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Abstract

The article deals with Patočka’s lecture on Hegel’s Phenomenology of the Spirit from the school-year 1949/50, which remained uncompleted. The lecture was a response to the post-war interest in Hegel, which found its expression in Hyppolite’s translation of Phenomenology of the Spirit (1939, 1941) as well as in his book Genesis and Structure of Hegel’s "Phenomenology of Spirit" (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy) (1946), and first of all in A. Kojève’s Introduction to the Reading of Hegel (1947). The lecture evolves from introducing the commentaries on Hegel’s book to author’s original considerations. Hegel was a subject of interest also for later Patočka; in 1960 his translation of Phenomenology of the Spirit appeared, although his Introduction has not been included and is preserved only partially.