totalitarianism

This text is a thought piece designed to reflect on the word "totalitarianism" as both a heuristic and an existential category. In addition to critiquing the category through a narrative of its genesis and its relationship to the category of "modernity," this text goes on to suggest that the category is fundamentally counterproductive to the scholarly and moral concerns evident particularly in the work of Hannah Arendt.

The study deals with the question of continuity between pre- and post 1989 Czech and Slovak historiography. This problem is demonstrated on cases of these two much criticized types of narratives - historical-totalitarian (Czech case) and nationalist (in Slovak case). The analysis is based on the recent discussions among Czech historians and attempts to apply some of the conclusions on the Slovak case.