Comenius in the Writings of Dietrich Mahnke, Dmytro Chyzhevsky and Jan Patočka

Abstract

Comenius cannot be strictly assigned to a specific cultural epoch because of the diversity of his work. The aim of this paper is to highlight the views of three comeniologists — Dietrich Mahnke, Dmytro Chyzhevsky and Jan Patočka — regarding Comenius’ categorization. For Mahnke, Comenius was a typical representative of Baroque metaphysics — constructive rationalism. Similarly, Chyzhevsky is convinced that Comenius is characterised by universalism related to the Baroque era. Finally, Jan Patočka shows that Comeniusʼ work is a unique synthesis of mysticism and rationalism.