On the one hand, the present paper pursues transformations of Jan Patočka’s approach to the body and corporeality and tries to pinpoint its problematic aspects. The more essential and detailed part of the text presents a systematic interpretation of sketchy analyses of corporeality, as they appear in Patočka’s wartime manuscripts methodically based on transcendental phenomenology. Special attention is paid to Jan Patočka’s considerations on the sensory perception, and also to his more speculative ideas inspired by these reflections. In this context, we concentrate on the problem of the so called „hyletic stratum“. In the final part of the paper, we ask the question whether the sensible phenomenon of “expression”, and the considerations on the corporeal character of our existence in general, do not force us to abandon the way of thinking in substantial categories or, to be more precise, to abandon the idea of substantial “being for itself” independent on the being in relations with others.
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