CALL FOR PAPERS Next year, the outstanding Czech Christian philosopher Prof. Stanislav Sousedík (*1931) will celebrate an important anniversary. We would like to honour this occasion by hosting the conference Second Analytical Metaphysics Christian Apologetics A Conference in Honour of Professor Stanislav Sousedík’s 90th birthday 27th–29th October 2021 ◆ Catholic Theological Faculty, Prague, Czech Republic

ithin Sousedík’s lifelong scholarly efforts, three ousedík came to be more deeply involved with contem- Wkey areas of interest can be distinguished: Sporary Western after the Velvet Revolution ܫܫ scholastic philosophy, especially , , of 1989. He identified analytical philosophy as the branch and the so-called Second scholasticism; closest to his scholastic interests since, like scholasticism, it pursues restrained and rigorous reasoning. The affinity of ܫܫ analytical philosophy, which the two currents gave him the idea he linked to his metaphysi- to bring the older scholastic tradi- cal interests; and, finally, tion up to date by means of analyti- ܫܫ an apologetic of the Christian cal philosophy and philosophical or, specifically, Catholic logic. His efforts found broader worldview. response and, gradually, a group of students gathered around him, ousedík first became ac- who followed upon his ideas in Squainted with the basics of historical and systematic respects. scholastic thought was during With their help he founded the his early theological studies. He journal Studia Neoaristotelica, which further developed his knowledge at first aimed at the Czech milieu only by self-study, deprived, but later opened to like-minded under the communist regime, of foreign scholars. contemporary literature and of the necessary contact with for- evertheless, in doing that he eign scholars, to whom he had Nbecame aware that his effort virtually no access before 1989. to bring Christian thought up to date runs up against the fact that owever, in Prague librar- con­temporary Christian thought is Hies he discovered many largely inspired by ideas of the con- little-known works by authors tinental philosophical tradition. of so-called Second scholasticism, who were active at This gradually moved him to become intensively involved European universities in sixteenth through eighteenth with the work of those continental philosophers whose centuries. His research in this field led him to conclude ideas seemed to have exerted an infelicitous influence on that, as far as philosophy is concerned, the period was by contemporary Christian philosophy and . In this no means a time of darkness (as most Czech historians last period of his work he makes use of his erudition to held) but manifests vital intellectual development. defend Christian (or more precisely Catholic) orthodoxy. Refl ecting the threefold character of Sousedík’s scholarly achievements, the conference is conceived as consisting of the following three sections:

ܫ Second Scholasticism where we solicit historically oriented papers bearing upon Renaissance and Baroque scholastic thought; ܫ Analytical Metaphysics which will off er space primarily to lectures attempting to bring late-scholastic ideas up to date using the approach and methods of analytical philosophy; but papers deriv- ing from medieval scholasticism (for example, in the vein of analytical Th omism), or systematic lectures on analytical metaphysics are also welcome; ܫ Christian Apologetics devoted to the apologetic of Christian worldview, or a vindication of the philosophical prerequisites of Christian faith, with a special aim at a critical evaluation of the various ways in which the continental post-scholastic philosophical tradition has adversely aff ected Christian, especially Catholic, orthodoxy.

Further Information

ܫ For more details, please see the website of the conference, http://www.skaut.org/s-conf/. ܫ Th ere is no conference fee. Travel expenses, accomodation and boarding will be covered for three invited key-note speakers. ܫ Th e language of the conference is English. ܫ Th e expected length of a talk is 40 minutes (discussion not included). ܫ Please e-mail your abstracts of about 1500 characters / 250 words to the organizers, [email protected].

Organizers

Doc. Mgr. David Svoboda, Ph.D. Mgr. Ing. Prokop Sousedík, Ph. D. Dpt. of Systematic Th eology and Philosophy Dpt. of Systematic Th eology and Philosophy Catholic Th eological Faculty Catholic Th eological Faulty Charles University Charles University Prague Prague Mgr. Lukáš Novák, Ph.D. Dpt. of Philosophy and Religious Studies Faculty of Th eology University of South Bohemia České Budějovice