Europe and the Care of the Soul

This book offers an original and challenging interpretation of Jan Pato?ka's conception of the spiritual foundations of Europe in terms of the formation, transformation, and crisis of the idea of the care of the soul. The author clearly situates this conception at the center of the overall context of Patocka's thought. The unity of that thought, he argues, lies in Patocka's persistent investigation of what constitutes truthful human existence. Since the idea of the care of the soul originates in the thought of Socrates and Plato, special attention is given to Patocka's interpretation of these two thinkers. Among other themes, the interpretation incorporates Patocka's account of the Renaissance and of the Enlightenment as two periods in which the spiritual style marked by the care of the soul gradually dissolves. The last chapter of the book focuses on Pato?ka's reflections about both the dangers and the positive possibilities of modern science and technology.§§About the author: Martin Cajthaml ( 1971) studied philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague, and at the International Academy of Philosophy in the Principality of Lichtenstein. He is Associated Professor at the Department of Philosophy and Patrology at the Sts Cyril and Methodius Faculty of Theology, Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic. His main current interests lie in the field of ethics.