CZECH-UKRAINIAN PHILOSOPHICAL DIALOGUE IN INTERWAR CZECHOSLOVAKIA: PRELIMINARY REFLECTIONS
Keywords:
interwar Czechoslovakia, Prague period of Ukrainian philosophy, Ukrainian political philosophy, political philosophy, Czech-Ukrainian relationsAbstract
This article was supported by the Researchers at Risk Fellowship of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
In this article, the author presents the preliminary results of a study examining the Czech-Ukrainian philosophical dialogue in interwar Czechoslovakia. The research focuses on the texts and speeches of Ukrainian thinkers and public figures whose works can be classified as philosophical, the reception of Czech philosophical ideas and approaches by Ukrainian authors, and the corresponding reception of Ukrainian thinkers and ideas by the Czech academic community and the general public. The author examines this philosophical dialogue within the context of broader cultural and literary relations. Based on an analysis of translations, reviews, commentaries, and selected works, the author concludes that Czech-Ukrainian cultural relations in the interwar period underwent various phases of development and were moderately intense, though relatively asymmetric. The First Czechoslovak Republic became a refuge for many Ukrainian émigrés – a space where, under conditions of relative freedom, Ukrainian culture, particularly political-philosophical thought, and philosophy in general, actively developed. While Ukrainian authors systematically engaged with Czech ideas (the most striking example being the Ukrainian attitude toward T. G. Masaryk, which even included proclaiming a mission to spread "Masaryk’s invisible church" throughout the entire Slavic world), Czech publicists and public figures showed a significantly less intense interest. This is evidenced by a limited number of translations, with their focus shifting toward a more active conceptualization of the role and place of Transcarpathia (Subcarpathian Rus) within the Czech and Slavic cultural space. The figure of Dmytro Chyzhevsky stands apart; he actively collaborated with Czech Bohemists and scholars of the early modern period (such as Antonín Škárka and others). The author highlights the role of prominent individuals such as Ivan Mirchuk, Olgerd-Hyppolit Boczkowski, Fedir Shcherbyna, Stepan Smal-Stotskyi, and Ivan Bryk, and from the Czech side, Ivan Olbracht, Antonín Hartl, Jaroslav Bidlo, Jaromír Nečas, František Tichý, Lubor Niederle, Zdeněk Nejedlý, Jiří Polívka, and Jan Hanuš Máchal. Finally, the author emphasizes the preliminary nature of these findings, outlining the existing gaps that still require distinct, dedicated research.
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