Ota Pavlíček

Mgr. Ota Pavlíček, Ph.D., Th.D.

ota.pavlicek[at]flu.cas.cz

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Education

PhD History of Philosophy, Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2014

Final mark: très honorable avec félicitations du jury

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ruedi Imbach, Prof. Zénon Kaluza

ThD Hussite Theology, Hussite Faculty of Theology, Charles University, Prague, 2014

Final mark: summa cum laude

Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Vilém Herold, CSc.

MA (Mgr.) Teaching of Philosophy, Ethics, and Religion for the High Schools, Hussite Faculty of Theology, Charles University, Prague, 2007

Final mark: summa cum laude

pavlicek low res

Present Employment and Scientific Specialisation

Doctoral student (2008–2015) – post-doc (2015–2019) – researcher (2019–2020) – senior researcher (2020–) in the history of medieval thought, Department for the Study of Ancient and Medieval Thought, Institute of Philosophy, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague.

From 2008 to 2021, Scientific Secretary of Collegium Europaeum (www.collegium-europaeum.cz), Joint Research Group for the History of European Ideas, Faculty of Arts of Charles University & Institute of Philosophy, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague.

He specialises in the history of knowledge production in Late Medieval Europe, with a particular interest in the Prague Faculty of Arts and Theology and their links (including the transmission of knowledge) with their counterparts in Central Europe and the West. His research interests include philosophical (metaphysics, logic, astrology) and theological (mostly philosophical theology) discussions, the Reformation’s philosophical background, and various types of debates, including the quodlibets. He has authored studies on these topics and his other research interests. Another field of his research is his interest in using tools from the area of Digital Humanities and digital technologies on the corpora of late medieval texts he works with. He runs various projects in both fields.

In 2014, he defended his doctoral thesis on the thought of Jerome of Prague at Université Paris-Sorbonne and Charles University in Prague. He has edited a collaborative volume on Jerome of Prague (2018), a thematic block on the thought of Jan Hus and his teachers (in Filosofický časopis [Journal of Philosophy], 2015) and together with František Šmahel, he also edited A Companion to Jan Hus (2015). In 2016, he started a conference series on Studying the Arts in Late Medieval Bohemia and a series of workshops on the same topic. The first book based on the conference series was published in 2021. From 2008 to 2016, he had served as Secretary of symposia The Bohemian Reformation and Religious Practice and coordinated the editorial process of the volumes of the same name.

During his PhD studies, he stayed as a visiting fellow at EHESS Paris (2009), as a doctoral student at Paris 4 – Paris Sorbonne (2009–2012), as a Junior Fellow at the Monumenta Germaniae Historica (2012), and as a Visiting Fellow at the Catholic Theological Faculty in Vienna (2012). He was a post-doc visiting fellow at King’s College London (King’s Digital Hub, 2015); at the Department of Philosophy of Università degli Studi in Milan (2017); at Thomas-Institut of the University of Cologne (2018); and at IRHT CNRS in Paris (2018). In the last frame, he was an associated scholar in ERC-2012-2018-THESIS and now collaborates with the ERC-2018-2023-DEBATE project. 

For 2019–2021, he was awarded a Humboldt Research Fellowships for Postdoctoral Researchers from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, which he used for a research stay at Thomas Institut of the University of Cologne.

In 2020, he was awarded a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) for research on the ACADEMIA project, which deals with the European tradition of quodlibetal debates at Faculties of Arts.

From 2021, he coordinates TRIPTIC-EU (Research Group for Transdisciplinary Investigation of Philosophical, Textual and Intellectual Culture in the Early Universities).

Awards

2020 ERC Starting Grant (ACADEMIA, €1,26M)

2019 Humboldt Research Fellowships for Postdoctoral Researchers (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation)

2016 Otto Wichterle Award of the CAS

2015 Jan Hus Educational Foundation Prize

2014 Josef Hlávka Prize of the CAS for talented young researchers

2014 PhD thesis received the highest possible Czech and French distinctions

2008 Bernard Bolzano Prize of the Rector of Charles University Prague for the best MA thesis

2007 Josef Hlávka Prize for the best students and graduates of Czech universities

2007 MA studies finished with the highest possible distinction

Publications

Books

Ota Pavlíček, ed., Studying the Arts in Late Medieval Bohemia: Production, Reception and Transmission of Knowledge, Turnhout: Brepols 2021 (=Studia Artistarum 48), 358 pp.

