This book is an attempt to characterize Czech philosophical thought in the twentieth century, its main streams and representative personalities. It was difficult to take up this work, to dare to do so especially in the midst of the stormy reconstruction of our society. But we were encouraged by the suggestion of Professor George F. McLean from the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy to develop a picture of the spiritual climate, intellectual traditions, values and challenges of post-Communist countries.

The authors of this book, members of our Philosophy Department could draw upon the earlier works by Josef Král, Czechoslovak Philosophy (Prague, 1937); and Anthology of the History of Czech and Slovak Philosophical Thought (Prague, 1989) and could enrich that content on the basis of their own monographs and journal studies. For the analyses of several special thematic areas we drew upon the generous collaboration of our colleagues in Prague: Marie Bajerová, Slavomil Strohs and Stanislav Sousedík.

It is evident that a great number of problems could be considered in this text, and that it would be possible to write more about any particular thinker: this survey is not exhaustive. Certain chapters, especially regarding Marxist philosophy and the significant work of many Czech philosophers in exile, represent material which has been little elaborated in monographs till this time. It is not necessary to recall that it had not been possible for years to write about a great number of philosophers in our country.

We are aware of these difficulties and limits. Nevertheless, we have endeavored at least to outline a certain panorama of Czech thought in our century. It is a modest but positive step on the way to a comprehensive elaboration of the history of Czech philosophy. Not many of its representatives are famous in the world, but all have contributed to creating the culture of our small central European country and thereby to European intellectual culture as a whole.

The chapter on Czechs and Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic) will provide readers from other lands with basic data on the history of Czech national life.

The authors wish to thank the readers for their interest and understanding. Finally, we want to thank the Czech Literary Fund and the leadership of the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University for financial support for the translation of this work into English.

Lubomír Nový Jaroslav Hroch Jií Gabriel