The study is devoted to the philosophical bequest of the Czech philo¬sopher Robert Kalivoda (1923–1089). Author fist evaluates his contribu¬tion to understanding a key period of Czech history, the Hussite move¬ment. By analysing economic and ideological conditions in the 14th and 15th centuries Kalivoda shows, that the Hussite movement was the first European early bourgeois revolution, bringing about fundamental changes in the structure of feudal society by paralysing the economic and philosophic potential of the Church as a fundamental component of the social order. Philosophically the movement created, out of elements of mediaeval philosophic realism and of the views of various heretical groups, an ideology of emancipation, anticipating ideas of later revolu¬tionary movements. The second part of the study develops Kalivoda’s conception of the aesthetic function, starting from the conceptions of Jan Mukařovský, and thinks through its consequences for the humanisation of humans and society. Subsequently, the study analyses Kalivoda’s view of the so-called anthropological constant as the deepest layer of human existence and of its makeup. Kalivoda starts from Marx’s conception of a dialectical relation between hunger and sex and from their influence on the functioning of society. The author takes issue with Sigmund Freud’s conception according to which the sublimation of sexual instinct into the sphere of the “Higher I” (“Über-ich”) has solely an aggressive and repressive character and shows, that it involves non-aggressive sublimation as well, which – especially in the form of revolutionary activities – has a positive influence on social development.
The author analyses the position and the roles of interpretation of early modern age religious reformation in Czech and Czechoslovak historical education, which he presents by means of selected ‘profiling’ history books which formed (or, in some cases, were to form) the Czech historic consciousness in the 19th–21st century.
In the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of the second book of his De Controversiis, the Italian Jesuit and Cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542 to 1621) presents his opinion on three questions concerning vernacular translations of Scripture. The main question which determines the structure of both chapters is whether vernacular translations of Scripture should be used in liturgy. Bellarmine’s answer is negative: the three traditional languages, Hebrew, Greek and Latin, should be reserved for liturgy. In relation to this, he indicates the solution of two more questions: whether the sacred text may be translated into vernacular languages and whether vernacular translations of Scripture can be used for private reading. He answers the first question positively but in the answer to the second question he emphasizes that Scripture should be read only by those who are mature enough in this respect. Within the positive-historical argumentation, some examples from Czech history also appear: the use of the Slavonic liturgy in the Great Moravia and the Pope’s approval of this liturgy, the prohibition of Slavonic liturgy in Bohemia, authorized by Pope Gregory VII in 1080, and the role of vernacular translation of Scripture in the Hussite movement in the first half of the 15th century. Bellarmine is also acquainted with the opinion that St. Jerome translated Scripture into Slavonic language. He expresses his doubts about this conjecture and he points out that neither Jerome himself nor any other ancient writer mentions this translation. Bellarmine’s sources of knowledge about the events of the Czech and Slavic history are especially Examen Concilii Tridentini by the German Lutheran theologian Martin Chemnitz and Historia Bohemica by the Italian humanist Enea Silvio Piccolomini.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.