The Fallacy of Realism: Some Problems of Masaryk’s Approach to Czech National Aspirations

Abstract

The Czech political movement known as Realism achieved its lasting influence on Czech political minds not so much by its popularity or even real achievements, as by its association with Tomáš G. Masaryk. There is a widespread interpretation of Masaryk’s concept of Realism, which the distinguished biographer and interpreter of Masaryk and his work, W. Preston Warren, puts as follows: ‘The term “realism” was employed by Masaryk to put stresses on the diverse factors which any honest person finds he must consider: the material world, the facts of history, the confirmed findings of science, moral values and principles, functional social orders, valid goals … For Masaryk, realism meant an opposition to mythology (and all pansubjectivism) in the name of reliable and accurate methodology … Better than any other work, however, The Czech Question seems to exemplify what “realism” meant to him.’¹ Despite the influence of this interpretation, the following essay intends to challenge it.

The Czech political movement known as Realism achieved its lasting influence on Czech political minds not so much by its popularity or even real achievements, as by its association with Tomáš G. Masaryk. There is a widespread interpretation of Masaryk’s concept of Realism, which the distinguished biographer and interpreter of Masaryk and his work, W. Preston Warren, puts as follows: ‘The term “realism” was employed by Masaryk to put stresses on the diverse factors which any honest person finds he must consider: the material world, the facts of history, the confirmed findings of science, moral values and principles, functional social orders, valid goals … For Masaryk, realism meant an opposition to mythology (and all pansubjectivism) in the name of reliable and accurate methodology … Better than any other work, however, The Czech Question seems to exemplify what “realismȁ meant to him.’¹ Despite the influence of this interpretation, the following essay intends to challenge it.