The inspiration of ancient philosophy, the Socratic-Platonic moment in particular, was reflected in the key motif of Jan Patočka’s work "the care for the soul,” which in different forms determined his philosophy of history from the 1930s to the 1970s. The soul, which in Socrates does not represent a Homeric shadow or a mythical idea, was in the philosophical view conceived as the strength to make a decision, to take a stance, choose a direction. Patočka therefore viewed the soul as a principle which is the foundation of history and significant moments of European culture, philosophy, politics and art.
Jan Josl’s deep analysis of reflections over the nature of art, which Patočka developed in discussions with Martin Heidegger and Roman Ingarden, and his interpretation of partial motifs in Sophocles, Tchekhov and Thomas Mann, attest to the fact that for Patočka, art was a specific kind of reflection of the human position in the world.