Radovan Richta - The Predecessor of the Club of Rome and the 4.0 Vision

Pavel Sirůček,Zuzana Džbánková

doi:10.18267/j.aop.612

Abstract

Radovan Richta was a Czech academic, philosopher, sociologist, prognostic, and head of an interdisciplinary research team. He specialised in the issues of the scientific and technological revolution and its social and human contexts. Both in the East and the West, he was famous for the work of Civilization on the Crossroad, which in many ways surpassed its time. Richta (and his team of scientists) may perhaps be considered the predecessors of the Roman Club. His link is highly inspirational for the current reflection on the so-called fourth industrial revolution and civilizational milestones as well as system changes.

Highlights

Radovan Richta was a Czech academic, philosopher, sociologist, prognostic, and head of an interdisciplinary research team
Radovan Richta belongs among those half-forgotten authors whose reputation exceeded Czechoslovak horizons
Radovan Richta an academician, philosopher, sociologist, prognostic, and the head of an interdisciplinary research team belongs among the leading twentieth-century Czech scientists

Summary

The Life of Radovan Richta

Radovan Richta was born on June 6, 1924, in Smíchov, Prague where he grew up in a railway official’s family. Richta’s entire life was filled with intensive work for science, for ideas of leftwing humanism and society.[4] Richta died on July 21, 1983, in Prague He was a member of several international scientific institutions and received many high state honours and. From the beginning of his studies, he was interested in the methodology of science and the changes in this area This led to Richta’s reflection on the historical nature of forms of social life, history and methods of science, and to the consideration of STR and human development. Richta focused first on the critique of Masaryk philosophical and sociological systems (1958), which he soberly analyses in the context of the development of philosophical thinking of the late nineteenth century and focuses on questions of Communist humanism (1963b) Later, he devoted himself entirely to the current problems of linking the STR and socialist society, emphasising the advantages of socialism over capitalism (1967c; 1974b; 1976; 1982). The text has never been published.[15]

Civilisation on the Crossroad

Inspiration and Challenges by Richta

Additional Information