Jan Patočka: A Bystander Turned Dissident (translated by Julija Hoda)

Abstract

Jan Patočka (1907–1977) was a Czech philosopher and scholar who became a dissenter hero and martyr in 1977 as a representative of the dissenter group, Charta 77. The paper surveys the existing information about Patočka, about the situation of philosophy and classics in Czechoslovakia from the 1940s to the 1970s, and about Charta 77, focusing on the issue of how and why Patočka, a life-long bystander with regard to political struggle, chose to accept a prominent position in a dissenter group, which led to his death in March 1977.