Jan Patočka

from the concept of evidence to the natural world and beyond

L'ubica Učník

pp. 31-42

in: L'ubica Učník, Ivan Chvatík, Anita Williams (eds), The phenomenological critique of mathematisation and the question of responsibility, Berlin, Springer, 2015

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.

Cited authors

Husserl Edmund

Patočka Jan

Descartes René