Jan Sokol (18 April 1936 – 16 February 2021) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

philosopher,

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...

, politician and translator. He briefly served as Minister of Education, Youth and Sports in 1998 under Prime Minister Josef Tošovský. From 1990 to 1992 he was Member of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

for

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

. From 2000 to 2007 he served as the first dean of the Faculty of Humanities at

Charles University in Prague ) , image_name = Carolinum_Logo.svg , image_size = 200px , established = , type = Public, Ancient , budget = 8.9 billion CZK , rector = Milena Králíčková , faculty = 4,057 , administrative_staff = 4,026 , students = 51,438 , undergr ...

. Sokol ran for President of the Czech Republic in the 2003 election but lost to

Václav Klaus Václav Klaus (; born 19 June 1941) is a Czech economist and politician who served as the second president of the Czech Republic from 2003 to 2013. From July 1992 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in January 1993, he served as the second ...

Life and work

He was born in Prague in a Catholic family, his father Jan was an architect, his grandfather František Nušl was an astronomer and mathematician. His younger brother Václav is a graphic artist. He was not allowed to study and worked as a goldsmith, precision mechanic and software developer. Sokol studied mathematics in evening courses (received BA in 1967), translated numerous books on philosophy and religion to Czech ( Lévinas, de Chardin,

Gadamer Hans-Georg Gadamer (; ; February 11, 1900 – March 13, 2002) was a German philosopher of the continental tradition, best known for his 1960 '' magnum opus'', '' Truth and Method'' (''Wahrheit und Methode''), on hermeneutics. Life Family a ...

, Foucault,

Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th centur ...

, Landsberg etc.), participated on the Czech Ecumenical Bible translation (1963–1979) and was one of the first signatories of the Charta 77 manifesto for

Human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

. In 1990 he was elected as a Member of the Czechoslovak Parliament, becoming vice-chairman of the Chamber of Nations and spokesman of the strongest faction

Civic Forum The Civic Forum (Czech: ''Občanské fórum'', OF) was a political movement in the Czech part of Czechoslovakia, established during the Velvet Revolution in 1989. The corresponding movement in Slovakia was called Public Against Violence ( Slovak ...

(OF). In 1998 he was Minister of Education, Youth and Sports in caretaker Josef Tošovský's Cabinet. In 1993 he obtained an MA in Anthropology, in 1995 a Ph.D. in Philosophy and since 2000 has been a full professor of philosophy. In 2000 Sokol became the first dean of Faculty of Humanities, Charles University in Prague, vice-dean in 2007 and in 2008 was appointed an Officer of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

. In the Fall Semester 2008 he was a Senior Fellow at CSWR,

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, lecturing on Religion, Ethics and Human rights. He has been influenced mostly by

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

, Christian tradition,

Friedrich 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 ...

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th ce ...

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Pierre Teilhard de Chardin ( (); 1 May 1881 – 10 April 1955) was a French Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, theologian, philosopher and teacher. He was Darwinian in outlook and the author of several influential theological and phil ...

, Raymond Ruyer, his father-in-law

Jan Patočka Jan Patočka (; 1 June 1907 – 13 March 1977) was a Czech philosopher. Having studied in Prague, Paris, Berlin, and Freiburg, he was one of the last pupils of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. In Freiburg he also developed a lifelong philos ...

and Emmanuel Lévinas. His works mainly dealt with

Philosophical Anthropology Philosophical anthropology, sometimes called anthropological philosophy, is a discipline dealing with questions of metaphysics and phenomenology of the human person. History Ancient Christian writers: Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ...

, Phenomenology, Anthropology of Religion and of Law and in the theory of Human Rights. He has published several books, articles in Czech and in other languages and has delivered many guest lectures in various European countries and in the US, mostly on philosophy, religion, ethics and on European questions. In a 2020 interview, Sokol stated that he frequently edited Wikipedia in order to reach young people. He was prolific contributor to Wikipedia and honorary member of Wikimedia Czech Republic.

