Philosophy of History as Heresy of Contemporaneity Cover Image

Filozofija povesti kao jeres savremenosti
Philosophy of History as Heresy of Contemporaneity

Author(s): Dragan Prole
Subject(s): History, Social Philosophy, Phenomenology, Philosophy of History
Published by: Филозофски факултет, Универзитет у Новом Саду
Keywords: Patočka; heresy; phenomenology; history; responsibility;

Summary/Abstract: The first part of the article deals with the reason why Patočka names his philosophical essays heretical. The motive for Patočka’s self-conscious heresy at first turns out to be a reaction to the ruling canon of modern philosophy which rejects the possibility for the philosophy of history to become something more than “the middle range theory” As opposed to it, Patočka stands for a comprehensive philosophy of history, the function of which is creating a responsible relationship in the historical reality that came after world wars. Historical productivity of Patočka’s concept of responsibility materializes itself in a paradoxical and heretically isolated will which directs us toward the deepening of our detachment and points us toward facing the long lost confidence in the normative character of history. The second part of the essay thematizes the concept of heresy with reference to relationship between phenomenology and philosophy of history. Patočka denies non-historical presuppositions of phenomenology by significantly moving the focus of the concept of transcendence. Transcendence, according to Husserl, was the established, the logically emphasized and the cognitive, according to Heidegger, it was primarily an existential achievement, while according to Patočka, it acquires markedly historical features. Those features are being analyzed in the third part of the essay where the Patočka’s thesis on the origins of European history according to Plato is being interpreted as a third type of heresy with regards to the standpoint of modern philosophy of history. Emphasizing that it is impossible to reflect on Europe without considering Plato and Aristotle, Patočka suggests that we should eventually recognize our situation as being historically determined. This is why he insists on a different nature in the image of responsibility which does not form itself according to the reality of the natural world, but rather according to the reality of the historical world.

  • Issue Year: 2010
  • Issue No: 14
  • Page Range: 49-73
  • Page Count: 25
  • Language: Serbian