Benedict ANDERSON, Představy společenství. Úvahy o původu a šíření nacionalismu . Praha: Nakladatelství Karolinum, 2008 ( Imagined
Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, 1983, přeložil Petr Fantys). and [autor recenze] Radim Hladík.
Departing from the recent scholarship that acknowledges fundamental similarities in the post-colonial and the post-socialist experiences, the article argues that comparisons across these two contexts and paradigms prove themselves to be a useful tool for analysis of specific problems of transitioning societies. This claim is demonstrated by examination of the making of public history of the recent past in the Czech Republic and South Africa. Two authoritative aspects of public history are considered: the state-sanctioned commemoration and historiography. Whereas the South African state has sought by the means of transitional justice to reconcile the former victims and victimizers in a shared quest for the truth, the Czech state prioritizes legislative and judiciary assignment of retroactive blame. The South African historiography is closely tied to collective memory and prefers the approach of social history. The Czech historiography of the recent past is dominated by the totalitarian paradigm and prioritizes archival work. In both cases, the political and the historiographical projects seem to overlap in crucial points. It is suggested that the articulation of public history as either resentment or forgiveness may have been ultimately predetermined by the forms of resistance to the opressive regimes.
Thirty-five 35 participants from 13 countries gathered at Villa Lanna July 16-19, 2014 to hear and discuss presentations on the life and work of one of the foremost European philosophers of the 19th century, Bernard Bolzano. Most of the 30 talks given were on philosophy but mathematics and theology. More than a quarter of the participants were research students. Several news stories have drawn attention to recent developments in Bolzano studies. In May the complete English translation of Bolzano’s major work Wissenschaftslehre (Theory of Science) was published. This year nearly three-quarters of the129 volumes of the Bernard Bolzano Gesamtausgabe will appear in print. The program and other details of the meeting can be found at bolzano2014.wordpress.com. The meeting enjoyed generous sponsorship. Details on the dissemination of the papers will appear in due course. This meeting was co-organised by the Institute of Philosophy of ASCR and the International Bernard Bolzano Society, Salzburg. The Society met in Prague in April 2010 on the 200th anniversary of a book of his published in 1810. Dr. Balzano (1781-1848) was a Bohemian mathematician, logician, philosopher and theologian of Italian extraction and taught at the University of Prague (Charles). and Arianna Betti, Steve Russ.