2006. Društveno vrednovanje znanosti, obrazovanja i tehnologije
2006- Uloga mreža u stvaranju društva znanja

. Sudjelovanje na drugim istraživanjima i projektima (nepotpuno)

Education et politique culturelle en Yugoslavie, IRMO-UNESCO 1985
Priključenje Hrvatske Europskoj uniji, Institut za javne financije – Zaklada Friedrich Ebert 2003.
Sociologija i kultura, Filozofski fakultet u Zadru (1986-1990)
Problems of Transition, UNESCO 1998.

My name is Darko Polšek. I am 48 - a professor at Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, Croatia. I am also a Senior Researcher at the Insitute of Social Sciences in Zagreb (with a project on “Public assessment of science and education”). I graduated Philosophy and Sociology, made a Masters in Philosophy (Epistemology), and a PhD in Sociology of Science (on Edinburgh School in Sociology of Knowledge) – at the same University. This year I shall be teaching for 20 years. I started as a Sociology teacher at University of Zadar, Croatia. In 1990 I came back to Zagreb, to the Institute of Social Sciences, and in 1997, I received a tenure at the School of Law, Dept. of Sociology.

I spent the same year as a Fulbright scholar at Virginia Tech. Blacksburg (Center for Interdisciplinary Studies). From 2000-2002 I was appointed Deputy Minister of Science and Technology of the Republic of Croatia, with a responsibility for the higher education system. I drafted one of the Acts on Higher Educiation, which should have developed Croatian HE system according to the American one. At various meetings of the European Union, I managed to put Croatia on the map of the s.c. Bologna Process (2001).

In 2002 I got a scholarship for the University of Oxford – to St. Catherine’s College. In 2004. I was appointed to the High Level Expert Group of the European Commission in Brussels – on public assessment of converging technologies (http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/conferences/2004/ntw/index_en.html).

During my career, I was invited to several highly respected institutions and universities. To London School of Economics, to deliver a paper on Karl Popper; to the Central European University, where I organized a conference on Popper and Hayek (and participated at conferences there few more times), to the Salzburg Seminar (to the conference on public asessment of genetics), I delivered papers and lectures at the University of Uppsala (Sweden); in 2004 in Cambridge, I participated in discussions during the Anniversary of the Double Helix; in 2001 I was invited by the New America Foundation (Washington) to deliver a paper on globalization. In 2002. I was appointed to be the Coordinator of the Kelley Business School, Indiana State University, for their MBA program in Zagreb. In 1995. I was the Head of Croatian Branch the German liberal - Friedrich Naumann Foundation (during which I participated or managed various programs and conferences - in Sofia (Bulgaria), in Koenigswinter (Germany), in Sintra (Portugal) and elsewhere. Presently I am the President of the Department of Sociology, of the NGO Matrix Croatia (the biggest one in Croatia), and was a member of the Presidency of Philosophical Association, as well as the Sociological Association of Croatia. I was the joint-editor of various domestic sociological and educational journals. I am a course-director of the Sociology of Science seminar at Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik (Croatia), for fifteen years now. I received an OEAD grant for research at Karl Franzens University in Graz (Austria) in 1991.; and a DAAD grant for the Summer School in Heidelberg (Germany) in 1982.

Teaching achievements

Apart from the present tenure at the Department of Anthropology, and the research position at the Institute for Social Sciences, I used to teach sociology at the School of Law (1997-2005), sociobiology at Croatian Studies (1993-2002), all at University of Zagreb; in early ´90s I used to teach at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering (C: Sociology) and Academy of Music (C: Sociology of Culture) and I still teach at Zagreb Management School (Course: General Sociology), and at Community College Zapresic (Course: Sociology of Culture). For teaching achievements at my Faculty, I receive the highest notes from the students (see: for instance www.pravo.hr)

Scholarly achievements

I published 7 books, and jointly or personally edited another five (unfortunately all, save one, in Croatian). The first one was on Epistemology of Nicolai Hartmann Aporie of Reality (1985), the second on Edinburgh School of the Sociology of Science, The Fifth Kant’s Antinomy (1994). Then, in 1995 I published a book Birth of the Nation (a collection of 52 Radio Lectures delivered for the Croatian National Radio). A monography on Karl Popper – Fallacies and Refutations was published in 1999. (All the mentioned books are available at Library of Congress, Washington). My newest three books are called Dispatches from the Third Culture (2003); Destiny of the Wellborn. Eugenic Tradition in the Age of Genetic Technology (2004) – perhaps my major achievement for which I collected materials since 1997 while I was in the US. Last year (2008) I published two more books: World Empire and Its Enemies, and Widows and Orphans. Essays in the Sociology of Culture.

From the books I edited, let me mention Sociobiology (1995), a collection of translations by American and British sociobiologists and philosophers of science; a similar but far broader one was published in 2004 (jointly with J. Hrgovic) – Evolution of Sociability; in 1996. I edited the text collection on Edinburgh School in Sociology of Science; in 1999 I edited the book Visible and Invisible Academe on scientometry and peer-review. In 2000 (jointly with K. Pavelic) a collection Public Asessment of Genetic Technology was published, (see:http://www.pilar.hr/eng/activities/paperstudies.htm) and in 2004 (jointly with several other scholars) I edited a collection Knowledge-based Society: A Challenge for EU Accession Countries, http://business.unisa.edu.au/cid/events/zagreb.pdf

I translated several books and a number of articles from English and German into Croatian, books by Oliver Sacks, Terry Eagleton, Gerd Gigerenzer, Thomas Friedman, Desmond Morris, Karl Popper and Viktor Zaslavsky.

My main expertise and academic interests are in philosophical and sociological issues concerning biology (sociobiology, Darwinism, social issues dealing with genetics) and issues on public assessment of science. But I flatter myself to be rather knowledgeable and well trained in other issues – such as in politology and arts (visual and literary).

I speak English and German fluently, and I read French.

I used to be a member of the steering committee of Croatian Philosopical Society, and Croatian Sociological Society, and a member of editorial board of scholarly journals Društvena istraživanja, Revija za sociologiju, and Polemos. This year I became a member of the scientific committee of the 18. World Congress of Medical Law.