Individualism rules over both education and the cosmos: (a commentary to a primary source - Tomáš Trnka: The principle of the individuality of the world)

The paper is an introductory commentary to the chapter The Principle of the Individuality of the World of Trnka’s book Man and His Work, The Philosophy of Culture. First, it deals with Trnka’s work for the Union for Public Education (Svaz osvětový) which transformed into The Masaryk Institute for Public Education (Masarykův lidovýchovný ústav) during the 1920’s. Trnka was wholly committed to it for thirty years. The second part of the paper offers a short introduction to Trnka’s philosophy which takes the concepts of life and death as the fundamental principles of assessment of the value and meaning of one’s life. According to their genealogical dialectics, a life completed by death can be properly evaluated only by new life (offspring) which continues living the values of the previous life. This concept sheds light also on Trnka’s understanding of culture and its importance for humanity.