Erazim V. Kohák

Interests: Phenomenology, Existential and Humanistic Philosophy, Epistemology, Metaphysics, Moral Philosophy

Professor Erazim Kohák, in addition to being an esteemed member of the Department of Philosophy here at BU, was also an award-winning professor and philosopher with international recognition. Writes the Prague Resident:

“Kohak, who spent over 40 years in exile, taught at universities in the Czech Republic as well as abroad and won a number of awards and prizes, including the Order of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk high state award from Czech President Milos Zeman in 2013… 

“Kohak was born in Prague on May 21, 1933. In 1948, when he was 14 and when the Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia, he fled together with his parents to Germany and later continued to the USA, where he did manual work along with studying at the Colgate University. In 1954, he was granted a scholarship and could continue his studies at Yale University, where he attained a doctorate in 1958.

“In 1960, he joined the Boston university’s Faculty of Arts [College of Arts & Sciences] as an assistant lecturer and was later named senior lecturer and professor.

“He returned to Czechia after the 1989 fall of the communist regime, contributed to the re-establishment of Czech philosophy and also tried to arouse ecological awareness. From 1990 to 1995 he alternately taught at the Boston University and Prague’s Charles University, before returning to Prague definitively…

“He issued numerous books in Czech and English, including a book on philosopher and dissident Jan Patocka (1907-1977) and books focusing on democracy and its values and on environmentalism. As a philosopher, he dealt with phenomenology, social philosophy, philosophy of social sciences and environmental ethics. The personalities that influenced him most of all were Edmund Husserl and T. G. Masaryk, a philosopher, and lawyer who became the first Czechoslovak president in 1918-1935.

“As a philosopher, Kohak warned of boundless consumerism and called for the society to redistribute the world welfare, because “at present, the ecological problem is a social problem of poverty and abundance. The antibody against wealth is solidarity,” he said. He criticized the short-term interests of the Euro-Atlantic civilization and a lack of joint interest, and he was also active on the local level. For example, he defended local railways and, together with his U.S. wife Dorothy, he helped save the Czech football club Bohemians.”

Professor Kohak’s recollections of his time at Boston University can be found on the Department History page in his essay, “Philosophy at Boston University: A Remembrance of Things Past.”

For more information on Professor Kohák:

Professor Kohák’s Obituary in the Radio Prague International

“He was really an extraordinary figure” – Arts Minister Pays Tribute to Late Erazim Kohák

Official Wikipedia Page for Professor Kohák

The Incredible Life of Dorothy Mills Kohak