Karl Jaspers and Ladislav Hejdánek on Faith

Václav Dostál

Jaspers and Hejdánek are two thinkers who reflect on the topic of faith as a non-religious phenomenon. Although mutually close, their philosophical positions differ in significant respects, especially concerning the question whether faith necessarily possesses its own particular object to which it refers. There are two basic answers to the question: whereas
Jaspers conceives faith as a purely human reality which, ultimately, presents a mere thought-act, on Hejdánek’s view it is a cosmic reality which precedes thinking.