"New human possibilities" in Patočka's philosophy of literature Cover Image

"New human possibilities" in Patočka's philosophy of literature
"New human possibilities" in Patočka's philosophy of literature

Author(s): Erin Plunkett
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Czech Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature
Published by: Masarykova univerzita nakladatelství
Keywords: Jan Patočka; phenomenology; philosophy of literature; literary criticism; fantasy; science; scientism; techno-science; world-disclosure; lifeworld; world horizon

Summary/Abstract: This article considers Patočka's phenomenological account of literature in "The Writer's Concern" to defend the idea that literary writing offers a distinctive philosophical contribution. In this text, Patočka gives the writer a special claim on the activity of world disclosure and suggests that literature may offer a glimpse out of the techno-scientific framework that dominates contemporary life. I examine both science and literature as modes of relating to the world, raising questions about the distinctiveness of each and their use of the written word. Finally, I locate the philosophical advantage of literary writing in Patočka's dual claims about literature: that it offers "an individual capturing of life's meaning" and that it presents "the world" as an "undivided" whole.

  • Issue Year: 23/2020
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 69-80
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: English