In the French philosophical tradition, the theme of the absurd is still present today and has been introduced by phenomenological thinkers such as E. Levinas (the notion of il y a) and M. Blachot (the notion of neutrality). More recently, this style of thought has been revived by thinkers such as A. Comte-Sponville (the notion of hopelessness), Clément Rosset (idiocy) and Marcel Conche (the tra-gic), among others. However, similar elements can also be traced in thinkers who do not make them the centre of their thought (despair in C. Romano). It will be an examination of conceptions of this tendency, with the intention of presenting an interpretation of the primarily negatively connoted terms that will serve as a starting point for a "positive" understanding of them (tragic wisdom in Conche is an example).

The doctoral thesis will be focused on the investigation of the philosophical influences from the Russian intellectual environment on the philosophical and political thinking of Slovak thinkers whose works shaped the nation-building process. The goal of the research would be focused on approaching the philosophical sources that fundamentally determined the perception of freedom on an individual level, its relationship to the idea of national equality, as well as the reflection of the philosophy of history by Štúr and his followers. The aim of the project would be a closer examination of those sources from representatives of Russian Slavophiles in particular (the works of Alexey Chomiakov, Konstantin Aksakov, Pavel V. Kirejevsky, Ivan Aksakov, Ivan V. Kirejevsky), whose ideas became part of the formation of the idea of Slavic mutuality and its subsequent modifications leading to free cooperation of national entities or even various forms of pan-Slavism. This research would also offer an opportunity for interdisciplinary cooperation between philosophy and related disciplines focused on issues of culture and political thought.