Conference Program

This paper addresses the pressing issue of the erosion of humanistic and aesthetic literacy in Czech grammar schools and examines its relationship to a broader cultural crisis. The analysis is based on a critical evaluation of the Framework Educational Programmes (2004/2025 – the basis of the Czech curricula), whose lack of substantive anchoring and conceptual clarity hinders the systematic and long-term development of pupils’ humanistic education.

The theoretical framework draws on the reflections of Hannah Arendt (2006/1961) and Alain Finkielkraut (1987; 1999; 2013; 2016) concerning the decline of scholastic knowledge and the weakening of cultural traditions—processes which, in their view, endanger the capacity of the younger generation to enter the world of shared meaning, interpretation, and critical judgement. Building on these insights, the paper argues that humanistic education constitutes a necessary condition of democratic culture, as it provides the horizon of understanding that enables orientation in the public sphere, the cultivation of values, and an appreciation of historical and cultural continuity (Steiner, 1974).

Failures in humanistic and aesthetic education therefore represent not merely didactic shortcomings but a threat to the very foundations of democratic life. The paper aims to initiate a discussion on the renewal of humanistic content in education, its normative grounding, and possible ways to respond to the current cultural and societal crisis (Kambouchner, 2018).