Abstract

In Patočka’s later thought, death is a recurring theme. It is something that he analyzes phenomenologically and existentially, but also a theme that is related to his critique of modernity and to his philosophy of history. In this article, I analyze the question of death more broadly in Patočka’s later philosophy in order to show how his reflections in “The Phenomenology of Afterlife” can shed new light on his understanding of our co-existence with others and provide us with a phenomenological concretion that is lacking in his more speculative philosophy of history. By relating “The Phenomenology of Afterlife” to Patočka’s more famous analyses in the Heretical Essays, we can also understand the interconnection between his political thought and his so called “a-subjective phenomenology” in greater detail.