Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 2000 Caring for the Soul in a Postmodern Age: the Political Thought of Jan Patocka. Edward Francis Findlay Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Findlay, Edward Francis, "Caring for the Soul in a Postmodern Age: the Political Thought of Jan Patocka." (2000). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 7195. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/7195 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. 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Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. Bell & Howell Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA l u v l 800-521-0600T Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CARING FOR THE SOUL IN A POSTMODERN AGE: THE POLITICAL THOUGHT OF JAN PATOCKA VOLUME I A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Political Science by Edward Francis Findlay BA., University of Virginia, 1988 M.A., Louisiana State University, 1997 May 2000 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number 9979259 UMI* UMI Microform9979259 Copyright 2000 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to acknowledge and extend my gratitude to a number of individuals and organizations without whom this study would have been impossible. First and foremost, I am grateful to Professors G. Ellis Sandoz and Cecil Eubanks of the Department of Political Science at Louisiana State University for their invaluable support and assistance. Further, I am indebted to the Center for Theoretical Study of Charles University and the Academy of Sciences in Prague, in the Czech Republic, for hosting and facilitating my research. I would particularly like to thank Ivan Chvatik for his support and his critical perspective, and Ivan Havel for permitting me to make valuable use of the facilities at CTS. I would also like to acknowledge the support of the William J. Fulbright Commission of the United States and the Fulbright Committee in Prague for making my experience there possible. Lastly, I want to thank my wife, AlzbSta, and my father, Edward J., for their constant encouragement and sage advice. This is for you both. ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME I ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...................................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT.............................................................................................................................v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................... 1 End Notes................................................................................................... 21 2 “CONCRETE HUMANS IN THEIR CORPOREAL WORLD”: AN INTERPRETATION OF HUSSERL AND HEIDEGGER.....................24 Husserl....................................................................................................... 26 The Influence of Heidegger ................................................................. 52 A Phenomenology of Movement ............................................................68 Conclusion ................................................................................................77 End N otes ............................................................................................... 83 3 PHILOSOPHY AFTER THE DEATH OF METAPHYSICS: PATOCKA AND GREEK THOUGHT...................................................93 Plato and Europe................................................................................... 101 Caring for the Soul ................................................................................. 110 Metaphysics and “Negative Platonism”................................................120 The Idea, the Good, and the Truth ........................................................129 End N otes ................................................................................................ 143 4 A PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY AND A THEORY OF POLITICS .151 The Basis of Human Historicity ............................................................156 A Philosophy of History .........................................................................162 The Polis in History ...............................................................................177 Two Elements of Historical Life: Freedom and Problematicity ... 180 Philosophy of History and Politics ........................................................190 Europe, Science, and Metaphysics ........................................................197 End N otes ................................................................................................207 VOLUME n 5 POLITICS AND ETHICS IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY ........... 215 Pato£ka and Politics...............................................................................216 The Heretical Essays and the Twentieth Century .............................. 236 The Spiritual Person and the P olis.................................................... 258 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Ethics and Morality 267 End N otes ............. 282 6 CONCLUSION: FOUNDATIONS AND PHILOSOPHY, POLITICS AND POSTMODERNISM.....................................................................292 The Problem of Meaning .......................................................................299 Meaning, Politics, and Conflict ............................................................ 309 Conclusion .............................................................................................. 318 A Critical Perspective.......................................................................... 320 End N otes................................................................................................332 WORKS CITED..................................................................................................................337 APPENDIX: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE..................................................... 346 Erazim Kohak ............................................................................................ 350 Aviezer Tucker.......................................................................................... 363 Postmodernism, Foundationalism, and Religion ...................................374 Other Commentaries ................................................................................ 390 End N otes...................................................................................................396 VITA ................................................................................................................................... 404 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT This study undertakes to examine the political thought of the late Czech philosopher and Charter 77 spokesman, Jan Pato£ka. It leads to a consideration of the fundamental problem of contemporary and postmodern theory, the question of a metaphysical foundation for our philosophical and political self-understanding. Pato£ka asserted the common origin