Přetížení a patos. K politické kultuře semiperiferních zemí

The author argues that intellectuals in semiperipheral countries are liable to interpret the fate of their nations more pathetically than intellectuals in core countries. This thinking has its roots in the Christian antagonism between the formal claim on the equality of humans and real existing inequalities in the society. This contradiction exists until today. The hiatus between the goals and the realities is far bigger in the semiperipheral society than in the core one. The typical reaction on it in the semiperiphery is pathos. The thinking of Adam Mickiewicz, Pyotr Chaadayev and Alexander Herzen are the good examples of such a mentality. As we can see on the example of post-communism the semiperipheral thinking circulates between the uncritical acceptation of all core ideas and the deep depression. The usual way out is militarism.