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Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart by J.A.Komensky as a peculiar social utopy
PINTA, Daniel
Jan Amos Komenský is a great figure of the Czech nation. However, despite his fame, he is a much more significant thinker than he is generally regarded to be. Labyrinth of the World and Paradise of the Heart has no equivalent in its time or in older Czech literature. Even if Komenský wrote nothing else, this book would guarantee him a prominent place in Czech literature. In Labyrinth, Komenský shows himself as a great believer who exactly uncovers human pride, uncovers imaginary and untrue independence of man and shows exactly and aptly the futility and true face of many human endeavours. Labyrinth is a merciless criticism of man. It is never nihilistic, though {--} it is always based on a deep and realistic sense of purpose, a deep feeling for the ethical. That is why Komenský{\crq}s irony {--} which is the essential accord of Labyrinth {--} is irony of sadness. Some of Komenský{\crq}s ideas are close and understandable to us; however, some are much more distant. It remains a question if what seems to us to be old, outdated or naive in Komenský, is a basis without which it is not possible to understand well and realize what we are no longer willing to identify with. Is the ``critic of rationalism{\crqq} and great believer in Komenský, so distant to us, his most important basis that gives viability and future to his own ideas as well as to all human endeavours? This work briefly describes the ideas and storyline of Komenský{\crq}s Labyrinth. Each chapter of this thesis attempts to find what is most important in the mass of text of Labyrinth and thus to briefly point out the significance of each part of the book. Sometimes exact quotations are used which should show the real sense of Komenský{\crq}s ideas in a better way. Quotations from the Bible which could be a base of Komenský{\crq}s ideas are matched to individual chapters. The attempt is to find those ideas of Komenský which could be used and could be useful in our society. On the basis of an elaboration on the book, this work attempts to point out the importance of real belief and keeping to its rules for the life of a man and a society as a whole.
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