Photo: CEFRES

Ernest (Ernst, Arnošt) Gellner grew up in Prague, where he also died. In between was the life of a brilliant intellectual, arguably the most influential social scientist of the second half of the 20th century. He became an ‚enfant terrible‘ by his critique of linguistic philosophy, but also showed his talent by the examination of psychoanalysis, populism, kinship and Islam. His fieldwork among the Moroccan Berbers made him a social anthropologist whose methodical reviews in The Times Literary Supplement were often witty reading for intellectuals outside anthropology. Gellner’s critical view of Marxism and Soviet-type communism led him to develop a systematic interest in Soviet and Eastern European affairs, primarily anthropological. His compassionate writing produced a long series of books, monographs, and collections, which will remain a key to his great mind and a reference for generations of his successors. Perhaps unwittingly, his most impressive works pertained to nationalism. His most read book was Nations and Nationalism (1983), translated into dozens of languages. Even though he spent most of his active time employed by the London School of Economics and Political Science, Gellner’s career reached its apogee as a professor of social anthropology at the University of Cambridge. Finally, upon his retirement, he accepted the directorship of the Centre for the Study of Nationalism at the Central European University’s Prague branch. Recently, a representative collection of essays entitled Ernest Gellner’s Legacy and Social Theory Today (2022) evaluated Gellner’s comprehensive contribution to knowledge.

Text by Petr Skalník