Europe’s lost centre. Karel Kosik’s conception of Central Europe

e-mail: dalberg.dirk@atlas.cz

The debate about what is Europe and Europeanism on the European continent takes already few centuries. Even in the Czech environment has been the subject of much debate, with longer pauses, since King George of Poděbrady from the mid-15th century on, about what is Europe and Europeanism. In the 19th and in the first half of the 20th century belong to the most significant representatives František Palacký, Tomáš G. Masaryk, Edvard Beneš or FrantišekVáclavKrejčí. While in the second half of the 20th century played an important role Jan Masaryk and especially Jiří Dienstbier. Less known that KarelKosik was also occupied with the conception of Europeanism. The article wants to answer the following questions: What is Kosik’s conception of Europeanism? What are the characteristics and attributes of Europe? How to distinguish it primarily from Asia or possibly from North America? Who has influenced his conception of Europeanism?