Karel Kosík (; 26 June 1926 – 21 February 2003) was a Czech

Marxist philosopher Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, and ...

. In his most famous philosophical work, ''Dialectics of the Concrete'' (1963), Kosík presents an original reinterpretation of the ideas of

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

in light of

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976) was a German philosopher known for contributions to Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. His work covers a range of topics including metaphysics, art ...

phenomenology Phenomenology may refer to: Art * Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties Philosophy * Phenomenology (Peirce), a branch of philosophy according to Charles Sanders Peirce (1839� ...

. His later essays can be called a sharp critique of the modern society from a

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...

but not strictly Marxist position.

Biography

Karel Kosík was born on 26 June 1926 in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. From 1 September 1943 until his arrest by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

on 17 November 1944, he was a member of an illegal anti-Nazi

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

resistance group ''Předvoj'' (The Vanguard) and a chief editor of an illegal journal ''Boj mladých'' (The Fight of Youth). After his seizure Kosík was accused of

high treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its d ...

and repeatedly questioned. From 30 January to 5 May 1945 he was imprisoned in Theresienstadt concentration camp. From 1945 to 1947, Kosík studied philosophy and sociology at the

Charles University in Prague Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...

. In the years 1947–1949, he also attended courses at the

Leningrad University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public university, public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the uni ...

and the

Moscow State University Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public university, public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, a ...

in the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. He graduated in 1950 in Prague at the Charles University. In this part of his life he met his future wife Růžena Grebeníčková (later laureate of Herder Prize), from this marriage came three children (Antonín Kosík, Irena Kosíková and Štěpán Kosík). In 1963, he published his ''

magnum opus A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship. Historically, ...

'', ''Dialectics of the Concrete'', a re-working of Marxian categories in terms of humanist

, which earned him an international reputation as a leading philosopher of humanist Marxism. During the "

Prague Spring The Prague Spring (; ) was a period of liberalization, political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected Secretary (title), First Secre ...

" of 1968, Kosík became a leading voice for

democratic socialism Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic ideology, economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and wor ...

(a distinction he shared with other prominent Marxist humanists like Ivan Sviták and Robert Kalivoda). This political engagement led to Kosík's dismissal from university work in 1970, after the period of democratization had ended. He remained unemployed until 1990, when he returned to public intellectual life as one of Central Europe's few prominent leftist social critics.

Legacy

Spanish-Mexican Marxist Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez wrote in the prologue for the Mexican edition that he considered ''Dialectics of the Concrete'' to be "one of the richest in thinking, ne of themost charming and attractive works as we know it in Marxist literature". French-Brazilian Marxist Michael Löwy and Argentine historian Horacio Tarcus wrote for ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'': The Institute of Philosophy of the

Czech Academy of Sciences The Czech Academy of Sciences (abbr. CAS, , abbr. AV ČR) was established in 1992 by the Czech National Council as the Czech successor of the former Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and its tradition goes back to the Royal Bohemian Society of Sc ...

(CAS) held a conference on Kosík's ''œuvre'' between 4 and 6 June 2014 in Prague. Organized by Ivan Landa, Jan Mervart, and Joseph Grim Feinberg, it had people from around the world discussing the impact of Kosík's thought on "issues that are still relevant today". Landa and Mervat are working on a "critical edition" of "everything Kosík had ever published or written for print during his lifetime", including books, essays and short notes. To be published in Czech, it is planned to have seven volumes, out of which three are complete as of September 2016: one of essays on political activities and on the Czech radical democrats of 1848; a volume of essays on culture and politics from the period of 1956–1967; and a re-edition of ''Dialectics of the Concrete'' and philosophical essays the same time period. Also, with funding from the CAS Landa and Mervart are translating texts to be published in "a comprehensive English volume" on Kosík'.

Work

* ''Čeští radikální demokraté'', Praha 1958 * ''Dialektika konkrétního'', Praha 1963, 1965, 1966 ** English translation: ''Dialectics of the Concrete'', Dordrecht 1976 * ''Moral und Gesellschaft'', Frankfurt am Main 1968, 1970 * ''La nostra crisi attuale'', Roma 1969, Barcelona 1971 * ''Století Markéty Samsové'', 1993, 1995 * ''Jinoch a smrt'', Praha 1995 * ''Předpotopní úvahy'', Praha 1997 (In English: Antediluvian Thoughts) * ''Poslední eseje'', Praha 2004 ;Articles * "Dialectic of the Concrete Totality"
''Telos''
2 (Fall 1968). New York: Telos Press.

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * * * * *

External links

(Czech)

(Czech)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kosik, Karel 1926 births 2003 deaths Czech humanists Czech Marxists Marxist theorists Marxist humanists Charles University alumni 20th-century Czech philosophers Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia Czech sociologists Czech resistance members