The phenomenological epoché’s anti-dogmatism made it politically subversive

Evidence

In fact, one could say that Patočka was only revealing the subversive tendency that had always lurked in phenomenology. Husserl’s call to return to the ‘things themselves’ was a call to ignore ideologies such as Marxism. It was a summons to critical self-reliance, with all dogmas set aside in the epoché. One can even trace this anti-dogmatic spirit back to the young Franz Brentano, who refused to accept the infallibility of the Pope and was punished by losing his teaching post. Patočka refused to accept the infallibility of the Communist Party for very similar reasons. Brentano had passed the spirit of sceptical refusal to Husserl; Husserl had passed it to Patočka, and Patočka now passed it to Havel and many others. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 923

Categorization

• DEFINE: Positions the epoché as a suspension of all dogmas — clarifying a core phenomenological method term in its political application.
• XREF: connects to: Phenomenology’s epoché can neutralize political and ideological dogmas by prioritizing direct experience — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 148; Phenomenology of subjectivity becomes political resistance under tyranny — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 929