A Life in Waiting.
What do people queueing at Česká Pošta, asylum seekers, Christian believers, and progressivists have in
common? This course is dedicated to finding this out by investigating human existence through the phenomenon
of waiting. Waiting, this inhibition of the movement of our lives, is more than just an unpleasant interlude. As this
course tries to show, it is a kaleidoscope through which individual existence in its social entanglement, as well as
the relations of power structuring it can be scrutinized. Not least, waiting can be an existential attitude which
promises a more open and ethical relation towards the world.
The course departs from a phenomenological description of waiting by the example of a train ride. Following, the
social dimension of existence is described by looking at the modalities of waiting for, waiting with and waiting
instead of someone. Next, in line with Bourdieu, waiting is taken as a route to explore the workings of power on
those subject to it through the examples of queueing, life in the asylum process, as well as imprisonment.
The second part of the course is dedicated to exploring waiting as an existential attitude. Here, the interplay of
promise and awaiting in Jewish and Christian faith are first explored. Second, the existential attitude behind the
modern ideal of progress, famously elaborated in the Classical German philosophers like Hegel, is explored. This
prepares the ground for exploring modern philosophical takes on waiting as an existential attitude, as formulated
by Martin Heidegger, Simone Weil and Emmanuel Levinas. The eagerly awaited end is marked by Simon Beckett’s
big laugh at overboarding eschatological optimism.
Last update: Vinterová Lenka, Mgr. (25.06.2026)
A Life in Waiting.
What do people queueing at Česká Pošta, asylum seekers, Christian believers, and progressivists have in
common? This course is dedicated to finding this out by investigating human existence through the phenomenon
of waiting. Waiting, this inhibition of the movement of our lives, is more than just an unpleasant interlude. As this
course tries to show, it is a kaleidoscope through which individual existence in its social entanglement, as well as
the relations of power structuring it can be scrutinized. Not least, waiting can be an existential attitude which
promises a more open and ethical relation towards the world.
The course departs from a phenomenological description of waiting by the example of a train ride. Following, the
social dimension of existence is described by looking at the modalities of waiting for, waiting with and waiting
instead of someone. Next, in line with Bourdieu, waiting is taken as a route to explore the workings of power on
those subject to it through the examples of queueing, life in the asylum process, as well as imprisonment.
The second part of the course is dedicated to exploring waiting as an existential attitude. Here, the interplay of
promise and awaiting in Jewish and Christian faith are first explored. Second, the existential attitude behind the
modern ideal of progress, famously elaborated in the Classical German philosophers like Hegel, is explored. This
prepares the ground for exploring modern philosophical takes on waiting as an existential attitude, as formulated
by Martin Heidegger, Simone Weil and Emmanuel Levinas. The eagerly awaited end is marked by Simon Beckett’s
big laugh at overboarding eschatological optimism.
Last update: Vinterová Lenka, Mgr. (25.06.2026)
Course completion requirements
Final paper 10 pages followed by a discussion of the written paper.
Last update: Niemann Lutz Aloys, Mgr., Ph.D. (06.08.2026)
