Exploring the Underground Writings of Jan Patočka: War and the Fate of Europe

This is the sixth lecture of the series. In his sixth and final essay, Patočka asks, what was “that awesome will which for years drove millions of humans into a fiery furnace”? He is referring to the First World War, a “monumental auto-da-fé” which led, nightmarishly, to a Second World War – and ultimately, to what he calls “the definitive collapse of Europe.” His basic conclusion is that Europe has failed to grasp “the will to war,” because it is not a phenomenon of what he calls the “day.” European philosophy must face the reality of the human “night.” It is rational to honour the limits of the rational in human life, and Patočka is unconvinced that postwar Europeans had so honoured them – or could, since they held a progressive philosophy of history that his Heretical Essays seek to correct.

Music Info:
Flying and Uplifting - No Copyright Background Music by LesFreeMusic.
Music Link: youtu.be/zEEbVJ158ls
Outro Music by Coma-Media from Pixabay

Видео Exploring the Underground Writings of Jan Patočka: War and the Fate of Europe канала Danube Institute