Ladislav Klíma (22 August 1878 – 19 April 1928), was a Czech philosopher and novelist influenced by

George Berkeley George Berkeley (; 12 March 168514 January 1753) – known as Bishop Berkeley ( Bishop of Cloyne of the Anglican Church of Ireland) – was an Anglo-Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immate ...

Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the pr ...

and

Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his car ...

. His philosophy is referred to varyingly as

existentialism Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and val ...

and

subjective idealism Subjective idealism, or empirical idealism, is a form of philosophical monism that holds that only minds and mental contents exist. It entails and is generally identified or associated with immaterialism, the doctrine that material things do n ...

Life

Ladislav Klíma was born in the town of

Domažlice Domažlice (; german: Taus) is a town in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 11,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation. Administrative parts The tow ...

in western

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

. He came from a moderately wealthy family. After expulsion from the school system in 1895 for allegedly insulting the State, the Church, and — out of what he described as “historical analphabetism”Autobiography — the Habsburgs, he lived alternately in

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

, Zurich, and

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. As part of his philosophy he only ever took on short term work. For a time he also lived off occasional royalties from his publications and the periodic generosity of his friends. While only part of Klíma’s work was published before his death, many manuscripts were edited posthumously, among which were his stories and letters. Many manuscripts he destroyed himself. Klíma spent the later part of his life living in a hotel, shining shoes for a living, drinking spirits and eating vermin. Klíma died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

and is buried in Prague.Gravesite of Ladislav Klíma
BillionGraves.

Work

Klíma rejected the norms of contemporary Czech society in both the way he lived and in what he wrote. Culture, moral values and the world itself are all rejected and reality is subjected to the will of the individual. Much of Klíma’s philosophy is expressed in ''"World as Consciousness and Nothing"'' ("Svět jako vědomí a nic", 1904). He took ideas from his philosophical predecessors to the extreme and tried to incorporate them into his practical life. For Berkeley, each object exists only because it is perceived, ''to be is to be perceived''. Klíma takes this a stage further and suggests that the individual creates the world with his own will. Where the highest achievement for

is the man who denied his will, Klíma conversely suggests that the realization of one’s own will is the primary achievement. This brings Klíma close to

with his will to power liberating itself from the bounds of the bourgeois world and affirming itself. Klíma's individuality lies not only in his conception of

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

, but also in his attempt to conform to it in his personal life. His autobiographical writings illustrate his attempts to grasp his own power and to shout his ''"Deus sum"'' ("I am God"). He tested his own deity in a life without any money, and in non-conformism that rejected all conventions, including a job. All this was to lead Klíma to control of self. However, Klíma also had friends and patrons who supported him in difficulties. ''Utrpení knížete Sternenhocha'' (''The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch'': Prague 1928) is his most famous novel. In a series of journal entries, the book chronicles the descent into

madness Madness or The Madness may refer to: Emotion and mental health * Anger, an intense emotional response to a perceived provocation, hurt or threat * Insanity, a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns * ...

of Prince Sternenhoch, who moves from the life of a nobleman to a life filled with suffering, eccentricity, bouts of madness and self-torment. Having sunk to the lowest level, he eventually attains an ultimate state of bliss and salvation.

Writings

*''Svět jako vědomí a nic'', Prague 1904 (''The World as Consciousness and Nothing'') *''Traktáty a diktáty'', Prague 1922 (''Tractates and Dictations'') *''Matěj Poctivý'', Prague 1922 (''Matthew the Honest'') - a drama (written together with Arnošt Dvořák) *''Vteřina a věčnost'', Prague 1927 (''A Second and Eternity'') *''Utrpení knížete Sternenhocha'', Prague 1928, 2004 (''The Sufferings of Prince Sternenhoch'') *''Slavná Nemesis'', Prague 1932, 2002 (''Glorious Nemesis'') - a novella and a collection of stories *''Vlastní životopis filosofa L.K.'', Prague 1937 (''The Autobiography of the Philosopher L.K.'') *''Lidská tragikomedie'', first published 1991 (''The Human Tragicomedy'') – philosophical drama *''Sebrané spisy IV. - Velký roman''; Torst, Prague 1996 (''The Collected Works IV. - The Great Novel'') *'' Putování slepého hada za pravdou''; Volvox Globator, Prague 2003 (''The Pilgrimage of a Blind Snake to the Truth'') - written originally in German together with Franz Böhler *''Sebrané spisy I. - Mea''; Torst, Prague 2005 (''The Collected Works I. - Mea'') *''Sebrané spisy II. - Hominibus''; Torst, Prague 2006 (''The Collected Works II. - Hominibus'')

Notes

References

* ''The Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thinkers'', London 1983

External links

Ladislav Klíma at Twisted Spoon Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klíma, Ladislav 1878 births 1928 deaths 20th-century Czech philosophers Czech philosophers 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Existentialists Idealists Solipsists Infectious disease deaths in Czechoslovakia Tuberculosis deaths in the Czech Republic