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ART AS EDUCATION: JAN PATOCKA ON THE RELATION OF ART TO DEEP AND SUPERFICIAL HISTORY
Abstract
This essay deals with the ideas of the Czech phenomenological philosopher Jan Patocka. In particular, I investigate Patocka's conception of the relation of art to †deep' and †superficial' history, which he sketches in his essays from the 1930s and the 1940s. Patocka sketches this conception in the context of his considerations of the various types of education. Patocka shows that art, philosophy, historiography, politics, economy and science represent various †educational powers,' which shape human history. On the one hand, Patocka is influenced by Bergson, when he claims that these educational powers represent †creative energies.' They inspire man through the creations, towards which they guide man. On the other hand, however, Patocka is also undoubtedly influenced by Heidegger, who stated that, in such creations, the †world,' i.e. the general comprehension about the meaning of life and things, is recreated. Patocka argues that the gaining of such a general comprehension of the meaning of life and things is the very task of art. However, art as education is not carried out only through artistic creation, but also through art criticism. Art as education not only signifies the grasp at the meaning of life, but also the understanding of the †process,' from which such a grasp results, and even also the setting of this process into the context of similar attempts at that grasp. From this perspective, it is possible to argue that the art critic is able to understand the nature of art more completely than the artist himself/herself. In my paper I emphasize that, according to Patocka's view, the art critic disposes of his/her historical prejudice by inclining toward deep history, which is the drama of the †struggle' for the meaning of life. This struggle is not open to the exterior, objectifying view, i.e. to the view focused on superficial history. This interior or deep history is the sphere of the artist's work and – even more profoundly – of the art critic.
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