Patocka distinguishes between three main types of movement, which describe the different types of human life in the world: the movement of acceptance, the movement of defense and the movement of truth. These basic types are at one and the same time stages in life, characteristics of various cultures that emphasize one type of movement or another, and different dimensions of time.

Contrary to the opinion of those who look down on metaphysics, the soul about which Plato is speaking is not a non-material object whose existence cannot be proved (as Socrates tried in vain to prove in “Phaedon”); it is the movement in which man, from within himself and without any external coercion, directs his entire self to the truth. By this movement, which does not expect any benefit, man expresses his freedom