Some publications

Books

''In Czech:'' * Cílek – Sokol – Sůvová, ''Evropa – náš domov'' (Europe – our home). Albatros, Praha 2018, 132 p. * Sokol, J., ''Naděje na neděli'' (Hope for Sunday). Praha 2017. 280 p. * Sokol, J., ''Dluh života. Články – eseje – glosy'' (The debt of life). FHS UK, Praha 2016. 668 p. * Sokol, J., ''Člověk jako osoba'' (Man as a person). Vyšehrad, Praha 2016. 3rd. ed. 280 p. * Sokol, J.: ''Moc, peníze a právo'' (Power, money and law). Vyšehrad, Praha 2015. 2nd. ed. 304 p. * Sokol, J.: ''Etika, život, instituce'' (Ethics, life and institutions). Vyšehrad, Praha 2014, 264 p. * Sokol, J.: ''Malá filosofie člověka'' (A Small Philosophy of Man). Vysehrad, Prague 2010, 6th. ed. * Sokol, J.: ''Čas a rytmus'' (Time and Rhythm). Oikumene, Prague 2004, 2nd. ed. * Sokol, J.: ''Člověk a náboženství'' (Man and religion). Portal, Prague 2004. * Sokol, J. – Z. Pinc: ''Antropologie a etika'' (Anthropology and Ethics). Triton, Prague 2003. * Sokol, J.: ''Filosofická antropologie'' (Philosophic Anthropology – Man as a Person). Portal, Prague 2002. * Sokol, J.: ''Mistr Eckhart a středověká mystika'' (Master Eckhart and the Medieval Mysticism). Vysehrad, Prague 2008, 3rd. ed. . ''In English:'': * Sokol, J.: ''Ethics, life and institutions''. English by N. Cairns and M. Pauzerová. Praha: Karolinum 2016. 258 p. * Sokol, J.: ''Thinking about ordinary things''. English by M. Pauzerova. Praha: Karolinum 2013. 236 p. ''In German:'': * Sokol, J.: ''Mensch und Religion : Ursprünge – Wege – Orientierungen''. Übers. J. Ostmeyer. Freiburg im Breisgau: Alber Verlag, 2007. 320 S. . * Sokol, J.: ''Philosophie als Verpflichtung''. Manutius Heidelberg 2014, 208 S. ''In Chinese:'' * Sokol, J.: ''Xiao zhexue: ruhe sikao putong de shiwu.'' (A small philosophy). Peking University Press 2018, 249 p.

Others

''In English'': * Europe speaks. Linguistic Diversity and Politics. In: ''Angelaki: Journal of Theoretical Humanities. Vol. 15/3, 2010, p. 185–193. (electronic) 0969-725X (paper) *Language and experience. In: ''Dynamic structure. Language as an open system''. Prague : Litteraria pragensia, 2007. p. 27–35. . *What does freedom look like? In: ''Int. J. Prenatal and perinatal psychology and medicine'', Stockholm. Vol. 17, 1/2 (2005), p. 181–187. *The market as a place of rules. In: M. T. Vogt (hsg.), ''Kulturen in Begegnung''. Wroclaw – Görlitz 2004. . p. 239–243. *The Two Faces of Time. In: ''European Review'', Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 11–18 (2001). . *An Address from Elsewhere (The Message of Lévinas). In: ''Philosophy Today'', Chicago, 43/2 (1999), p. 143–150, . ''In German'': *Nachbarschaft – Nähe und Abgrenzung aus anthropologischer Sicht. In: ''Theologie der Gegenwart'', Erfurt, Vol. 50 (2007)/3, S. 162–171. *Die dreifache Verantwortung der Universität. In R. Gepp et al. (Hsg.), ''Bildung zwischen Luxus und Notwendigkeit''. Wien : LIT-Verlag Wien, 2006. P. 21–27. Schriftenreihe der WA. Bd. 1. . *Eine Ethik für alle Menschen? In: Schmidinger – Hoff (hsg.), ''Ethik im Brennpunkt''. Tyrolia, Innsbruck 2005, S. 181–200. . * Was ist Geld? In: ''Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik'' 5/2 (2004), S. 176–185. *Europa spricht. Sprachenvielfalt und Politik. In: ''Osteuropa'' 5-6/2004, Berlin, S. 276–283. . *Was ist Geld? In: ''Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik'' 5/2 (2004), S. 176–185. *Was ist Geld? In: M. T. Vogt (hsg.), ''Kulturen in Begegnung''. Wroclaw – Görlitz 2004. . S. 189–198. *Der zweifache Schöpfungsbericht als hermeneutischer Schlüssel. In: Pokorný, P. (ed.): Philosophical Hermeneutics and Biblical Exegesis. Tübingen 2002, ., S. 238–244. *Leben als Bewegung. Jan Patočka und die Philosophie der Erziehung. In: ''Jahrbuch fuer Bildungs- und Erziehungsphilosophie'', 3 (2000), S. 223–229. Schneider Hohengehren, . ''In French'': *Jan Patocka et la Charte 77. La nouvelle alternative, Paris, 22, 1, p. 29–34, 5 s. . 2008. *Les regles: conditions de la liberté concrete. In: ''Philosophie de l'action''. Cluj 2005, , p. 173–181. *Novotný, K. – Sokol, J.: Jan Patočka, penseur d'une dissidence philosophique et politique. In: Delsol – Maslowski – Nowicki (eds.): Dissidences. PUF Paris 2005. . p. 15–34. *L'obligation et la vie. In: ''Pouvoir et vie''. Actes UEE de Nice. Cluj : Idea Design & Print, Editura, 2004. p. 117–125. . *D'ou vient l'idée de l'obligation morale? In: ''Quelle conception de l'homme aujourd'hui?'' Zuerich 2003. . p. 119–130. *La pensée européenne de Jan Patočka. In: Delsol – Maslowski (ed.): ''Histoire des idées politiques de l'Europe centrale'', p. 496–510. PUF Paris 1998. ''In other languages'': *Zijn mensenrechten natuurlijk? ''Filosofie ond Praktijk'', Budel (NL) : Damon, 28/2007, 4, p. 43–53, . 2007.

References

External links