Though Patočka is often recognized as an important figure in Anglo-American discussions of the philosophical idea of Europe, the relevant textual basis currently available in English for such discussions is nevertheless limited. A principal aim of James Dodd’s project at the IWM is to contribute to the Patočka scholarship in English with a translation of a selection of the Czech philosopher’s writings on the question of Europe. Translations, however, are rarely ends in themselves: their importance resides chiefly in the opportunity to underscore the significance of a work and explore its ramifications.
To this end, this presentation will explore a series of questions: What role does the complex of spiritual, political, and historical legacies of Europe play in imagining a post-European future? What is the motivation behind Patočka’s identification of Europe with philosophy? Is historical reflection compatible with philosophical reflection, as Patočka seems to assume? How do Patočka’s reflections on Europe draw from the context of the immediate post-war period and the Cold War? Has Europe really died, and been replaced by a nihilistic techno-civilization organized solely by structures of power and the manipulation of energy, as Patočka argues in the Heretical Essays and elsewhere?
James Dodd is Professor of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research and Eugene Lang College, The New School, in New York. He specializes in phenomenology and 19th and 20th century continental philosophy. His current research includes the history of transcendental logic, the philosophy of architecture, the philosophy of violence, and the work of the Czech dissident philosopher Jan Patočka. Recent publications include The Heresies of Jan Patočka: Phenomenology, History, Politics (Northwestern, 2023), and Phenomenological Reflections on Violence. A Skeptical Approach (Routledge, 2017).
IWM Permanent Fellow Ludger Hagedorn will moderate the colloquium discussion.
