Religion, or Politics? On Patočka’s Concept of Historical Action

Ivan Chvatík

The paper attempts to show that Patočka’s interest in the philosophy of history is connected, from the very beginning of his career as a thinker, with his phenomenological philosophising. The paper explains how Patočka understands the philosophy of history, demonstrates how he was influenced not only by Husserl but especially by Heidegger, and traces how Patočka – on the base of his research into philosophy of history – succeeded in thinking Christianity to the end in a very „heretical“ way. It turns out that the connection between Christian religion and political action, as well as this act of thinking Christianity through, might be a way of escaping the nihilistic crisis of Europe.