Abstract
The book explores vanity (in the sense of biblical vanitas) as a philosophical concept and maps its different meanings and associations (especially in the Czech language). It traces the link from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes and its Latin translation by St.
Jerome to nihilism (Nietzsche, Tartaglia, Llanera) and absurdism (Camus, Marmysz) including the theatre of the absurd (Beckett, Havel, O'Neill). Philosophy of finitude (Hodrová, Dastur) and skepticism are also mentioned.
The second part of the book deals with the ethical implications of the insights gained in the first part with a special focus on the dialogue between atheism and religion (Emerson, Poe, Halík, Sacks, Žižek).