Jan Patočka and the Heritage of Phenomenology

Ivan Chvatík finished his graduate study under the supervision of leading Czech philosopher Jan Patocka. After Patocka’s death in 1977, he became head of the clandestine Jan Patocka Archive, which now has become part of the Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic. In 1993, he became the co-director of the Center for Theoretical Study, an interdisciplinary institute for advanced study at Charles University and the Academy of Science. He became the editor of the first complete Czech translation of Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time (1996), and is currently in charge of editing Patocka’s Complete Works (twelve volumes published to date out of a planned twenty-five).

• Ivan Chvatík, Preface; Václav Havel, Remembering Jan Patocka; Miroslav Petrícek, Jan Patocka: Phenomenological Philosophy Today; Petr Pithart, Questioning as a Prerequisite for a Meaningful Protest; Martin Palouš, Jan Patocka’s Socratic Message for the 21st Century; Marc Crepon, Fear, Courage, Anger: the Socratic Lesson; Josef Moural (Prague): Time and Responsibility, Kwok-ying Lau, Patocka’s Concept of Europe: an Intercultural Consideration; Steven Crowell, “Idealities of Nature”: Jan Patocka on Reflection and the Three Movements of Human Life, Eddo Evink, The Relevance of Patocka’s “Negative Platonism”; Burt Hopkins, Patocka’s Phenomenological Appropriation of Plato; Renaud Barbaras, Phenomenology and Henology; Tamás Ullmann, Negative Platonism and the Problem of Appearance; Pierre Rodrigo, Negative Platonism and Maximal Existence in the thought of Jan Patocka; Johann Arnason, Negative Platonism: Between the History of Philosophy and the Philosophy of History; James Mensch, Patocka and Artificial Intelligence; Domenico Jervolino, Reading Patocka, in search for a philosophy of translation; Ludger Hagedorn, Beyond Myth and Enlightenment; Marcia Schuback, Sacrifice and Salvation: Jan Patocka’s readings of Heidegger concerning the question of technique; Lubica Ucník, Patocka on Techno-Power and the Sacrificial Victim (Obet); James Dodd, The 20th Century as War

From the reviews: "This book is a collection of twenty papers selected from the proceedings of an international conference held in Prague in April 2007 to commemorate the centenary of Jan Patocka's birth. Its publication is particularly welcome. ... this volume provides a very stimulating overview of Patocka's work, and it will be of substantial value to anyone with a serious interest in phenomenology ... . " (Bryan Smyth, Philosophy in Review, Vol. XXXI (5), 2011)