Wolność w filozofii Jana Patočki i Józefa Tischnera

The paper aims to compare these two thinkers, whose the lives and works were strongly marked by the totalitarianisms of the troubled 20th century. Apart from the historical kinship of their biographies, there is also a group of issues in which they share some interest. Some of these are strictly related to their affiliation with the phenomenological movement, but perhaps most important is the fact that both of them considered freedom to be the key concept of their philosophies. This is the reason why philosophy of freedom is the central issue of this paper. In the case of Patočka, the author investigates and reveals the relations between man, freedom, and history. Further, Patočka focuses his explorations on the “negative” aspect of liberty. In Tischner’s works, the movement of his reflections on freedom starts with an axiological approach and then shifts in the late period of his intellectual activity when the concept is placed within the context of his philosophy of drama. Significantly, both thinkers defend human freedom in the era of ideologies and technological domination.