In my diploma thesis titled Saint-Exupéry´s Little Prince as a moral challenge and hope I deal with ethical issues and moral principles which are losing their meaning and perhaps also an importance for many fellow citizens in today´s hectic time. A morality of a person depends on morals throughout the society to which an individual belongs. A penetration of philosophical themes about the meaning of life in the Little Prince helps a reader to orient himself and to think about the life itself. In the theoretical part of my thesis I deal with a biography of A. de Saint-Exupéry and an analysis of the work of the Little Prince. Other chapters are devoted to a theoretical introduction of the concepts of ethics and morality. In a subsequent chapter there is dealt with an individual´s moral development according to Piaget and Kohlberg. In the practical part of the diploma thesis I set a goal of the thesis and hypotheses. The goal of the thesis is to characterize a possibility how to use Saint Exupéry´s work as a mean how to educate our young generation directly through its own reading or via their reading parents. It is one of the aspects of a current need to educate the children and youth in ethics and to get it back with a due attention to our primary and secondary schools. The research sample was composed of students from the multi-years´ Gymnasium in Vimperk and Strakonice aged 11 to 19 years. To obtain data for the investigation I chose a method of an own questionnaire, designed to meet research needs. The survey was anonymous. After an evaluation, I summarized the obtained data into tables and graphs. In the discussion I analysed and evaluated the results for individual questions. In a conclusion of the thesis the stated hypotheses were confirmed.

Le présent travail est une étude sur Le Petit Prince, d’Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Le but principal du mémoire est d’analyser la réception du message chez le lecteur adulte et chez le lecteur enfant. Nous avons analysé comment l’enfant et l’adulte interprètent le message donné par l’oeuvre, parsemée d’images et d’allégories, des citations qui son devenues symboliques avec le temps. Ensuite, nous avons analysé les personnages dans le but d’interpréter leur sens symbolique. Pour réaliser cette recherche, nous avons regardé plusieurs interprétations allégoriques. Les résultats de notre étude nous ont permis d’affirmer que la réception du message n’est pas la même chez le lecteur adulte et le lecteur enfant. Les résultats de cette étude montrent enfin qu’il est trop difficile pour le lecteur enfant de comprendre le sens moral d’une image allégorique, tandis que le lecteur adulte est plus apte à interpréter l’image allégorique en s’appuyant sur son expérience de la lecture et de son expérience de la vie quotidienne. L’auteur utilise l’image symbolique dans la littérature pour montrer avec plus de clarté la condition humaine. En conclusion nous apprenons que Le Petit Prince nous fait réfléchir sur la vie de la façon plus profonde et philosophique. / The current work consists of a study of The Little Prince, written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The purpose of this study is to analyze the reception of the message given to the adult reader and the child reader. We have analyzed how the child and the adult interpret the work containing images and allegories. Then we have analyzed the fictional characters in order to interpret their symbolic meaning. To conduct this research we have looked at various allegorical interpretations. The result of our study shows that the reception of the message varies between the adult reader and the child reader. The result of this study also shows that it is too 3 difficult for the child reader to understand the moral sense of an allegorical image, while the adult reader is able to interpret the allegorical picture more easily by relying on the reading and life experiences. The author uses the symbolic image of the literature to clarify the truth about man and human society. In conclusion we learn that the work of the Little Prince makes us reflect upon life with a deeper philosophical meaning.

The thesis is focused on finding the philosophical dimension of a story, with respect to stories for children. It is also concerned with the variable possibilities how to use stories in the Philosophy for Children dialogue. Using the knowledge of literally science and using the articles about the role of story in Philosophy for Children, the thesis elaborates the definition of the philosophical dimension of story. Its further attempt is to suggest general method how to seize the philosophical dimension of every possible story for the purpose of philosophical dialogue with children. The suggested method is applied on the stories The Little prince by A. Saint-Exupery and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis in the last part of the thesis.