Modernism and Transcendence from the Perspective of Masarykâs Realism

Jan Svoboda

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Chapter 4 Modernism and Transcendence from the Perspective of Masarykâs Realism

In: Recalling Masarykâs The Czech Question

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Jan Svoboda

Jan Svoboda
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 57â81

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004534919_006

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Abstract

According to Svoboda, Masarykâs realism is a modernist concept which assumes a rationally-grounded conviction that the modern, educated and critically reflective, person finds themselves in deep existential crisis. The reason for this crisis is the loss of belief in transcendence â in that which goes beyond the individual and provides a guarantee of the universal meaning of life. Masarykâs realist project thus intentionally hinges on two levels of transcendence, the level that dynamically creates the ârealâ consciousness of our existence, and the level of our reflective relationship to the objective world, which is the domain of the exact sciences. Masaryk understands both of these levels in a metaphysical sense. On the one hand, he understands metaphysics as the ultimate framework of all sciences, on the other hand, metaphysics plays an important role in his concept of psychology. This is not narrowly conceived as a special discipline, but rather justifiably acknowledges its metaphysical dimension precisely in connection with his conception of ethics and, as a necessarily epistemological consequence, also of religion. Masarykâs realist conception of âscientificâ metaphysics thus presents itself as an admirable attempt to bridge the two separately perceived areas to which a person fundamentally relates in reality as a conscious subject: the âfallibilityâ of science and the âcertaintyâ of faith. Of equal significance, it reflects Masarykâs lifelong effort to achieve the closest possible connection between theory and practice, which in the mid-1890s he characterised as âpoliticalâ realism, and which on the eve of World War I resulted in his activist-oriented anthropology.

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Recalling Masarykâs The Czech Question

Humanity and Politics on the Threshold of the Twenty-First Century

Series:Â Value Inquiry Book Series, Volume: 381Â andÂ Central European Value Studies, Volume: 381

Cover Recalling Masarykâs <i>The Czech Question</i>

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004534919

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 03 Feb 2023

Subjects
- Philosophy
  - 19th & 20th Century Philosophy
  - Social & Political Philosophy
- Slavic and Eurasian Studies
  - Area Studies

Front Matter

Part 1 The Historical Context of Masarykâs Czech Question

Part 2 Ethics as the Heart of Philosophy

Part 3 The Pro-Masaryk View of the Czech Question

Part 4 The Anti-Masaryk View of the Czech Question

Part 5 The Word of a Politician in Exile

Part 6 The Word of a Pastor

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Chapter 4 Modernism and Transcendence from the Perspective of Masarykâs Realism

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Recalling Masarykâs The Czech Question

Humanity and Politics on the Threshold of the Twenty-First Century

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Chapter 4 Modernism and Transcendence from the Perspective of Masarykâs Realism

Recalling Masarykâs The Czech Question