Petříček, Fischer, Matějčková: You Are All Going to Die

In a book of dialogues in the Socratic sense, Miroslav Petříček and Petr Fischer enter the marketplace, meaning the public arena. They speak in a natural, comprehensible language and seek answers to complex questions – about freedom, responsibility, refugees, orientation in today’s world, the chaos it brings, how a nearby, virtually real-time war does to us, how it is changing us, and how much. Thinkers aren’t here to save the world. Yes, says Petříček, we have achieved enormous economic growth that should also spell intellectual and spiritual growth, although that is not the case. So we ask, where is it, why aren’t we receiving it? Why doesn’t material certitude deliver spiritual certitude?

Though both the debate participants ponder death, the interviews in Všichni umřete (You Are All Going to Die) speak against fear, against panic. It is a joyous book about serious matters.

In the introduction Tereza Matějčková implies that philosophy does not make us stronger – perhaps our comprehension of the meaning of freedom even makes us weaker. But that makes us more perceptive…