SÓKRATOVSKO-PLATÓNSKÁ A KŘESŤANSKÁ PODOBA PÉČE O DUŠI

The aim of this paper is to expound upon the relationship between the Socratic-Platonic form of the care of the soul and its Christian pendant. This relationship is considered essential in Jan Patočka’s late concept of the spiritual roots of Europe. Patočka, however, does not develop this theme systematically. The attempt to develop this theme presented in this paper is inspired by Patočka’s interpretation of the Socratic-Platonic care of the soul, but it breaks with this interpretation in important ways, as well. The difference in both approaches, however, is left implicit as the focus of the paper is on a systematic analyses of the relationship between the Socratic-Platonic and the Christian form of the care of the soul as such, not on its Patočkian interpretation. The paper analyses this relationship by trying to delineate agreements and differences between the two forms of the care of the soul in the three following respects: (1) fundamental spiritual attitudes present in each of the two; (2) the notion of dialogicity implicit in them; (3) the views on the place of humans in reality as a whole and on their dignity.