Europe, the very idea is a series on the philosophical notion of Europe and what reflection upon it can lend to the sphere of concrete politics.
The Ford assembly line, 1913. Wikicommons. Some rights reserved.In this reflection I would like to start from the inspiring distinction made by the Czech philosopher Jan Patočka in one of his late essays.[1] It is the distinction between two forms of rationality: “the rationality of means” and “the rationality of ends”. Patočka was convinced that the fruitful tension between the two, as long as there was equilibrium between them, was the defining feature of the European form of spiritual life from classical Antiquity till the end of the Middle Ages.