Ota Pavlíček, ed., Jeroným Pražský. Středověký intelektuál, mučedník české reformace a hrdina národní tradice [Jerome of Prague: Medieval Intellectual, Martyr of Bohemian Reformation and Hero of National Tradition], Praha: FILOSOFIA 2018 (= Europaeana Pragensia 10), 218 pp.

František Šmahel, Ota Pavlíček, eds., A Companion to Jan Hus, Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2015, 447 pp.

Ota Pavlíček, ed., “Příspěvky k filosoficko‑teologickému myšlení Jana Husa a jeho učitelů [Contributions to the Philosophico-Theological Thought of Jan Hus and his Teachers],” Filosofický časopis [Journal of Philosophy] 63 (2015), No. 6 [collection of articles]. 102 pp.

Ota Pavlíček, La dimension philosophique et thèologique de la pensée de Jérôme de Prague , Paris-Prague: Université de Paris IV – Paris Sorbonne & Charles University in Prague 2014, 622pp.

Jaroslava Hausenblasová, Petr Hlaváček, Zdeněk Mužík, Ota Pavlíček, Kacířská univerzita: Osobnosti pražské utrakvistické univerzity 1417-1622 [The Heretical University: Masters of the Prague Utraquist University in 1417-1622], Praha: Togga, 2013. 165 pp.

Studies and other texts

In English and French:

Pavlíček, O., “Notes on the Prague Faculty of Arts in 1348–1419,” in Studying the Arts in Late Medieval Bohemia: Production, Reception and Transmission of Knowledge, ed. O. Pavlíček, Turnhout: Brepols 2021 (=Studia Artistarum 48), 13–26.

Pavlíček, O., “The Argumenta sophistica in the Debate between Jerome of Prague and Blasius Lupus,” in Studying the Arts in Late Medieval Bohemia: Production, Reception and Transmission of Knowledge, ed. O. Pavlíček, Turnhout: Brepols 2021(=Studia Artistarum 48), 205–233 (with M. Hanke).

Pavlíček, O., “Jerome of Prague,” in The Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy, 2nd edition, ed. H. Lagerlund, Dordrecht - Heidelberg - London - New York: Springer 2020, 893–901.

Pavlíček, O., “Parisian and Prague Quodlibeta Compared: The Transfer of the Quodlibetal Disputation between the Faculties and Jerome of Prague’s Struggle against the Thematic Limitations Imposed on the Faculty of Arts,” in What is New in the New Universities? Learning in Central Europe in the Later Middle Ages (1348 1500), ed. E. Jung, Warsaw: IFiS PAN 2018, 325–356.

Pavlíček, O., “Jan Hus as a Philosopher: The Topic of Universals in Two Theological Contexts of His Sentences Commentary (Super IV Sententiarum I, dist. 19 and 33),” Przegląd Tomistyczny 34 (2018), 547–568.

Pavlíček, O., “Stephen of Páleč’s Quaestio de esse aeterno: A Study and Critical Edition,” Archives d'histoire doctrinale et littéraire du Moyen-âge 84 (2017), 349–378.

Pavlíček, O., “Jan Hus,” in Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy, ed. M. Sgarbi, Dordrecht - Heidelberg - London - New York: Springer 2017 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_1117-1).

Pavlíček, O., “Wyclif’s Early Reception in Bohemia and His Influence on the Thought Jerome of Prague,” in Europe after Wyclif, eds. P. Hornbeck, M. VanDussen, NYC: Fordham University Press 2017, 89–114.

Pavlíček, O., “Jerome of Prague,” in Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, eds. Helmer, Christine / McKenzie, Steven Linn / Römer, Thomas Chr. / Schröter, Jens / Walfish, Barry Dov / Ziolkowski, Eric, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter 2016, 997–1000.

Pavlíček, O., “The Chronology of Life and Work of Jan Hus,” in A Companion to Jan Hus, eds. F. Šmahel, O. Pavlíček, Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2015, 9–68.

Pavlíček, O., “‘Ipsa dicit, quod sic est, ergo verum.’ Authority of Scripture, the Use and Sources of Biblical Citations in the Work of Jerome of Prague,” in The Bohemian Reformation and Religious Practice 10, eds. Z. V. David, D. R. Holeton, Praha: Filosofia and Filosofický časopis, 2015, 70–89.

Pavlíček, O., “Scutum fidei christianae: The Depiction and Explanation of the Shield of Faith in the Realistic Teaching of Jerome of Prague in the Context of His Interpretation of the Trinity,” in The Bohemian Reformation and Religious Practice 9, eds. Z. V. David, D. R. Holeton (=Journal of Philosophy Special Issue 1/2014), Praha: Filosofia 2014, 72–97.

