Religion and Modern Philosophy

Abstract

We have made the acquaintance of a number of modern thinkers of several nations, and, among them, what are called the leading minds; we have nothing to do but to coordinate their doctrines and to come to understand the significance of their views for the religious question.

This text is the translation of the sixth of fourteen essays which were published in 1934 in the book Moderní člověk a náboženství (Modern Man and Religion). The essays were originally written in 1896-98 and appeared in the journal Naše doba. They were part of a larger plan of a work dealing with the main trends of thinking in the nineteenth century. This great work was never completed, but modified elements of it appeared in such works as Otázka sociàlní (The Social Question), Rusko a Evropa (translated as The Spirit of Russia), Nová Evropa (The New Europe), and Světová revoluce (translated as The Making of a State). The book Modern Man and Religion was published in an English translation in 1938 and reprinted in 1970. Intended to provoke thinking, not to offer easy solutions, the following essay is remarkable for the Socratic way of asking questions.