Whereas for the wider public Jan Patocka is known mainly as a defender of human rights and one of the first spokespersons of Charter 77, who died in Prague several days after long interrogations by secret police of the Communist regime, the international philosophical community sees in him an important and inspiring thinker, who in an original way elaborated the great impulses of European thought - mainly Husserl's phenomenology and Heidegger's philosophy of existence. Patocka also reflected on history and the future of humanity in a globalized world and laid the foundations of an original philosophy of history. His work is a subject of lively philosophical discussion especially in French and German-speaking countries, and recently also in Spanish-speaking, in U.S.A., and in the Far East.

Scholars from around the world who are interested in the philosophy of Jan Patocka gathered in Prague to commemorate his centenary and the thirtieth anniversary of his death. The conference explored the significance of his work and its continuing influence on contemporary philosophy.

The volume presents selected papers from the conference in English language.

Ivan Chvatík finished his graduate study under the supervision of leading Czech philosopher Jan Patocka. After Patockäs death in 1977, he became head of the clandestine Jan Patocka Archive, which now has become part of the Institute of Philosophy of the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic. In 1993, he became the co-director of the Center for Theoretical Study, an interdisciplinary institute for advanced study at Charles University and the Academy of Science. He became the editor of the first complete Czech translation of Martin Heidegger¿s Being and Time (1996), and is currently in charge of editing Patockäs Complete Works (twelve volumes published to date out of a planned twenty-five).

Ivan Chvatík, Preface; Václav Havel, Remembering Jan Patocka; Miroslav Petrícek, Jan Patocka: Phenomenological Philosophy Today; Petr Pithart, Questioning as a Prerequisite for a Meaningful Protest; Martin PalouS, Jan Patocka's Socratic Message for the 21st Century; Marc Crepon, Fear, Courage, Anger: the Socratic Lesson; Josef Moural (Prague): Time and Responsibility, Kwok-ying Lau, Patocka's Concept of Europe: an Intercultural Consideration; Steven Crowell, "Idealities of Nature": Jan Patocka on Reflection and the Three Movements of Human Life, Eddo Evink, The Relevance of Patocka's "Negative Platonism"; Burt Hopkins, Patocka's Phenomenological Appropriation of Plato; Renaud Barbaras, Phenomenology and Henology; Tamás Ullmann, Negative Platonism and the Problem of Appearance; Pierre Rodrigo, Negative Platonism and Maximal Existence in the thought of Jan Patocka; Johann Arnason, Negative Platonism: Between the History of Philosophy and the Philosophy of History; James Mensch, Patocka and Artificial Intelligence; Domenico Jervolino, Reading Patocka, in search for a philosophy of translation; Ludger Hagedorn, Beyond Myth and Enlightenment; Marcia Schuback, Sacrifice and Salvation: Jan Patocka's readings of Heidegger concerning the question of technique; Lubica Ucník, Patocka on Techno-Power and the Sacrificial Victim (Obet); James Dodd, The 20^th Century as War