Pavlíček, O. – Herold, V., “Jan Hus,” in The Oxford Guide to the Historical Reception of Augustine, vol. II, ed. K. Pollmann, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2013, 1167–1170.

Pavlíček, O., “In memoriam of Vilém Herold (9. 15. 1933 – 9. 10. 2012),” Bulletin de Philosophie Médiévale 54 (2013), 523–532.

Pavlíček, O., “Two Philosophical Texts of Jerome of Prague and his Alleged Designation of Opponents of Real Universals as Diabolical Heretics,” in The Bohemian Reformation and Religious Practice 8, eds. Z. David, D. Holeton (=Journal of Philosophy Special Volume 3/2011), Praha: Filosofia 2011, 53–77.

Pavlíček, O., “La figure de l'autorité magistrale à travers Jean Hus et Jérôme de Prague,” Revue des Sciences Religieuses 85 (2011), No. 3, 371–389.

Pavlíček, O. – Herold, V., “Jerome of Prague,” in The Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy, ed. H. Lagerlund, Dordrecht - Heidelberg - London - New York: Springer 2011, 584–587.

Pavlíček, O. – Holeton, D., “Jerome of Prague,” in The New Westminster Dictionary of Church History, London: Westminster John Knox Press 2008, 350.

In Czech:

Pavlíček, O., “Jeroným Pražský jako čistý filosof? K myšlenkovému vlivu Jeronýmova akademického díla a k teologické dimenzi myšlení [Jerome of Prague as a Pure Philosopher? On the Doctrinal Influence of Jerome’s Scholastic Writings and the Theological Dimension of His Thought],” in Jeroným Pražský. Středověký intelektuál, mučedník české reformace a hrdina národní tradice , ed. O. Pavlíček, Praha: FILOSOFIA 2018, 11–34.

Pavlíček, O., “Argumenta sophistica: Disputace Jeronýma Pražského a Blažeje Vlka v kontextu řešení sofismat na pražské univerzitě [ Argumenta sophistica: The Disputation of Jerome of Prague and Blasius Lupus in the Context of Sophism Solutions at the University of Prague],” in Jeroným Pražský. Středověký intelektuál, mučedník české reformace a hrdina národní tradice , ed. O. Pavlíček, Praha: Filosofia 2018, 58–80 (with M. Hanke).

Pavlíček, O., “Příspěvek o 600 letům od smrti Jeronýma Pražského [A Contribution on the Occasion of 600 Years from the Death of Jerome of Prague],” in Jeroným Pražský. Středověký intelektuál, mučedník české reformace a hrdina národní tradice , ed. O. Pavlíček, Praha: Filosofia 2018, 7–10.

Pavlíček, O., “Projít ohněm: Drama Edzarda Schapera v souvislostech,” in Jan Hus: Projít ohněm. Život a smrt Jana Husa, Divadelní hra a scénické čtení podle rozhlasového dramatu Edzarda Schapera , ed. J. G. Pelechová, Praha: Kant 2016, 11–23.

Pavlíček, O., “Filosoficko-teologické základy myšlení Jana Husa: Univerzálie a některá s nimi spojená témata [Philosophico-Theological Basis of the Thought of Jan Hus: Universals and some Connected Themes],” in Ota Pavlíček, ed., “Příspěvky k filosoficko‑teologickému myšlení Jana Husa a jeho učitelů [Contributions to the Philosophico-Theological Thought of Jan Hus and His Teachers],” Filosofický časopis 63 (2015), No. 6, 859–892.

Pavlíček, O., “Téma: Příspěvky k filosoficko-teologickému myšlení Jana Husa a jeho učitelů: úvodem [This Volumes’s Topic: Contributions to the Philosophico-Theological Thought of Jan Hus and His Teachers],” Filosofický časopis 63 (2015), No. 6, s. 803–806.

Pavlíček, O., “Husův komentář k Sentencím Petra Lombardského: nalezení filosofické a teologické střední cesty [Hus’s Sentences Commentary: Finding the Middle Way],” in Via Media. Studie z českých náboženských a intelektuálních dějin, ed. P. Hlaváček, Praha: FILOSOFIA 2016, 21–27.

