TY - THES ID - 137500107 TI - Toward a New Humanism : Jan Patočka’s Response to the Crisis of Man in Éternité et Historicité AU - Leufer, Daniel John AU - de Warren, Nicolas AU - KU Leuven. Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte. Opleiding Master of Philosophy PY - 2014 PB - Leuven : K.U. Leuven. Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte DB - UniCat UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:137500107 AB - In this thesis, my aim is to look at Jan Patočka's engagement with the problem of humanism in Éternité et Historicité. In Chapter One, I will characterize Patočka's understanding of the crisis of man in the twentieth century and look at how he links that crisis to the problem of humanism and to his interpretation of 'genuine' Socratic philosophy. In Chapter Two, I will look at how Patočka links Socratic philosophy to twentieth century existentialism and I will examine his critique of Jean-Paul Sartre. Although I will conclude that his critique of Sartre is not quite on point, I will nevertheless argue that the direction in which this critique takes him - namely, to try to introduce a notion of 'higher being' into an existentialist framework - is interesting and results in a unique existentialist position. The aim of Chapter Three is to present Patočka's existentialist philosophy - his Socratic humanism - by looking at his analyses of human consciousness and his descriptions of inauthentic and authentic existence. In presenting his Socratic humanism, I will supplement what I perceive to be a lack of elaboration in the text itself by looking at how the question of the Good functions as the fundamental motor of Socratic humanism. In the final chapter, I will assess how Patočka's Socratic humanism could offer a response to the crisis which I characterize in Chapter One. Due to the lack of political elaboration in Éternité et Historicité, I will draw out the political implications of Patočka's Socratic humanism and provide a sketch of what could be called a Socratic politics. ER -