Volume 62, Issue 1, 2015
Pavel Spunar
Pages 71-104
My J. B. Kozák
Excerpts from Lectures
The aim of the essay is to commemorate J. B. Kozák (1888–1974) and to recall the value of his lectures given in the years 1949–1952 at the Charles-University in Prague. These lectures were important in connection with the new political situation after the communist putsch in 1948. The life of J. B. Kozák was deeply influenced by his clergyman education. Nevertheless he finally obtained the position of professor of philosophy at Charles-University in Prague. As a prominent representative of Czech cultural life he became an active member of a small circle founded by the writer K. Čapek (1890–1938) and supported by T. G. Masaryk (1850–1937). J. B. Kozák defended the democratic ideas but he was also sympathetic with the socially oriented leftists (see e. g. his friendship with professor Z. Nejedlý, 1878–1962). Before the war J. B. Kozák left Prague. He began to lecture philosophy at Oberlin College in Chicago (USA). The end of the war saw him back in Prague. In summer 1945 he got his chair with the possibility lecturing immediately. In the animated discussions with the Marxists he defended the ideas of humanity and freedom. He got the sympathy of students and became their moral authority. This esteem remained also in the hard times of political purges when many of his friends were discharged. Nevertheless his stay in the university employment did not harm his authority. He was protected because of his leftist views before the war. In spite of all the respect for him the authorities at university restrained his lecturing heavily. A small part of his „history of philosophy“ is enclosed as an exemplum of his university lessons.