The Solidarity of The Shaken: Jan Patočka’s Legacy in the Modern World

Author: 

Palouš, Martin (Editor)

Credentials: 

Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the United States, 2001-2005, and Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations, 2006-2011

The phrase “solidarity of the shaken” was introduced into the today’s political vocabulary by Jan Patočka, one of the last students of the philosopher Edmund Husserl and undoubtedly the most important Czech philosopher of the twentieth century. In January 1977, Patočka became – together with Vaclav Havel and Jiri Hajek -- one of the first three spokespersons of Charter 77, Czechoslovakia’s anti-communist resistance movement. He died less than three months later, as a result of total exhaustion caused by days-long police interrogations.

Patočka’s Socratic death is an unavoidable component of his philosophical legacy. Is his main message still relevant today, after the “short” twentieth century ended with the collapse of communism in Europe in 1989? Is it still in circulation and perceived as an important Central European contribution to the new “dialogue of mankind” taking place today, as we approach the end of the second decade of new millennium?

Six years ago, the Vaclav Havel Library organized a seminar in Prague where a group of scholars sought to answer these questions. This book offers any readers concerned with human rights the results of these incisive discussions. Patočka’s life and work are decidedly not diminishing with time. On the contrary, they have been actualized by our current spiritual crisis.

Market: 
Political Science, Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Human Rights, Intellectual History, Communism, Anti-Communism, Dissident Movements, Revolution, Resistance, Eastern Europe, Central Europe, European Studies, Edmund Husserl, Jan Patočka, Charter 77, Vaclav Havel, Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic
Release Date: 
August 1, 2019
ISBN: 
978-1680531848: Hardcover
Price: 
$99.95
Trim Size: 
6x9
Pages: 
158
Illustrations: 
None
Publisher: 

ACADEMICA PRESS
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Washington, DC 20036
academicapress.editorial@gmail.com