EN
Jan Patočka (1907-1977) was the most outstanding Czech phenomenologist, one of the last students of Husserl and Heidegger. He lived and worked mainly during the period of "real socialism", which made his philosophical interests strongly related to his attitude of opposition to the politics of his day. The concept of politics that Patočka developed was a point of reference and the chief criterion for his political activity. Through his philosophical analyses, and inspired by the views of Hannah Arendt, Patočka discovers the idea of politics, which, while rooted in ancient Greece, decisively influenced the shape of European culture. According to this classical idea, politics opens up and guarantees an area of freedom, the existence of which is also a necessary condition of philosophy itself. And since phenomenology was the proper philosophical environment that defined both Patočka's thinking and actions, this article is devoted to the study of the phenomenological basis of the connection between politics and philosophy.