From a “life in the idea” to a “life in truth”: Patočka and Havel on truth and politics

• Authors: Gustav Strandberg
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This article discusses the relationship between Jan Patočka's and Václav Havel's political writings. By specifically focusing on Patočka's concepts a "life in the idea" and a "life in problematicity" and Havel's notion of a "life in truth", it seeks to draw out the differences and similarities between their respective understandings of the relationship between truth and politics. The paper argues that Havel reinterpreted Patočka's ideas in a way, which in the final analysis diverged from Patočka's original intentions. Finally, the article argues that Havel's, in many ways productive, reinterpretation gives rise to a highly problematic conception of ideology and politics since the "prepolitical" form of politics that Havel envisions ultimately tends to naturalize both truth and politics.

Keywords

EN

Jan Patočka; Václav Havel; truth; politics; problematicity; negativity

Discipline

• PHILOSOPHY: PHILOSOPHY

• Publisher: Institute of Philosophy, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Filosofický časopis (Philosophical Journal)
• Year: 2022
• Volume: 70
• Issue: Special_issue_1
• Pages: 35-49
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Gustav Strandberg

• Filosofický časopis, redakce, Filosofický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i., Jilská 1, 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic