1 option
The political thought of Václav Havel : philosophical influences and contemporary applications / by Daniel Brennan.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Brennan, Daniel, author.
- Series:
- Value inquiry book series. Central-European value studies ; Volume 295.
- Value Inquiry Book Series. Central European Value Studies, 0929-8436 ; Volume 295
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Havel, Václav--Political and social views.
- Havel, Václav.
- Czechoslovakia--Politics and government--1945-1992.
- Czechoslovakia.
- Czech Republic--Politics and government--1993-.
- Czech Republic.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (197 pages).
- Place of Publication:
- Leiden, Netherlands : Brill Rodopi, 2017.
- Summary:
- The book considers Václav Havel’s body of writing as a cohesive whole offering a consistent political philosophy. This bold claim is backed up through a close examination of Havel’s plays, letters, essays and aphorisms. The political philosophy that a close reading of Havel reveals is a liberal one. However, Havel is not the run-of the-mill liberal having influences from the field of phenomenology, Masaryk, Husserl, Levinas Patočka and Heidegger which give him a nuanced view of the self. Havel sees the self as something always being formed. Hence for Havel man has an ability to ‘shake’ his current state and invite transcendence into his life. This agonistic process reveals our responsibility and liberates the self from forces which coerce behaviour.
- Contents:
- Preliminary Material
- Introduction
- Themes in Havel’s Thought
- The Influence of Jan Patočka
- Further Patočkean Ideas in Havel’s Thought
- Living in Truth as an Existential Concept
- Havel’s Concern for Meaningful Political Discourse
- Václav Havel’s Political thought as a Liberal Philosophy
- Havel’s Liberal Agonism
- Conclusion: Havel and the Neoliberal State
- Bibliography
- Index.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
- Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed October 19, 2016).
- ISBN:
- 90-04-33219-7
- Publisher Number:
- 10.1163/9789004332195 DOI
The Penn Libraries is committed to describing library materials using current, accurate, and responsible language. If you discover outdated or inaccurate language, please fill out this feedback form to report it and suggest alternative language.