The Concept of Rational Civilization. Patočka's Interpretation of Modernity in the Context of Contemporary Civilizational Analysis
Abstract
This book deals with the work of Jan Patočka (1907-1977), probably the most important Czech philosopher of the twentieth century, and with his understanding of modernity. More precisely, the book focuses on Patočka's work from the perspective of contemporary civilizational analysis, which particularly draws our attention to Patočka's dialogue with the work of the German sociologist Max Weber (1864-1920).
The book is divided into three parts. The first part introduces Patočka's work in general; it summarizes the current state of Patočka's heritage, including both existing findings and future challenges.
The second part discusses the perspective of civilizational analysis, a subdiscipline of contemporary historical sociology, and explains the link between this field of research and Patočka's work. Finally, the third part presents an interpretation of Patočka's work that emphasizes the very perspective of civilizational analysis: here the focus is on Patočka's dialogue with Weber's work, which is most notably expressed in the philosopher's idea of "rational civilization".
In this way, the book contributes to existing interpretations of Patočka's work as well as to discussions of the theoretical concept of civilizational analysis.