Pavlíček, O., “Štít víry Jeronýma Pražského a praktické užití vyobrazení Nejsvětější Trojice na anglických praporech z přelomu středověku a novověku,” in O felix Bohemia! Studie k dějinám české reformace, ed. P. Hlaváček, Praha: Filosofia 2013, 81–89.

Pavlíček, O., “Odešel Vilém Herold (15. 9. 1933 – 9. 10. 2012),” Filosofický časopis 60 (2012), No. 6, 944–953.

Pavlíček, O., “Otázka a kontext problematiky sufficientia praedicamentorum u Jeronýma Pražského a Robert Alyngton jako oxfordský zdroj jeho odpovědi,” AITHER III (2011), No. 5, 175–221.

Pavlíček, O., “Poznámky in margine k politické dimenzi působení Jeronýma Pražského,” AITHER II (2010), No. 3, 206–209.

Pavlíček, O., “Jeroným Pražský. Pohled na život a dílo českého intelektuála pozdního středověku,” Informační bulletin historické společnosti pro aktualizaci odkazu české reformace VERITAS 18 (2010), 2–7.

Pavlíček, O., “Jak je dnes možné zabývat se pražskými kvestiemi a jak si pomoci při přemýšlení nad jejich filosofickým obsahem,” AITHER 1 (2009), No. 2, 223–230.

Reviews

Pavlíček, O., Magistri Hieronymi de Praga Quaestiones, Polemica, Epistulae, Corpvs Christianorvm Continuatio Mediaeualis 222, František Šmahel, Gabriel Silagi (edd.), Turnhout: Brepols, 2010. Studia mediaevalia Bohemica 7 (2012), 133-135.

Pavlíček, O., “Sedmdesát středověkých slov pro Ruediho Imbacha,” Filosofický časopis 60 (2012), No. 2, 289–296.

Pavlíček, O., Jiří Kejř, Jan Hus známý i neznámý. Resumé knihy, která nebude napsána, Karolinum, Praha 2009. Studia mediaevalia Bohemica 2 (2010), No. 1, 336–337.

Pavlíček, O., “Unikátní komentář na spis ‘De universalibus’ Jana Wyclifa,” Filosofický časopis 58 (2010), No. 6, 942–947.

Translations

Žůrková, J.; Pavlíček, Ota. Stvoření univerzálií podle Jana Husa [Překlad]. Filosofický časopis. 2015, Roč. 63, č. 6, s. 893-905. ISSN 0015-1831. [Orig.: Kaluza, Z. La création des universaux selon Jean Hus (á propos de la question Utrum omne testimonium fidei). In: Kroupa, J. K. (ed.), Septuaginta Paolo Spunar oblata: (70 + 2). Praha: KLP, 2000, s. 367-375].

Other

Herold, Vilém, “Inteligibilní bytí stvořených věcí v Bohu v nauce o ideách Jana Wyclifa,” Filosofický časopis 63 (2015), No. 6, 815–829. (Posthumously published by O. Pavlíček.)

Co-author of texts for the exhibition Sedm věží. Karel IV. pohledem akademiků (1316–2016) (AV ČR, Národní 3, Praha 1, 6. 4. – 3. 6. 2016).

Co-author the exhibition Kacířská univerzita [The Heretical University] on masters at the Prague University in 1419-1620 (Praha, Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy, 2013).

Co-author of the exhibition Cesty filozofie a práva 1882–2012 [Roads of Philosophy and Law] on personalities of the Prague Faculty of Arts in 1882-2012 (Praha, Karolinum, 2012).

Conferences [ see an updated selection ]

Ota Pavlíček has delivered (as of January 2020) 35 papers in eight countries (in Europe and the USA) on various scientific occasions, including major events in the field such as meetings of prestigious societies (SIEPM, Societas Artistarum) or conferences which reunited leading scholars. At a number of these events, he was an invited speaker (i.a. Fribourg, Milan, Oxford, Prague, Regensburg, St. Andrews).

