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Document Details :

Title: On Human Rights
Author(s): HAVEL, Vaclav , VAN HEESWIJCK, Guido
Journal: Ethical Perspectives
Volume: 6    Issue: 1   Date: 1999   
Pages: 4-9
DOI: 10.2143/EP.6.1.505359

Abstract :
Havel's thought, via the thought of Patocka, must be situated within a dual tradition. On the one hand it is rooted in Czech history. Patocka had already in his early writings thematized the ideas of Thomas Masaryk. The work of Masaryk, who became the first president of the new Czech republic after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, is characterized by an awareness of the crisis of (European) rationality, like in the later Husserl. On the other hand Havel's thought, again by way of Patocka, is rooted in a phenomenology that is primarily oriented toward Germany. Patocka is often regarded as the interpreter par excellence of the dialogue between Husserl and Heidegger.

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