Tyrš originally contemplated a scientific career in the field of philosophy but his theoretical interest gradually turned to aesthetics and plastic arts. T e specific culmination of his activities was his role of a founder of the gymnastic association Sokol in this his theoretical experiencefocused in the form of a distinctive “philosophy of living”. The author of this essay seeks to show a deeper philosophic and aesthetic level which shaped Tyrš’s Sokol idea. – Tyrš activism found a philosophic parallel in Schopenhauer’s voluntarism. Darwin’s conception of “struggle for sur¬vival” helped justify Tyrš’s conception of an armed and culturally active nationalism. Tyrš was fascinated with the mature culture of ancient Greece and in his conception Sokol was to be an embodiment of classic values in modern conditions.
It is known that Miroslav Tyrš engaged intensively with philosophy, aesthetics and the history of creative art, even if his participation in the emergence of the sport and gymnastics organisation Sokol is more striking. In view of the fact that Tyrš’s work is an interesting symbiosis or eclecticism from several philosophical and aesthetic streams rather than a tight synthesis, I have attempted to point to one overlooked aspect of Tyrš’s work by stressing his affinity to the Czech aesthetic Herbartian tradition. Tyrš was a direct pupil of the eminent systematic Herbartian aesthetician Robert Zimmermann, and we can trace the influence of Zimmermann’s thought in Tyrš’s work, above all in the articles “Gymnastics from the Aesthetic Point of View” and “On the Laws of Composition in Creative Art”. Tyrš attempted to formulate the principles which every aesthetic creative aim should conform to, and he endeavoured to specificy the formal laws of compositional-construction in creative work, founded on empirical research. I treat it as demonstrable that this endeavour puts Tyrš in the tradition of concrete formalism, which is most prominently represented in Czech culture by Otakar Hostinský., Miloš Matúšek., and Obsahuje poznámky a bibliografii