ABSTRACT This article sheds light on the relation between care for the soul and the political thought of Jan Patočka. Patočka often sketches a connection between care for the soul and a theory of the state, but he rarely elaborates this. The biographical fact of Patočka’s own political dissidence and his interpretation of care for the soul as a distancing from traditional structures of society have caused many to look at Patočka’s political thought mainly through the lens of political resistance. Such interpretations are definitely warranted, but can overlook the moments in his work that point towards a theory of the state. While these are only indications, this article presents a way to develop these moments. It will do so on the basis of the idea that the theory of the state should not be based directly on care for the soul itself, but on its founding principle of problematicity. The stronger, perhaps more metaphysical, interpretation of problematicity that is argued for here both opens the space of the political and sets strict boundaries to it and as such should be the founding principle of any state that wishes to uphold this space.

中文翻译：

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从关爱灵魂到扬·帕托奇卡的国家理论

摘要本文阐明了对灵魂的关怀与扬·帕托奇卡的政治思想之间的关系。帕托奇卡经常勾勒出对灵魂的关怀与国家理论之间的联系，但他很少对此加以阐述。帕托奇卡自己的政治异见的传记事实和他对灵魂的关怀解释是与传统社会结构的背离，这使得许多人主要通过政治抵抗的角度来考察帕托奇卡的政治思想。这样的解释绝对是必要的，但可以忽略他的工作中指向国家理论的时刻。这些只是指示，本文提供了一种发展这些时刻的方法。这样做的前提是，国家理论不应直接基于对灵魂本身的关心，但基于其存在问题的原则。这里所主张的对问题的更强有力的解释，也许是形而上学的解释，既打开了政治空间，也为其设定了严格的界限，因此，这应该是任何希望维护这一空间的国家的建国原则。