Tereza Matějčková

Vojtěch Kolman

The volume develops the concepts of the self and its reflexive nature as they are linked to modern thought from Hegel to Luhmann. The moderns are reflexive in a double sense: they create themselves by self-reflexivity and make their world – society – in their own image. That the social world is reflexive means that it is made up of non-subjective (or supra-subjective) communication. The volume's contributors analyze this double reflexivity, of the self and society, from an interdisciplinary perspective, focusing both on individual and social narratives. This broad, interdisciplinary approach is a distinctive mark of the entire project. The volume will be structured around the following axes: Self-making and reflexivity – theoretical topics; Social self and the modern world; Literature – self and narrativity; Creative Self – text and fine art. Among the contributors are some of the most renowned specialists in their respective fields, including J. F. Kervégan, B. Zabel, P. Stekeler-Weithofer, I. James, L. Kvasz, H. Ikäheimo and others.

Reflexivity in the Humanities

Perspectives on the Self

Jiří Chotaš

"Modernity has neither a beginning nor an end. To be precise, we do not know when the period started and when (or if) it ended. Are we modern? Were we ever modern? And is "post- modernity" only a variation of modernity? These questions remain open. Just as the phenomenon of modernity is elusive, so is its definition. Yet, elusiveness never prevents thinkers from offering definitions. On the contrary, the very elusiveness is what incites these creative attempts. One of the most famous definitions of modernity does not originate with a philosopher but a poet. Baudelaire says that "modernity is the transient, the fleeting, the contingent; it is one half of art, the other being the eternal and the immovable" (Baudelaire 1972, 403). This understanding of modernity captures more than its fleetingness; it shows that anything with the tag "modern" has a built- in dimension of transience and finitude, so to speak. Taking inspiration from Baudelaire, we might arrive at a minimal- and by no means unproblematic- definition of modernity: Modern is that which is other than tradition, that which even opposes tradition"--

Tereza Matějčková

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