Granted research projects

ACADEMIA: Reconstructing Late Medieval Quests for Knowledge: Quodlibetal Debates as Precursors of Modern Academic Practice (2021–), European Research Council, Principal Investigator

MEMORI: A Research Infrastructure, a part of the Lindat/Clariah project (2019–2022): Czech Ministry of Education, Co-Principal Investigator

Philosophy at the University of Prague around 1409: Matěj of Knín’s Quodlibet as a Crossroads of European Medieval Knowledge (2019–2022), Czech Science Foundation, Principal Investigator (extended by 6 months due to covid)

International Cooperation Project of Young Researchers of the Czech Academy of Sciences (7/2017-6/2019), recipient

Postdoctoral project of the Czech Academy of Sciences on the philosophical thought of Stephen of Páleč and the struggle over universals in the Late Medieval Bohemia (7/2015-6/2017), recipient

Cultural Codes and Their Transformations in the Hussite Period (2012–2018): GA ČR, Center for Excellence, external collaborator

Philosophical Dimension of the Thought of Jerome of Prague (2009–2011): GA AV ČR, recipient

Philosophical and Theological Dimension of the Thought of Jerome of Prague (2009-2011): GA UK

Quaestio De esse aeterno by Stephen of Palecz in the context of his works and its doctrinal relation to the texts of Jerome of Prague (2012): GA UK, recipient

Project on Commentaries on Peter Lombard's Sentences (2010-): Société Internationale pour l'Étude de la Philosophie Médiévale, member of the team

Organisation of Scientific Meetings

2021 Organiser, Studying the Arts in Medieval Bohemia II: Production, Reception and Transmission of Knowledge at the Arts Faculty of Prague University in the Middle Ages, Prague, Institute of Philosophy, CAS

2020 Organiser, 3rd International Consultation on Studying the Arts in Late Medieval Bohemia: Doctrines, Methods and Sources in the Prague Quodlibeta around 1409, Brno – Frýdek Místek – Milan – Prague – ZOOM

2019 Organiser, 2nd International Consultation on Studying the Arts in Late Medieval Bohemia: Doctrines, Methods and Sources in the Prague Quodlibeta around 1409, Prague, Institute of Philosophy, CAS

2019 Main co-organiser, International Workshop on Contingency and Necessity in Medieval and Post-medieval Scholasticism, Prague, Institute of Philosophy, CAS

2018 Co-organiser, International Consultation on Studying the Arts in Late Medieval Bohemia: Doctrines, Methods and Sources in the Prague Quodlibeta around 1409, Milan, Universita degli Studi

2016 Main organiser, Studying the Arts in Medieval Bohemia: Production, Reception and Transmission of Knowledge at the Arts Faculty of Prague University in the Middle Ages (2nd Annual Meeting of Societas Artistarum), Prague, Institute of Philosophy, CAS (in cooperation with IRHT CNRS Paris)

2016 Organiser, Jerome of Prague (+1416): The First Czech Philosopher?, Prague, Institute of Philosophy, CAS

2015 Main co-organiser, International CENDARI Summer School on Researching Medieval Culture in a Digital Environment, Prague, Institute of Philosophy, CAS (in cooperation with University of Dublin)

2008–2016 Secretary, Biennial Symposia on the Bohemian Reformation and Religious Practice, Prague, Institute of Philosophy, CAS

2011–2014 Convener, Dies Bibliographicus, Review Meetings on New Publications in the Older Intellectual History, Prague, Institute of Philosophy, CAS

Membership

2018– Member of Editorial Board, Studie a prameny k dějinám myšlení v českých zemích [Studies and sources on the history of thought in Bohemia], FILOSOFIA

2017– Member of the Sceintific Board, Questions from History Journal

2016– Member of the Council for Popularisation of the Institute of Philosophy, CAS

2014– Le Club des docteurs de Sorbonne Université

2012– Association pour la Recherche et la Publication d'Etudes sur la Faculté des arts (Societas Artistarum)

2010– Internationale Gesellschaft für Theologische Mediävistik e.V. (IGTM)

2010– Société pour L'Étude de la Philosophie Médiévale (SIEPM)

2008– Collegium Europaeum

Activities for broader public

A series of lectures and interviews on Jerome of Prague, i.a. Aktuálně.cz, ČRo Plus, ČCE (2015-2016)

Co-author of the exhibition Sedm věží. Karel IV. pohledem akademiků (1316–2016) [Seven towers. Charles IV in the eyed of scholars] (AV ČR, Národní 3, Praha 1, 6. 4. – 3. 6. 2016)

Co-author of didactic materials Jan Hus a husitství – didaktické materiály s využitím metod mediální a multikulturní výchovy a kritického myšlení (Česká škola bez hranic, 2015).

Co-author of texts for the exhibition Heretical university (poprvé vystaveno v Praze, Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy, 2013, poté Novoměstská radnice).)

Co–author of texts for the exhibition Cesty filozofie a práva 1882–2012 (poprvé vystaveno v Praze, Karolinum, 2012).

Others

I am the father of two kids. A boy (*2015) and a girl (*2017).