The project investigates beliefs about tasks and sources of knowledge as well as nature of key epistemic concepts in the turbulent first fifty years of Czechoslovak independence. World War I created a rift in understanding of science as both positive and destructive force, leading to conceptual insecurities and glocal renegotiations of science’s conceptual framework, which we will follow on the Czechoslovak example. Concentrating on different cultural communities, which were partially parts of transstate networks, we will also investigate how the “images” aligned (or not) to state prerogatives. Last but not least, as a part of the Political Epistemologies of Central and Eastern Europe research initiative (PECEE) our research is a part of the political-historical epistemology endeavour of writing historical anthropology of the present (and present science), leading to the discussion of historical roots, and possible solutions, of crises plaguing science nowadays.
