Project Europe. Die Political Philosophy of Jan Patocka

Jan Patocka (1907-1977) is seen today as the most important Czech philosopher of the 20th century. lt took until 1989 to give his thought the international reception it deserves. The project an his political philosophy builds an ten years of Patocka research at IWM and aims at reconstructing and making accessible for German readership another important part of his work which hitherto has not been explored systematically. It is the idea of Europe which is in the core of Patockas concept of the political. For him, Europe means breaking the power of the mythical and inaugurating history in an emphatical sense: Europe is the decisive turning point which opens up a space for politics and philosophy, in other words for living in freedom and truth. Neither freedom nor truth should be understood as a matter of course bot as a task and as a responsibility. This makes Europe a fragile project which can never be concluded. lt went through various phases which until today give it its contradictory shape. At the Same time, the idea of Europe is inhabited by a dynamics which culminated in the destructive potential of technological rationalism: the catastrophes of the 20th century are not just an accident, bot result from the very heart of the European idea. Patocka did not elaborate his political philosophy as an explicit doctrine. Rather, it is something which underlies his work in general. The more it is received and discussed, Patocka` s thought reveals the political ethos by which it is inspired. Therefore, a reconstruction of his political philosophy represents a double necessity: it is crucial for understanding his work as a whole, bot, given Europe`s present historical constellation, it is also an intellectual desideratum. The Europe an which Patocka insisted during a time which wrote it off has re-emerged after the changes of 1989. Never in the history of Europe has there been a better Chance to realize its idea. In the framework of the project, we plan to prepare a selection of shorter texts an political philosophy as well as German language editions of two central works an the relation between politics, history, and philosophy: Plato and Europe, and the Heretical Essays an the Philosophy of History (critical re-edition). At the same time, Patocka s political philosophy will be explored in relation to his philosophy in general, and in its relevante for contemporary political theory. Last bot not least, Patockas approach will be discussed in the context of today`s debates about the future of the post-1989, enlarged Europe.