Abstract

In this paper we will highlight the Hegelian heritage in Patočka and Ricœur’s thoughts. This heritage is particularly clear in their ideas of gift of self and of community bonding. The critical resumption of Hegel leads the two philosophers to discover some forms of recognition that overtake the struggle to the death, i.e. the two figures of the gift of self: the ceremonial gift and the authentic sacrifice. Patočka and Ricœur compare to Hegel also on the political thought. On one side they agree with the idea of a conflictual origin of the community connections and of the institutions; on the other side they refuse every synthetic reconciliation, whether it is the hypostasis figure of the State or the absolute subjectivity. While preserving the tragic element of the history and of the historic human praxis, Patočka and Ricœur seem to analyze and overtake the Hegelian idea of struggle in the direction of a community connection which finds its foundation in the gift of self.