Publication Details

Abstract

Strong philosophical currents can be observed all over the world nowadays. The West was full of thought activity or chaos earlier; in Czechoslovakia, this situation arose particularly in the past few years, after the fall of the personality cult. This was due, first of all, to the dogmatization of dialectic materialism in that period, and secondly, to the fact that social life became complicated, our minds were seized by a sound atmosphere of searching. This became manifest also in the penetration of the currents of philosophical thought from the West. The essence of the present author’s work is a consideration on the question of whether this penetration is right and what it refers to. The author is interested in the extension of phenomenology, existentialism, and, partly, Neo-Freudism in Czechoslovakia. The analysis shows that the extension of these trends is not justified here. They arose as an expression of a crisis, in philosophy and sciences around the year 1900 and did not overcome the character of crisis. It must be admitted that they contributed considerably to the analysis of the questions of the relation between subject and object (phenomenology), to the analysis of the essence of subject (Freudism, existentialism). However, the results of their endeavour are not and cannot be satisfactory since they did not take into account the principal aspect in the solution of this problem. Like any exaggeration or absolutization of a new-revealed aspect of reality, phenomenology and existentialism, as a matter of fact, also made the known reality (intentional act) subjective, they neutralized it historically, and, thereby, made it substantial. To extend these trends, means therefore rather a step back than to deepen the thought endeavours and procedures, particularly if we think them to be models and starting points. We have found already the principal supports of reality in its analysis. They are: the objective character of reality, as far as the essence is concerned, and an objective-subjective way of approach, as far as the gnoseological mastering of reality is concerned. Therefore, if we are to unfold further our achievements attained so far, it is sufficient to continue doing the same and, on the basis of results of various analyses, to remove the stereotypy, dogmatism, and subjectivism from our thought and scientific procedure.