Jan Sokol (philosopher)

Jan Sokol (born April 18 1936) is a Czech philosopher, former dissident, politician and translator. In 1990-1992 he was MP, 1998 Minister of Education, 2003 coalition candidate to the office of President of the Czech Republic. In 2000-2007 he served as the first dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Charles University in Prague.

Life and work

Born in Prague in a catholic family, he was not allowed to study, worked as goldsmith, precision mechanic and software developer. Studied mathematics in evening courses, translated numerous books on philosophy and religion to czech (Lévinas, de Chardin, Gadamer, Eckhart, Foucault, Heidegger, Casper, Landsberg etc.), participated on the Czech Ecumenical Bible translation (1963-1979) and was one of the first signataries of the Charta 77 manifesto for Human rights.

In 1990 he was elected Member of the Czechoslovak Parliament, vice-chairman of the Chamber of Nations and spokesman of the strongest fraction Civic Forum (OF). In 1993 he obtained MA in Anthropology, 1996 Ph.D. in Philosophy, since 2000 full professor of philosophy. Since 2007 vice-dean of [http://www.fhs.cuni.cz Faculty of Humanities, Charles University in Prague] .

He has been influenced mostly by his father-in-law Jan Patočka, Martin Heidegger, Emmanuel Lévinas and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. Works in Philosophical Anthropology, Phenomenology, Anthropology of Religion and of Law and in the theory of Human Rights. Published several books and articles in Czech and in other languages, delivered many guest lectures in various European countries and in the US, mostly on philosophy, religion, ethics and on European questions.

ome publications

Books

* "Moc, peníze a právo" (Power, money and law). Čeněk, Pilsen 2007. ISBN 978-80-7360-066-6
* "Malá filosofie člověka" (A Small Philosophy of Man). Vysehrad, Prague 2007, 5th. ed. ISBN: 978-80-7021-884-6
* "Čas a rytmus" (Time and Rhythm). Oikumene, Prague 2004, 2nd. ed. ISBN 80-7298-123-4
* "Člověk a náboženství" (Man and religion). Portal, Prague 2004. ISBN 80-7178-886-4
** "Mensch und Religion". Alber, Freiburg - München 2007. ISBN 978-3-495-48264-3
* "Antropologie a etika" (Anthropology and Ethics, with Z. Pinc). Triton, Prague 2003. ISBN 80-7254-372-5
* "Filosofická antropologie" (Philosophic Anthropology - Man as a Person). Portal, Prague 2002. ISBN 80-7178-627-6
* "Mistr Eckhart a středověká mystika" (Master Eckhart and the Medieval Mystic). Vysehrad, Prague 2008, 3rd. ed. ISBN: 978-80-7021-880-8.

"Translations of books":
*"Mensch und Religion : Ursprünge - Wege - Orientierungen". Aus dem Tschech. übers. von J. Ostmeyer. Freiburg im Breisgau : Alber Verlag, 2007. 320 S. ISBN 978-3-495-48264-3.

Others

"In English":
*What does freedom look like? In: "Int. J. Prenatal and perinatal psychology and medicine", Stockholm. Vol. 17, 1/2 (2005), p. 181-187. ISSN 0943-5417
*An Address from Elsewhere (The Message of Lévinas). In: "Philosophy Today", Chicago, 43/2 (1999), p. 143-150, ISSN 0031-8256.
*The Two Faces of Time. In: "European Review", Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 11-18 (2001). ISSN 1062-7987.
*The market as a place of rules. In: M. T. Vogt (hsg.), "Kulturen in Begegnung". Wroclaw – Görlitz 2004. ISBN 83-7432-018-4. S. 239-243.
*Language and experience. In: "Dynamic structure. Language as an open system". Prague : Litteraria pragensia, 2007. p. 27-35. ISBN 80-7308-139-3."In German":
*Nachbarschaft – Nähe und Abgrenzung aus anthropologischer Sicht. In: "Theologie der Gegenwart", Erfurt, Vol. 50 (2007)/3, S. 162-171. ISSN 0342-1457
*Eine Ethik für alle Menschen? In: Schmidinger – Hoff (hsg.), "Ethik im Brennpunkt". Tyrolia, Innsbruck 2005, S. 181-200. ISBN 3-7022-2710-5.
*Europa spricht. Sprachenvielfalt und Politik. In: "Osteuropa" 5-6/2004, Berlin, S. 276-283. ISSN 0030-6428.
*Was ist Geld? In: "Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik" 5/2 (2004), S. 176-185. ISSN 1439-880X
*Leben als Bewegung. Jan Patočka und die Philosophie der Erziehung. In: "Jahrbuch fuer Bildungs- und Erziehungsphilosophie", 3 (2000), S. 223-229. Schneider Hohengehren, ISBN 3-89676-328-8.
*Was ist Geld? In: M. T. Vogt (hsg.), "Kulturen in Begegnung". Wroclaw – Görlitz 2004. ISBN 83-7432-018-4. S. 189-198.
*Der zweifache Schöpfungsbericht als hermeneutischer Schlüssel. In: Pokorný, P. (ed.): Philosophical Hermeneutics and Biblical Exegesis. Tübingen 2002, ISBN 3-16-147894-0., S. 238-244.
*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. ISBN 3-8258-9360-X."In French":
*L'obligation et la vie. In: "Pouvoir et vie". Actes UEE de Nice. Cluj : Idea Design & Print, Editura, 2004. p. 117-125. ISBN 973-7913- 27-2.
*Jan Patocka et la Charte 77. La nouvelle alternative, Paris, 22, 1, od s. 29-34, 5 s. ISSN 0029-4705. 2008.
*Les regles: conditions de la liberté concrete. In: "Philosophie de l’action". Cluj 2005, ISBN 973-7913-43-4, 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. ISBN 2-13-054334-0. P. 15-34.
*D’ou vient l’idée de l’obligation morale? In: "Quelle conception de l’homme aujourd’hui?" Zuerich 2003. ISBN 3-908544-50-5. 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. ISBN 2-13-049071-9"In other languages":
*Zijn mensenrechten natuurlijk? "Filosofie ond Praktijk", Budel (NL) : Damon, 28/2007, 4, p. 43-53, ISSN 0167-2444. 2007.

External links

* [http://www.Jansokol.cz Personal pages (cs, en, de, fr)]
* [http://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Sokol Entry in Czech Wikipedia (cs)]

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