Seeking Evidence

Abstract

In this chapter, I explicate how Patočka’s early concept of phenomenology, as presented in his dissertation, was inspired by Husserl. I clarify why Husserl’s phenomenology was attractive for Patočka: Phenomenology as a transcendental theory of experience discovers conditions of the possibility of all reality, and it proceeds as a pure science because its method is not constructive but intuitive, observing. Summarizing Patočka’s analysis of the epistemic process, I explicate his early idea of the relation between finite consciousness and reality. I pay attention to the tension between Patočka’s rejection of absolute idealism and his idea that phenomenology has its point of departure in “something like intellectus dei infinitus.” Finally, I discuss the ontological limits of Patočka’s early transcendentalism.