Book review on J. G. Feinberg – I. Landa – J. Mervart (vyd.) Karel Kosík and the Dialectics of the Concrete. Leiden – Boston (Brill) 2022, 378 str.

The myth in Plato’s Timaeus narrates the process of organising the chaotic traces of ideas, mirrored in the medium of the chora, into cosmic order, the beautiful corporeal world as a divine image. In his exegesis of the Timaeus, Plotinus enlarges the iconic structure, applying it to the whole of reality, including the Intellect as an image of the One, the soul as an image of the Intellect and the cosmos as an image of the soul. The early Christian authors, (...) inheritors of this tradition and interpreters of the Bible, present not only human beings as an image of God (Gen 1:26f.) or Christ but, at the same time, Christ as the privileged Image of God (Col 1:15). (shrink)

The myth in Plato’s Timaeus narrates the process of organising the chaotic traces of ideas, mirrored in the medium of the chora, into cosmic order, the beautiful corporeal world as a divine image. In his exegesis of the Timaeus, Plotinus enlarges the iconic structure, applying it to the whole of reality, including the Intellect as an image of the One, the soul as an image of the Intellect and the cosmos as an image of the soul. The early Christian authors, (...) inheritors of this tradition and interpreters of the Bible, present not only human beings as an image of God (Gen 1:26f.) or Christ but, at the same time, Christ as the privileged Image of God (Col 1:15). (shrink)

The study aims to explain the meaning and function of the concept of topicality (Aktualität) in Benjamin’s philosophy of history and to show that it can present a relevant alternative to contemporary historiography. In times when society is improving the accuracy of its grasp of history and accumulating ever more data about it, Benjamin’s philosophy is valuable by concerning itself primarily with the problem of presentation (Darstellung) of the topicality of particular historical phenomena. Thanks to a better understanding of the (...) concept of topicality, the reader will be able to see why Benjamin thought that to respond to what is “actual” in the sense of “topical” or “timely” in history is more important than specifying or accumulating data about it. However, in the presentation of a single topical historical object the whole of history is monadologically expressed: Benjamin’s focus on particular, unique phenomena didn’t imply a resignation vis-à-vis the task of expression of the whole. (shrink)

The article Metaphorical Nature of Language in Herder aims to demonstrate how Herder’s thesis regarding the metaphoricity of language reflects itself in his conception of the relationship between language and the world. A comparison with Friedrich Nietzsche’s understanding of this relationship in his essay On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense helps clarify Herder’s position. While both thinkers share the postulate of the metaphoricity of language, the implications they draw from it are different: unlike Nietzsche, Herder does not turn (...) sceptical regarding the capacity of language to reveal the world, and he understands language not only as a tool of survival but also as a tool of knowledge – not in spite of its metaphorical nature, but rather precisely because of it. (shrink)

Book review on Ondřej Sikora – Jakub Sirovátka (vyd.) Lévinas v konfrontaci. Praha (Oikúmené) 2019, 279 str.

The pedagogy and heuristics of Professor Dagfinn Føllesdal.

Translation of Lev Shestov's What is Philosophy?

Book review on Jakub Jinek, Platón a problém filosofické vlády. Politické myšlení v dialogu Zákony. Praha (Oikúmené) 2021, 302 str.

Book review on Jindřich Karásek: Diference jako princip vědomí a její překonání. Analýzy a interpretace k problematice vědomí a sebevědomí v německé filosofii od Wolffa po Hegela. Červený Kostelec (Pavel Mervart) 2021, 425 str.