Abstract
At the beginning of his book Body, Community, Language, World, Jan Patočka claims that the human body has never been considered worthy of reflection throughout the entire (Western) philosophical tradition. Human corporeity has been largely excluded from philosophical reflections since the times of Plato’s conception of the human as a being divided between a mortal body and an immortal soul. Yet there is one thinker who had, as early as the nineteenth century, described the history of philosophy, from Plato to Hegel, as a history of the loss of human corporeity. This philosopher was Ludwig Feuerbach. While Patočka follows the path of phenomenological anthropology, Feuerbach tries to return the sense of corporeity to the human being through the rehabilitation of sensuous perceptions and emotions. Despite their different approaches to the problem, Patočka and Feuerbach both agree with the notion that intersubjectivity, based on the corporeity of two autonomous subjects, stands outside of any cognitive pattern. They both persist in their efforts to bring the human body back into philosophy as a relevant source of experience because they both understand that the human body remains a universal symbol across all cultures and societies.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
On the problem of the unjustified perception of atheism in the philosophy of Feuerbach, see Reitemeyer 1990.
In the German original: Ludwig Feuerbach und der Ausgang der klassischen deutschen Philosophie (Engels 1886/1979).
See Patočka’s second movement of existence.
Water according to Thales and air in the case of Anaximenes.
The polarity between apeiron and peras in the fragments of Anaximadros, between the motionless globe of Being and the material beings situated inside this globe in the philosophy of Parmenides, and the tension between the apparent oppositions and contradictions which constantly merge from one to another in Heraclitus (Kirk et al. 1983 [1957]).
Prior to Patočka, more attention was dedicated to human corporeity in the twentieth century philosophy in the phenomenology by Husserl and Marleau-Ponty in particular. See for example, (Husserl 1973 [1905–1920]), (Husserl 1973 [1921–1928]) and (Husserl 1973 [1929–1935]). See also, (Marleau-Ponty 1962 [1945]). However, as Sandra Lehman claims, Patočka with his perception of corporeity is clearly going behind the scope of Husserlian phenomenology (Lehman 2004, 33). This will be expanded upon later in the article.
This word has a double meaning in German. Sinnlich means both sensuous and sensual at the same time. Even though the concept of sensuality (Sinnlichkeit) found a positive meaning in Feuerbach’s anthropology, especially in intersubjective relations, in this context, Sinnlichkeit stands outside any moral judgment and should be understood in a strictly epistemological and metaphysical sense as sensitivity or sensuousness.
In the “Translator's Postscript” to Body, Community, Language, World, Kohák accentuates the fact that, when Patočka wrote these lectures in the mid-sixties, none of the later texts on animal psychology were available to him. However anthropocentric these declarations might sound, they do not intend to describe animals as creatures of lower value, because their meaning is strictly metaphorical. “So it is useful to take Patočka’s claims about nonhuman animals not as problematic assertions about animal psychology but as metaphors designed to make crucial traits of being human stand out in greater clarity” (Kohák 1998, 182).
References
Aquinas, T. (2014 [1265–1273]). The summa theologica. Complete edition (trans: F. of English Dominican Province). London: Catholic Way Publishing.
Aristotle. (2002 [c. 360 b. c. e.]). Metaphysics (trans: Sachs, J.). Santa Fe, NM: Green Lion Press.
Augustinus, A. (2008 [397–398]). The confessions. Ed. by J. E. Rotelle (trans: Boulding, M.). Hyde Park, NY: New City Press.
Damasio, A. R. (2000). The feeling of what happens: Body. New York: Vintage.
Damasio, A. R. (2008 [1994]). Descartes' error: Emotion, reason and the human brain. New York: Random House.
Descartes, R. (2008 [1641]). Meditations on first philosophy. With selections from the objections and replies. Tr. by M. Moriarty. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Di Giovanni, G. (2010). Prologue. Editor’s Introduction. In The science of logic (trans and Ed.: George di Giovanni) (pp. ix–lxiii). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Feuerbach, L. (2016 [1843]). Grundsätze der Philosophie der Zukunft und andere Schriften. New York: Holzinger.
Feuerbach, L. (2012, 1972 [1843]). Principles of philosophy of the future (trans: Hanfi, Z.). The Fiery Brooks Selected Writings. Brooklyn, NY: Verso. https://rowlandpasaribu.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/ludwig-feuerbach-principles-of-philosophy-of-the-future.pdf
Hagedorn, L. (2015). “Christianity unthought”—A reconsideration of myth, faith, and historicity, 34–46. In: Dodd, J., & Hagedorn, L. (Eds.). The New yearbook for phenomenology and phenomenological philosophy XIV—2015. Religion, war and the crisis of modernity. A special issue dedicated to the philosophy of Jan Patočka. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.
