‘Politics with a Spiritual Dimension’: Václav Havel in the Context of Eastern Philosophy and Religion
Issue: Vol 27 No. 1 (2014)
Journal: Journal for the Academic Study of Religion
Subject Areas: Religious Studies Buddhist Studies Islamic Studies Biblical Studies
Abstract:
This article analyses the work of Václav Havel in order to explore some possibilities for integrating Eastern spiritual and philosophical perspectives within Western political and academic discourses. In particular I focus on a difference of opinion in the literature on Havel over whether to categorise him as a religious or a postmodern thinker, and contend that this tension disappears when his work is placed in the context of the ancient Indian philosophy of Kashmir Shaivism. Havel was not a Shiavite (nor was he a Christian); however, I argue that Havel and Shaivism share a fundamentally similar worldview. I also argue that Shaivism has much to offer Havel and Western philosophy and politics more generally. To demonstrate this I explore the topics of God and religion, truth and morality, and human nature. Whilst these discussions are very brief and preliminary they show that this could be a powerful and fascinating area of future research.
Author: Olivia Ann Kinnear
References :
References
Journal Articles
Bayard, Caroline
1990 The Intellectual in the Post Modern Age. Philosophy Today, 34: 291-302.
Ericson Jr., Edward E.
1999 Solzhenitsyn, Havel, and the Twenty-First Century. Modern Age, 41: 3-18.
Elshtain, Jean Bethke
1992 A Man for this Season: Vaclav Havel on Freedom and Responsibility. Perspectives on Political Science, 21(4): 207-12.
Havel, Vaclav
1995 ‘The Need for Transcendence in the Post-Modern World’. Journal for Quality & Participation, 18(5): 26-30.
2004 ‘Globalization: A Warning That All is Not Well’. Vital Speeches of the Day, 71(2): 61-64.
Lawler, Peter Augustine
1997 ‘Havel’s Postmodern View of Man in the Cosmos’. Perspectives on Political Science, 26(1): 27-35.
Meek, Jesse
2005 ‘Postmodern Feminism and the Daoist Tradition of Inner Alchemy’. Australian Religion Studies Review, 18(1): 69-92.
Putna, Martin C.
2010 ‘The Spirituality of Vaclav Havel in Its Czech and American Contexts: Between Unitarianism and New Age, T. G. Masaryk and Kampademia’. East European Politics and Societies, 24(3): 353-378.
Rorty, Richard.
1991 ‘The Seer of Prague’. The New Republic, July 1: 35-40.
Books
del Vasto, Lanza
1971 Return to the Source, Touchstone, New York.
Billington, Ray
1997 Understanding Eastern Philosophy, Routledge, London.
Brown, Judith M.
1989 Gandhi: Prisoner of Hope, Yale University Press, New Haven.
Hamilton, Sue
2001 Indian Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Havel, Vaclav
1988 Letters to Olga, trans. Paul Wilson. Alfred A.Knopf, New York.
1990 Disturbing the Peace: A Conversation with Karel Hvizdala, trans. Paul Wilson. Faber and Faber, London.
1992 Summer Meditations: on Politics, Morality and Civility in a Time of Transition, trans. Paul Wilson. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
1998 Towards a Civil Society: Selected Speeches and Writings 1990-1994, trans. Paul Wilson and Others. Lidove Noviny, Prague.
Pontuso, James F
2004 Vaclav Havel: Responsibility in the Postmodern Age, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham.
Shankarananda, Swami
2003 Consciousness is Everything: The Yoga of Kashmir Shaivism, Shaktipat Press, Melbourne.
Sire, James W.
2001 Vaclav Havel: The Intellectual Conscience of International Politics - An Introduction, Appreciation and Critique, Intervarsity Press, Illinois.
Chapter in edited books
Havel, Vaclav
1991 The Power of the Powerless. in Open Letters: Selected Writings 1965-1990, edited by Paul Wilson, 189-234. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
1997a ‘The Future of Hope Conference – Hiroshima, December 5 1995’. in The Art of the Impossible: Politics as Morality in Practice, Speeches and Writings 1990-1996, trans. Paul Wilson and others, 236-243. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
1997b ‘Harvard University – Cambridge, June 8 1995’. in The Art of the Impossible: Politics as Morality in Practice, Speeches and Writings 1990-1996, trans. Paul Wilson and others, 216-230. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
1997c ‘The Jackson H. Ralston Prize, Stanford University – Stanford, September 29 1994’. in The Art of the Impossible: Politics as Morality in Practice, Speeches and Writings 1990-1996, trans. Paul Wilson and others, 173-182. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
1997d ‘Joint Session of the U.S. Congress – Washington D.C., February 21 1990’. in The Art of the Impossible: Politics as Morality in Practice, Speeches and Writings 1990-1996, trans. Paul Wilson and others, 31-45. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
1997e ‘National Press Club – Canberra, Australia, March 29 1995’. in The Art of the Impossible: Politics as Morality in Practice, Speeches and Writings 1990-1996, trans. Paul Wilson and others, 193-202. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
1998a ‘United Nations World Summit for Children – New York, September 30 1990’. in Towards a Civil Society: Selected Speeches and Writings 1990-1994, trans. Paul Wilson and Others, 111-115. Lidove Noviny, Prague.
1998b ‘The World Economic Forum – Davos, February 4 1992’. in Towards a Civil Society: Selected Speeches and Writings 1990-1994, trans. Paul Wilson and Others, 175-182. Lidove Noviny, Prague.
May, Reinhard
2003 ‘Heidegger’s Hidden Sources: East Asian Influences on his Work’. in Eastern Influences on Western Philosophy: A Reader, ed. Alexander Lyon Macfie, 296-314. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.
Wilson, Paul
1995 ‘Editor’s Introduction’. in Open Letters: Selected Writings 1965-1990, edited by Paul Wilson, 125-188. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
Online Material
The New York Times
2011 Vaclav Havel, Former Czech President, Dies at 75. (18 December). Online: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/world/europe/vaclav-havel-dissident-playwright-who-led-czechoslovakia-dead-at-75.html?_r=0
(accessed September 14 2012).