Abstract
In this paper, I call attention to certain themes that are present in Patočka ’s PhD dissertation of 1931, The Concept of Evidence and its Significance for Knowledge [Pojem Evidence a Jeho Význam pro Noetiku]; in which he outlines a historical account of the concept of evidence by considering the methodology of modern science based on modern epistemology as inaugurated by René Descartes . For Patočka , Husserl does not offer a finished philosophy but rather provides the best possible philosophical attempt so far at answering the question of evidence inherited from modern epistemology . I argue that certain concerns that are present in his PhD dissertation never leave Patočka ’s thinking. In Patočka ’s view, we need to rethink phenomenology, not abandon it.
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- 1.
“‘Budiž nás vzdálena pochybnost o pravdě smyslové zkušenosti,’ praví, ‘neznali bychom číslo, velikost a určenost věcí, kdybychom je nevnímali smysly’”. Unless indicated, translations are my own.
- 2.
Later expanded into Cartesian Meditations (Husserl 1960).
- 3.
At the lecture, his teacher Alexandre Koyré introduced Patočka to Husserl (Blecha 1997: 19–21).
- 4.
From now on referred to as ‘The Concept of Evidence’.
- 5.
James Mensch points to similar tension in Husserl ’s Logical Investigations (Mensch 1981).
- 6.
See Part II of The Concept of Evidence on empirical genesis (Patočka 2008 [1931]: 87–100).
- 7.
See Part II of The Concept of Evidence on the genesis of rationalism (Patočka 2008 [1931]: 76–86).
- 8.
cf. Locke, esp. Locke 1976 [1690]: Book II, Chapter XXV, 1, 2, 5 [150–152].
- 9.
“co žádnou věc nepotřebuje ke své existenci” (Editor’s note in Patočka 2008 [1931]: note 108, 176). In English translation: “By substance we can understand nothing other than a thing which exists in such a way as to depend on no other thing for its existence” (Descartes 1985: I, 51, 24 [210], italics in original).
- 10.
“subjektivací jsoucna se tudíž pravda stává nutně…ideou myšlenkového celku”.
- 11.
“E. Le Roy, Sur la logique de l’invention, in: Revue de métaphysique et de morale 13 (1905), str. 196” (Patočka 2008 [1931]: note 21, 23).
- 12.
Husserl will argue this in his last work, see Husserl 1970.
- 13.
“Při každém zjevování musíme nutně předpokládat, že to, co se nám zjevuje, jest, že je to skutečné bytí, že to není pouhý fenomén, kus našeho prožívání, že to není něco jakkoli privátního, že to jest v silném smyslu slova. Co toto ‘jest’ znamená? Jsoucna se nám odkrývají v tom, že jsou a jaká jsou.”
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Učník, L. (2015). Jan Patočka: From the Concept of Evidence to the Natural World and Beyond. In: Učník, Ľ., Chvatík, I., Williams, A. (eds) The Phenomenological Critique of Mathematisation and the Question of Responsibility. Contributions To Phenomenology, vol 76. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09828-9_3
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