The Hubris of Transcendental Idealism: Understanding Patočka's Early Concept of the Lifeworld. Issue 49 (3rd April 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ritter, Martin
• Is Part Of: Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology. Issue 49:Number 2(2018)
• Page Start: 171
• Page End: 181
• Publication Date: 2018-04-03
• Subjects: Phenomenology -- Periodicals; Fenomenologie; Filosofie; Phénoménologie -- Périodiques; Phenomenology; Periodicals; 142.7
• DOI: 10.1080/00071773.2017.1397336
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0007-1773

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Jan Patočka's early phenomenology, as presented in The Natural World as a Philosophical Problem, does not merely adopt Husserl's concept of the lifeworld. The paper demonstrates the originality of Patočka's appropriation of this concept, but also its internal tensions and difficulties. Seeking to elaborate a concept of a phenomenology allowing for a theory of the lifeworld stricto sensu, i.e. of the life of the world, Patočka's book effectively shows that there is no ahistorical, absolute or "natural" starting point for phenomenology. Truth, as approachable through phenomenology, is not (pre)given, but must rather be developed. Elaborating on the concept of transcendental idealism, Patočka's early phenomenology thus suggests a vivid idea of "intermeshing" monads ontologically grounding the world.