The Solidarity of the Shaken: Jan Patočka’s Legacy in the Modern World

The phrase solidarity of the shaken was introduced into the today’s political vocabulary by Jan Patocka, one of the last students of the philosopher Edmund Husserl and undoubtedly the most important Czech philosopher of the twentieth century. In January 1977, Patocka became - together with Vaclav Havel and Jiri Hajek – one of the first three spokespersons of Charter 77, Czechoslovakia’s anti-communist resistance movement. He died less than three months later, as a result of total exhaustion caused by days-long police interrogations.

Patocka’s Socratic death is an unavoidable component of his philosophical legacy. Is his main message still relevant today, after the short twentieth century ended with the collapse of communism in Europe in 1989? Is it still in circulation and perceived as an important Central European contribution to the new dialogue of mankind taking place today, as we approach the end of the second decade of new millennium?

Six years ago, the Vaclav Havel Library organized a seminar in Prague where a group of scholars sought to answer these questions. This book offers any readers concerned with human rights the results of these incisive discussions. Patocka’s life and work are decidedly not diminishing with time. On the contrary, they have been actualized by our current spiritual crisis.