Hegel, G. W. F. (2010 [1812, 1816]). The science of logic (trans and. Ed.: George di Giovanni). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Husserl, E. (1973 [1905−1920]). Zur Phänomenologie der Intersubjektivität. Texte aus dem Nachlass. Erster Teil. In: Husserliana. Bd. XIII. Hg. I. Kern. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
Husserl, E. (1973 [1921−1928]). Zur Phänomenologie der Intersubjektivität. Texte aus dem Nachlass. Zweiter Teil. In Husserliana. Bd. XIV. Hg. I. Kern. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
Husserl, E. (1973 [1929−1935]). Zur Phänomenologie der Intersubjektivität. Texte aus dem Nachlass. Dritter Teil. In Husserliana. Bd. XV. Hg. I. Kern. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
Kirk, G. S., Raven, J. E., Schoefield, M. (1983 [1957]). The presocratic philosophers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kohák, E., (1998). Translator's postscript: The story of an author and a text. In Body, community, language, world (trans: Erazim Kohák). Edited by James Dodd. Chicago, IL: Open Court, pp. 179–183.
Kohák, E., Patočka, J. (1989). Philosophy and selected writings. Edited by E. Kohák. Chicago, IL: The Chicago University Press.
Koci, M. (2019). Christianity after christendom: Rethinking Jan Paročka´s Heresy. The Heythrop Journal, 2019, 1–14.
Lehman, S. (2004). Der Horizont der Freiheit. Zum Existenzdenken Jan Patočkas. Würzburg: Verlag Könighausen und Neumann.
Marleau-Ponty, M. (1962 [1945]). Phenomenology of Perception (trans: Smith, C.). Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.
Meacham, D. (2007). The body at the front—Corporeity and community in Jan Patočka’s Heretical Essays in the Philosophy of History. Studia Phaenomenologica, 2007(7), 353–376.
Mikoška, P. (2011). Tělesnost jako podmínka intersubjektivity v myšlení Jana Patočky. In: P. Urban (Ed.). Fenomenologie tělesnosti (Filosofický časopis. Suppl.) (pp. 69–80). Prague: Filosofia.
Novotný, K. (2011). Subjektivní pohyb těla a svět. In: P. Urban (Ed.). Fenomenologie tělesnosti (Filosofický časopis. Suppl.) (pp. 47–68). Prague: Filosofia.
Nussbaum, M. C. (1986). The fragility of goodness: Luck and ethics in greek tragedy and philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Patočka, J. (1930). F. Engels, Ludwig Feuerbach a konec klasické německé filosofie, Praha. In: Věstník pedagogický 8 (1930), č. 6, str. 230.
Patočka, J. (1933). F. Engels, Ludvík Feuerbach a vyústění německé klasické filosofie, Praha 1932. In: Česká mysl 29, č. 2, str. 116.
Patočka, J. (1995). Tělo, společenství, jazyk, svět. Oikúmené a Archiv Jana Patočky Praha.
Patočka, J. (1996). Negativní platonismus. In: Péče o duši I. Sebrané spisy. Sv. 1 (pp. 303–336). Oikúmené a Archiv Jana Patočky, Praha.
Patočka, J. (1998). Body, community, language, world (trans: Kohák, E.). In J. Dodd (Ed.). Chicago, IL: Open Court.
Patočka, J. (2016a). Fenomenologie vlastního těla. In I. Chvatík, J. Frei, & J. Puc (Eds.), Fenomenologické spisy III/2 (pp. 173–188). Oikúmené a Archiv Jana Patočky, Praha.
Patočka, J. (2016b). Koncept přednášky o tělesnosti. In I. Chvatík, J. Frei, & J. Puc (Eds.), Fenomenologické spisy III/2 (pp. 189–251). Oikúmené a Archiv Jana Patočky, Praha.
Plato. (1992[c. 380 b. c. e.]). Republic (trans: Grube, G.M.A.). Cambridge, MA: Hackett Publishing Company.
Plato. (2014[c. 360 b. c. e.]). Phaedo. Ed. by L. Carr (trans: Jowett, B.). New York: Heritage Illustrated Publishing.
Reitemeyer, U. (1988). Philosophie der Leiblichkeit. Ludwig Feuerbachs Entwurf einer Philosophie der Zukunft. Berlin: Suhrkamp.
Reitemeyer, U. (1990). Apotheose der Sinnlichkeit?. In: Braun, H.-J., Sass, H.-M., Schuffenhauer, W., Tomasoni, F. (Hrsg.). Ludwig Feuerbach und die Philosophie der Zukunft (pp. 259–284). Berlin: Suhrkamp.
Reitemeyer, U. (2007). Der entleibte Mensch. Ludwig Feuerbachs Kritik der identitätslosen Moderne. In: Jahresberichte für deutsche Geschichte (pp. 159–169). Berlin: Brandemburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Ritter, M. (2019). Into the world: The movement of Patočka’s phenomenology. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
Sieverding, J. (2007). Sensibilität und Solidarität. Skizze einer dialogischen Ethik im Anschluss an Ludwig Feuerbach und Richard Rorty. Münster: Waxmann.
Stojka, R. (2015). Patočkova kritika Heideggera a tri pohyby existencie. In: V. Leško & R. Stojka (Eds.). Patočka a filozofia 20. storočia (pp. 129–150). KOŠICE: UPJŠ.
Taylor, C. (1994). The politics of recognition. In A. Gutmann (Ed.). Multiculturalism and the politics of recognition (pp. 25–73). Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Wood, A. W. (2016). Fichte’s ethical thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflicts of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bosakova, K. Against the self-sufficiency of reason. Concept of corporeity in Feuerbach and Patočka. Stud East Eur Thought 73, 327–345 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-021-09409-2
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11212-021-09409-2