Library of Philosophy and Natural History
Location
Viničná 7, the ground floor
Library Hours
12-17 (monday, thursday)
09-13 (tuesday, wednesday)
12-14 (friday)
For operating hours outside school terms, i.e. from July to September, check directly in the Library.
Contact us
Phone: +420 221 951 921
E-mail: filosof@natur.cuni.cz
The Library of Philosophy and Natural History (ABD067) is currently the smallest unit of the Library of Biological Sciences with approximately 10,000 library documents (mostly books, also some dissertations and theses in the field of philosophy of natural sciences). It is a highly specialized library with collection that has been systematically developed throughout the years. Its location is on the ground floor of Viničná 7 building, on the right side of the building (next door to the Section of Biology secretariate).
The library was founded in 1922 by Professor Emanuel Rádl (1879-1942), who was then Head of the Department of Methodology and History of Natural Sciences belonging to the Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague. During the period the Czechoslovak Republic was under the government of the Communist Party, the library served as a part of the Department of Marxism-Leninism; at that time, quite a number of valuable philosophical books was unfortunately removed and/or destroyed while other titles (the content of which was more ideologically acceptable) were unnecessarily added to the library collection. In 1990, the library obtained its current name and was completely reorganized. The majority of the past-regime-biased books was discarded and a new policy for the library management was established. Currently, the main aspiration of the Library of Philosophy and Natural History is to collect and make available to its users a whole contemporary production of Czech philosophic literature, and to gradually replenish its collection of books on theoretical biology, philosophy and natural history, which are/were being published outside the Czech Republic. In case of the Ancient history and philosophy, the library is oriented on bilingual books from the Loeb Classical Library Series, which offer the possibility to study the works of the Ancient Philosophers to more general public. Due to this policy, the Library of Philosophy and Natural History is at present one of the best equipped libraries of this kind in the Czech Republic.
Document Actions