Prof. Erazim Kohák †

Prof. Kohák focused mainly on moral philosophy and environmental ethics. Methodologically, he followed Husserl [see the term Wertnehmung in Ideen II]. He understanded his philosophical task in the spirit of later Masaryk as a continuous search for the idea of meaning of life. He considered this task a particularly urgent one in the global age, which opens up horizons and thus liberates us, and also limits our traditional relationships and contexts. If we expect a set of individuals to become coexistence in freedom and respect, not just a nameless manipulated crowd, it seems necessary to think of shared and particular components of our cultural identity: the human, European, and Czech ones.

Selection of key works:

Kohák, E., Man, Good and Evil (Prague, Ježek, 1993).

Kohák, E., A Guide to Democracy (Prague, SLON, 1997).

Kohák, E., Orbis bene vivendi [Praha, Junák, 2001).

Kohák, E., Green Halo (Prague, Sociological Publishing House, 1998).

Kohák, E., Freedom, Conscience, Coexistence (Prague, Sociological Publishing House, 2004).

Kohák, E., From the Point of View of Philosopher (Praha, Ježek, 2004).

Kohák, E., Hearth and Horizon: Cultural Identity and Global Humanity in Czech Philosophy (Prague, Filosofia, 2008).

Kohák, E., Embers and the Stars. A Philosophical Inquiry into the Moral Sense of Nature (University of Chicago Press, 2011, orig. 1987).