Phenomenology in Central Europe: Philosophy from the margins

Abstract The aim of the paper is twofold: first, to enrich the factual historical record of the phenomenological movement in the second half of the 20th century in a Central European context by presenting two representatives of this movement who are now relatively unknown in the Czechoslovak philosophical milieu (Marie Bayerová and Josef Cibulka). The genealogy of this stream of phenomenology has been shaped by the difficult conditions under which philosophy was conducted. The second aim is to use the genealogy to describe the type of phenomenology that developed in this milieu. The article considers minor figures in the phenomenological movement, by exploring philosophy, both “ in margine ” and from the centre. It also consider the concept of “state of emergency”. Taking these pointers of philosophical analysis (elaborated by Jan Patočka and Milan Šimečka in their time) we reveal the anthropological conditions of philosophizing and the type of phenomenology.